I am in no rush to reach the Dragon's Throat so I take the long way getting there. From the Threshold I fly over the Hidden Falls. Murtagh had been from there. A smile graces my features at the thought of the boy. He has certainly wormed his way into my heart and left me feeling fondness for him. Murtagh is what I wish that I could have been as a foal. A crease forms on my brow at thoughts of the other foal that had been there in the Threshold. He was a foal much like how I had been. The only difference being that he has his mother and they apparently have a close bond. But for both of us the joy of foal-hood was, and is, marred by a disability. If everyone had the same time as a foal that Murtagh seemed to more happy souls would exist in the bodies of adults.

I think about the foals most of the way to the World's Edge where I plan on stopping to visit. At the border I debate about what to shout out. Evangeline? No. That is not how I wish to address the mare who had acted as my adoptive mother. I want to cling to the idea of having a mother. But shouting out 'Mother' does not seem right either. I realize I am putting too much thought into this and I call to her in the same way that I always have. In the same way that I always will. "Momma Eva!" Morning mists sit heavily in the Edge leaving me to wonder if my voice will even be able to find anyone. I raise my wings and spread them to their full span before allowing my magic to come to life. I hope that my flames will act as a beacon if my voice doesn't reach anyone.

Tilney was a part of the Edge. He had wanted me to follow him here. I fold my wings back down once I cannot bear the burn of my flames any longer. I met quite a few new faces while in the Threshold. I daydream about what my life could have been like had I followed any of those new faces to their homes rather than returning to the Dragon's Throat.

"Momma Eva?" I call out once more, after some time has passed, this time shouting a little softer. I am losing my nerve. I have not seen the mare in some time. What does she think of me now? Unable to see if anyone is approaching through the mist I turn my eyes to the sky. The sun is still low and a single star still rests there. It is a stubborn ghost from the night that does not know when to move on. As I watch it slowly fade from sight; chased away by the sun, I wonder if I am all that different. Like its god, the sun seems to have a thing for telling others where to be. Just as that stubborn star seemed to I resent the God of the Sun for telling me where to live. The only thing separating that star and I is that the star had the courage to attempt a resistance. I am only a visiting ghost to the places I would rather be.


Notes: Faeanne is stopping by to possibly visit with @Evangeline but anyone is welcome to drop in! Ali if you aren't ready for a thread then don't feel any pressure to post yet Faeanne could always try visiting again.

I am embarrassed that a stallion I do not know answers my call for 'Momma Eva'. I am closer to being a grown mare than a foal but now it is doubtful that he will see me that way. After hearing me call for Evangeline like that he probably sees me as no more than a yearling. “Take care with those flames, there’s much tinder for a flame this time of year.” My embarrassment makes me irritable. Bossy aren't you? "I was worried that no one would see or hear me in this thick mist. So I used my flames as beacons." I swish my tail around in it to lend a visual aide. Some of my silky strands still brush against the ground even as I swing my tail about. Pride makes me stand a little taller. No yearling sports a tail like mine. My pride is all that keeps me from pointing out that my flames had brought the attention of someone and had not caught anything on fire.

“I do not know where Evangeline is, but I am King here. Is there something you need?” He is the King? I tilt my head and take him in completely differently now. He does have stature that befits one but I do not remember this giant. He was not lead whenever I lived here. But that is neither here nor there, it does not affect me. "So Mo--," I catch and correct myself, "so Evangeline is still a part of the Edge?" I consider asking him about Papa Ruske and if he ever returned but I decide to keep that question for Momma. King or not I only wish to allow this stranger so far into my life. A rank does not make a stranger any more than just that, a stranger. "No sir," he may still be a stranger but he is a stranger that does require more respect than others, "I only came to visit with my momma." I huff as the word slips out but I don't bother changing it this time. Instead I just shrug my shoulders.

Notes: This would be before that thread. Thanks for dropping in!

I nicker in response to the cry of Tallis. My eyes reach towards the sky that I know he will come from. I would be tempted to give the wings off of my back to have a dragon. Whenever I feel his weight upon my back I cannot do any other thing but grin. Although Tallis and I are, and will never be, capable of communicating as bonded pairs do; I have always felt a close affection for the dragon. Both of us carry fire in our veins. The thought makes me laugh out loud. I rise a brow at the ruler of the Edge. If he has a sense of humor he ought to find someone, who he had just reprimanded for the use of fire, with a flame breathing lizard on their back at least a bit amusing.

"Faeanne..You came back.." Never before have words ever placed such guilt in my heart. It flourishes and grows into a forest of guilt that blocks the sun. "I--I'm--" Sorry. My mouth is suddenly as dry as the sands of the Dragon's Throat and my throat feels just as scratchy. "Of course I did, Momma" My eyes slide to the Edge King. I dare him to assume that I am some ungrateful twit who hadn't the decency to make time for their mother.

It was this equine mare who had healed my young heart. She and the God of the Sun had approached my healing in vastly different ways. Evangeline healed me in a manner in which that selfish god could never dream of. She had taken me in and asked for nothing in return; not even my presence. In both a literal and metaphorical sense of the phrase Momma Evangeline stepped back and allowed me to fly on my wings.

I feel as though I have been more battered by the wind than allowed to fly upon it. This is my safe place being away from it is hard to adjust to even now after such time has passed. It is not even the Edge that I mean. It is Evangeline. I already lost one mother! Why did the God of the Sun force me away from my momma as well? "I would still live here if it weren't for the the God of the Sun." I will not tell her of the time I had spent in a land out of Helovia. I do not know what she would think if I had taken the risk to leave the Dragon's Throat to go somewhere besides the World's Edge. I worry that she would feel betrayed. "I wanted to visit you before I return to the Throat." Inwardly I wince at my words. So much for not telling her. I hope that she will assume that I have only been away briefly. I could tell her that I had gone to the Threshold. She would have no way of knowing if I was there recruiting or not. Oh how my forest of guilt grows.

"I like it here more." Feeling almost awkward in meeting after going without seeing Evangeline in so long I turn my eyes to the landscape that is quick to draw the wanderers of Helovia in with fingers of mist. Even now it tries to draw me back in for good. "It is too dry in the Dragon's Throat." I cannot visit and only be a dark rain cloud amongst the frivolous mists. "I am thinking of offering myself as a student to the herd's healer though." To make my stay there tolerable. "I wanted to because of you." And so that I can find ways to heal things rather than allow the gods to do so.

Notes: Sorry about the wait! @Evangeline