Kahlua found his stumbling endearing rather than concerning and the smile that followed did warm her heart, even as she was still thinking of how much he sounded like him. She would have to get over the fact soon enough but part of her didn't want to. Perhaps it was the exhaustion, but there was a part of her that was beginning to believe that she deserved all the unhappiness that seemed to plague her at every turn. After all, could she think of any period since she had arrived here where she had been content for more than two weeks at a time? If it was hard for her to think, it was even harder for her to remember a period that fit the description she was asking for. The gold dipped mare, the burned stallion, the unicorn from the north, the never-ending darkness that had plagued the land, the pinto pegasus, the hell-fire monster from the heart... the list went on and on, all things spaced out so that she might be reminded of the evil in the land every time she began to forget it. If she was a scholar, she would certainly fall to depression thinking that her purpose in life must be to draw evil out from hiding without trying.

If Kahlua only knew what the stallion was thinking, perhaps her thoughts would have been somewhat different. In her younger days the girl might have flirted with any stallion that came her way. She might have thrown her tail up and arched her neck and batted her eyes. And for what? To gain the power and recognition she desired. But she had what she wanted now. She was in charge. She could create and others watched what she made and awed at it. So why did she need to flirt and flat? No, if she knew that the stallion was flustered by her, was sent into tachycardia because of her presence, she might have turned tail and run. She had no desire for children, no lust for foals. Foals required work and attention, they were needy and useless. She had been useless once, after all. No. Now the idea of stallions coming upon her would confuse or frustrate her. If she happened to think about it. Of course, being Kahlua, she did not.

It was my honor. His voice cut daggers into her even when she was prepared for it. Worse yet, was that she hardly understood what she was feeling. She knew she was upset, she knew she was mourning her brother, but why? She loved him, of course, but what had he done for her? She shook her head. It was no use to try and think of it. If she could remember something he had done to prove his love for her she would only spiral into deeper sorrow. And if she could not think of something... well, wasn't that worse? Instead, she tried to force her brain into remembering this was Dragomir and not Fuhrer.

Above her, the sun seemed to boil down upon them even as the morning was still young. As if punishing her for her accomplishments, Father Sun began sucking what little energy remained out of her and taking it... where? She did not know, but she knew that her body ached for reprieve. Shifting herself and taking a few steps out of the wide path the DragonHeart and others had made, Kahlua slipped under the shadow of a large evergreen. If the temperature changed, it was slight, but just being in the shade made her feel more comfortable. A placebo.

Was he a good man, your brother? The stallion's voice called her back to reality. She had been slipping into a mindless stare, having but little strength to do anything else. The question troubled her. Not because of the answer, but rather because she found it difficult to find an answer. Was he? And yet, even as she asked herself, she knew the answer. “No,” she said, looking to him with eyes that were curious for his response. It was the truth. Or at least, it was her truth. The idea of good was very subjective. “But it seems like nobody wants to be good,” she said then, oddly philosophical of her. She meant nothing deep by it, other than that she had met far more that were interested in making war that peace since her arrival here.

In her head, the words of a mare she had met in the not so distant past poked at her brain. How can you achieve peace without war? Would you condone killing in the name of peace? They both had been, and still were, questions she could not answer. So, instead of trying to think too hard about them, she looked again to the stallion. He was her herd mate, after all... would he help her find the answers to her soul? “I was told there can't be peace without war, because you have to kill everyone who doesn't aim for your goal.” She opened the subject awkwardly, because she did not know how to think deeply about the subject. She did not want to think deeply about the subject. But something compelled her to find an answer. She would not find one without counsel from another. “Do you think our goal is silly?” Her brain was troubled but she wanted to smile, so she looked at the wall to find the encouragement she needed. It came, and so then she returned her happy face to Dragomir's. She was not eager to talk philosophy, but she had asked the question. Now she must listen to the answer.