The queen's heart broke for Nasreen when she found out that this was not the long awaited Th'orqui at all, but rather something else entirely. Kindly, she put out her nose to touch Nasreen on the shoulder, to share the mare's pains and to make her feel better in some way, if she could. For though Kahlua was rather poor at conjuring up emotions she was not familiar with, she was acutely aware of the feeling that Nasreen must have been experiencing. Dragomir's voice was so very near to her twin brother's that upon hearing him for the first time she had been overwhelmed with excitement and, upon turning to see him, had nearly died of grand sorrow. Yes, promises of home that were not kept seemed to Kahlua to be the cruelest kind of joke.

Still, the queen carried on, and though she was somewhat nervous that they were sneaking around the outer wall of this place and not proudly parading through the front door (not to mention the somewhat disconcerting sensation of what appeared to be walking on clouds), she was content enough to follow the misty stag. His ever-changing body was a mystery all its own to behold and she found herself growing fonder of the strange stag, smiling kindly as he turned back to regard them. A stupid queen she was to follow him so blindly, but she had faith in her gods and the magics of the land.

Quickening her pace to keep up with the stag, the Kahlua found her own sides rushing in and out as she pulled for air. Though her ancestors were made for running, Kahlua was not and she was happy enough to stop with the stag, looking up to see the towering spires of the castle above her. She did not know this place, and yet it felt strangely familiar. When she looked back down again, attention captured by the tinkling of ice in the air, Kahlua found the stag's head half-buried in the outer wall. It did not strike her strange that the wall (seemingly placed there to contain whatever was inside) was so easily breached. She was still lost in memories that stirred in her brain. And though she did not understand 'eIIIIInnnnuh' as any word she had ever heard before, she understood the motion of his head well enough. In. She obliged.

Opening her eyes as she came out the other side, having admittedly been a little frightened to attempt the strange mode of travel, the queen gasped aloud, cooing softly to her friend. “Nasreen...” And in that moment she was a child again, standing in the cathedral that her mother and father called home. This was different, for the walls and ceilings of her childhood were not made of ice and cloud, but the structures were familiar enough to raise a feeling of nostalgia. “It's like my home,” she whispered, wondering if Nasreen would remember the tale of fire that Kahlua had told her when they'd met.

So where she should have been frightened by the icy eyes of the new stag that stood before them, or the shadowy hall to the left, Kahlua was experiencing only a bitter-sweet feeling of comfort. To have her hooves standing upon a strange solid ground, surrounded on all sides by walls and a vaulting ceiling. Even the chill was familiar, as the cathedral of her youth had been high atop the edges of a sloping mountain. She almost expected, as she turned to the ominous hallway, to see the ghosts of her father and mother stride from the wicked-looking area. Her eyes couldn't help but mist slightly at the idea. She had been born a dark princess, after all, so even the distant feeling of unease was not unusual in this place that reminded her so much of her history.

Slowly she strode forwards towards the new stag, her face showing nothing but awe as she continued to look all about her. Had the walls been solid, she was almost certain it would have been the spitting image of her birth home.

@[Nasreen]