Sulwyn

How had the little mare found herself all the way out here? Her home upon the cliffs that touch the sea was far to the west, and this desolate land of ice and snow and darkness was... Well, she didn't know where. All that the silver mustang knew was that her ashen hooves had been fumbling against the shadowed terrain for countless hours, perhaps even days, to find their way home from the Veins.

Just to see that the Goddess has left us. The grulla's thoughts are full of despair, although not because she was unable to receive her companion. She was disheartened to see that each of the Gods' shrines had been abandoned, the offerings of flowers and plants all shriveled and downtrodden, and the blue streams of magma giving off an eerie glow, almost as if it was searching for its missing patrons. Everything that the Gods had built up were now all tumbling down, and their absences could be felt in the quaking hearts of the mortals that served them.

Even the loss of her dangerous orbs had been somewhat devastating to the wraith; she had just started to understand them, to feel at ease around them, to accept them, but of course they could not stay. For all of those nights that she had spent fearing her magic and sealing it away in the crevices of her heart, she had wanted it to just be gone. The sun-branded fae had never asked for something as dark as this: she was a passionate soul, albeit a timid one, and receiving the ability to drain energy from something -- or someone -- had only managed in contributing to her solitary life. The shell that Thor had worked so hard to break down had reconstructed itself, and now she was even more weary of approaching her family than before.

But, there had been moments of tenderness between them, too. They were her guardians, these orbs; the light that kept her company even in dark times. She can remember the first time that she had summoned them, on the way home from her disappointing meeting with the daunting black unicorn, and they had circled around her in a protective ring, feeding off of her dismal mood. And, just a few nights ago -- or at least when you could tell what was night and what was day, came the moody reply -- when she had called one into being in her distress over the late Moon Doctor, it had acted much like a comforting mother to an injured child. A small shiver passes through the architecture of her body at the memory, and the faintest of smiles creeps onto her white lips.

Yes. I think that I have come to miss you. The thoughts are as tender as they are sad, and it is with only slight surprise that Sulwyn feels her body longing for the touch of a wispy orb against her cheek. It had known that it was dangerous, that it could steal the energy from her with its wispy fingers, but it had also known that she had needed to feel a sense of alleviation. It was a tool of war -- a tool that Sulwyn would not willingly use -- but it had been gentle with its dangerous hand and offered what little comfort it could, regardless of its true purpose.

With an aching heart and a dampened mood, the little shadow mare pressed onwards with sinking hooves, her silver ears and porcelain naves acting as eyes would in the presence of light. Not too long after Sulwyn's thoughts had turned to the Gods, her audits stood pin-straight and the rest of her body followed suit. One hind was resting on a hoof as if it were half-way in rising from the ground, and the vessel that housed the thoughts of the silver figure turned side to side, trying to detect where the sound of traveling steps had come from.

Deciding that it would be best to make the creature stumble over to her rather than she to it, the wraith called out in a fear-tainted holler, "Are you as lost as I, traveler of the night?" Golden orbs probed in the black wall that was this endless night, and in the corner of one eye a faint glow cast its light. "If you seek aid or companionship, move towards that light."

Sulwyn redirected her feet to push on towards the beacon she had seen earlier, and a sudden wave of concern washed over her. Was that a tree that was glowing over there? Ignoring her instinct to run from the stranger and from the strange plant, the mustang plodded through the deep snow towards the only source of light until the other wanderer caught up.

Please don't be a threat, were the only thoughts to run through her mind.

"Talk talk talk."