Her mouth is bleeding, and hurting, but she is triumphant and tired when she returns, hardly able to breathe through all that's in her mouth and the unbearable heat of the Heart in Tallsun. The others have returned before her, but she does not feel embarrassed. She has tried her hardest, done her best, and that is all she can possibly do. Dragging her hooves tiredly beneath her, she slowly lowers herself to her knees beside the little one again, ignoring the exuberant words of the electric-blue mare and the dark, quiet stallion. Releasing the branch and two vines she lay her gift before the little creature of flame, tipping her crown until the tip of her horn touches the earth and using her foreleg to slide the degu's body off her tiara. Blood is left in a smear along her horn, sticky and smelling of iron, but she has never been like her twin in the area of care for appearance and physical perfection.

Sighing she leans back, tottering unsteadily to her hooves, and gives a smile to both her competitors. "Best of luck," she says softly, and closes her eyes briefly, tired. When she has regained her head, relaxing slightly but still ready to be judged, she turned her dual eyes to the turtle and presented her own gift verbally. "A degu, a diurnal rodent of the woods for the feline tastes it may or may not prefer. Blackberries and huckleberries, summer blooming fruits eaten by birds of various sizes. Strawberries, healthy and full of vitamins, and larger to fill what the other two cannot." A single leg moved to brush the tip of her hoof against the round-leafed branch of the huckleberries.

"I do not bring a material toy. If it were my bonded...I would not want it to leave my side, would not want to be so bad a companion to him or her that they would need to amuse themselves alone. I give the branch of this tree which bears food, to play with and tempt the chasing instincts of a feline, to teach it to hunt in a way I cannot perfectly imitate from its mother." Giving a little, awkward smile she withdrew, wondering how she would be found and decided upon. There are three, but she does not know if her odds are favorable. After all she is younger, less experienced. Would she not be chosen merely because she was not as advanced, as wise? She hopes not, because she is lonely, but her heart can trust only those who will love her back. She has so much to give to the little one, but it is the turtle who would be the deciding factor of this challenge, this competition. And oh Gods it's hot, hot, so hot, but all she could think about was if the little newborn would be well-cared for, whomever it went to. Both the mare and the stallion seemed...decent enough, though she was slightly intrigued by the pegasus beside her and her reasoning for being so silent until now. At least it would be safe, with three suitors for its heart standing loyally at side.

---
*An entire vine of blackberries
*A branch of huckleberries, for play and food
*A cluster of strawberries
*A dead degu for meat

Blooming Time