A chill hung in the air these days, lingering even after the sun reached its zenith – when the sun bothered to shine, at least. Frostfall had come in a flurry of snow and rested in the grim grey depths of the clouds overhead; Valka’s breath mimicked the sky by hanging in clouds around her whiskers. She had endured such cold before, of course; though heat bled from her skin like water from a sieve, she relished the knife-twist of frigid air in her lungs. It was painful. It was rejuvenating.

Still, it reminded her ever-so-unpleasantly of home.

With morning only just edging away, the rabicano mare wandered without a particular destination. She supposed the hot springs might be a nice change from the cold, though every instinct in her body still mistrusted the bizarrely heated water. With her stride slow and morose, she headed that direction, her walk a flowing movement that ate distance easily across the ground. No doubt she would reach the springs by midday or later; she was on the far end of the Basin, and in no hurry… except that, without warning, a strange voice lifted on the quiet air.

Valka’s ears strained to catch it; faint and blurred by distance, the words mumbled together but the sound was enough to draw attention – certainly important? Without thinking of it, Valka hastened to a swift trot and moved in the direction of the sound.

She found others gathered near her previous destination, all clustered around the tall, proud black mare at their front. Psyche -- must be. She had all the presence of a leader. Quickly, Valka scanned the gathering crowd for Snö, but found no sign of the pale daughter. In fact, she found no sign of anyone familiar; many faces met her searching gaze, but none registered against her memory. So many here, she thought as she moved to join them. So many I do not know. Where had they been? What had they been doing? And why were they called?

Valka arrived too late to hear most of the conversation, but her ears pricked to the voice of a bay stallion who called himself Time Mender and offered unnecessary advice. Nonetheless Valka nodded – mostly to herself – and stood at the edge of the crowd, muscles tense, as a grey mare asked the question lingering in the back of her mind – what was going on?