At least, she thought - hoped - she did. Cirrus had joined the Falls for many reasons - she had been on a journey where she had had to rediscover herself, to face the truth of her broken self - and realise that perhaps she wasn't as broken as she once was. Perhaps time enough had passed that the wounds had finally begun to scar over, that the pieces of her soul that were shattered and scattered had formed something resembling a whole once more - she was not perfect (who could ever claim to be so anyway?) but she was better.

Frostfall had paled the lands, muted the colours. Cirrus had been here before when Birdsong had coloured the lands vibrant greens and browns and colours - now it was as if someone had sponged the saturation of the lands without missing a single leaf, a branch, a blade of grass. The cloudmare herself was even muted - rainbows were not a common sight in these wintry times, and so her coat reflected nothing more than the heavy, snow-pregnant clouds that ruled the skies above.

It was a habit of her past, to scout the borders of her land - to patrol, to protect. Cirrus knew the Hidden Falls better from the skies above than the ground - though she would learn both equally well given enough time. But her position in the skies above gave her a clear advantage, an overview of everything - and since the herd meeting, she was able to identify most of those within her herd by sight alone. It was a comfort, to know them by face and name, even if nerves and time barely allowed her to know more than that. Soon, she promised herself, I will learn more about each of them.

So when she spied from the clouds above, a figure almost invisible against the snow below except for crimson streaks and the curious glitter of silver, Cirrus descended from her heights and landed with some aplomb in the path of the unicorn, creating waves of ivory ice and powder moving outwards from her battle-hardened form. Eyes the deep hue of a glacier turned to view the mare - Cirrus had been ready to question her harshly, to press her for answers (- Who are you and why are you here? -) but she paused as she actually looked at the figurine, and considered her.

It had been a rainy night, cold and unforgiving - and the storm that had raged inside Cirrus had been almost as bad as the storm that had raged all around her at the time. It had been years ago, when the wounds on her soul had been fresher, and she had been lost, on the cusp of choosing whether to stay within Helovia or to leave forever - it had been this mare's words that had catalysed her staying.

It had been this mare's words that had led her here, this many years later.

"I know you," Cirrus said simply, shifting her weight as she considered this - what? Intruder? Enemy?

Friend?