K A H L U A

A shriek- surely one of the dragon calls she had grown so used to in her time here in the Edge- cried out in the lands, awakening the girl from an afternoon slumber. Even so many days and weeks after building the wall, Kahlua would still find herself drained and weary for no discernible reason. Perhaps she had pushed herself too hard in building the thing, but Kahlua was a deadly combination of 'stupid' and 'desire to please her master.' Had she been war-minded, the girl would have made the perfect evil henchman. After all, who better to carry out your tasks than someone who won't question you (and who wouldn't have the mental capacity to even if they did want to ask questions)?

Her slumber had been easy this day, unlike the so many days before. There were plenty of days where the girl dreamed of demons with horns, the fires of hell, another never-ending night... She dreamed of stallions with burned faces and mares with golden socks, foals that she did not want and a life where friends could not be found. The girls brain stored plenty of nightmares, ready to dispense them at the hint of a closed eyelid, but this cat nap had been free of all the terrors. In fact, today's dreams had been as far from nightmares as was possible.

Today, behind closed lids, her brain had conjured images of a stallion. What stallion? It was hard to say. The male seemed to mold and morph before her eyes, hardly letting her get a good look before he changed his shape or species, his color or height and danced off, ever just out of reach. Of course, being an imbecile in one's waking hours often translates to dreams. Neither in sleep nor consciousness was she able to make sense of the imagery. If it had a meaning, it was lost on the girl (as so many things were). Still, something had felt very comforting about the ever changing dream; therefore, it was especially concerning that the dragon's cry should be what woke her. It figures that if she could finally find peace in dreams, she would find terror in her day life.

Shaking her mane out, the girl picked up a trot and moved towards the sound before she knew what she was doing. She was always forced to choose between her instinct to run from danger and her instinct to find out what was going on. Today, however, it seemed she would not be forced to sit and think. Her body acted almost without the input of her neurons as she moved down the length of the wall. At least, while she was moving, she could take in the splendor of the massive creation and let a smile grace her lips. Would she ever lose her pride at creating such a thing? She doubted it.

When she finally reached where she was going, it was easy enough to see the commotion. As her black and white head poked out from the opening she had made, she found Torleik and Lace. At least Lace's words were somewhat nicer than her own had been to Torleik the Unicorn at their first meeting. In a rare moment of thought, Kahlua bit back a natural desire to scream at the horned beast. He had left peacefully enough last time he had trespassed. Still, she couldn't help but voicing her pouty opinion. “Wasn't once enough? Why are you back?” She really should have known better, of course. Hadn't she just planned a trip to his home to deliver a gift? Wouldn't she be standing on the door of an enemy with a good heart? But the girl was not smart enough to think of these things and so she watched him intensely, just nodding a greeting to Lace.