The God of the Earth's instructions had been clear and unmistakeable. To make Andash whole once more, she was to gather natural materials that represented the bone, flesh, and feather of a wing. And yet, as urgent as she found carrying out the task to be, she refused to miss her meeting with the stallion himself. She had told him the night before, prior to her journey to the veins, that she would meet him by Dragon's Blood, and so there she waited. Above her Kye called out in the trees, making her presence known and scaring off any prey. Around Xira, mice ran out from patches of fern and dens that rested in moss covered hills. She tilted my head at the patch of fern and approached it with curiosity. Perhaps it was foolish, for she knew that mere plants would make a fragile wing, but she couldn't help but marvel at the similar shapes of the ferns and her very own feathers. And the moss as well- how it coated the earth like skin to bones.

She wondered what the Earth God would say if she arrived at the veins with mouthfuls of moss and ferns to place at his feet. Would he laugh, or recognize that they were the best she had to offer? After all, what else other than the bones and flesh of another living creature could she provide? She sensed that death was not necessary to grant Andash this gift and fulfill the task set before her. Perhaps he was simply expecting her to think outside of the box to an extent; to forget physics and look deeper into nature.

To look deeper into a few things, perhaps. For the reason why she was doing this for Andash still haunted her; as moral and right as it was, she'd never been one in the past to do things for others simply when it was kind. She wasn't so much selfish as independent and reasonable. After all, wasn't one who helped others simply doing it for the attention, to have someone to lean on later? She couldn't understand the concept, that was simply the problem. And Kye, who perched now above her on the sturdy limbs of Dragon's blood, thought her foolish for it all. Was she really doing the best thing? More importantly, did she really care?

Xira pushed the thoughts away and made her way slowly to the fern patch to bite at their stems and collect a bunch of them. No, she could not dwell on such thoughts now. She would simply do her duty and collect what the God of the Earth had requested, and she would wait; wait for her company to arrive and her loneliness to fade away.

In the night's shadow the mare was much more easily startled. She had expected Andash to arrive, but there was something so ghostly about his sudden appearance that she didn't fully understand that he was there until he spoke. With shock, she turned on her heels, and the magic of the informant flared with in her. In a great burst she began to disappear; first at the legs, and then along the flank. Her form blended with the surroundings until all that was left was the faint hint that someone was there, caused by the scattering of the ferns she'd begun to collect and the rush of air caused from tossing her mane up wildly. Her natural instinct to strike out was only just barely subdued when she saw the face of the stranger, and with outspread wings she descended softly from her rear. As her hooves touched the ground, color crept back over her. The mossy color of her coat returned, and with it the soft image of her chestnut curls. Her eyes, dark and clear, blinked slowly, and she dipped her head to the stallion in white. "...Andash," she said simply and with slight hesitation, her dark eyes conveying her embarrassment and hiding all other emotion.

Above the pair, Kye darted quickly through the canopy, sending leaves falling in her wake and songbirds scattering at their abrupt awakening. The silence besides was painful, the uncomfortable situation growing with each second. When Andash spoke, Xira was grateful for the distraction. She let her gaze travel down to the now scattered pile of ferns in question, and shuffled with a slight sense of anxiousness before replying. "I've been instructed by the God of the Earth to collect a few things," She began, staying vague, yet maintaining eye contact and with it keeping secrets. Her time as an informant had taught her several things, the most important of which being how to lie.

Xira slowly began to reorganize the pile of ferns with gentle nudges of her hooves, but it was clear there was still more to do. The moss upon the earth needed slicing, and bone... what should she procure for that? She shook her head slightly and continued about her business for a moment before addressing the stallion once more. "Would you mind lending me another pair of eyes?" She asked with a slight smile and an inviting scoop of her wing as it folded back to rest along her withers. Kye seemed more interested in wreaking havoc on the other inhabitants of the Oasis, and she doubted the falcon would be any help, even as she called her down and commanded her to tear up moss. Andash, however... she had this strange sense of control about him. She had a feeling that he would do anything she asked.

