Well apparently it’s going to be a party in the Falls. Probably the most horses in a group that she’s seen around the joint lately except meetings. There were horses in the Falls, after all. She just didn’t necessarily see them much. Largely her own fault, which was just fine by her. She could only handle so much social interaction. Sher (because let’s be real, Syrena was not about to learn this mare’s entire name, it was too many letters all smashed together) asks to see the Falls, and then the Edge. It seems like an entirely reasonable plan to Syrena. Does she hope the mare picks the Falls? Sure, cause they need it. But only if she wants to. The Falls doesn’t need dead weight.

And then Sher is speaking something else, so quietly Syrena almost misses it. Something about missing things, not wanting to miss any more. Ha, go figure. Were Syrena anyone else, she might know what to say here. Certainly, she’s supposed to say something. To ask if she wants to talk about it (what the hell even is it?), to ask if she needs something. But even if Syrena knew what she was supposed to ask, she wasn’t sure she could bring herself to care quite that much. Maybe. But she doesn’t know what to say anyway, so it doesn’t much matter.

She’s grateful when the filly speaks up, though her eyes linger on the flames dancing along the girls back with an energy equal to the girl’s own. Kaida. Stop calling her girl, she thinks to herself. Kaida asks to come, and Syrena rolls her shoulders in something of a shrug. “Sure,” she says, hoping neither Isopia or Ranjiri would mind. If she’s not mistaken, the Edge and the Falls weren’t on the best terms, but she’d avoided all that hubbub and never did learn the details. Whatever it was, the girl (Kaida) seemed like she was probably an incidental party. Besides, it’s not like they’d be learning any great secrets on their trip. Syrena didn’t even have any great secrets.

Kaida manages to come up with a real answer to Sher’s mutterings about missing stuff, and again, Syrena finds herself vaguely grateful. And also a little uncertain how anyone can manage to have so much to say. Useful, apparently correct words. Where the hell did those even come from? But she just moves on, nodding in the direction they’d be heading before turning herself and beginning the trek back. She turns her attention back to the girl for a moment as they walk. “I’d like to see the Edge sometime, if you wouldn’t mind,” she says, because she has not seen it, and it seems like something she should do. How many years has she lived in this hellhole now? And how much of it does she know? The answers were rather disproportionate, and not in a way that was good.

“Do you have any questions?” she asks Sher as they walk, willing to answer, but not wanting to just throw piles of random information at the mare that she may not care about. This, at least, she is not terrible at. Honesty is a skill, mostly because she is too blunt to bother with lying. And in the end, she’s not trying to sway anyone into thinking the Falls is the best. She just figures it’s her job to give them the information, and they can do with it as they please.

She keeps up whatever conversation the other mares want to have as they walk, trying to be polite and useful. It’s strange having others on this walk back with her. No one ever came back to the Falls. Well, Dragomir, but he’d come on her own. Syrena wasn’t sure she could take much credit for that one.

The walk, at least, is relatively short, and it isn’t long before the forests and craggy ruins of a mountain rise in front of them. The place is beautiful. This time of year, the trees glitter like ice sculptures, icicles hanging from their branches with vaguely dangerous points. The pools of water are covered in thin layers of ice, and snow blankets much of the ground. It is not the warmest place in the winter though, with little shelter thanks to the naked trees. But the paths are winding, and much of the herdland can’t be seen from here. There are places to sneak away to, if you can find them. “This is the Falls. It’s a little greener normally.”


les words "chat chat"

Syrena

let the water take me