"Seems leaving glazier post was for better" the dragon mused as she lazily swooped along the smooth curve of the wall, wingtips merely inches from scraping into the clear glass. Lace grunted and kept his eyes firmly onwards, refusing to watch as his soul-mate toyed with death. He trusted her abilities in the sky, but also knew that she was far from invulnerable. A fall from that height would hurt, she could have her wings broken, the tail dislodged, neck twisted or the talons shattered or..

"Silly, I won't fall" she laughed, a trilling warble of delight that bounced off the glistening surface and disappeared between the tall trees. She was exited about being home again, despite still meandering on the wrong side of the newly built structure - Lace on the other hand wasn't as cheerful. The prospect of stumbling into familiar faces was exceedingly high, and he had no excuses to give for his prolonged absence from the mist-veiled forest. None that should reach the ears of the masses at least; it was bad enough that he was at odds with the queen, he didn't want to undermine her position with the rest of the herd... Not without due cause.

Still, he couldn't deny that he missed the comforts of being surrounded by family and friends. For all that spending time at the World's Edge had a way of making him miserable and grumpy, the boons of not having to be on high alert all the time greatly outweighed the euphoria of freedom he gained by traveling. The summer had been calm, without greater incidents - despite that the grullo wouldn't feel truly safe until he had passed the borders and stood side by side with his brothers and sisters once more.

A faint smile played on the dusky lips as he thought about them, wondering how they had fared in the hot weather. Rishima had surely disappeared to endure the heat in her own solitude, sparing both herself and others from the sharpness of her tongue. Sage likely hadn't taken such precautions - without doubt the palomino had been chasing Kaj and Destrier around, pestering them for duels to determine who among them were the stronger. Whether the WingLeads had been able to keep their positions or not was hard to say; they were both strong and able-bodied, but so was the hard-headed mare. Madyrn and Maskan had no doubt been following the warriors with interest, laughing at both sides and taking the chance to tease the looser into getting revenge - Aaron might have tried to stop them, only to be dragged into the mess himself, getting soundly beaten for the effort.

And Smoke... The smile faded on the stallions face, expression dropping as he thought back to last time he had seen the healer. She had witnessed his childish temper tantrum, seen him discard what Mirage had offered... Had she gone back to the herd since that day in the beginning of the summer, or had she too remained absent from the family?

Unaware of the frown that creased the soft skin around the eyes, the gold-backed stallion slipped around a tree that stood close to the wall and stopped dead in his tracks, senses suddenly on high alert as the sound of a voice had reached the pricked ears. What he saw made bells of alarm ring through the mind; answering to the sudden shift in emotion the dragon beat the wings harder and swooped forth with a high-pitched shriek - intended to alert the border patrols that should be surveying the area. Whether they were anywhere close to this place however...

But this could not be ignored. Muscles swelled in preparation as Lace regarded the figure up ahead with cold suspicion, noticing the big hoof that slipped from the glass wall and the curved horns that jutted from the broad poll. The brute was big, no more than a hand taller than Lace but far thicker in built, swarthy in hue and decidedly menacing in appearance (at least in his eyes, mares might find the stallion possessing a rugged charm that was of little to no use in this situation). His presence by the border was bad enough, the fingering of the barrier to safeguard a group persistently attacked by his kind did not improve his case, and as he began to walk towards and opening "Finally, there it was!" Lace wouldn't take it anymore.

"Hey you, what do you think you are you doing?" he called out, the smooth voice unusually cold and stern as he fell into a trot and approached the stranger, vivid yellow eyes bearing down upon the bearded unicorn. Fajira cued in and made a swoop forward to cut off his path, teeth bared in a growl but without displaying any of the lethal fire she was capable of releasing.. at least for now.

Dim vales- and shadowy floods-
And cloudy-looking woods,
Whose forms we can't discover
For the tears that drip all over!
Huge moons there wax and wane-
Again- again- again-