so i listen to the    wind for an answer

The neigh that comes from the border, just outside the trees, is a familiar sound. Erthe? Lyanna immediately jumps forward, moving as quickly as she can through the trees without tripping on roots or snagging her wings on a branch. She’s been living here long enough to know her way through the woods well, but still, a flat out gallop just really isn’t an option. Though she would, particularly not knowing why Erthe is calling. Though the neigh doesn’t sound pained, she doesn’t think (not that she’s certain she could pick that up from so far away), so she isn’t overly worried.

Still, it’s her job to worry. At least a little bit.

But soon the familiar white form comes into view, and she seems perfectly fine. Lyanna’s eyes drift to the other mare that stands next to her, and though the girl has grown, Lyanna recognizes her immediately. “Erthe!” she calls warmly, the smile on her face even larger than normal at seeing Erthe and Ru both. She reaches her black muzzle out to touch Erthe’s side in a friendly gesture.

Then, uncertain how Ru might like such a greeting, she angles herself slightly instead so her tail is visible. There, ties haphazardly with hair, is the brown and white feather Ru had plucked from her wings. Call her a sap (she is, after all), but she’s kept it there. It was a bit messy, but tying hair with her mouth wasn’t a skill she really had. Instead, the feather was more or less just tangled in there now. But still, it was there.  

“I wish I knew what to call you,” she says to the brown and white girl (mare now, really). “Do you have a name in a way you can tell us?” she asks again, pausing for a moment for an answer before turning her attention back to Erthe.

“I found her a little battered and bruised near the cliffs once, and offered her a home,” she says, by way of explanation. It does seem a bit strange, likely, that Lyanna knows this stranger on their border. Though not that strange, certainly. There were plenty of common lands in Helovia to have run into others as well.

Her teal eyes drift back to Ru then, with the question in them. “Are you here to stay?” she asks, careful to keep her voice neutral in the question. Not because she doesn’t want the mare to stay, but because it should be Ru’s choice, and not influenced even by the hopeful sound of her voice. Normally, she’s simply sound hopeful and offer an out, such as “or are you just here for another adventure?”. But in Ru’s case, Lyanna wanted to stick to yes or no questions as much as possible. It did make conversation a bit easier.

lyanna