Of course he agreed to it; she once more found herself bewildered by his kindness. Had she ever possessed such a trait? She doubted it- she could not recall ever being truly nice to her family, she'd simply drove them away with blunt honesty and undeserved insults. This act, gathering these materials to form her friend's new wing, was perhaps the first honestly good thing she'd ever done. She felt hesitant about it still, and Kye's words of criticism didn't ever help. Why? the falcon pressed constantly, bearing the question down on her and making Xira face the fact that she simply didn't know the answer.

Just shut up and gather moss, the chestnut mare told her charge bitterly, trying to ignore the, as always, on target comments of her company. She watched with a sigh as Kye begrudgingly obeyed by slicing moss from underneath with her claws in large sheets and the dragging them into a pile at the base of the tree.

With sudden embarrassment, she realized she'd yet to answer Andash. "Just, uh..." Xira hesitated, mentally kicking herself for coming off in such a manner. So she'd kept everyone at bay for all her life, insulted and teased, and he was an exception. For some reason she'd let him in and now struggled with the emotion of it all- so what? That didn't mean he was special, he'd simply been in the right place at the right time. Anyone could have walked up to her that night and she would have done the same, wasn't that the case?

There was a sense of crippling defeat when her eyes caught his and she realized how awfully wrong she was. With a jerk, she tore her gaze away and began shuffling around the pile of ferns to re-amass them. "Could you just grab some ferns like this?" she spoke, her voice turning to a sickening, shuddering whisper as she realized that nerves were overtaking her. Her confidence slipped away and the answer to Kye's question took its place, but she dared not think of it.

The roan turned instead towards the tree, looking for some sort of comfort and solace in it, but seeing only the bloody sap trickling slowly from its torn patches of bark. In the summer heat the blood turned to crystal and the bark, dried from a lack of moisture, curled up and reached for the sky. Xira began to walk around the tree before seeing a long, low hanging branch that must have snapped off in one of Tallsun's wicked storms. She placed a hoof on it curiously, testing its weight while all the while trying not to look back at Andash.

Bone, the God of the Earth had wanted bone. What of the tree of Dragon's Blood, with nature running through its veins and years of age building it sturdy? She rested her head beneath the branch and felt its weight, but her actions were absentminded. All of a sudden she lost the battle when her gaze turned back to the ghostly stallion standing several feet away in a patch of verdant ferns.

Kye's question gnawed at her mercilessly.

He at last seemed to lose patience and allowed his curiosity to take over. She let a smirk begin to play at the corners of her lips- she enjoyed the habit of keeping secrets. Strange that this secret was kept, for the first time, for a good reason. She pursed her lips slightly and kept a look of mischief on her eyes as she began to shove the large branch out of it's position and maneuver it to rest upon her back. The weight was heavy and it was precariously positioned, but she'd carried heavier before, and she knew she'd have help if she needed it.

"You'll find out soon," the mare said cooly, brushing past her company slowly before whistling to Kye to follow. The Falcon, talons full of moss, flew speedily to her master's side and trailed after Xira as she walked away from Dragon's Blood, a fiery look of determination in her eyes temporarily masking the confusion. She felt a shudder rush through her as she passed him and his wingtip touched her shoulder and then, as she continued, brushed along her dorsum. Her breath flickered at the physical contact, at the strength of the friendship they had. It was an odd sensation, one she couldn't ever remember feeling before. "Just pick up the ferns and follow me," Xira commanded gently, letting her navy eyed gaze slip back to his only once.

She journeyed closer to the veins with each step, breaking apart the night with a glowing brightness that rose within her. Soon they would be in the territory of the God of the Earth- soon Kye's chittering and scolding would cease, and soon Andash would fly.

[[Oh goodness sorry about the long wait for the kinda eh tag. I figure we should hurry up and get them to the veins though, so I've made us a new thread there: link]]