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I don't know why I'm supposed to have a job. I don't understand how I can be of any use, with my poorly hooves keeping me from moving at anything faster than a sluggish hobble. Momma says I'm too young for 'patrol', and though she and Cera had tried to explain what that was too, but it still was a little too much for me to wrap my head around. Momma had not said she was angry in front of me, when I had quietly asked her if I had done something wrong, but I knew better. Her jaw had been too tight, a blaze of fire in her eyes that I had attributed to that emotion. I didn't understand that she was angry on my behalf, that she was scared because I was so young and fragile. I was already aware of my own fragility, after all.

Ilaria is with me, today. She is warm and grounding on my back, spread out on my dark hide as she soaks up the sun while we travel. I was scared to get lost, I didn't know where the Heart was and I had nobody to accompany me on the way there. Momma had a 'patrol' of her own, and Cera had been helping Gaucho on something called a 'quest'. I was still new to these words, and I tried to understand, really. But all I knew was that I was scared and alone, afraid to fail something both my family members could so easily do, and often were assigned to do.

Ilaria cannot tell me mentally where to go, but she tugs on my mane to direct me, and I feel a little less alone. A little more sure of where I am going when she is with me. She has become as much mine as she is Cera's, but maybe that's only to me. I love her, though I don't remember when that began or how it evolved.

I arrive in one piece, though the heat and rocky ground only further hurt my hooves. I am wincing and withholding tears, though I am used to the pain. It's all I know, and all I have ever known. Nonetheless I limp, rather evidently really, and I can only hope my patrol mates will not think I am useless when they see me approach.

There is only one other awaiting me, and I call out to him weakly, feeling shy and feeble. "E-Excuse me?" Hobbling closer, I dipped my head, suddenly nervous. What if I wasn't good enough? Would they leave me? Would they tell Gaucho and Sohalia, and make sure I was punished? I hadn't asked to be put on this 'patrol', surely that wasn't fair!

Ilaria seemed to sense my train of thought, something I could never truly share with her, and batted at my neck unhappily. I focused once more.

"M-My name is Ryuu. Are you Sacre?" At least I'd been given a name.

@[Sacre]