Look down, the ground below is crumbling
Look up, the stars are all exploding
So silent was the emptiness surrounding Africa. Her own pulse thumped wildly beneath the sensitive flutter of her nervous ears, and each unsteady push of air from her lungs seemed to exaggerate the growing fear; trepidation. She could only guess the turn of events to come, the anger and resentment; the questioning and contempt- and her whirling mind did so with savage relentlessness, so that she trembled with each step beyond the numbing isolation of the wilderness, behind her.

A sudden clatter of hooves, well above their heads, caused Silas’s hawk-like eyes to snap to the wall’s lofty peak. He could only trace the large shadow as it drifted downward with precision and grace. A hushed rumbling began beneath the ruffle of midnight feathers across his breast; a sound made purely for his soul mate, to rouse her attention and warn of their company. He had not lingered long in the desert, perhaps only a day or two, after his hatching. With the courage of his kin, the young Zephyr had passed from one alien landscape into the next until the burning of his heart waned- the moment his eyes first laid to rest upon the ill dappled mare. This was not home from Silas's perspective, and he remained cautious.

Africa’s ears stilled for a second, attracted by the sound issued by her guardian, and she listened with a sinking heart for any further inkling to betray the inevitable arrival of another. There was no thud of wings though, nor slosh of sand to slice through the strangeness of that night, and puzzled she was forced to lift her head out of its pathetic droop. Curiously, she allowed her eyes to track for the same movement that had upset Silas. Her ability to see through the dark was limited, perhaps a hereditary fault, but she knew no different. Struggling to place her interest in something invisible, her face sank once again to hover above the sullen drag of her heavy, aggrieved stride.

Soon enough, another mare danced forward amidst a blur of light and dark hues. Africa did not recognize her, though she did not flinch and balk from the Pegasus like she had from Hellena and Smoke, when stirred from slumber in the Edge. The mare seemed pleasant enough, and Africa managed a rather tight-lipped smile- she could hardly risk unravelling the tightly wound ball of frayed threads detailing all that had happened, after all. "Welcome home," The other soothed, and the grey’s shoulders hunched a little upwards suddenly weary beneath the weight of guilt and bitterness. Just like Cirrus, although the name still evaded her for now, the painted mare embraced her- respectfully, and the pinched, pained expression marring Africa’s face softened subtly.

She knew though, that once the particulars of her whereabouts were revealed; the death, the stupidity... the general disloyalty of it all, the warmth expressed would undoubtedly cease.

"Thank you." She spoke softly, narrowing an eye to watch as the other’s eyes caressed the useless mass of her remaining body. She wondered if it might just be easier to announce the end of a holiday- one that wasn’t earned in fact; and exaggerate all the woefulness that came with one’s return to work. She shrugged slowly, noting the other Pegaus’s loss for words, and said simply, "my it’s good to be back." Silas came then with a beady gaze, to rest upon the point of Africa’s withers.