The autumn air felt cool against my face but it tasted of salt and the impending winter. I knew that once the cold of Frostfall fell over the Edge, the roaring of the waves against the cliff would cause the frozen breeze to send a biting chill down my spine. I had missed the sea almost as much as I’d missed all those familiar faces. Ultimately my former fortitude looked unchanged aside from sporadic slabs of glass littering the borders alongside the Edge. In many ways the shattered glass reminded me of my plight; we both needed repair and I knew that neither would find as much without the efforts of the family we had failed to protect. Had I come sooner, would I have found the remnants of my home so damaged? It made me wonder where my loyalties truly lie and that in itself pulled at my heart until a soft ache thudded faintly against my breast. I could not help but feel so small standing here like some strange newcomer, foreign to the eyes that would soon befall me. However, I could not run anymore from myself and this part of my heart. I had loved so strongly all that the Edge stood for and whether or not I returned its King, I would return all the same. I would serve its purpose as I once had with just as much faith and determination. After all, I hadn’t forgotten the animal I’d discovered within myself in the wilds.

He still sulked in the recesses of my mind, prodding me whenever possible to hold whatever ground I could stand on. He was a ruthless imitation of myself and though I felt no reason to call upon him here in the comfort of my home, I knew that he waited in the deep, eagerly anticipating the moment I once again whispered his name. However, all thoughts of his existence vanished upon seeing a painted figure in the distance. Recognition seemed to reach into my clouded thoughts and pull name after name from the endless well until I was finally able to hazily agree that this vision of beauty was indeed a mare I’d once known as Kahlua. Fragmented pieces of memory came together and I could suddenly recall meeting the young Lady long ago in the Threshold. I had invited her home with me, to this very beginning she ought to know well. I glanced to the crystal basket she carried between her jowls. It was a beautiful craft that must have taken weeks to complete… At some point I knew that she had been an apprentice under Lace, but I was unsure of where she had ended up. As she lowered her head to place the glass artistry at her feet, I couldn’t find it within myself to look away. It was so pristine in comparison to the broken wall that I almost laughed at the crude comparison of myself now and who I was before I disappeared.

When I brought my eyes back to the carrier of the fine basket, I couldn’t help but feel suddenly confused. She stood there, stilled by what appeared to be shock as she tore through my excitement with her apprehension. My name was a bare syllable upon her tongue and it came in on what sounded like a hushed breath. For a moment I was stunned. Had I been so forgotten that my return would strike these souls into speechlessness? Shock my family into shy acceptance? Had I been wrong to come back? The hurt welled up from within so strong and so fast that I felt the light that had been building since my homecoming was all but extinguished. I felt my resolve fading and weakening its hold on my being and finally, I let the cold cradle me once again in her arms.

He returned with me.

Kahlua’s voice fell flat before us and the strange tune in which she sung my name felt somewhat cool. Her eyes did not appear to see me, or perhaps she did not want to see me standing here at the doorstep of the Edge. But why? I took a moment to process this queer situation before nodding slowly. “I must be.” I had gone, but I had come back. Surely that meant something to her and when she did not step aside to let me pass through the fragile wall, I huffed slightly. I glanced past her a time or two in hopes that I would catch sight of Mirage parting the mists to greet me. But she never came. “Mirage… where is she? It’s important I speak with her.” From what I’d come to know of the little shadow mare, she only left the Edge on important business. I wondered what had happened that she would find it in herself to step away from her throne. Fixing my eyes back on the painted Lady, I waited for explanation. I refused to wear my emotions on my sleeve and instead gazed through her, still wistfully hoping to catch a sight of my Queen.

OOC | No, you don’t have to tag me and thanks! I can’t wait to get this thread rolling!