Resplendence headed back toward her herb garden, a few new seeds in tow in order to replace the ones she had pulled a few days earlier. And so, she trotted up to her jagged, tiny, but manageable garden area near the edge of the forest and the cliffs. She had to admit that her handiwork was not necessarily the best, but that it was working for the time being. Who knew, after all, perhaps someone would come and help her now that the herd had been alerted of her garden, and her desire for it's expansion.

There was a tiny smile on her face as she dug her flints into the ground, moving the dirt around and creating small holes for the seeds to be spread into. She could feel the tiny marmoset curled up in her locks of hair, holding onto the seeds which she had gathered from earlier, chirping away happily at the idea of getting to help with something. And, since Quil had told Zarina to stay with Res it seemed that that was exactly what she was going to do - stay and help. As one hole finished the tiny creature took a handful of seeds, showing them to Res for her to check and make certain it was the right kind before scuttling down her hair and dropping a few in the hole. Then, once she was done she clambered back up the locks of hair and into her little nest she had created by looping the hair around and around one section in order to contain both the seeds and herself while Res moved around.

One more hole, and then more scuttling. Res and Zarina continued this cycle down the rows until all of the herb sections had been refilled with the seeds to start to grow. And, then, Res went back through and pushed the dirt back over the hole and packed it in with her hooves, finishing up the planting portion of her time in the herb garden.

Now, it was time to start to pull the herbs that had finished growing for the time being. Delicately, she yanked the first herb in each row that was fully grown from the grown and placed it at the top as a point of reference for Zarina to check before her voice came out. "Mind helping me pull those, Zarina? Only full grown plants like the ones put at the top of each row, if you could?" Resplendence asked the little marmoset who was so comfortable in her nest. There was a grumble of complaining chirps as well as a swat at Res's ear from the creature that had scurried up her pole in disdain and Res let out a snort, pinning her ear in shock but forcing herself not to jolt at the sudden swat. Then, Zarina smoothed out the mare's forelock before swinging down to the ground and starting at the other end of the small garden, pulling herbs like the ones Res had placed at the top.

And so, the two got to work, creating piles of the fully-grown herbs to be placed in her box not long after. Then, once all were collected, perhaps she would have friends to aid in expanding this small garden to grow more healing herbs in the process...

Resplendence had chosen to construct her plot not far from where Dragomir had chosen to sleep each night; his circular grove of trees was perhaps twenty, maybe thirty yards from where the woman tended her herbs. He’d seen her about the area quite often but had thought nothing of it until the herd meeting, where she had disclosed what she had so busily been preparing during the times he’d spied her while making his way towards the wall for his daily walk along it. She was pretty, but then again most of the women in this forest were (the equine ones, anyway), and he hadn’t given her much care until she’d mentioned growing things.

His equine heritage, the lessons of racism and the tales of Aarde and Nieque the arrogant, drew him to work with the earth. Not to mention, he had felt quite useful during the last endeavor he had joined in on with those of the Edge (that gleaming, proud wall) and the mare in question was one of his own bloodlines. It would do him well, he figured, to assist her as she had requested, if only to ease the twinges of guilt he still felt over the black mare he had attacked alongside Ricochet.

The other mare… well. She’d asked for it. They had both told her to leave before ever harming a hair on her giant and mutated head, and he would feel no sorrow over assaulting her for pushing her nose where it didn’t belong.

Truly, he was thankful for her. If it hadn’t have been for the earthy pegasus, the other mare surely would have been snuffed from earth by the wicked Ricochet and the gullible and fire hearted boy that was Dragomir, and he wasn’t entirely sure he’d still be around to work on herb gardens if he’d killed someone.

Sure, she had been spying; perhaps she too had asked for it, in a way. But he still couldn’t shake the round image of her belly as she lie there, broken and beaten on the floor, the rain falling down like so many tears on her pelt. If he knew her name or where he might find her, the naïve child within him would apologize for his barbarism, the uncontrollable monster that had escaped him and brought her such pain. Either way, she wouldn’t have heard anything of use to her if he had simply said no.

But loneliness is fickle; it drives one to agree to friendships that seem glaringly disastrous just because one finds a common bond between the two. Honestly, he wasn’t ashamed that he had befriended Ricochet, only that he had done what he had done in reaction to the discovery of Shadow, the cry of his and his father’s God’s name all it had taken to strip him of every ounce of self control he had applied since Mirage’s sober warning.

