There was a familiar distance about her, a certain breaking of the heart that had been worn so nobly on her sleeve that now served to resonate deep within my own chest. It reached for the open caverns within, with hungry arms seeking to open parts of me that I’d hidden from myself in an attempt to evade the agony of my past… But something in this mare had lit the flame anew and it was not a comforting feeling that flared up from my gut and to the surface of my emotions. My insides seemed to clench and spasm with the thought of Essetia and the memory of Tamira and my loss of the throne. This mare’s sorrow had awoken my own and I could not commend her for it; in fact, there was a part of me that admonished her for singling out this forgotten part of me, admonished her for bringing it back into the light. The Edge and her almighty power did little to soothe the warring feelings as they dipped and roared throughout my body like the plague. This was a new and overwhelming reconciliation that I’d hope to avoid and yet here it was, grown tall and green like the trees in spring, pressing upon my mind like a weight that I could not lift.

This was my reckoning.

However, as Brisa and I lost ourselves to the uncertain oblivion of our conscious, both contemplating whatever troubles lurked behind the dark curtains of our performance in life, her words finally reached the dead air in a fashion of disconnect. They were clearly an echo of the many conversations she’d had since her issues began but I was determined to see their end. I knew that we could relate on some level of understanding, I just had to bring out the truth so that both of us could look upon the specimen and honor it before casting it aside for later reasoning. This life was not meant for pain and suffering, it was meant for living and there was certainly no life in this mare’s eyes… just the death of herself as she wasted away in the past as I had done for far too long. “Time is a funny thing, don’t you think? But I don’t believe rewinding it is worth the effort. It’s in the past for a reason, hm?” I didn’t turn to look at her as I spoke because I knew how she would perceive me or at the very least I could make an educated stab at it. I’ve always thought there to be a right and a wrong way to deal with the past but looking back on it had done little for me in the time I’d found solace in the wilds, so I knew that it would do nothing for her.

It had a certain way of destroying someone.

Still, Brisa appeared distant and lost in her thoughts in spite of my attempts to bring her back to earth. The most I spoke, the more she flew away from the land of reality and into her own inner prison. Yes, my body ached and protested and yes I longed to retire for the night… but that was not who I’d grown to be. Mirage and Torasin and Tamira and so many more that taught me otherwise. You don’t abandon your family. I wasn’t going to leave them anymore even if I had to start over with a total stranger. “That is certainly something we have in common… but sometimes it’s just fine to let go...”