Just when I thought that silence had sheathed the forest and its jagged edges, sounds of movement rendered me still. My heart was not heavy with fear though, at least not like it had been as a rogue in the Wilds. It was almost hysterical how tame Helovia was in comparison to the lands beyond. When I had once thought to be tense and suspicious, I was now serene and perhaps a bit curious. While my attentions were divided between seeking out the disturbance and avoiding it, a child-like vision appeared from the darkness, her eyes wide and innocent suggesting her obvious fear. I didn’t know whether to scoff at her escapades or greet her accordingly; of course the father in me admonished the latter and I smiled knowingly at the girl. “It seems to me that you’re a bit young to be so far from home.” I could smell the dry desert of the Dragon’s Throat upon her skin, the very same I had once sensed upon Kri the Resolute. I wondered if the fiery little mare still resided within the Throat or better yet, still called herself their Sultana. I was afraid to wonder about the changes affecting other regions of Helovia since my absence and decided that asking would only bring about more questions… and answers that I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear.

“What’s your name child?” The words felt gruff even to my own ears. Maybe it was because I had desired peace and quiet, but then again… had I ever acquired peace and quiet in Helovia? It was one perpetual meeting after another, each face blurring into the next until they all made one giant spectrum of names and features that I could no longer decipher at will. Everyone was willing to meet one another despite previous conflict, relationship, friendship- anything. It didn’t matter if you killed their father some years ago, they had something to say to you and you had to stick around for it no matter what… I guess that’s what we call civility, but I just thought it irritating. “Better yet, why do I find myself in your company?” I bristled at the edge in my voice and immediately regretted how, for lack of a better term, monstrous I sounded. If I’d wanted to come off like a pompous ass and get away with it, I guess I needed to glue a horn to my head and swear myself to the Basin.

It’s not that she was an abdominal creature, as plain as she seemed, but I still took offense the company of children since the estrangement of my own daughter. I missed her dearly, but I feared that even reaching out to her would be useless in the face of all that I’d done to her. I was even more afraid to find what kind of mare she was now… I hoped that she’d followed in Tamira’s footsteps at least. Really, I only hoped she was still alive and well… The kind of pain I would feel if I found out otherwise might just… well it might just kill me. As I swung my head back around to the small girl before me, I grimaced. She was just a reminder of Essetia, only less appealing. However, could you blame me for thinking my own kin to be marvelously striking? Essetia and her ivory eyes and strange badger face? She was the epitome of beauty in my eyes and no beast in their right mind would ever convince me otherwise.

This child, though interesting in her own way, did not fare well in my opinion. Come to think of it, as she sat there looking at me with child-like wonder (all pun intended), I noticed her consistent sniffling. It was every few seconds; three or four breaths and she would sniffle and then breathe and then sniffle. It was absolutely irksome. “A girl so young, out so late by herself… and sick? Please tell me I have discovered you by mistake- that you are lost and cannot find your way back home. If not, then the Gods help me, I will march your ass right back to where you came from.” I gazed at her now, with cold authority in my eyes. If Essetia had done such a thing, I would have yelled so long and hard that her ass would have sailed to the heavens.