It was easy to relate to this mare. The more she got to know her, the more apparent it became to the filly how dissimilar she actually was from the deceased mother. On some levels the resemblance was still there - in the darkness of the coat, in the mystery of their daily activities and the straight-forward gaze - but where Shadow had been impatient and restless, Iona didn't exude the same sensation of restless expectancy. Even when she revealed her nights to be sleepless and uneasy Erthë got a feeling that it had more to do with inherent nature than the kind of nightmares that plagued her own dreams - but she could be wrong. There were things you didn't talk to others about, no matter how familiar you were. Not even when they went from familiar strangers to friends on first name basis.

Sighing in mild disappointment as the flight lesson indeed got canceled, Erthë nevertheless smiled at the Specter's displacement of titles.

"As you wish, Mi.. ah, Iona. Hahaha it feels weird!" she grinned, half embarrassed and half delighted at this turn of events. The feeling grew quickly to excitement when Iona began to dig beneath a wing and produced a beautiful bracelet and offered it to the filly.

Erthë felt her jaw drop in disbelief. For a long time she just stared at the thing, hardly believing her luck; then she slowly, hesitantly reached out and accepted it, transferring the cool silver coils from lips to prehensile tail so she could study it closer.

"Oooh, it's beautiful!" she breathed, delighted but almost scared to touch the thing. "Are you sure? It looks really expensive, and.. Ah! "

She extended a rear leg to thread it through the gleaming hoop, and as soon as the metal came to rest just above the hock... the light disappeared around her. Not quickly, like a candle blown out by a sharp sigh but rather as though dusk was falling early, sweeping in on an evening tide and swallowing the day in a slow yet determined gulp. The clouds were still heavy on the sky and mist swirled in the sudden gloom, but somewhere high above her Erthë thought she could sense the glow of a new moon sliver, a silver crest lending an eerie gleam to the edge of every cloud.

"C-can you see this?" she squealed and snapped her head back towards Iona, with something wild dancing in her young eyes. Bewildered, delighted, scared... What was going on, was the heaven angry that she had acquired this bracelet?

Erthë

the      night      is      calling      my      name