The reunion with her brother was something the doe hadn’t quite been expecting. Yet, it was welcomed and so emotional for the dappled woman. She had spent nearly a year here in Helovia, seeking her brother and always seeming to find herself in the wrong place at the wrong time – but not this time. No, instead, she foolishly managed to cut herself across the sharp bladed glass that littered the Edge’s borders and had the filly that appeared seek out a healer. That very healer, the doe remembered the filly call “daddy”, and while it was heartwarming the child’s father was a healer – she hadn’t quite been expecting to see the caramel stallion, her only full blooded relative in a sea of relations within their family.

It infinitely made her mood better, lighter, stronger, but she couldn’t contain the wanderlust that her heart desired. She trotted along the Halcyon Flats, enjoying the mirrored reflections and the turn in the weather as the soft salty breeze billowed through her darkened mane and tail. The dapples were bright against her monochromatic hide, but nothing was quite as bright as the tree branches that grew out from the white dun line that travelled across her spine. She surveyed the land ahead of her, heavy dual antlered head swinging back and forth before she gently looked down to her compass she carried with her, making sure the trinket was safe and still there against the flesh of her strong broad chest.

Soon, she noticed a figure on the horizon. Dark against the bright sands and reflective waters of the earth, but still light enough to almost blend in. Curiously, the mare trotted forth – her emerald gaze set tightly on the figure as she approached. When she was a respectful distance away, she nickered to the Pegasus. “Hello!” Her voice was a cheerful melody across the wind, a smile placing itself among her pink snipped lips. Oh, how she was so content and excited to finally have a home that she was beginning to be more outgoing toward strangers. Though it was rare when she did come across them, it seemed. Her first few encounters were easy, just friendly conversation, but when she met up with the scarlet Pegasus among the Secret Grove, well, euphoria ensued and encased itself around the two of them. What a wonderful, simplistic release, though Aelfwine knew that her brother wouldn’t approve. So instead, she kept the man a secret and turned her attention to the stallion that stood before her. Would he be another friend? Or another secret?

She moved like a shadow on the wind, dark and monochromatic as she danced along the reflective surfaces, splashing little puddles in her wake. Her cloven hooves skated across the ground in her approach, and her emerald gaze looked for Ryouta’s face, seeking out the warm tones that lined his body. And when she approached, he noticed her but uttered a simple “hi” before looking away. A small frown crossed her features, but determination lined within her eyes. She glanced around for a second, wondering if perhaps she was interrupting something between him and perhaps another. But as she looked upon the earth in all distances and gazed upon the sky for more winged creatures, she was left alone with him. And so her cheery smile grew once more upon her pink snipped lips. Then, he acknowledged her presence and it kept her intrigued.

“I’m Ryouta.” He offered his name, Aelfwine smiled with a slight dip in her heavy crowned head. “It’s a pleasure to meet you Ryouta.” She noted, glancing over his features for a second or two before returning her emerald gaze to his face. Noticing his mismatched eyes and rugged appearance, she wanted to praise him for it instead of shy away like most mares she’d met. Aelfwine was a traveler, a dreamer, and loved to get lost in the woods. She was more than completely fine with a thin layer of dust over caked mud, crossing her appearance, turning her dappled pelt from greys and whites and melding them into some sort of bronze, rustic appearance. So as she looked upon Ryouta, she thought that perhaps she could find a friend in him.

“I’m Aelfwine.” She began, shifting her weight on her cloven hooves and flickering her tail against her mismatched socks. “Are you looking for something?” She asked with a tilt of her head, turning her gaze away from him directly after the tilt and focusing her attention to the earth where he had been looking. If he had lost something, perhaps she could help him find it. Or, if nothing else, find some sort of challenge in getting the man to speak to her.

The dark tines cast long thin shadows across the mare’s neck – a slight wound was healing beneath her jaw of her attempts of making her way around the littered glass on the Edge’s borders, but the doe thought nothing of it. For now, it stayed a dark little line against the greyness of her pelt, a tiny papercut type cut scabbed over in reds and blacks that marred her weathered yet otherwise flawless appearance. She was rough looking, much like Ryouta was in ways. She carried herself a bit more cheerfully ever since meeting her brother once again, but she did wear the thin layer of sand, the pelt that stuck up in odd places, and little twigs that had managed to tangle themselves in her mane and tail, regardless of how many times the tree marked woman tried to remove them.

