The Edge was an amazing place to call home and I had no quarrels about it’s significance to my heart. If I had done anything differently in my life, I wouldn’t be who I am today and I have no shame in the way I live. I had discovered a new part of myself that I longed to indulge. I wanted to heal and to enjoy the sense of self-satisfaction that I would surely encounter while doing so. I could remember Adura, whom I found in the Threshold, frail and starving. I had brought her back to the Edge in hoped that she could recover and now, months later, she was flourishing within the mists of our home. She was an angel born of greed and I had allowed her to spread her wings within the veils of safety that the fog created along our borders. However, the mist wasn’t our only form of defense. Mirage the Dragonheart was a force to be reckoned with and I was more than glad to back her when she called. Many rivals tried to mimic her leadership, but in my mind’s eyes, we had ended up with the very best.

My body had grown thick in the winter months and I was certain that I could shed a few pounds, but that wasn’t my purpose today. Though, I made a silent promise to myself that I would contemplate taking up a few spars in order to sustain my former resilience. Something about the cold invited me to hibernation like some old grisly, hiding beneath the snowy mounds of frost until the sun finally grew near enough to swathe me in gentle heat. My bones had even grown brittle from the lack of activity and my knees were eager to protest as I moved across the moist earth, damp from the approaching spring rains. Around my toes, the mud began to suckle and screech beneath my weight and though I had grown somewhat accustomed to traversing the sticky remnants of Frostfall, I was greedily awaiting the hardened grounds of Tallsun.

However, the benign rays of spring light did wonders to illuminate the soft dappling along my bay coat. for once, I felt at an advantage when it came to my appearance, considering it had taken a low blow due to the deformity of my wings. But, as I thought about it, I wondered what exactly I would do with such an attribute. I was perfectly satisfied with wandering the lands on foot as it seemed that I had become more appreciative of the world around me that way.

And it seemed that I was in the right place for doing just that as the Deep Forest had always seemed to carry a certain beauty about it that calmed my heart. On days like today, I felt more than at ease just wandering through the trees, under the shade of impending night. The soft illumination that split the clouds was that of a sweet lavender and it made me think of the first night I met Tamira. She had reminded me of the sunset with her tender personality and angelic graces. The last time I saw her had been somewhat confusing and I only hoped that one day she would be able to take hold of her own body and shut out Myriad completely- despite my current obsession with the two.

At times, I wondered if I would ever be able to find middle ground with either mare. I hoped that one day I would find some sort of solace from the problem…

His approach was whimsical, right out of fairy tale. Only this time the villain was my brother. Something about the idea made me chuckle softly. Could it be that our brotherly connection had never weathered? I felt as if all of those years had been a mere few months, as if we knew one another so closely that time had done nothing to entertain our value to one another. It appeared that he felt the same though because something about his… rather racist greeting did nothing in the way of offending me. I smiled at him, a smile so broad and well-worn that it could have looked fake or even forced, but it was not so. This was a womb of emotion that had somehow found its way to my face and I could do nothing to ease the tension of it.

Some much had happened since the last time I had seen my family, since the last time I had seen Loki. Even though I had spoken to him in the Threshold just a few weeks ago, I felt that I was not the same creature that I then proclaimed myself to be. I had spoken to The God of the Earth and he had granted me favor. How could I not feel the pressure of his watchful eye even now as I was hidden amongst the long shadows of the forest?

“Brother… I’m glad that I find you well. It seems as though you’ve not aged a day. Helovia had treated my well enough and I am glad to say that I’ve found my place here, a family that is mine.” A tight smile seemed to force its way onto my dry lips. I felt as if I was torn between two loves- one for my herd and one for my family. Blood was thicker than water; wasn’t that the saying? But I felt as if the blood shared between myself and The Edge ran much thicker than what I remembered of my mother and father. Perhaps it was the fact that I had forgotten so much.

Perhaps I had been forced to forget.