His shame is seen in the bashful way he enters into Resplendence’s sight, light blue eyes shuffling about as he takes in the sight of her garden, her lack of an ear. He eyes the empty space with a passing thought, wondering if it was torn from her by an oaf as brutal as himself or if she had simply been born this way. It reminds him of the one winged mare he’d met in the Heart, the un-whole aspects of both women intriguing to his scholarly attributes. He hadn’t come here for medical exams, though; he’d come to help her dig and grow, to improve the health and safety of those within the Edge.

Perhaps if his list of benefits outweighed the heaviness of his prior actions, Mirage won’t eat him when she learns of his betrayal.

He doesn’t know her name; the mare had not shared it in the meeting and he cannot recall any others using her title. It doesn’t really matter, he supposes. Introductions were the bread and butter of conversation, an easy place for the awkward man to begin at. He was becoming steadily more adept at opening himself up to those he encountered, but still was no brilliant linguist; his youth bleeds from his pores.

"I am Dragomir," he opens with, glancing to the small furry thing that is dragging plants as big as it is into a pile with a soft smile before returning his eyes to the one eared, strangely red mare, "I heard you were looking for assistance. I have come to provide it, if you find me of any use."

Talking like that, she may think he is incapable of doing much of anything – but I can assure you, he’s clever as he is gullible, and quite strong for being so young. He just will not tell you these things; he honestly doesn’t know himself from the hidden side of a stone.

Dragomir

It had been a great many months since the rescue; when Hellena had sent soldiers to whisk her from the bitter grave in the Basin. The wounds inflicted had been well healed by the Edge Moon Doctor, and only the raw pink tattoo where once a lavish wing extended betrayed the truth of that macabre time. That scar and the waves of guilt and shame which flared inconveniently, more frequently in recent weeks- really, since she had stumbled home with the blissful aura of underground recovery suspended about her shoulders. It seemed many more than she had so ignorantly expected showed interest in her crippling, many intrigued by the curse of suffering which she offered no true sign of.
Helplessly though, the Oracle found herself and those painful memories at the mercy of her concerned kin, stirred against her will, and Silas’ better judgement to recall all the misery which had engulfed her childlike, happy world.

When the bare-faced moon was at its peak one star-speckled night, Africa fled the desert in search of change; some respite from the restlessness of her guilt-stricken heart. An offering of old tatty palm fronds and shrivelled spidering moss had been left for the sacred fire to gorge upon while she was away, and she was sure in the moments before her retreat into the pale moon-wash that no other would come to find her (so many had recently, as though they knew insomnia plagued her). With Silas soaring above, lighting the path safest for her to follow, the Oracle slipped by the half-made wall of the Throat and into the vast wilderness beyond.

By mid-morning, the pair; the one-winged Pegasus bound to the ground by gravity and her bonded Zephyr, had navigated the forked river parting the Thistle Meadow in two. They moved at an increasingly languid pace through patches of forest hither and thither, winding their way in a rough north westerly direction- guided only by the restless urge of the lean mare’s legs. As the Orangemoon sun shed down across Helovia a peaking sun, Africa and Silas had travelled as far as World’s Edge- finding they could go no further when a sheer glassy barricade greeted them and forced them to a stop.

“New...” Came the silent thought of her companion, like gentle breath through her puzzled mind. The Oracle nodded slightly as pursed lips traced the reality of the strange wall which had not existed during their last visit through these parts. She followed it for some distance, pressing the lonely wing by her right flank against its smooth surface as she did, should it falter at some point and grant them access. No such thing happened though, and she drifted away from it and turned, absorbing the structure in one sweeping glance.

Finally she looked back to Silas who was spiralling downwards from somewhere beyond her reach- the top of the wall perhaps; if he had been able to find its end at all. "Can we pass?" She asked him silently, eyes ever hopeful as he paused to hover in the space above her head. The young avian nodded triumphantly and curled around to guide her barely metres further than where she had given up searching. "Thank you.” She whispered tenderly, and turned to allow his landing upon her curved back easier. As he settled into the silken drape of cloak, she approached the slit in the glass.

She announced her arrival tactfully; her identity and her alliance given immediately, and was granted warm entry by those guarding the gate.