And yet, when she asked her question to him and he replied with a stiff ’no’, her brows furrowed briefly. Her pale face swinging away from him, feeling the sensation that perhaps he just didn’t want to be around her. But of course Aelfwine wasn’t going to fall for that trick. She had done nothing wrong, other than begin a simple conversation. And if he decided he wanted her to leave, well, the doe figured he could use his ‘big boy’ words and just tell her to leave – even then, she might not. She loved a challenge, and he seemed to pose one toward her whether he thought he had or not. And with that, the mare nodded to him with a small smile, something opposite and perhaps a bit more optimistic than his sneer he cast in her direction. She wasn’t going to back down, though. The stallion was nearly the size of her, though while he was paired with extra appendages with feathers and plumes to contain his weight in flight, she was capable with antlers and tines that were sharp enough to impale someone who crossed her – numerous times of course.

Nevertheless, she shifted her weight and turned her head away from Ryouta before taking a few steps ahead of him, swaying movements along the branches that highlighted her hips before she turned around to face him. Pale ears tipped forward as she let her emerald gaze take him in once more, aiming to capture those dual colored eyes. “Well, I thought I’d help you out. But I guess I can't, huh?” She questioned, her tone taking on a bit more of a demanding tone. In her mind, if he didn’t want her to talk to him or help him, then she was sure he was waiting for someone who could do that. In no way could she know that she was interrupting a memory of the past, one of which struck Ryouta deep within. No, so she stood there acting the fool as per usual, her emerald gaze waiting to see if something would spark, if she would get aggression from the man. Oh, how she loved a spicy conflict.

Oh and it was just the reaction Aelfwine was hoping for. Her gaze locked onto the figure of the Pegasus stallion, watching and waiting as his words dripped from his lips, laced in venom and malice. Where others might’ve skipped off, avoided the beast with all their might, Aelfwine loved to play with fire. The doe skipped toward him, sharp cloven hooves moving across the reflective surfaces made of pools of water along the Flats. But instead of stopping in front of him as she had done before, she only slowed her pace and made a slightly large circle around the male. A smirk crossed her pink snipped lips, and where her original innocence had granted her approach and curiosity, now was an entirely different game. Her head was tilted slightly upon him, aiming to make a full circle around the stallion.

“Oh, I don’t know.” She began, her voice taking on a faux innocence. “I don’t know many people that stare at pools of water alone.” She began, a bored expression crossing her face as she rounded toward his front. “I was on my own for a while, you know. I never did that.” She proclaimed, her tail flicking across her hocks in the expression of sheer boredom as it made its way across her face, mimicking the look in the glaze that seemed to appear across her emerald orbs. Her ears spread a bit flatly across her skull, but she still found the time to shake her head slightly with the smirk beginning to return.

“So what are you really doing out here?” She questioned as she finished shaking her head, ebony tassles tangled themselves ever so slightly among her onyx horns before falling over one of her eyes, her gaze was bright and almost enticing, doing her best to egg the stallion on to tell her something he might not tell anyone else. Well, why not? It would be their little secret, after all. She loved her secrets.

Perhaps she should have regretted the words as they slipped past her mouth – or maybe she could’ve taken it as something different, something interesting. But no, the reaction she garnered was something that she should have been expecting – but instead she wasn’t exactly predicting the personal attack. Her ears swiveled, pinning momentarily against her skull before a small laugh escaped her lips. “Ugly hag” had caught her attention, and it was insulting as much as it was simply funny to her. She didn’t think she looked like an ugly hag, no. That would be something better situated for someone that appeared as though they had no place to be, to purpose. Oh, she had a purpose though. And thus, having such an end in sight, she knew she wasn’t one to resemble much of a hag. “Oh, that hurts.” She admitted, stifling another little giggle.

But the stallion wasn’t done, and Aelfwine nearly watched in anticipation of his next set of words. But it was bit more honest, carrying that vicious glare as though it was like daggers stabbing into the dappled pelt of the antlered girl. She tilted her head slightly, pondering what she could even say in response to him with that. Everyone had somewhere to go, or at least they should. Even if they thought they didn’t have anything, she knew that deep down everyone had the power to do whatever they wanted. They just needed to let go of the strings connecting them to such sadness. Before she could speak to him, he piped up once again, tossing in a strange nickname that caused Aelfwine’s ears to flicker in uncertainty until the last half of his sentence made her smile lightly. “No. I like a little help, though.” She winked to him before shaking her head, shifting her weight and returning her attention back to him.

