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Losing the trail was easy. All she had to do was drown herself in the conversation and the pleasant feeling of Lyanna's presence. Occupying her mind with talk of herbs and straining to remember lessons from long ago even kept her guilt at bay, that ugly green-headed monster that clawed at her innards for daring to trick her friend like this. The kind, caring part of her wanted to just stop and come clean right away, give the Healer a chance to back out and go home before it was too late...

But a darker, less generous part of her kept whispering that it would all be fine as long as she didn't let Lyanna know that she was doing this on purpose. They were only going to get a bit lost, it wasn't like she was throwing them into a bears den or driving them off a cliff... What could happen, besides roaming around a while before finally finding the way again. They both had wings, all they needed was a clearing, a break in the dense canopy, an incline to jump from... and they would be off, free, back home in a jiffy.

Erthë had never lost her way in the sky, it would be easy to guide them back once they could see the stars again.

"I wonder if that tree has any properties" she said, nodding at the black memorial tree that leaned out over a ruby-lined pool she had once swam in on a lazy summer afternoon. Pausing in her step to dip her lips in the red water, Erthë reached for the smooth surface but found it blocked from her reach, cut off by a sheet of ice so clear she could see the bottom.

"Ooh, it's frozen..."

Sighing, she settled for licking up some snow instead, the cold mass crunchy and pleasantly cold against her tongue; it never thawed in her mouth, and as she swallowed the girl wondered absently how she ever got any sustenance from the things she ate; did the ice of her being affect her stomach too? Would she be able to put out a fire by swallowing it, smothering it's radiant heat with her very essence?

It was an amusing thought.

"Come on, let's go deeper; maybe there won't be as much snow further in where the trees stand closer together." Grinning impishly at Lyanna the young mare tripped off through the trees, the playful wave of her tail daring the teal-rimmed companion to overtake her. It was a game of don't-touch-the-trees and tag, a hide-and-seek and I-spy; and the guilt kept gnawing as the darkness deepened around them, and Erthë kept ignoring it as she reveled in the fun, like a child hidden in a candy store after closing time.

She knew she shouldn't enjoy this. But damn, how could she even resist?