In any case, I was ready to move on. I was ready to leave all of those troubles behind. I didn’t know what had happened to Odin or Amora but I wasn’t so sure that I ever really wanted to find out.

His brother returned his smile, and the ebony’s heart grew lighter. It was good to be with not only his kin again, but some one else. It was lonely for him for the past two years, even if he had some mares going with him, but it was never enough for a bachelor. He moved towards his brother, nuzzling him.

He smelled of the World’s Edge, and he felt his heart stung. His brother had found a home, a place he could call his own. He didn’t have to wander around, wondering where he would end up, where his loyalties lied or where he would stay the night. No, he never had to worry about any of this. For once, in a long time, Loki was jealous of his older brother.

He was so happy in this new land, and all it had found for him was heartbreak. Angora, his lost child…it had all seemed to happen so quickly and it was crazy for him to have these emotions. He wondered if his brother had thought to find any mares about, and he would ask that now.

“It seems you have aged little also. How old are you now, four? We are still young stallions, are we not?” The trickster smiled, thinking of how foolish they must seem. But seeing bloodshed would make your thoughts form quicker, and you had no choice but to mature faster. It was all he could do was to keep going, trying not to throw up from the smell of blood and rotting corpses in the air, the smell of the fallen and dead. “But brother, there are things we need to discuss, before we get into the happiness of our lives. Tragic things have happened…Amora…” He stopped, choking on the words in his throat. “Amora is dead.”

I shook from the weight of a sudden blow to my heart. The world spun mercilessly around me before settling into a deadpanned silence. Breath had been robbed from my chest and words were soon to follow. I merely stared at my brother, wondering how he knew this, how he could have waited so long to tell me. The anger that raged inside was gruesome. He had had a million chances to find me, to tell me of her passing and yet he hadn’t. I strained a furious gaze upon him, choosing instead to remain silent. He had as much time in the world to tell me and only now did he find it so important. He had wasted as much on time spent with Angora, surely fucking her brains out with this brewing in the back of his mind. Was it a heavy burden to carry around news of death? Or did he find it easily forgotten in moments when fucking pleasure overwhelmed?

I turned from him, my eyes burning both from tears and anger. But the maddening sense of distrust won out over all. “How could you?” My voice cracked from the lump in my throat before I could break through the barriers of my own self-destruction to spit upon his selfish attempt to spare me. “You’ve had plenty of time to find me, to tell me of this tragedy and yet, here you stand, months of living in and learning to call Helovia your home, without a fucking word.” I cringed at the hardened sound of my voice, never used within these borders, never used to express emotion and certainly not used to reprimand my own fucking brother for not telling me that my mother had died- DIED. Did age really matter now that he had pressed the misery of death into my palms to be counted as some shitty version of small talk?

I fumed before throwing my neck up and outwards, a display that I knew he would find disheartening. I was pissed beyond belief and I would be dammed if he walked away unscathed. Brotherly love... what bullshit. I affixed him with a glare now, both guarded and hateful, filling to the brim with tears unshed. “You selfish little fuck. Did it not dawn on you that this was something that should have been taken care of before you took that time to lie with Angora? I’ve spent years wondering, hoping that she would find me again. But no, it was you who found me, who disrespected me and used my hospitality against me. Was it jealousy that pushed you to disarm me like this? I could only imagine it true, now that I’ve risen above you, claimed happiness for my own. Maybe one day you will understand the meaning of family, but it’s obvious that even the Gods don’t believe your time is now.”

I had used rumination to land my final blow. I had heard through the trees that his child had been born still, no breath to speak of from brand new lungs. I stood before him, bristling with rage and wondering how exactly I had been able to use that cheap shot against him. It was not my nature to hurt and destroy, but he had perfected his aim and gone straight to my heart. “A family keeps nothing from one another as I’ve found in my time here, but you Loki, have kept much from me. We are family no longer.”