How they come together is a mystery, with no real thread of conversation that weaves them together as a unit. When she heard the horrifying stories spilling from the lips of her brethren, a chill went down her spine. Many may have made the assumption that Nayati, being the fearful creature she was, would never have desired to combat such evil. But there were so may other sides to her, dynamics that most never bothered to discover. Self-sacrificing was one of them, and hand-in-hand with it came the desire to protect her family. Maybe they never cared much for her, and maybe most of them never bothered to remember her name, but she loved them regardless. They could spit on her and kick her to the corner to rot and she would still love them. Her heart simply didn't know how to hate.

So as the new dawn after the meeting burned the sky she returned to the meeting place, Rathunax leapt from her poll with a flare of his wings, seeking the frozen currents that bolstered his flight. Kahlua was first to be sought, and he hunted her down by sight and smell, visiting the spots he most oft found her. She was admittedly not hard to find. Aiming for Kahlua's young blue, the older crimson dragon chirred at him, calling for his attention and motioning for him to follow. A current of demand interlaced with a more respectful pleading intertwined in his voice. Hoping the other dragon would follow him, Rathunax swept carefully past Kahlua's cheek to draw her attention before flying leisurely past towards Nayati. He paused briefly above her bare crown, indicating where he wanted the Queen to be, before sweeping himself up and to the other crimson dragon. Younger than he, but of the same stubborn nature, Valiance was found with his meek bonded. The same call and dance was issued, seeking to drag the brindled mother-figure of his princess out from the shadows and return her to the reality of what was occurring.

Jahzara was last to be fetched, Rathunax carefully grabbing strands of her mane in his claws and tugging her towards his bonded, chirping and chirring all the while in his odd 'ryuu' fashion. Nearly purring, though it was far more demanding, a sense of urgency in his tone. Once they were all gathered back at the meeting place, though Nayati was not so bold nor disrespectful to climb the hill where the leaders stood during meetings, the dragon alighted upon a branch beside her and gazed down at the slowly gathering forms with a critical eye.

Nayati was not a very bold creature, and her voice wavered in her throat before gaining strength. "I was hoping that we could form a group together, to try and figure out how to fight this darkness, or at least discover the murderer of the victim on the island? I know we may not be much alone...but together, surely we can do some good?" Her soft vocals embraced the mares around her, hopeful ruby eyes flitting between their faces. Was this the right thing to do?

---

The Sweethearts! @[Jahzara], @[Kahlua], and @[Resplendence]!

Jahzara

The golden princess had been shivering in the cold, but was dutifully wandering through the Edge’s borders as though she was on the patrol herself. Certainly it wasn’t required of her to make such patrols, Jahzara felt it necessary given recent events to take it upon herself to make sure nothing else strange was going on. Everyone was on edge, for good reason, and with her newly appointed status she did not want to fail any of them. The Arabian cross found it her responsibility to make sure none of the Edge herd went missing, and though she had yet to personality meet everyone, she had managed to break off a piece of her heart for every single herd mate. All of them held her love deep in their hearts without a single sign of acknowledgement, and she was okay with that. They were her family now, and that didn’t necessarily mean they all had to like her, but in her eyes it meant that they were all to be loved.

Every few paces, Lily would pop up playfully in the snow. Only Jahzara could see the disturbance of the fallen fluff, to anyone else the frozen water was as pristine as ever. ’Whatcha doing Jay?’ The lilac pony asked with a bounce, either oblivious to the increase of dangers lately or choosing to ignore them to keep the mood like. ”Patrolling, Lily.” The mare responded calmly, but her response wasn’t good enough for her imaginary friend. ’Er, isn’t that the protectors jobs?’ At the question, a smile graced the golden’s lips with a light-hearted giggle. ” Well, yeah…But it can’t hurt for me to keep an eye out too. As a Specter it’s my job to make sure the herd is safe as well.” It was clear by the pony’s expression that she was still confused, but with a roll of her shoulders she shrugged it off, not wanting to get a lesson on hierarchy responsibilities at the moment. Instead, something else caught her attention. ’What is that?!’

