Otem had no real reason to be relieved. If they were back at home and she met someone she shared a herd with, that would have hardly mattered. Unless of course they were planning on telling her Mother or Father that she was somewhere she shouldn't have been. But then that was the thing, wasn't it? They weren't at home, and so the mere fact that she had shared the same sands and waters with this boy she had never met filled her with so much joy and relief that Otem almost felt compelled to throw herself against him, wrapping her wings around his lightning marked shoulders. She didn't though - she was far too awkward for that, but the feeling made her forget about her grief for a fraction of a second.
The change from is to was hit Otem so hard, that she looked like she had been punched in the chest. Her large gold and burgundy eyes widened, forced open with a shared understanding of how Iskra must be feeling, and a misplaced nugget of youthful anger that the loss of other mothers might somehow displace the importance of the loss of her own mother.
"Ampere.." Otem mouthed, the name barely more than a whisper. "Mine ... " Not wanting to make the same present-tense mistake Iskra had made, Otem paused, closed her mouth and steeled herself for the words that would come next. "Mine is gone too. She was new to the herd though...Isopia?"
Sucks, doesn' it? She didn't mean to, but Iskra so perfectly captured the sentiment that she was feeling, that she couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah." The autumn-coloured girl immediately agreed. Then, feeling the words begin to explode inside of her, she turned her gaze back to the sea.
"THIS SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCKS." She yelled for all she was worth, the breeze carrying her words far out to sea, but not far enough to reach the lands she had been born on. Yelling made her feel worlds better, as if each elongated syllable carried just a bit of her grief away. Turning to look at Iskra, she smiled rather shyly, realizing she was making a fool out of herself. Oh well. It was hard to stop something once you've started.
Riptide Isles
Blu
