After the tiger battle the colt had bolted just needing to get away and not look back. He wasn't scared about the battle but seeing his friend laying there so motionless and cold..that he could not take. Tears continued to leak from the corners of his eyes as he remembered the white filly Erthe from when he had been wandering the flats. She had been a little strange but she had been his friend! This was not supposed to happen! She was supposed to be alive still! Shaking his head he paused to wipe the moisture from his eyes just as he crossed into the forest. Really he hadn't a clue why he had come here of all places when he really had wanted to go home but something about this place seemed to appeal to him at this moment. Perhaps it was the darkness or the enclosed feeling it gave him but it was better than being out in the middle of a field that was for sure.

Calming himself down slowly he stood in complete silence just letting his breathing slow his heart rate as his mind started to reason with itself. Maybe Erthe hadn't been dead... maybe she had only been knocked out. Ya that was a better answer and surely the Earth god should have been able to keep her alive right? Tucking his wings tightly around him more for the security than anything else just wanting to escape the morbidity he had just witnessed in the battle. Thankfully his hearing had somehow returned to normal, hearing all those cries of pain and the blood gushing it had done a real number on his poor mind. Shivering at the thought he attempted to banish those thoughts from his head into some other dimension where he could forget all about it.

It took a little bit until the colt managed to make his legs move again heading in amongst the trees hopefully headed in the general direction of home. Flicking his ears the soft sounds of breathing echoed through the silence drawing his attention off course. "Hello?" He called uneasily not sure if he really wanted to know what was out there. "Is someone there?"


Aeolus Speaks
Aeolus Thinks

Wiping the tears from his face using his foreleg the brindled colt tried to steady himself so he was not so all over the place emotion wise. It was hard when you had just watched your friend die in front of you and not be able to do anything about it. Poor Erthe... she had been so nice to him and they had had fun, it was so sad that she was gone. Shaking his head once more to rid the thoughts from flashing before his eyes the boy pulled his head up and took a breath while his heart continued to beat rapidly in his chest. Startling slightly as a voice actually answered his calls he jumped back a step in surprise his eyes zipping over to the source. Blue eyes find the young girl easily but his brain takes a little while to catch up with the rest of him. Was he dreaming that all this was happening?

Blinking multiple times just to make sure that he really isn't imagining things he allows himself to see the beautiful filly for the first time. Ignoring the twitchiness his optics take in everything about her curiously while he couldn't recall why she looked familiar. Based on her scent there wasn't anything really obvious so she wasn't from the Fall's or the Edge. (those being the only two scents he knew of the herds) Clearing his throat of the fogginess that still hung heavy he tried to appear better off than he actually was. "I'm fine." He replied trying to not sound as if he had been crying for the last hour or so as if his red blotchy eyes didn't give that away already. "Who are you?" He asked softly taking a couple steps forward with his head lowered so not to scare the girl off.

Observing her cautiously it was now that the twitching/trembling vaguely started to dawn on him to realize that she must be hurt. Saying to hell with the cautious steps that would take forever he chose to slowly advance one step at a time until he was close enough to see her clearly. "Are you hurt?" He asked genuinely concerned about the mare's condition rather than his own problems at the present time.


Aeolus Speaks
Aeolus Thinks

It took the boy by surprise to hear that this filly was also present at the fight against the tiger, surely he would have remembered someone like her. So much had happened during that battle that his mind really was not comprehending half of what went on after Erthe got... No he would not say the word it made things all too real. It was hard enough to pull himself together already without reminding himself of such a tragedy all over again. Vaguely he found himself wondering why someone so young would willingly fight a monster but he supposed that it was for the same reason that he had found himself there. This was one thing he needed to make sure that mother never found out about or he would be grounded for life. Mother already worried about too much if she caught wind that he had been present at the battle, he didn't even want to think about how she would react.

Letting the pretty girl draw his attention back away from reality for another while he shook his head to clear away the horrible scenes that kept trying to plaster themselves back across his vision. "I am Aeolus." He replied simply forcing his face to smile despite his obvious out of it condition. Scanning the girl over for wounds he couldn't see anything from where he was standing but that certainly did not mean that there was nothing wrong. Despite her words of being alright somehow he was highly doubting that she was actually telling him the truth considering he wasn't exactly telling her the whole story either. "Was it the tiger that hurt you? You should have someone look at you just to make sure." He commented unable to help himself from being worried about Galiel.

Giving a sympathetic look he sighed softly deciding that he might as well come clean about his whole situation if he expected her to do the same. "I was there too and it was horrible. You got lucky, one of my friends...one of my...friends d..." Trailing off with the inability to say the words died, death, dead or anything relating to the term he fought back a new pang of grief as it hit him yet again. He had only met Erthe once but he had cared about her as a friend making it all the harder to deal with the harsh reality that she was gone and never coming back. She was not even that much older than he was, what if something like that had happened to him? Would anyone really care or notice? Well besides mother that is.


Aeolus Speaks
Aeolus Thinks

For the first time since they had begun talking it was only now did the colt begin to notice something a little strange about the way the pegasus girl spoke. Some of her words were normal while others seemed to be pronounced with the addition of other sounds to the letters. Confused he sat still just listening for a minute to try and figure out what was causing it but in the end forgot about it completely and just let the conversation carry on as it was. The next thing that caught his attention was the girl's lack of knowledge as to what a tiger was. Didn't everyone know what a tiger was? Mother had taught him that when he was real young and they would spend hours just walking through the forest and watching as many other animals played and ran about. Granted most of the time they had been actually looking for his brother but he still remembered the time almost down to each word that was said. Maybe they just didn't have the same animals around here as they did whenever Galiel grew up he mused quietly.

The explanation about how the filly got her injury made sense but it still didn't make him worry any less about if she was alright or not. He knew what magic could do and had seen its effects with his own two eyes (not that he had accidently shocked/scorched himself) it just wasn't something that felt good. "I'm sorry you got hurt." He replied not knowing what more he could say on the whole magic topic before things slowly moved back into the general battle once more. It was the one thing that he was starting to dread coming up in conversation cause every time it did that same old sick feeling would take hold of him again. Mental flashes of Erthe's body crumpling before his eyes played over in his mind at the mention of the one unlucky one. Feeling his throat begin to tighten he quickly tried to refocus on something else before it took over and made him break down like he had before. Shaking his head at the pain of it all he tried to forbid the tears from forming in his eyes with little success, guess the only good thing was that his eyes were already red and moist so it hopefully wasn't too noticeable.

Right back to the other question he still needed to answer...why was he out here. How was he supposed to answer that question without talking about the things he didn't want to talk about? It all just seemed like a hopeless endeavor to think that he could run away from his problems when they kept coming back to bite his butt. " I was.. I was just out here thinking cause I don't want to go home just yet." He finally admitted softly.




Aeolus Speaks
Aeolus Thinks