The Edge had not changed much, though the memories she now called upon to take her in were skewed by the trauma which had beleaguered her mind. For a little while she wandered aimlessly, uncertain why she had even come; not sure what she hoped to achieve by coming to walk amongst the closest friends to her home. She felt foolish for not bringing something so grand as the glass eagle gifted by these folk, and offered those she swam between modest smiles and gentile pleasantries instead. With a hesitant sigh, Africa headed for the cover of a grove of trees- somewhere to gather her thoughts and determine any purpose for the visit should the need for one arise. As she neared her refuge (unbeknownst to her, the roost of a stallion she had met once before), a gathering stole her attention and intrigue began to quickly smother her discomfort. They were grouped she thought, around a patch of dirt- a bed, upon closer inspection as delicate steps fondled the ground closer. The Oracle wished not to intrude; had not the confidence within to push herself into any business, and so offered before her arrival between them a snort to gain their attention- Africa was not one of their peers after all.


[ooc- Abba's permission to enter? -sheepish grin-]

Africa

The last few weeks had been tough on the white mare and she felt as if she had not slept in ages. If it wasn't one thing it was another and they all seemed to pile up one on top of the other. It was time for a break she just didn't know what that break would be or if that would even come. Shuffling her feet half heartedly as she walked she felt drained and without cause. Surely something needed to start looking up soon didn't it?

Her home was more than she could ever have hoped for, she had others around her now instead of being out on her own and she had a safe place now. Despite it being safer than her previous life her trust had not completely been won over by those around her. Many reservations had been made over the years and it would take much longer for her to overcome it all. Time, things would just take time she told herself silently. Most of the time she spent wandering around more out of habit than anything else, it was almost soothing to cling to the few aspects of her past life she had left to keep herself from going insane. After all what else could she do during the day to pass time, it wasn't as if she had many friends to spend time with.

More acquaintances had been made over the last couple months that just came and went as they saw fit, no one really seemed to stick around. She felt more as if she were a ghost walking in this world with no one to really hold on to. The couple friends she had made within the Edge were nice but she doubted they wanted her tagging along after them on their daily routines. Kahlua had her own task creating all those lovely glass sculptures and figurines that were all too perfect. She still couldn't figure out how she had so much talent, it was something she admired about her friend as well as her huge heart.

Lost in her thoughts she almost walked right by the small group talking. Lifting her head in curiosity she recognized another of her friends Alysanne who was among the three. Walking over to them with a bit of hesitance she gently nudged Alysanne's shoulder in gentle greeting before turning her gaze to the others standing around. None of them she had met before so she could not address them properly so she felt awkward and a little out of place. "Hi, I hope i'm not interrupting anything. What are you all doing?" She asked curiously looking around to the small patch of dirt carved out of the grass. There was one curious little creature hauling plants around nearly the size of him, she couldn't help but smile in amusement at his eagerness and drive to complete his task at hand. "My name is Brisa by the way." She introduced shyly glancing back to the faces around her.


MUSE: Good
NOTES: Sorry for delay, have been working non stop last 2 weeks.

The tiny little marmoset was carefully dragging each of the fully grown plants back to the pile Resplendence had started for her. Res would, on occasion, take one from the marmoset when she looked exhausted.That would give the tiny marmoset a chance to roll in the freshly moved dirt and then scurry onto the next healthy plant. The time seemed to fly by pretty quickly. But, it wasn't long before another equine had appeared just at the edges of her garden.

Lifting her head after dropping her mouthful of grown plants in the correct pile, she glances at the man who has come. He seems to enter in a bashful manner, his eyes taking in her garden, and then up toward her face. He voices his name, Dragomir and then looks down towards Zarina as she rolls in the dirt one more time before hopping up and trying to yank another one from the ground. He then states how he had come to offer his assistance, should she require it.

She goes to speak, but she hears the shuffling of hooves not far off. Her one ear flickers that way, and she simply bobs her head in greeting to Dragomir before snatching up the first pile of herbs that had been completely picked. She pushes the top of her herb box open, a smile on her face as she thinks of Kahlua, grateful for her creations. And, she places the herbs in their section before she hears the words of the other mare. Her name is stated and Res only nods her head, a short yes without words as she looks at the mare's careful steps beside the garden - as if she were afraid to step on them. Alysanne. She carefully placed the name into her memory as she continued to pick up piles of the plants and place them in their appropriate sections. Alysanne offered her assistance as well, while asking to learn more about the herbs. That Res could do, as long as those wings at her side were not spread. the innate fear of those with wings was impossible to get over very quickly.