“You know, you don’t have to be alone, Ryouta.” Her voice had taken on a softer tone, no longer the pointed and blunt harassing phrases she had put together. This was earnest and honest, despite all the horrible things he wanted to call her. She was used to hearing strange words and mean phrases, but it was easy for the doe to forget about them and not take them to heart when she had a family to return to. And despite everything she said, she wished everyone else had the luxury of having someone they could trust.

Her ears stayed forward, focused on the Pegasus in her dark shadow charm. Obviously he wasn’t finding it nearly as entertaining as the doe was, and perhaps part of that edged her ever closer to the stallion – curios to find out what made that simplistic metallic box of a heart tick. And so, she watched, studying his face the best she could amid the sea of reflective pools and splashing waters below that seemed to garner his attention more than she had. And that partially bothered her as well – was he vain enough to look into his own reflection, to mull in his own thoughts and simply stare at himself instead of wanting to talk with someone new.

Perhaps the Pegasus could learn a thing or two!

Instead, he turned from her and she lifted her pale heavy crowned head to watch as he moved further away from her – stopping momentarily to say some sort of smart ass comment back to her. And she watched, waited for him to stop like some sort of puppy hanging onto every last word of “I’ll be back, you sit still and be quiet.” But like any puppy, Aelfwine never listened. She wouldn’t be tamed as such. And when he said he wanted to be alone she only minutely shook her head. The doe caught his gaze, however, but from her distance she missed the slight sadness that flickered among the icy glare. All the dappled doe could do was step forward once, allowing him the grace of his distance. “I mean, that’s fine and all but if you want to live your life turning into a hermit crab be my guest.” She began, shifting her weight upon her cloven hooves and flicking her ebony tail against her hocks in annoyance. “You’re just like everyone else in this place.” It was close enough to a growl to show the frustration that peaked within her usual calm demeanor. Her gaze staying on his silhouette, perhaps dropping to view his shadow among the wavering pools of reflections.

He didn’t understand how he was like everyone else the doe had come across. It was apparent to her, considering she felt as though there weren’t many like herself – so open and willing to speak with others. Perhaps it’s because of the loneliness that dug its way into her chest from seeing how happy Tilney had been with Arah and his daughter, how happy the caramel Doctor had been without her being there at all. Perhaps it was because everyone she came across seemed to be hostile in one way or another – aside from Gaal of course, that was simply just a good time and she never saw him again. But this was different, she watched his tried departure as his words left his maw and all she wanted to do was return a glaring stare back, hard enough to bore into the frozen chamber of a heart he had, and somehow magically will him to think better.

But all the doe could do was stamp her ivory sock and pale cloven hoof into the waters beneath. “Oh, but it is.” She began, calling after him in his leave. “You’re just like all the others that live in the past. ‘Oh, I can’t do this because of where I came from.’ Or, ‘I can’t change the way things are, it’s who I am.’ I hate to break it to you, but you do have a choice.” Her voice vibrated the air as it crossed to his back. “You can choose whether or not you want to dwell on the shit show that happened in the past, or you can try and change yourself and your surroundings to prevent the aforementioned shit show from happening again. Maybe you’d be happier that way.” And with that, the mare snorted, feeling as though the anger that laced its way through her blood had begun to turn poisonous.

Aelfwine sighed, watching as he continued to walk away. Her words, she hoped, would allow him to stay around. Perhaps prove her wrong, but there was something that seemed to be a mix of defeat and frustration that lied beneath the flesh of Ryouta that pushed him away from her. And it was aggravating. All she wanted was to talk, to meet someone, to find a challenging individual and overcome them. And yet, she failed in her first attempt. She stopped walking toward him, ears tipped forward and listening as he turned back briefly to finally speak. “She is already dead.” Aelfwine’s brows furrowed. She didn’t understand how that could be a good enough reason. After all, her sister had died too and Aelfwine was determined to find happiness elsewhere.

Yet when she parted her lips for a return comment, he had already lifted his wings from his side, and began to take off. Officially leaving her among the depths of the Halycon Flats. She closed her eyes for a few moments, doing her best to let her frustrations meld into a mix of calm and collected, and yet seemed to fail. And so, in the opposite direction of where Ryouta had gone, she began to trudge her own way. Cloven footsteps falling hard against the ground as she pounded some of her anger out in the puddles that mirrored the land around her.