Själ

The skull-marked mare appeared, as though by magic, and as she approached, the princess hovered on the precipice of a smile. She had not expected Nymeria's presence to have such an effect on her: suddenly, she was full of glee, almost giddy. The world was bright, and she was happy, and everything else seemed so very far away.

Then she saw her friend's face.

The brilliant smile (that had only ever been offered to Nymeria and Zèklè) faded, replaced by a frown of concern, a confused tilt of the head. "Nymeria!" she called. The princess closed the space between them quickly, offering her muzzle to the mare before her. She wasn't sure what to do, wasn't sure what to say -- something was wrong, and though she could feel it, she hadn't the slightest clue how to fix it. She had always been the broken one; everyone around her had always held it together, at least as far as she knew. Even Nymeria, though not as confidently whole as the rest, had been her confidante more so than not. To see her breaking, to watch her shattering into a million little pieces in front of her -- it was nearly too much for Själ to bear.

"Nym," she whispered, once she was standing beside her friend, shortening Nymeria into something intimate, special, secretive (or so she imagined). "I missed you, too." Though the words sounded strange, almost childish, on her tongue, it was true: the princess had wandered aimlessly since their fateful meeting, constantly thinking of what they would be doing if they were together. She had wondered if the skull-faced mare would like the ocean, when she had meandered along its shores. She had imagined that the wolf-mare would smile with glee under the cover of the rotunda, watching its colors dance across the marbled floors. And today, she had gone looking, searching aimlessly, hoping that she might, by chance, stumble across the mare who had claimed a piece of her heart with their childish promise: friends?

Själ's muzzle turned away from where she had offered it in greeting, moving to attempt to graze along Nymeria's neck, as though checking her for injuries. Leaning to the side, the princess could see nothing physically wrong with the other mare. Frowning, she brought her amber gaze back to Nymeria's. "Nym, what's - what's wrong?"

"Talk."
--Ansgar.--