Again, she goes to speak, but her voice is not heard because another sound has come to her attention. So many people had appeared, and this one seemed to be missing a wing - like Res was missing her ear. For some reason the thought was comforting. That maybe she wasn't the only one who was looked at as if she was broken. But, she was broken, that much was evident. Finally, she has placed all the herbs in their sections of the boxes just as another equine appeared before her garden.

From the nudge to Alysanne's shoulder she assumed that the mare knew her. And, the white mare asked what they were doing before offering her name. Brisa. Again, Resplendence stored it away in her cranium for the future before she allowed her voice to fully ring out. "Yes, I am Resplendence for those who have not heard of me. I can only hope it has been good words from Kahlua's mouth, then." She offered with a smile, feeling the little marmoset scurry back up her tail to rest on her pole in a nest at the top of her head, eyeing the mass of people with curiosity and concern. Quil had told her to guard Res (if that was possible for such a tiny marmoset to do) and so she seemed to be looking at each of them with contempt. "Ma'am. In the back. Welcome. You smell of the desert. Are you a Throat sister?" She asked, nodding her head toward the one winged mare before stepping aside from her garden and shutting the herb box.

"For those who are willing to help, expanding the garden would be great. This way more herbs can grow should we ever have a need for them in masses. As you can see... my handi-work isn't the best. But... it's sufficed for the time being. If one could stretch out the length of the garden, others can help work at making the lines where the plants will go? And, as we add in more seeds I can explain what each of them do - giving everyone another look at things, and allowing more knowledge on the herbs that could save your life, or kill you." She explained, nodding her head at the garden and tossing it in the direction it would be extended in. A tiny pause from her mouth before her smile officially came back. "Thank you all, for your assistance..." she whispered, not having expected anyone to have actually appeared at her garden, assuming that most would have passed it by without a second glance or another care in the world.

After all, she was tiny and broken. Unhealable, and unnoticeable. She was the one who hid in the corners because she was afraid of the world. But she wanted her family safe, and she had finally found that family. Now, she would have to find a way out of her shell to keep it.

From not so far away, in her own little copse of trees, Kahlua watched Res work with a smile. She had chosen the location for two reasons. One, because it was close to Res and two, because it was close to the cliffs. It was a rare moment in her life when she was content to stand to the side, to watch and not be watched, to take everything in and have nothing to say about it to anyone. But watching the fallen angel work was like watching Picasso paint. She was a master at her trade, a queen of plants and herbs, and she had a green hoof that Kahlua could never aspire to match. Not that she really wanted to. So instead the painted woman watched the mare and monkey work in harmony, planting and covering and pulling and setting them at the top of each row. Perhaps the overo was content to watch because it reminded her of her own work, the glass molding that might seem tedious to some but gave the girl joy beyond anything else imaginable.

And with time, others came, each new arrival drawing a new sort of smile or memory into the woman's mind. Dragomir, her twin brother in disguise, and apparently her new pupil. She was supposed to be setting up a meeting for the crafters, to arrange for production of a commission. Little did she know that she would be directing Dragomir to help her build a gift for the same Shadow woman he had attacked alongside Ricochet. Funny, how life is connected in such intricate little circles sometimes. Ricochet had attached Kahlua, Kahlua and Dragomir were friends, Dragomir attacked Shadow, Shadow spied on Ricochet, Kahlua and Shadow doing business, Ricochet and Dragomir friends.... it was lucky the painted woman knew not of the strange little melting pot the quartet made. Her brain would hurt trying to draw the lines.

Next Alysanne and Brisa. Along with Kahlua, they made quite the three musketeers. Happy brilliant women, all of them in their own way. Every day Kahlua thanked her lucky stars to have them. They had saved her from her sorrow, her deepest pains about losing Antheia and she could hardly repay them, but she smiled now to look upon them, to see them integrating with the herd so well. And then another face, one she had not expected to see here but was pleased enough. Africa- one of the Throat members that had accepted her glass figurine.

In the end, the girl could no longer stand it. All of her very best friends (Dragomir included) were gathered together, and a mare that she wished she had been able to talk to more... like following a carrot on a string, Kahlua roused herself from her little copse of trees and meandered towards them all. She kept silent because Res was speaking, despite Kahlua's great desire to shout a grand welcome and run about and touch them all. Good words from Kahlua's mouth. What else would she say? The painted woman shook her head and laughed, announcing her presence, as her eyes glanced to the headband Alysanne wore and the leg band that Res wore. In the back of her mind, she reminded herself to make something for Brisa. How was it that she hadn't yet?

