On the breeze high above, there was a bird made of sparks scouting ahead of his bonded.  He almost floated through the air, riding a wintery breeze, dipping and diving and swirling as though born among the clouds.  Oddly, the mare to whom he was bonded was not in the skies with him.  No, on this particular day, Sohalia the Transcended had elected to walk.  The earth lent some warmth to the otherwise frigid day, and the pale lady silently commended her companion for his bravery in ascending into the even colder drafts that drifted above the world.  She was a woman of the desert, and she lamented the fact that she'd mistaken Frostfall as an appropriate time to leave the sands.

Despite the mare's rather uncharacteristically sour mood (gods, how long had it been since she'd truly felt cold?), she had departed her beloved homeland on a quest to recruit.  Now that her herd seemed determined to tear itself apart, it was her opinion that they could use all the new blood they could get, and it simply would not do to continue to rely on their Gladiator to do all their work for them.  His job was back home, training their warriors and organizing patrols.  If he had time to visit the Threshold, he had time to help their failing herd, as one of their Guardians had recently pointed out to Sohalia.  And so here she was, hoping that her presence at Helovia's front gates would mend some of the brokenness that awaited her back home.  If she felt guilty about trying to bring newcomers back to a war zone, she tried to ignore it.

A feminine voice cut through the trees, and the Transcended adjusted her course as Astraeus sent her a mental image of the trio who were unceremoniously stomping through the forest.  A slight frown appeared:  was the female upset because the two males were following her?  Were they bothering her?  The ivory dove had yet to fully recover from her fight with Cera, but she would never be able to live with herself if she allowed an innocent stranger to be accosted without at least trying to help.  And so, despite Astraeus's pleading to - Turn around. - and - Go home. -, the mare pressed on, determined to get to the bottom of the strange mare's terse tone.

When she arrived, she was almost disappointed to see that another mare had arrived first.  Sohalia was unfamiliar with the unicorn who was offering her assistance, but a vaguely jealous part of her wishes that the stranger would just go away.  She had no doubts that the Dragon's Throat needed these three far more desperately than wherever the unicorn was from.  Biting her tongue and attributing her foul mood to the cooler weather, the Transcended forced a smile to her lips.  The friendly tone that she adopted when she spoke, however, was true.  "Hello!" she called.  Astraeus swooped down from the sky to land gently upon his bonded's haunches.  "I couldn't help but notice that you appeared to be in some distress."  She directed this comment to the irritated-looking unicorn flanked by the stallions.  Not realizing that Glacia had just said the same thing, she added, "Is there anything I could help you with?"

"talk talk talk"

@Huldra

Memories circle like birds of prey
Waiting for the right mind to drive insane
Don't look back, there's nothing to see
Regret is nothing more than a lover's disease