Elspeth

As I watched the burst of sparks fall back to the earth and heard the call that followed it, I wondered for the twentieth time (at least) what sort of world I had gotten myself mixed up in. Magic, it seemed, was flippantly used for no other purpose than gathering the geese together so they might gobble.

Not so much time had passed since my captivity that I was able to watch the fireworks display and not feel my heart quicken and a sinking feeling in my stomach. Magic was still too strange, every bit of it I saw threatened to undo everything the kindness of these Helovians had built. I had not meant to spent more than a moon’s passing here at most but each day that I woke up, I was reminded that I had nowhere else to go. I did not know what lay outside this Helovia anymore than I knew what lay inside but the risk of being recaptured and forced back into slavery seemed far greater in that unknown land than it did in here.

I had to admit, grudgingly as I did so, that despite my fears I was growing more and more curious about the herd I was staying with. They had left me alone as I recovered, as I put on what weight I could in the cold months, and I really hadn’t mingled much with them - aside from Calder, Zandora, and Rexanna. And those exchanges had been brief and… not when I had been at my best.

Perhaps I would just walk by the hotsprings and get a look at those who had gathered. If there was a large crowd… well I wasn’t sure what I would do if I was surrounded by a whole crowd of purple and golden mares or whatever other colour they had hidden around.

Cautiously, I began to scout the Basin. I couldn’t remember exactly where the hot springs are - though I had slipped into their waters once in the cover of night when no one else had been around. Eventually, though, I was able to find them and recognized Rexanna as one of those and two brown mares - all with a single spiral horn. Well, that wasn’t so bad!

With slow, uncertain steps I approached the trio - pausing several feet back from the edge of the springs. Drawn as I was to the heat they provided, I wasn’t entirely sure I considered myself part of her herd - perhaps this was a special club for certain mares. “May I join?”

give me the sun that shone