Själ

She remembered the day that she found Ansgar's egg.  It was crystal clear, as though it had only happened yesterday, though many of her other, less pleasant memories had long since faded away.  She remembered stumbling into a clearing, an orb perched precariously on the edge of the ice, tilting this way and that - she remembered the bumbling idiots who were going to knock it into the water and she remembered screaming at them to stop --

And then Ansgar had chosen her.  It hadn't been the girl's choice at all.

"I guess that what your Ma says kind of makes sense," she replied thoughtfully.  "I mean, I guess if someone was using their companion to, I dunno... fight, or something like that, or if they stole the egg away from its family, or..."  She trailed off, sickened by the thought of anyone doing something like that to an innocent egg, a life that had yet to even be born.  "But it's not always like that!" she exclaimed then, brightening considerably.  "Ansgar chose me, not the other way around!"  The griffin bounded ahead of the pair, twirling to wait for them at the top of a particularly steep rise, purring as though to say, yes, that's right, I did choose her.  And then she was off again, scouting ahead as she was wont to do.

The girl rather thought that her badass's ma sounded quite wise, unlike her own deluded mother.  But it was Snö who earned the boy's wrath.  The girl giggled as he denounced the older filly.  "I'm glad you think so," she said, swinging her hips to bump her rump against his.  "I don't know why she wanted me to leave so badly.  I'm glad I came back, though!"  She was oblivious to his staring, distracted by his rage (which, by the way, she thought was adorable - and not in the oh-you're-such-a-cute-baby-let-me-pinch-your-cheeks way, either) and perfectly happy to accept his offered compliment.

As Zèklè began to describe his mother, though, the girl's smile began to falter.  It wasn't that she was unhappy - truly, it wasn't - but as he spoke of his Ma and how wonderful she was, the princess could not help but want that, too.  She swallowed hard, jealous in that way that makes you happy for them but sad for you, attempting to keep her emotions in check because it wasn't his fault that her mother had gone off somewhere and died.  It wasn't his fault that she had grown more psychotic with each passing day.  It wasn't his fault that she couldn't tell if Mother had loved her or her legacy more.

His shout startled the girl, who raised a brow and tilted her head, confused and amused in equal measure.  But what he said truly surprised her, and she gaped at him, speechless, happiness and gratefulness and nervousness and bemusement bubbling up and up and up inside her until she couldn't hold it in - "W-wait, do you mean it?!" she practically shrieked, realizing too late that her excitement made her look way too desperate.  She didn't want to be some needy baby, after all.

She could meet his Ma, and his sisters, too - she wondered if they would like her, if maybe... maybe... maybe they could be her family, too?

But no, wait - if that happened, then that would make Zero her brother, practically, and that was just weird, and... and weird, and...  And he wasn't a brother, ew, no, he was... he was...

Well, it didn't really matter, did it?

"Of course, I'd love to live in the Throat!" she squealed finally, practically prancing in place with excitement.  A thought stopped her, though.  "Do you... do you really think I could?  What if they don't like me?" she whispered, doubt shining in her eyes as she shifted her weight back and forth, wringing her tail anxiously, looking to him to soothe her cracked soul.

"Speak."
--Ansgar.--