She had never minded being protected. There were always a handful of stallions around that offered protection and kind words. It was her job to figure out if those offers with false – often, they were. And there had been Corbin, who had loved her more fiercely than perhaps even her own parents. A brother’s protective sort of love, and the only offer of protection she had never once doubted. But he’d insisted that she learn to protect herself as well, and so she had. Fighting was not her strong point, and she didn’t choose it, but she could fight. Well, she could once upon a time, anyway. Now, without the wind to aid her, she was uncertain how skilled she would be in a fight. Not nearly what she once was…

Perhaps it was time she learn to fight without the wind. It is what Corbin would want her to do. Because even he had failed her, in the end. Even he could not protect her now. She knows he would, if he could find a way. Doesn’t doubt that he watches her, that he roots for her, that he yells at her to practice. Something she has not done in over a year, too complacent and willing to trust the warriors of the Edge to protect her instead. But like Corbin, they could not always be there when she needed them.

And if she were to be of help against Kaos, if she were to dive into battle to heal as the fighting that must inevitably come raged on around her, she would have to know how to fight without the power of the wind. That, at least, was motivation. She would not stand idly by and let others hurt when she could, at least, do something about that. Perhaps one of these days she’d ask Ru to teach her about fighting.

But for now, she is content to talk of plants and their effects, giggling as they go. Though Lyanna’s change of subject does, perhaps unsurprisingly, sober the conversation a bit. She hopes she has not overstepped, and she watches Ru’s reaction carefully, trying to make sure she doesn’t miss an answer in the girl’s expression. Lyanna does not find annoyance there, but deliberation in the tight press of lips and the distant look in her eye.

She remains quiet, letting Ru think it over. It is a lot to ask of the girl, for so many reasons. It would lead to nothing, and hope is a painful thing when it breaks. It could lead to other horses coming to look at Ru, to study her like they might a plant and not to get to know her as a friend. It could mean something else entirely, something that Lyanna hasn’t even thought of yet. She doesn’t know what, if anything, she might find.

Eventually Ru makes a soft cooing sound, nodding her head, and Lyanna offers her a small, reassuring smile. “I don’t know what answers I might find. Or if there are answers,” she says truthfully. “But I promise I will look in every corner of Helovia.” Because that too is the truth. She would do everything she could to help her friend.