RUSKE

        A vague uneasiness crept through me as we waited – perhaps no one had heard me? No one would come? I did my best, however, to hide my concern. Both mare and dragon seemed, at very least, quite tolerant of my presence. Chuckling in response to the dragon’s small show of pride, I shook my head. “They are such amazing creatures…” Though I felt no envy, I did eye Adella for a moment longer. My first observations involving the beasts yielded little, but the more I watched them, the more I began to realize they held their own intelligence – perhaps equal to mine. Perhaps.

        I listened intently as Isi explained about the shadows. Her telling communicated a different sort of plague than the one infecting my own home, but a chill passed through me all the same as I thought on it. Briefly, I imagined myself arriving in a Helovia steeped in darkness, crawling along through the trees and meeting only monsters… Something in my thoughts clenched, hard, and I shook the fantasy away. “I must have arrived well after the land’s illness was cured,” I agreed with a nod. “I have never heard of such a thing, though my old home did experience… a similar plague.” One I had no intention of reliving. I turned instead toward the sound of footsteps, my eyes at last picking out Resplendence’s pale form against the green.

        Valiant arrived just before her: crimson feathers throwing his small shadow over us both. Though I had seen him before I failed to place the little dragon for a moment. Then, of course, the whole of the scenario rushed back: the healer, the others…. I nodded to her as she approached. The tension in her frame had not left since our last meeting, but she did appear recovered. I greeted her with a brief nod of my head. “Resplendence. I am much improved, thank you.” It hardly rang true as I allowed a glance back at my sunken frame, but my inner workings did at least allow for movement and cognition, when they had refused before. I would continue to improve. My attention for the moment belonged with Isi, however.

        She introduced herself and her purpose with no help from me, and I only nodded along in confirmation of her story. “I believe she would fit well here in the Edge,” I offered, speaking only from what little I knew of both the herd land and the mare. Of course, I knew little of Resplendence, as well… but I felt content in trusting my judgment, and politely waited for the Moon Doctor to provide her own.

NursE

world's edge