Her revealing the raw patch within her own soul drew a surprised expression from the young male, some spark of adolescent thought that she could not understand just by looking upon him, and it was quickly washed away as her voice continued to issue forth into the brisk forest air. His youth was endearing, a trait that Illynx supposed was developed over all their years of existence to ensure that the naive and often foolish youth of the world had a good chance to make it to adulthood. She was saddened, inwardly, at the thought of what the world would do to his pure and golden soul, how age would cripple its shine and attempt to extinguish it all together, but she knew that he stood a fair enough chance if he chose to follow her back up the mountain path; success could be attained if you surrounded yourself with the right types of folk and applied your skills to bettering the herd, and as she thought of the unusual collection of unicorns back in the Basin, realised that even that was not a requirement. It would seem that among the Plague, only one thing truly mattered; the purification and perpetuation of the bloodline, and the systematic destruction of all those who were not among their classifications, and as young Ares had been born with a horn upon his handsome little face, his ticket in was already signed. He just had to cash it in.

"My mother is from the Edge. Though, I have not seen her face for a while and I'm not even sure if she's still there ..." her mouth drew itself into a tight line from the friendly smile it had worn before, the slight comfort of knowing Ares had not seen his family murdered (at least not his mother) overwhelmed by the sick, heavy feeling that made its way into her heart. The tree burners, and he is born from their loins. But there were no dragons in his clear blue eyes or vengeance writ in their depths, only youth and curiosity sparkling like diamonds in a riverbed. Besides, his mother was liable to be dead, killed in the mayhem of the war that the weyr-horse Mirage had brought down upon Illynx, Psyche, and all the others who had once lived in the soft arms of the Moon Goddess, and that thought alone solaced her as she let the grimace escape her face to be absorbed by her plastic smile once more. "I do not know who lives beside the Moon's shrine," her golden eyes flickered away from his own for but a moment, a toss of her black forelock returning her gaze to his, "and I am not ashamed to say that I have no concerns for them or their well being, though I do hope you may find your mother if she still breathes Helovian air." She wondered after she said it if she really did wish for Ares to reunite with the woman who had birthed him. She looked upon his small horn, wondering now for the first time if he was truly what he seemed to be, or merely some half breed whelp; she supposed it didn't really matter. He was horned, that was for certain, and no one would know of his origins unless he told them. She made a point to listen all the more carefully, just for these reasons.

Her smile returned to her face as he asked her if she might take him up the well hidden mountain path to the Basin; it was involuntary as it had always been, her heart having come to love the sheltered lake and the caves that ringed the wide valleys deep within the heart of the Steppe. Her dainty head bobbed in agreement, muscular body pivoting so that they were north bound, her golden horn angled directly down the path that would take them to through the forests lying at the base of the mountains and to the well obscured trail upwards. "Let us waste no more time then, Ares," she grinned, her hard dark hooves silently trekking their way along the leaf and needle strewn ground, long black tresses trailing along behind her.