The chill washed over her, welcomed by her eager need for the numbing quality of its wintry grip. Without stars to light the sky, she kept her face down hoping to find entertainment along the swells of ice and snow in the Steppe. It had been some time since she had been able to simply admire something for what it was and now that the sun could not rise in order to illuminate the soft dips and sharp rises of their makeshift paradise, it was all Chernobyl could do to ease the mounting worry that seemed to burden her heart so heavily. Had she thought it a good idea to leave the Basin only because he would not be accepted there or was she really just as saddened by their dead promises as she was their lack of initiative? She had met the DarkEmpress and listened to her quiet whispers obviously meant to convince her of a power that Chernobyl could never grasp- it had been a hoax, a lie, and now it was just another reason that made leaving the Basin altogether taste just as good as it sounded. So sweet.

Her body burned with a new desire, one that seemed foreign in comparison to her previous wants and ambitions. You see, love was not supposed to be in the cards for such a carnal harlot, but of course it had made its way to her breast and turned her blackened heart into one made of crimson red. She had been taken long ago on these grounds by the very thing she had once abhorred- it was even quite comical. Her tale had been spun over a series of meetings shared with a bumbling idiot that upon second glance had become the tempered prince the dark mare needed to balance her shadows with light. However, now that her soul had been painted with genial threads of gold, she could no longer worship the ominous rule of a race thought to be superior in all aspects of life.

But they were not in fact superior, but more so reclusive and stubborn in their ways. They had yet to move an inch when they had promised her miles. The road was ending soon and Chernobyl had no desire to watch the impending carnage ensue. After all, she was more concerned with the luminescent man that had stolen her heart when she wasn’t looking, even if now she had no drive to get it back. It was his and his alone and the dark mare was certain that he intended to keep it just as much as she intended to let it remain.

But as her thoughts had been known to wander, they were once again captivated by the deep baritones of her beloved, Murdock. But of course she knew that he would be accepting of her decisions only because he was supportive in all that she did (even if he truly had no control over her in reality). Her gaze swiveled slowly to her winged companion and as it did, she began to realize just how much he had come to mean to her. She had been damned by her mother and her new family from such a love and yet it had brought them together. She wasn’t sure if it was the will of the Gods or just her sense of self that had destroyed the rules and regulations that burdened her, but she was certain that it would remain unwavering until the very end. How quaint she had become when she had once only desired power and the pain of such authority. Life had softened her despite her intentions to barricade herself away behind the stone walls of her resolve and now that she had been freed, the whole of it all seemed to come crashing down around her.

As Murdock leaned against her neck, she turned, eager to catch his gaze as she once again reinstated her final conclusion- one that would change her life forever. “I am no angel by any means but I do wish to come with you, I wish more than anything to keep you by my side until the Gods have deemed our souls to part.” The sincerity would surely come as a shock to the weary man at her side only because they had both been through so much since their first encounter. She could see the way his lips curled with tension and worry at the mention of his home and the way his eyes seemed to narrow as he peered across the plains. Perhaps he was tired, beaten, and withdrawn, but there was still a trace of the fun-loving creature Chernobyl once knew deep down beneath the new rigid surface of his placid veneer. They would have to work quite hard to maintain the relationship they had come to indulge in because it was now up to her to dress to impress his family- The Foothills. Would they ever think to accept a former Basin recruit into their midst (and a once alleged supremacist at that)?

“I fear that things will get harder before they get any easier though and I must know this- will you remain at my side should our plans fall through the cracks of the future?” Her gaze was hard and her voice even harder, she needed to know that her plans were not in vain. Of course she knew that she could trust Murdock more than anyone before him, but her worries were not to be solved with the passing of the Frostfall winds… This was a matter of believing in someone other than herself and though it seemed difficult at times, she only hoped that it would be worth the pain in the end.