The sun, as always, rose far too early for one of the youngest princesses of the sands. Despite her protestations, it seemed, the brilliant orb was determined to rise, and so Vinati followed her mother from the thicket of palms in which they spent their evenings with a yawn and a glare, whining grumbling quietly to herself in the after-dawn glow. The girl mirrored her mother's long draft from the clear, calm waters of the oasis lake. The liquid was cool and smooth on her tongue, quenching a thirst that the girl hadn't really known that she had. She should be used to it by now - even this early, the desert day was hot and arid, seeming to draw her body's moisture away until she had nothing left.

No wonder she was so tired all the time.

Vinati yawned again as she trailed after her mother sleepily. Perhaps while her mother worked among the heaps of metal, the princess could take a power nap. She nodded to herself, pleased by the idea. That was exactly what she needed. If she could just snooze a little longer, linger in the depths of her dreams a tiny bit more, then she was sure that she would be ready to face the day. As you can see, the little sand princess was not a morning person.

The same flash that caught Sohalia's attention had the filly squinting irritably up at the sky; however, her exasperation turned to curiosity as she noticed that there was a column of flame in the sky surrounded by three fiery eagles. Suddenly the girl was wide awake. What a beautiful sight! Oh, what she wouldn't give to be able to take a moment to appreciate the fire, to sculpt its likeness into a pretty crystalline trinket. Ave would love it, she was sure of it! But then the flame was gone, extinguished, as though it had never even been there in the first place.

Belatedly, the girl realized that her mother was leaving without her, and her scrawny, knobby legs flailed about in a vain attempt to catch up. Where Sohalia's strides were long and sure, even in the deep, shifting sand, Vinati still struggled to travel through the softer soil outside the oasis. She might have called out to her mother, but the Transcended seemed as though she was almost in a trance. Besides, the girl realized that it was not only her mother's form that she was seeing. The girl was used to the ghosts that lingered around her mother's petite frame: there were older pegasi that Sohalia had named as her parents. There was a tiny, just-born foal who had been identified as Diniel, and an older filly, almost an adult, named Skysong. They lingered around Sohalia constantly, so much so that Vinati had grown used to their presence. Now, though - now there was another form, bigger and broader and darker.

That's odd, she thought to herself.

Sohalia's voice, suddenly too high and too sharp, carried over the sands in a stern order for Vinati to stay put. For a moment, the girl hesitated; but when she saw the familiar form of Verro climbing the dune that her mother had disappeared behind, she couldn't help her curiosity any longer. Within a few moments, she was at the top of the dune, just in time to hear a broken scream - "NO!" - pierce the air. A thrill of fear filled the girl, for that was her mother's voice, and she had never heard such a sound leave the gentle mare before. When she crested the dune, when she dared to look, she saw her mother crumpled in a snowy heap upon the sand; she saw Verro approaching the Transcended sadly; she saw a dark, broken form splayed upon the sands between them.

But that wasn't all she saw.

He was there, like always, standing strong between his former mate and his daughter. A small, sad smile split the girl's face as she noticed that in the other world - the spirit world - he was just as brilliant, just as strong, as he had been in hers. And though a part of her broke at the knowledge that she would never again see him splashing in the oasis, would never again feel his flaming wings encompass her when she was sad, would never again see him patrolling the skies above their home, she suddenly understood what he had been trying to tell her, those many weeks ago. He would never leave her - he would never leave any of them. He would live on in their hearts and their memories, and that would have to be enough.

Besides, they would see him again one day.

The girl approached at a silent walk, not stopping until she stood alongside her mother's shaking frame. "Mai," she said softly, earnestly, "don't cry. Ave isn't hurting anymore. He's at peace. He's still here with us, and he wouldn't want you to cry." She nudged her mother's neck, and Sohalia's sobs quieted to sniffles as she realized that her daughter had not listened to her request to stay behind the dunes, where she wouldn't have to see her father like this. What the Transcended didn't realize was that Vinati would always see him as he was - brilliant, strong, protective.

And as she watched, his ghost looked up into the sky. A gentle, warm light fell over him, and then he was ascending, lifting slowly and regally into the sky until he was gone.

A single tear fell from the filly's eye as she watched him go, but a faint smile lingered upon her lips.

Talk.