Erthë wishes that she could be as carefree as the ocean and the crying gulls that floated on suspended wings above her head. There was a certain reckless allure in their indifference that appealed to her, a dare-devil come-what-may attitude she longed to emulate. But though she might look casual and relaxed as she picked her way through the brine and sand, the small mare felt as though she might choke on the tight knot of fear and worry that had lodged itself in her throat. Everything had gone wrong. All she had thought of as true and unchangeable had been thrust into motion, leaving her without anything solid to hang on to as the ground beneath her feet fell away.

Kisamoa had lied. The Lady had left the World's Edge. The Hidden Falls were gone and neither Ascended nor God-born knew more about what was going on than anyone else. If they did, they certainly weren't sharing that information with anyone she knew.

Being worried was probably the most sensible reaction, all things considered, but Erthë disliked the feeling of constantly being on edge. Futile though it might be she made a conscious effort to push dark and gloomy thoughts aside as she strolled along the coastline, savoring the fresh scent of salt and sea with deep, greedy breaths. With her nose into the wind and eyes filled with pale sunlight, she could almost pretend that nothing had happened, that it was just another day, another dawn, another fierce wind combing its invisible fingers through her tousled locks...

Almost.

Something bright caught the light and sent playful sun-cats dancing across her eyelids. Curious, the young mare tripped over and bowed to take a closer look. A small metal trinket lay half buried in the sand, polished by wind and water until it gleamed with a soft sheen. A half smile played across her mouth as she regarded it, somehow amused to find something so seemingly precious washed up alongside the driftwood, as though to mark some quiet statement about the transience of things... Looking up, she noticed that the object was far from alone. All across the beach lay a treasure trove of trinkets, weapons and protective gear, rare and costly, curious and common.

The things would no doubt be gone before long. Helovians were a greedy lot, fond of items and decoration; she only had to look to herself to realize that. But looking down on herself, from the gruesome ivory bow to the enchanted seaweed, the magic bracelet and the numerous trinkets and amulets, Erthë had to admit that she already had more finery than she really needed.

Shrugging slightly she continued on, carefully stepping over and between the treasured items without succumbing to the temptation they provided. She would prefer to get a ways away from this place before the inevitable crowd gathered; it was a nice, quiet morning, and she was not really in the mood for chatting.

Big girls cry when their hearts are breaking

The sound of beating wings made her turn, and though Erthë was born and raised in a land where magic was commonplace, the sight that greeted her eyes still made her pause. Even if she had not loved dragons the way she did, the sight of the golden pair would still have set her heart beating to a faster rhythm. There was a ferocious beauty about them as they came in to land further down the beach, one that made her gut clench in primal fear whilst tears of pure joy burned behind her eyelids. Awe, admiration, respect, envy; the flood of emotion that washed through the small hybrid was enough to make Erthë dizzy. Before she even realized doing it, she found that she had stopped and turned towards the queen and her bonded, attention focused on them as if it were the most natural thing to drop all else and pay heed to their presence.

Catching herself with a ridiculous grin on her face, Erthë quickly straightened out her features, trying to recall whether she had seen the mare - dragoness? - before. Absently she reaching down to nip at the foreleg where a delicately wrought bracelet chafed against the skin. It was hard to say... Surely she ought to remember coming across such a person before, but you never knew. Sometimes in the crowds it was possible to miss the most extraordinary things, and her attention to detail was not overly remarkable.

"Hi" she said. "Quite the spectacular sight, isn't it?"

Pale eyes darted from the gilded mare to the trinkets in the sand, but whether she meant the washed up treasure or the dragon-blood was hard to say.

"See anything you like?"

Big girls cry when their hearts are breaking

Frowning slightly, Erthë regarded the mare as she digested the statement. Her mind, logical in nature and trained to seek out patterns and understand the unspoken, was able to put the pieces together almost at once, but the implication that followed with the conclusion was not one the girl liked.

Slowly, almost reluctantly she reached out the leg upon which she wore the enchanted bracelet Iona had given her. (How had the sleuth come by the trinket again? Erthë couldn't seem to recall, did not want to think about it, did not wish to know.

"It's because of this" she said, pale eyes lingering on the dragon girl's face. Searching for reactions. "A friend of mine gave it to me a while back..."

She had always been fond of the bracelet. Not only because it had been a gift from someone she loved, but also because of what it did. Erthë loved the night, loved the sight of the moon in the sky above, flourished in the artificial night conjured by the divine magic - surely it had to be divine if it could alter the very sky - and the simple aesthetic of the carefully crafted metal was pleasing to the eye.

Never had she considered that it might have belonged to someone else. Not once - even though it ought to have occurred to her, seeing as such items did not grow on trees. Maybe it had belonged to the mother of this golden queen? Maybe it was merely a similar item, with similar effect, coincidentally appearing before this mare in this vast land of Helovia..?

Erthë suppressed a sigh. She did not believe in coincidence.

Big girls cry when their hearts are breaking

Erthë saw the recognition kindle in the eyes of the other, saw the longing and heard the whispered confirmation, strained as if the words almost choked her. For a second, a wild, selfish, ferocious instant she wanted to howl, to scream and kick and take off, run away with the treasure and keep it safe forever, like a dragon with the first seed of what would eventually grow into a vast hoard. For a moment, the little mare hated the glorious dragon child for showing up, for testing her like this - though no words had been uttered, no demands had been made and no claim of possession had been staked.

Perhaps that was the reason why she was able to do what she ought. What was right, and proper.

Releasing a slow, soft sigh of unspoken regret, Erthë leaned down and nudged the bracelet down until it came loose from her pale skin. Letting it fall down to a cloven hoof, the young Sage raised her leg and extended it towards Amaris, offering the treasured possession to her with a serious expression.

"Here. You should have it then."

It didn't feel as good as she had hoped. It might be the right thing to do, but it didn't change the fact that Erthë loved that trinket. She might not have been the intended owner, but she had treasured it for all the time it had been hers, and parting with it - even to its rightful heir - was one of the hardest things she had done.

In the corner of her eye, sunlight glimmered on the scattered items in the sand. The sigh of sea and wind seemed somehow soothing, consoling - as if applauding her display of generosity, her resistance to greed and debauchery. It was only her imagination of course, but it did hearten her none the less.

Big girls cry when their hearts are breaking

A sharp stab of pain shot through her when the weight of the bracelet was lifted from her hood, and Erthë forced herself to swallow down the impulse to reach out for it. The tender ache of loss reverberated through her, but though she wanted nothing more than to pout and sulk and behave like a foal over a pile of carrots she would not deign to act so childishly.

With a pale smile she nodded in acceptance of Amaris pledge, and gazed after the mare as she turned and walked away. Lost in thought, the young mare lingered there for some time... but before long the sound of approaching hooves brought her out of her glum reveries. Others were approaching, as she knew they would, and she was even less inclined to stick around and chat now than she had been a moment ago.

The pale hybrid sighed and threw a last look upon the treasures on the beach before she spread her wings to take flight. So distraught was she that she did not notice the broken piece of horn falling from its safe place amidst her wings. With a soft thump it landed on the white sand. A gnarled, twisted branch of some strange material - horn or bone or perhaps some soft rock wrought by magic to grow upon the brow of a former empress - that looked black against the salt-stained grains.

Had Erthë known she lost the piece of horn, she would have turned back for it. It had been a keepsake of her mother's, a last gift from a dying mare passed on along with a task that the young girl already had forgotten about. But she did not notice, and it would not be until much later that she missed it...

But by then, it would already have been claimed by another. And though she might never know it, Erthë's quest had come to an end.

Big girls cry when their hearts are breaking