"I can't say the same of you."

Phantom was unsure of whether or not the statement was meant as an insult or a compliment, so she simply let it be. If he believed that she had gone unchanged in her time in Helovia that was simply his observation based on only a few minutes and a few tidbits of conversation. Then, as she was contemplating what he'd said, he told her that he hoped she'd take his observation as a compliment. She nodded her head in acceptance of his statement and request. "It takes far more than that to offend me, Ashamin." the pale mare replied

The change in Ashamin's demeanor as she mentioned the invastion and her subsequent abandonment of the Basin did not go unnoticed by Phantom. Her head tilted to the left slightly as she observed the physical change that the stallion was undergoing. Was he angry because he supported the invasion? Was he angry because she left over what he might conceive as something minimal? Or was he angry because he had not supported the invasion in the first place? Her answer came shortly in the form of an apology and an explanation that he hadn't known about the Basin's dirty little secret. "Every herd has its secrets." She said, her voice even. "There is bad in every herd, not just the Basin, though I've not heard much of them since I took my leave." 

She was quiet and listened intently as he began to explain why he had left the Basin. It struck her, at first, that his reasons were a touch selfish, but she did understand. Time and experiences tended to change everyone, and sometimes those changes were for the better, sometimes for the worse. It was when you changed for the worse that you tended to struggle the most with what you were becoming. Sometimes as you changed you no longer fit in where you used to and you had to forge a new path. This speculation raised questions in the pale mare and, naturally, she asked. "Did you not like what you were beciming?"

And he was sick of the Time God's shit.

Phantom's head tilted slightly more and she raised a brow as she watched Ashamin, wanting him to continue on that train of thought. When he didn't she prompted him. "What 'sihit' might that be?"

But he was on with another train of thought and whether or not he'd even heard or would acknowledge her question mattered little at the moment. He was already talking about another mare, who Phantom did not know, that had left the Basin and how they had formed a group of outcasts together. At the end he extended an invitation to her, but she did not accept right away. While she liked to have a purpose and had, before, followed blindly behind anyone who would grant her one, she was learning. She would not follow blindly any longer. "What is the purpose of this group? Is it simply learning?"


"."