It was time for harvest in the Edge and Alysanne did not need to go very far to find plants she wished to collect. The nest she cultivated in her sleeping spot - fed daily by the nutrients that seeped from her hooves - had borne a handful of helpful things this year. The bag Raeden had given here was nestled among the feathers of her back - as she had found it a little tricky to actually wear with her wings - and Hemlock was gathering the seeds and berries of the plants they wanted to add to the collection in the garden while Aly trampled and nudged the golden and green strands of grass together to re-form the nest.

Not that she expected to sleep much in it tonight.

Just as Hemlock was twisting his little owl head around to lecture her on how bitterness wasn’t her strong point, a call rang out. Not just for anyone but for Queen Alysanne. Those two words still felt strange to hear together, after she had lived through so many other monarchs in this place.

The glass halter and necklace she wore made light, twinkling noises as she turned her head toward the sound and her body followed, setting off to discover who it might be. Hemlock flew alongside her, weaving through the trees as they exited the forest and into the stretch of grass that housed the crumbling ruins of the glass wall.

Her brisk trot turned into a fumbling gait for a few paces as Alysanne recognized the figure that stood at the borders. Reunions had always been a rather common part of her life in Helovia but they never failed to surprise her when they rolled around. It had been a few years since she had last seen Kahlua’s daughter - not since she had been taller than the girl herself, despite how quickly the filly had grown and how sensible she had been right from the start. But now it looked like Alysanne was the shorter of the two - which shouldn’t be too surprising given who the girl’s father was.

She felt her heart constrict at the sight, felt it as her eyes started to shine with the tears that formed. This girl was a reminder of a time before anger, before invasions, before her friends had become scattered in the wind, before her daughter learned to hate her...

With a chirp from Hemlock, Alysanne snapped herself out of the sentimental spiral that threatened to drown her before she even greeted the girl mare properly.  

“Hello!” She called out in a cheerful voice as she finished approaching, moving with more grace the rest of the way before stopping before their visitor. “My goodness! You’ve certainly grown since the last time I saw you!” Stating the obvious a bit but Alysanne’s green eyes were shining as she said it, checking over the younger mare for signs that she was healthy. It only just occurred to her now that she hadn’t been a very good friend to Kahlua over these last few years - why had it not occurred to her before this moment to check in on her friend’s daughter to make sure that she was doing well? Whether or not the girl had seemed fully capable of taking care of herself from day 1 or not, it was a gross oversight on Alysanne’s part to assume any such thing.

She had let too much slip by her in the last few years.

“Have you been well?” Her old manner of calling Isopia ‘little one’ seemed to be rather outdated now, considering the now-mare’s height. She wondered if Kahlua’s daughter had ever discovered her name, or if she had made any friends, but her well-being was certainly what she wished to know foremost.

If you could only understand—through my heart and through my veins

I gave it all,

I'll give again.