It was like a sugar high.
That unsettled feeling of being completely and utterly hyperactive, yet unable to gather the strength to run and gallop free and wild and with reckless abandon. It was restless exhaustion, and while the mare's body tiredly handled the activities of their day, her mind was abuzz with the Goddess' words, to all of them.

Happy, silent companionship was found amongst the quartet of beings, two winged and two hooved. The winged ones both curled up on the backs of their bonded's, their minds delightfully full of the dreams and colourful thoughts the creatures might be experiencing. Though Akaith was years older than the newborn feline-bird Kali, her mind still saw the world differently, and while her waking hours often reflected the more familiar mind of her bonded, it was in this dreamlike state that Mirage was reminded just how different, and individual, she was from her. It made her love the little queen all the more.

The further their steps brought them from the Veins, the more a strange sensation settled over the mare. She shivered, though it was not cold. Her steps paused as her sister bent to drink, and while she was thirsty, she was too distracted to go through the simple motion of alleviating her thirst. Her eyes shut as she concentrated inwardly, trying to pinpoint exactly what was amiss within her.

The words of her sister caused her to nod slowly - in agreement. "I feel different." She said, hardly wondering at how Rishima would even be able to discern such a detail about her. Distracted, she was, confused and oddly euphoric. She had felt this sensation before, when she crossed the Gateway of Isilme, and stumbled upon the magic that had always laid dormant within her. With some effort, the mare focussed upon that magic, that illusion of Light, and made it cascade over her body, for a few seconds, and did not even think what her sister might have seen when she did so. It invigorated her, she could feel the magic within her literally humming with life.

There was something else. Something more.

A snort was exhaled roughly, as the mare with golden eyes refocussed upon her sister. "What is it you see?" Finally the gears were turning, unusually slow in her mind today, for much had happened, fatigue and the multitude of others thoughts and sensations caused her to neglect the exact wording her sister had chosen to use earlier. Once again, her shimmering cloak fell over her, once again, only for a handful of seconds before it settled to allow the mare to stand solidly before her sister. Something was growing within her, something else; she recognised it to be magical, but could not define it, control it. Akaith murmured in her sleep, and within Mirage's own mind she saw a golden dragon, larger and more beautiful than any other she had ever seen before, rising above the clouds.

Little did she suspect the true meaning behind Akaith's dreams.