Children were odd, fickle creatures that still confused her. This quest was designed to show that she was prepared to be a mother, but the more that she smiled upon Zahra, the more that she understood that she herself might still be a child wanting herself. Would that be selfish of herself?
Was it really selfish to want a piece of yourself in a different form when you weren't ready to break that piece away?
Hobgoblin proceeds to lavish his ego in the attention of the girl, making himself more noticeable, demanding more and more and more. His teeth flutter themselves behind dark lips, drawing them upwards as if to daunt the child with his power. The barbed tail swings and flickers erratically.
Through all of his show, Sikeax remains locked onto the child. Ears glue to her every word, listening to all that has to be said and making sure that she can understand the girl. She would need this as a mother, and while her childhood had been short lived in a recent time that seemed far away, she was fully aware of what it meant to be a child. The ignorance of an adult was painful when you wanted to be heard, to be seen as something important and knowing that you could accomplish something worth wild.
What comes next crumbles her heart.
Maybe the hints had been weak and gentle, but now, she see's the whole picture. Zahra's parents were gone and weren't coming back, dead if that was what she wanted to put it into. One does not simply beneath a mountain, nor venture that far into the cave system with good intentions.
"Zahra?" Her voice pours out of her lips in a soft, careful tone, trying to exact some sort of feel of this situation. The strings holding her heart into place tighten and twist about her entire chest. "Do you not have anyone other than Bird and yourself to stay with? Are you all alone?"
There was a chance that the Pegasus foal had been like herself at that age, willing to drive on and finding a herd to accept her, but at that time, Sikeax had Roy to lend a hand in the right direction. Her father had held her hand up until he left her, fleeing without a word.
Oh, what she would of done for just one more day, knowing that her father was still around and being able to talk to him. To know why he left her without a word and to let him see how far she'd came in the world.
While it seemed selfish and almost arrogant, she wanted someone to be proud of her accomplishments in the world, having risen from the bottom of the food chain where she and her family was stepped upon and hated.
Bird is hungry, she learns. They're probably both hungry, and while the grasses are sparse and the mice even less, she doesn't know what do for them. Hobgoblin simply huffs, rolling red eyes at the idea of even finding food for the fox.
Some have got to die.
"I'm sorry, I don't have any food, and I doubt there's much up here." Remorse fills her voice and weighs it down. The once happy smile fades into a blank slate, something about depression and worry for another soul.
She should be use to it about this time.
Zahra chimes in in an excited way, Sikeax watching with confused eyes as she spins. Had she been this way in the past? Hobgoblin tilts his head to the side and chirps, listening as the girl rambles about the forest. There were thousands of trees in Helovia, and while she knew of forests, the largest was near the Threshold.
Venturing into there with a child sent a tingle down her spine, but what hurt could it manage? Zahra obviously wanted to head in that direction, or at least it seemed.
"If you want to go to the Deep Forest, then I could take you." Attention drifts over to 'Bird' for a moment, watching the fox curiously. "We could find some food there too, if you're hungry."
But what for the definition of 'times'? What times could be there that they needed? A celebration, memories? Memories were being spun in her head now, threaded with weak cloth that would later rip in her future life, but for whatever was waiting there, she couldn't bring herself to prepare for it.
talk talk talk

@[.Zahra]