The only thing we leave behind when we die
is fear.

The corporal rested. She was still, nearly statuesque, upon a jutting outcropping of rock that provided a lovely view of the Basin. Her breath floated upwards in small puffs, as despite Birdsong being upon them, her herdland sheltered the coldness till. Her tail coiled neatly around a cocked rear hoof, body still, shrouded in the earth’s silence. Her eyes fluttered shut, enjoying the quiet. The world around her seemed to be crumbling. War ravaged the wilds, with strange gods reeking havoc as their gateways were opened, pouring sickness and alien creatures into the safety of Helovia. But not here. The mountains provided shelter and safety, and provided harbor for her crowned brethren. Perhaps their sanctuary was simply an illusion, but she was happy believing it nonetheless.

Opening her eyes, she looked past the pines, scanned silver over the permafrost. Something white and pure stood where had previously been empty. She stepped gingerly forward on her precipice, making sure that a misplaced hoof didn’t lead to a painful tumbled down the rockface. The intruder was small, so much so that the starry warrior couldn’t imagine a watchful mother not being close by. This babe wouldn’t provide any challenge or danger, but who knew what body protected it from the cruel and unforgiving world. She inhaled, looking for a scent other than the cold and stone and pine that filled the air here. Scowling, she was unable to catch anything useful.

As the tiny filly walked closer towards the towering sentinals, more details presented. The girl was a hybrid, small white wings matching a body crowned with horns. Ki’irha had not seen this filly before. Where did she belong? ’Shit,’ she thought, looking towards the towering metal machines, realizing that if the filly didn’t belong, she would become pray to twisting and grinding metal, enchanted for one purpose alone.

She lept from her perch, sliding down the stony slope, before bursting into a gallop once cloven hooves hit solid footing. Her white locks flew like a banner behind her. “Wait!” she called out, her voice sharp and commanding. Worry gripped her heart. Any intruder deserved the action of the sentinals, but this stranger was just a child. The starry girl did not know what the sentinals were capable of as she had never seen them animate, but today was not the day that she would find out. She covered the gap between them quickly and surely, before slowing to a canter, then a trot, and finally to a stop. Towering over the filly, the warrior loomed, eyes stern, worry hidden deep in stormy pools.

“My dear,” she began, voice hard and cold like the mountains around them, “Do you have any idea what you are doing? You could have been in very real danger.”  She was quiet for a minute, ears pressed against her skull. A cool breeze ran it’s fingers down her spine. She sighed, body relaxing ever so slightly. Why had she been gripped so tightly by fear for a child who she had never met? She shook her head, dropping her head down to be at eye level with the filly. “Darling, where is your mother? Or father? This is not a safe place for you, not alone at least.” Her features softened, a small smile tugging at her lips. “I am Ki’irha. What might your name be?”

She waited silently, hoping she hadn’t startled the girl with her harshness. The mountains towered behind them, a wall of cold and stone and bitterness, but perhaps this girl needed what they all needed. Safety and shelter from a world with no forgiveness.  

"Talk?"