The Nightshade arrived first, a face she was not expecting to come to her call, though in retrospect, watching the proven stallion approach, she should have foreseen his arrival. It was his family that she had bled for at the Edge, and that reason alone meant that, perhaps, he had more reason to be standing here than she did herself. At his heels, Aramis trailed, the hound a sight that still set her teeth to grinding against one another; it was not that the dogs were not loyal to their masters (surely, Aramis would die for D'artagnan, as would Imogen for Lena), but that her herd-mates had chosen to so blatantly display a weak point to be exploited made her wonder what her "friends" were thinking.

And then she remembered Zaffre, her jaw loosing it's edge. Perhaps companions weren't such a weakness, after all.

"Old men?" replied the doctor, and the Lady's giggles ruptured forth from darkened lips in amusement. If D'artagnan was old, so was she, and that was just the most ludicrous thing she had heard since learning that the Qian had set fire to the trees in the Edge. "Ah, am I but a nag, then?" she chortled, her golden gaze crinkling with humor even as a second set of arriving hooves drew her eyes away from the devious doctor.

Coated in copper and rather handsome, immediate recognition of Roland set her heart onto a mild ledge and left it wobbling loosely in the breeze. She smiled kindly at his approach despite her inner turmoil over the last encounter she had shared with the stallion, knowing full and well that he had seen her at her most childish; yet at the same time, she reasoned, it was who she was. Had Osiris been a member of her lost herd in the Edge, he would have been equally ridiculed by her - such was the case when one was the bastard offspring of the noble (pfft) equine and a wild animal. She wouldn't stomach it upon the Basin or anywhere around her, and she certainly wasn't going to be falsely kind to a freak such as that thing for the sake of a contract. She returned Roland's greeting with a courteous nod, her lips still softly grinning, even as the final arrival to her notice slipped in along the edges without a word.

The dark faced, blue tinted mare was a stranger to Illynx but for a slender memory that she had come from the land of Isilme and had been a member of their horned harem for quite some time. There was no name to give her within her mind, however, and that made the rather full-of-herself unicorn hesitate as she let her eyes land upon the leonine mare, her seamless smile fraying along the edges, letting it droop only the slightest bit before it returned to full vibrancy. Utilized as she scanned the gathering one last time, the grin hid away her inner rage at the fact that so few of the shadow-walkers and knowledge gatherers had come to her call. Where in the Moon were they? All but Faelene held no excuses for their absence, and a silent curse is tossed out to Ruka for never being there when she desired him.

She clears her throat delicately, glancing along the horizon to ensure that no stragglers would interrupt her with their tardiness before elaborating on why she had called them all to her side. "As you may or may not know, I am Illynx, successor to Mauja the Frostheart, though by no means do I claim to replace him -" she paused, unsure of the truth of her words even as she spoke them, "either way, I find that the Basin has grown ignorant of much that occurs outside of our borders. I seek to remedy this." Her eyes swept around the small group once more, landing with a bit more seriousness upon the face of Roland; she would not have him writing off her words in remembrance of her bared ass on the beach so many months ago, and, in all honesty, she found the shining male rather perfect for this particular task. "I wish to send out a small unit of scouts to investigate the whole of Helovia for any new allies or enemies that may be found, as well as to gather more intelligence on the state of the standing herds. I was hoping for a larger response, but, well," she sighed softly, her smile flickering in the hesitation, "I allege that we four can accomplish this well enough."

Surely, she hoped, surveying them all with eyes that saw their strength and beauty, unsure, however, of how this would ultimately play out and whether they would learn anything of use at all. Either way, it was better than growing fat and complacent on a snowy hill. "Should any of you know any others who would be useful in these tasks, drag them with you when we go. As it stands now, two pairs of two, to better ensure our success and safety; any ideas are welcome to my ears, should you have them." With so many dragons and their desert sisters riled in anger towards the Basin, it was best to lean heavily of the sturdier side of the fence. Her ears were raised forward in attentiveness, looking from each face to the next in turn.