Poor Kahlua. All she wanted to do was help and the young tree-laden horse was stumbling backwards, away from her, apparently afraid of the painted girl, though Kahlua couldn't imagine why. Of all the things in Helovia, she was probably the least scary one out there. Well, at least in her mind. She had met plenty things more frightening, not the least of which was the vulture she had told the filly about. But there was also Ricochet, the darkness of the endless night, the mysterious Midas double, the unicorn that had attacked during the invasion, the leaders of the Basin... the list went on and on. And the filly was backing away from her, of all things. Kahlua tried a smile, to see if it helped.

Oh, no! That is a terrible fate,” the filly offered and Kahlua nodded sagely, in full understanding. Wearing mushrooms was, in fact, one of the worst things that could ever happen to a horse and Kahlua knew the horror all too well. And now she had this filly here to share her troubles with. Even if the tree-mare was young, which was somewhat of a frustration to the overo, she clearly understood the unfortunate side-effects of having a tree upon your back, where it most certainly did not belong. Or did she?

As Fig continued on, Kahlua's smile dropped a little, mostly for confusion. Wait? She was to blame? The mushrooms took breath and suffered? Now she was thoroughly misunderstanding. Her blue eyes looked for Fig's beneath her mass of forelock. Was the girl playing some sort of trick on her, trying to fool Kahlua so that she could then turn her words around and cast jokes or scorn onto the painted girl? Kahlua tilted her head, her brain firing but little going on inside. Try as she might to understand, she simply could not wrap her head around what was going on.

At least, in her confusion, her watery eyes had dried so she did not look quite so helpless. “Wait... I don't understand...” As if her face hadn't said it all. “The mushrooms were on my hips and back... They weren't supposed to be there...” But she soon enough trailed off into nothingness, brow furrowing on her head as she tried even harder to make some sense of this. “You want that tree there?” She flicked her tail, snaking her neck around to the right and trying to get a better look at it, curiosity beginning to get the better of her. What was going on here?