so i listen to the    wind for an answer

She does her best to keep an eye on Stella as they go. The winds pick up with Orangemoon cresting in, though they are unusually cold for this time of year. It makes her wonder what the Gods and Kaos are up to, if these cold winds are some offshoot of things they know nothing about. Or perhaps, it is just a sign of an impending frigid Frostfall, which is not something she looks forward too. Perhaps with the weight and worry of a herd on her shoulders she will be too busy for the ghosts to come creeping out, for them to suck her back under.

Lyanna tries to take well sheltered paths. She is not as small as Stella, and she cannot travel where the girl might able to, but she stays as close to those paths as possible. It’s impossible to talk with the wind, and so they are silent in the air, but Lyanna pauses to rest every time she thinks the girl might be tiring. And during those rests she does her best to tell Stella of the Edge, of the forests and the mists and the cliff at the figurative end of the world.

When they get there, apparently, her stories have paid off, for the girl recognizes it. Lyanna smiles warmly, and for a moment, she forgets that she has no idea where this girl is from or how to get her home. Forgets for a moment that in a way, Lyanna might be half raising a tiny little girl from a fantasy world. “This is it indeed. How do you like it?” she asks.

Though soon the girl is off again, life still an adventure. Lyanna follows close behind, catching sight of the butterfly before it disappears. “Those are Luna Butterflies. You’ll find that many things glow here. Our Goddess is the Moon herself, and many things here reflect her beauty.” The Moon was fierce and stunning and terrifying, as she should be. She was so much more than the butterflies and the foxes with their strange eyes. “I bet we can find a fox. There are wild ones here, but we have a few companion foxes too.” She thinks of Sacre first, and then of Lyra. Not quite a fox, but a kitsune, and Lyanna imagines Stella will love Lyra and her many tails.

lyanna

so i listen to the    wind for an answer

She’d never had Gods in her old home. Their deities, so to speak, had been the elements of the earth. They’d all controlled different elements. Once, Lyanna had been the wind. Her brother had been fire, and her father the earth, and her mother the water. Most born in Morham had some level of elemental control, though some were stronger than others. Like anything else, powers could be trained like muscled, but some were simply born with the ability to have stronger muscles. Her family had been powerful, more so than most (though no all). Perhaps that had been what scared the rebels, perhaps that had been why they attacked. Maybe their perceived injustice of a Pegasus dynasty was only part of the story.

She shakes her head slightly, just to herself, almost imperceptible. But the little bat is curious and attentive, or so Lyanna thinks, and perhaps she notices the gesture. It is one Lyanna uses often, shaking away the ghosts of her past, the thoughts that take her down the rabbit hole. “They are very powerful horses, capable of magic beyond what we are, and they tend to be everywhere at once.” Perhaps not everywhere, but close enough. They knew more things than the average horse should.

But if she thinks about it, she had been powerful once. Far more than they were given here. Perhaps the Gods were only Gods because they set it up that way in the beginning. Created lands and designed them so no one else would be more powerful than they. But with Kaos as a threat, these are thoughts she cannot entertain right now either. She has a herd to protect, not herself to think of. Though, she has very few skills in the protecting department. It’s been too long since she’s trained, and she doesn’t even know Corbin to scold her about that anymore.

The little filly is flitting about in the trees, and Lyanna does her best to keep up with the exuberant child. In the trees, Lyanna’s wings are no use. She’s far too large to fly around, and so she’s forced to walk beneath as Stella leaps from juniper to juniper. But soon they have found the spikes, and the girl is asking about them as well. “They are spikes made of glass. They mark the border of the Edge, and help to protect us from any that would try to harm us.” Of course, someone could just fly over them, but it’s a better defense than none. As much as she disliked how uninviting they looked, she was thankful for the protection they offered.

lyanna

so i listen to the    wind for an answer

Lyanna’s beginning to wonder how any mother keeps up with their children. The girl is restless, ceaseless, flitting from one thing to the next with a curiosity Lyanna cannot sate. It’s beginning to all feel overwhelming in almost the same way bearing the crown feels overwhelming. One is, in a sense, not equal to another. But at the same time, they are equal. Suddenly Lyanna is responsible for a great many horses. In this instance, she is responsible for just Stella, yes, but she is still responsible for another life. She is responsible for keeping the little bat safe, for helping her find her way home or giving her a new home worth having. It is just a small version of what the crown means. Lyanna is responsible for helping to keep them all safe.

