She walked in night but never in darkness, not with her friends to keep her company, to guard her. They floated near her head as she moved, three miniature stars that bobbed and twinkled, lighting her path and almost leading her. Even in the unfamiliar territory, she knew she had made it back to Helovia and so risked the light. If they had pursued her, she was far out of reach now, out of reach forever. 

Escaped…she had escaped, but could it be called that if she had not been held? No manacles, no bars, but they had kept her with them by different means, by making her want to stay. They had been in her mind, in her thoughts, silencing them and putting their own inside her. And good, they had been so very good as they leaned her, mimicked her style so that little Asavvi still had trouble telling the difference between her own feelings and the remnants of themselves they had left behind. Teach her, they had said they had said they were teaching her, that the birdman had brought her to them because she was a warblood child, and she needed to be fixed. and the had fixed her, but not all the way.

Home. 

She knew she wanted to go home, but couldn't quite force her feet southward. When her thoughts strayed toward the Throat it was like being shocked with a cattle prod. The sand, the heat…Mother…Father—NO!! They were bad people who did bad things; they hurt and that is wrong! But she could feel her mothers kisses, feel her father sheltering wing across her back and she still wanted them. Helovia was a more ambiguous goal, to broad to stir up the girl's mental tug-of-war and so she could take that step. Crossing the boarder had been caused a sight of relief but still she needed somewhere to go, somewhere to hide. 

She had been told of the falls in her foalhood, and so the yearling had hugged the northern edge of the threshold until she could be drawn in by the sound of flowing water. Thought the quiet night  she followed paths she'd never known, but even with her lights she got tuned around ever now and then. She could hear a waterfall, she knew is had to be close but she came up short. Stopping, she tried to take a gage of the dark trees, every direction looked like every other and she could no sooner pick the paths she had already tried than teleport herself into the hear of the herdland. "Hello?" she breathed it into the night, gentle voice puffing out in a vapor on the chilled air. "Is anyone there?" 

Does the secret fade—

            or is it everlasting?

Asavvi