A small, crimson dragon was quickly approaching them. Jahzara recognized the creature vaguely, she recalled seeing the dragon before with another mare at the herd meeting. A fellow appaloosa…What was her name? She knew she had heard it from someone before…Oh! Nayati! That was it! ”It’s Nayati’s dragon…” The golden murmured quietly to Lily, watching as he lowered to her and began to gently tug at her mane. Auds pricked to the urgent tone of his strange calls, and immediately she began to redirect her course. ” Okay, okay…Lead the way.” Jahzara whispered calmly to the dragon, trotting along behind with while beginning to wonder what it was that he wanted her for.

When she reached the place of meetings, she was surprised to see the small group standing together. Nayati reminded Jahzara of herself, and the golden offered her a friendly smile as she stood next to her. Quickly, Jahzara dipped her muzzle to Kahlua, and again to the peteite Resplendence. She definitely recognized the little mare from the meeting, remembering her hiding in the shadows, her shame in herself obvious. Once again, Jahzara’s heart ached for the mare. Was she feeling better? She certainly hoped so. As Nayati began to speak, Jahzara’s auds flicked back cautiously at the mention of the murder. This was dangerous ground they were walking on, how could they possibly solve a murder? Even Jahzara knew they were some of the least likely group to have formed together in an attempt to such a task. But…’I know we may not be much alone...but together, surely we can do some good?’ She had a very valid point.

’This could be your calling Jay, after all you are one of the new Specters! It does fit your job description, after all.’ Lily whispered to her as Jahzara visualized her standing to her left, close to her legs. Yes, it certainly was. This was all part of protecting the herd, and certainly the mares that stood before her were the most light-hearted mares she had ever met. If anyone was able to fight the darkness, would it not be those that could shine with the most light. “I agree. Together, we can do it. The darkness can’t stand a chance against our light!” Sure, her enthusiasm was a bit naïve and was like that of a child, but at least she was showing interest, right?


"Talking"

Specter

world's edge

It didn’t take much to cajole the young blue into a game, or what he thought was a game, as the familiar Rathunax came chirping. It was interesting, the blue almost remembered to notice, that the demand was not so forceful as some of the others he had been given by the red. His young mind was much like Kahlua’s, however, in that it ignored such details and spurred straight to games and fun. Perhaps someday he might grow, as the queen had grown so much over the last year, but for now he was a child.

Looking up to see her blue flitting away, the queen almost didn’t follow except that Rathunax and Khan circled back suddenly to swoop by her, her own companion even took a grab and her mane and tail. Was something going on? Regardless, she followed, happy to find herself directed to Nayati. Someday she wound find time to sit with the kind woman and really learn her story, if it would be told. Watching as the dragons flew off again (Khan following Rathunax just for the thrill of annoying him), Kahlua returned her smile to Nayati and just offered a simple hello, muzzle extended as a greeting. Certainly whatever this was, it would be explained in time.

The arrival of Resplendence and Jahzara drew another round of hellos and extended muzzles, touching and bonding where possible, before Kahlua settled in to listen to what Nayati had to say. And of course, it was very important. For a moment, Kahlua frowned. The thought of the murder was enough to send her whirling back near depression, thoughts of responsibilities and pressures weighing heavily on her mind. But she pushed onward, because that was her duty as lead. She could not leave her herd to fend of this evil if she was not willing to try as well.

“You’re right,” she said to both Nayati and Jay when they had finished, her little blue finally settling back upon her shoulders. “We’ve got to do something and I think we can do it together. You’re all so smart.” She didn’t include herself, of course, knowing her own personal failings. But she was motivated and willing to try anything to help (as long as it didn’t include a lot of physical labor). Since she hadn’t been at the discovery of the murdered body, thankfully, she deferred then to the others. “Were there any clues at the scene about what happened?”

Briefly, she wondered if Kaj had heard the news and if he would be setting up his own way to try and solve this. If not, she should at least tell him. He needed to know. Adding it to her mental to-do list, the queen then settled in, looking to her beloved sister to see if the medic knew anything. Perhaps cause of death, if it was a poison?