The girl is taking off from the trees again, and Lyanna’s a split second too late to realize just where she is aiming. Heading straight for the glass, Lyanna calls out to the girl without enough time, and the call becomes a strangled call. But already the girl is thudding into the glass and tumbling to the earth. Lyanna moves quickly to the girl’s side, ready to call on the familiar healing magic she has come to know so well. But there’s nothing there, and she’s reminded almost painfully of her change in position within the Edge. She has no ability to heal, to help.

Her quest comes back to mind, briefly. She had two more horses to find, and she would have to make it a point to travel to the herds and the common lands and ask everyone she could find. She needed to be able to do something. Instead, she stands here helplessly as the girl tucks herself between Lyanna’s legs. The gesture melts her heart slightly, and she leans down to examine the girl’s head if Stella will let her. At least she still knows what to look for, can go find Tilney quickly if she must. “Glass is tricky. It does not look solid, though it is. It’s quite a formidable defense in that way.”

She looks back to the spikes for a moment, before turning back to the girl. “We have healers though, if you are hurt. Our Moon Doctor is named Tilney, and he can fix you right up.” Once, Lyanna could have simply done that, but now she is useless with her ridiculous magic to calm tensions. Alright, she could see some use for that, but she’d rather heal any day. “We have many horses here with jobs, if you are interested in learning more about those. Warriors, sneaks, philosophers, healers, and crafters.” The girl was unlikely to be a warrior, but still, Lyanna gives her all the information.

lyanna

so i listen to the    wind for an answer

“There are many kinds of hurt, and it’s okay to feel them all. But you do appear to be okay there,” Lyanna says softly, passing on a lesson she learned all too well. She knows what it’s like to bleed. Though she’s no fighter, she used to train long ago (only two years, but it feels like a lifetime), used to know the pain of cuts and bruises and burns. She is not afraid of that kind of pain, truthfully. The hurts you can see are the easiest to handle. There are others though, some deep and hidden like whatever hurt cut off Ru’s voice. Some of those could be fixed by a healer, and only some by the Gods. Then there was the kind of hurt that Lyanna carried with her always, the holes left behind by the loves ones you lost. No one but perhaps time could heal those. Even time didn’t seem like enough to heal those wounds completely. The holes in her heart would never completely stop hurting.

“They are called Moon Doctor’s because the Moon gives our doctors the power to heal using wind and mist. I used to be a Moon Doctors here, in fact. Much of the job requires learning and teaching others about herbs and basic first aid. You Ma isn’t wrong though, time is the best healer. Our Moon Doctors can just speed it up a bit.“ The girl has moved to look at Lyanna now, full of questions, and Lyanna can’t help but smile slightly at the inquisitive nature of the little girl. That is a good quality to have.

The girl seems to understand the idea of Sneaking, talking of Mr. Fox. Lyanna wonders briefly if Mr. Fox is like the mega-pack. Though that train of thought doesn’t take her far, because she’s not entirely sure if the mega-pack is real or not. They certainly could be, as Mr. Fox certainly could be. Lyanna has seen strange things in Helovia, so none of these would necessarily surprise her. But she’s not sure if they are more than a fairytale.

“Philosophers,” she says again, just a bit more slowly so the girl can catch the syllables. “They are led by a Seer, who’s job is to meet with the Moon Goddess and relay any messages from the Goddess to the leads of the herd. But our Seer and the other philosophers are also responsible for collecing the stories of the Edge, it’s members, and Helovia as a whole. They share those stories with the rest of us from time to time.”

lyanna