“Aly!” came the bright cry from the painted queen’s mouth. What had been a walk erupted into a vivacious canter as the queen caught sight of the woman in the distance. How long had it been since she had seen her friend? Too long… Ever since that fateful day when Aurelia had challenged her, broken the queen’s heart and soul, left little Shilva lying in the grass without another breath to take. The thought of that day caused the queen to wince slightly and shut her eyes against the horrors she had shut into the deepest, darkest corner of her soul. Not today, she told herself as she bounded forward. She would not let that inky blackness paint itself over what was surely to be a joyous reunion.

Not so elegantly sliding to a stop and nearly crashing into her friend, Kahlua instinctively threw her neck around the Moon Doctor’s own. “I’ve missed you so much,” she cooed, her bright soprano catching Khan’s attention, who had been off hunting for something to fill his belly with. The little blue dropped his half-finished lunch and took to flight, heading towards his bonded. The sight of the small fluff of a companion on Aly’s back, hopefully not too upset by the sudden appearance of Kahlua, stirred a wave of playfulness in the blue dragon. Well, that is to say Kahlua too it is playfulness. The little blue actually thought he looked rather like dessert.

Luckily, as she was pulling her head back, Kahlua suddenly had the good sense to realize what sort of mischief the dragon was up to and turned to him and hissed a decided “No!” in his direction. Pulling up from the ascent he had begun, the blue sulkily descended to the ground instead and chirped and gurgled from the ground, eyeing what was sure to be a tasty morsel if he could ever get to it when Kahlua was not paying attention.

With that nonsense over, Kahlua stepped back from her friend to give her space and briefly noticed the flowers in her wing. However, the queen was no doctor and never would be, so the idea that the flowers had come from some foreign land was not something that ever crossed her mind. Instead, she focused on what was important to you. “Where have you been- I hope you were alright!” And then, because the idea came to her suddenly and it seemed to be a very real possibility, she said, “I hope it wasn’t something I said after… after…” Well, she almost said it, anyways. Saying Aurelia’s name was still hard for her and though she had mostly gotten over the hurt of what had happened, speaking about it always brought the terror back to the forefront, so she tried her best not to.

@[Alysanne]

Kahlua