Poor Jay, stuck with the jabber-mouthed paint as a guide into this new and foreign land, but perhaps it could have been worse. If stupid and talkative, at least Kahlua was kind. Therefore, she listened patiently as Jay described Archie, butterflies, Charles… She was not concerned in the least about any of these things. Archie, clearly a friend who was just not around right now. Butterflies- a sort of magic that she had seen before. Ktulu had fireflies that followed her, after all. And Charles… Well, since Jay was clearly Kahlua’s newest good friend, Kahlua disliked Charles as much as Jahzara seemed to. “Well never mind about Charles, you’ll be safe here,” she decided with a resolute nod. Not that she could really offer any safety of her own accord- but that was what warriors were for.

And had definitely heard Jay’s question to her, but rambling on was her specialty. She decided to wait to answer it- the question not forgotten, but happily ignored for a while. Besides, there were more pressing issues. Jay was homeless. Kahlua’s heart went out to the new mare as she recalled her own welcome into Helovia. How lonely she had been until she was greeted by a great, hulking stallion with massive bat wings. And though she had stared in wonder, having never seen a pegasus before, she had ventured bravely into the land because any company was better than none. The sight of tears on her new friend’s face made her quick to speak in response. “You don’t have to homeless, you know. I’m queen of the World’s Edge. You could come live with us, if you wanted.” And her bright eyes danced merrily as she looked upon Jay, hoping that she could subdue some of the tears that were threatening to spill over.

“Our goal as a herd is for peace- we just want a peaceful Helovia. I think we’re doing pretty good, actually. Even the unicorns from the Basin seem to be leaving everyone alone. Thank goodness.” Cue dramatic sigh. “Think about it.” And, to make sure that Jay felt like she had plenty of time to think about it, as Kahlua had said, the painted queen began to ramble off into her own story about how she had arrived here and why she had been alone.

The story was short enough, and so it didn’t take long to explain. She had been living with her family in a place called Avalon. A fire had broken out, somehow, and destroyed everything. She had been on a mountainside at her father’s Cathedral home, so she had seen everything from above. When the fire broke out, she had galloped away, but only after trying to find her twin brother. Unfortunately, he had been nowhere to be seen… She stopped there to sigh again. Of all her family, she missed her twin Fuhrer the most. Then she went on to explain how she had wandered alone for a year, trying to find a place to stay, but she had been unsuccessful until Helovia. “Then the Edge took me, thank goodness!” Of course, talk of home led the queen to angle her path towards the draconian forest. Subtle? Maybe not. Hopeful that Jay would accept her offer? Definitely.