Once Res had finished speaking, giving her suggestions for what to do, Kahlua was decidedly still. She didn't actually want to work so much as she wanted to socialize. But, while she was here... Briefly she remembered Res mentioning something about a Greenhouse, and so she decided to go with that, after bursting out with a vivacious round of 'hello's' and 'how are you's' and other such greetings, with a special acknowledgment to Africa and asking of the Throat and making sure all was well there. And then, once she had finally managed to get through all of her chattering about nothing, she turned to Res. “Where would you like the Greenhouse? Over the garden, or somewhere nearby?” She didn't fully understand the woman's plans, not to mention she didn't really understand how Greenhouses worked, and she would need to if she was going to make everything the way it was supposed to be.

Of course, whatever she did, she wore a smile. She couldn't be happier to be around all of her friends.

Kahlua

He was pleasantly surprised by the turnout; it would seem that the pride they all felt in looking on the wall had been infectious, touching the hearts of many who would come to assist the one-eared herbalist in her endeavors. Even though some weren’t to the appearance he preferred and filled him with a tense nervousness (Alysanne, and even the mare known as Africa who he recalled from the Heart) that outweighed even his discomfort at being the only male present. But, he was getting good at covering up his shyness and strange quirks of racism, especially in the Edge; he braved their mutated appearances without a blink, or a hesitant grimace of displeasure. He did, however, shuffle around a bit upon realizing that he was alone in a sea of women – discovered after his ears were flooded by a mass volume of female toned words.

Perhaps growing flowers wasn’t much of a manly endeavor, he decided – but his muscles would dig far more efficiently than that of his delicate workmates. They were all smaller than him, by far, and aside from that, he’d had experience working in a unit – something he was unsure of for all the ladies currently present.

"I can begin to expand. How far out would you like it to -" managed the deep voiced youth, before being interrupted by the brilliantly stunning (as usual) appearance of the Glazier.

Her arrival drew the first true smile to his face since his first fleeting attempts at niceness towards the unknown Resplendence, though he had given a nod of greeting to Africa upon her silent appearance. He wasn’t sure what she was doing here, but a faint memory in the back of his mind about alliances between the Edge and another herd sparked a welcome light upon her presence.

Kahlua, however, was more than welcome; she was beautiful as ever, her whites gleaming and blacks deep and thoughtful, while her personality outshone even her stunning looks. She greeted everyone in turn, the boy smiling sheepishly at her boisterous behavior and in response to the fluttering that had again begun to churn in his belly.

He wouldn’t ever learn a damn thing being this distracted around her. Something had to give. It just had to.

His own voice rumbled out friendly hello’s in return to the quickly ushered ones of the Glazier as she bounced from person to person, finally settling on the subject of a greenhouse. His ears perked forward at the mention of this building – he had heard of such things from his father, but had never seen one. While he might excel in digging out more space for the garden, he was truly interested in a place where winter could not touch that which grew within.

It just seemed… magical.

Dragomir

The warmth of the allied folk brought mild comfort to the dithering Oracle of the Throat and she sauntered forward, inviting herself closer to mingle in their midst. Tender eyes absorbed all those faces present- the one-eared claybank who seemed the basic centre of attention, a Pegasus like herself, and various other Helovian’s who had chosen this mist shroud forest to be their home. An amiable smile dressed her somewhat meek expression and she answered-Resplendence, when asked of her home. "Yes, I am Africa, their Oracle."

Africa’s own eyes followed the careful movements of the one-eared mare with growing interest- the box, the garden, the herbs, all were quite fascinating and still more was the small mammal tending the plants. Engrossed, the dappled mare’s ears were swivelled to listen and hold focus while Resplendence continued to speak. She could only assume this hive of activity was a gardening club- one like Manami had wanted to initiate back in the Oasis before she had vanished. A number of others voiced their thoughts, talents and questions, and the Oracle listened closely, regarding each face she met with a thoughtful grin.

She was not sure how she came to be working in their bee, but realistically Africa welcomed the distraction and cheerful mood of the group. She moved afterwards towards the far rim gestured towards by the head of the operation and set herself near to the familiar face of Dragomir with an introverted smile and a soft nod, and began to thrust the blunted rim of her chipped hoof against the thick bristly grass marking the border. To her, it seemed to be a task that would warrant little attention- though she had not come to ignore them, she was not their family and could not evade her nervousness.

Africa