A great many things happened, and a great many things were learned by the mare. She stood in silence, focussing all her energy and focus into the conversation between her Seer and her Goddess, so as not to feel the prickly, twitchy sensation of anxiety steel over her at the sudden appearance of so many. The Mountain refers to events that occurred before the dragonmare's return, observations of the Goddess aiding this Kaos creature during one of his tasks that he set for Helovians, locking it away in her own mind to riddle and ponder.

Then the Mountain announced the identity of her father, and Amaris' mind almost jarred to a complete halt. The God of the Earth had a daughter? She wondered at this, before recalling Mesec, the Goddess' very son, and Roskuld, and Israfel (though another memory said to her that Israfel was no longer and that there must be another now?). Her Seer mentions an Aithniel, and Amaris concludes this must be the Sun's daughter (why else would he select her to send away on a mission?).

The casual way in which the Mountain refers to the gods and their activities is foreign to the dragonmare, who was used to the revered manner in which Hellena spoke and addressed them, or otherwise the 'mortal' capacity to simply be in constant awe at the sight of them. The Seer asked a very pointed question then, one that begged for clarity and the removal of ambiguity - Yael added her own voice to the mix, stating her observations of the God of Time, which the Mountain concurred - before the Goddess deigned to speak once more.

She seemed put off at the mention of the other Gods, and Amaris smiled a small, knowing smile; theirs was a jealous Goddess, but at least she made it known what she expected of her followers. The dragonmare wondered at how her mother had devoted herself wholly and completely to the ethereal beauty, and could only continue to wonder whether her mother's soul was still somehow tied to this Goddess of Wind and Night even in her 'afterlife', if there was such a thing.

Use those delightful little brains, her instructions came, and Amaris captured the words with keen interest, clinging to them, dissecting them and observing them until their meaning was clear. Judge with a clear mind - remove one's emotions, was the gist of it, and the dragonmare could not help the memories of her mother's own words flooding through her mind. It was no wonder the DragonHeart followed the Goddess - she was practically the Goddess in a mortal form (though perhaps that was stretching it, it was still something a child could view their own beloved, deceased mother as, surely?).

It seemed the practices of Mirage the DragonHeart were to be employed by all who could train themselves in such ways. Amaris had always done it, to an extent, though she was her own self, she was well practised, if not a master, at guarding one's emotions lest they interfere with one's current predicament. Even now, she swallowed the anxiety that threatened to rise up, and looked upon the situation with as clear a mind as she could.

We will think our way out of this, whatever this happens to be.

"With our minds," Amaris echoed the words of her Seer softly, mostly to show that she concurred, that she was here, listening, absorbing, being a good rank-mate, an obedient Philosopher, and chewing over all that she had learned here, her mind venturing down various clues and paths and coming to even more various conclusions or at the very least crafting several ideas about the current happenings in Helovia.

Amaris