I don't play by the rules

For a minute the girl appears ready to bolt, and Ki’irha would understand the reaction. She tips her head, brows furrowing for a moment. Something about remembering a throwback? A how pack? What is a how pack? She is thankful for the dramatic sweep of the child’s horn, gesturing to where the forest meets the sea, and it clicks that she says something along the lines of remember, back, and she took the shrug to mean unknowing. Maybe.

But the final word, annunciated and clear, is enough to confirm the suspicion. ’Aren’t we all?’ she wants to say, understanding how lost they all were in this new world. Her silver eyes scan the expanse, and there is no evidence or obvious trail that would indicate which direction was the right direction. “Hm,” she muses quietly under her breath. But before she can say more, her attention is drawn by the softest fluttering of leaves. She has found her eye sight the slightest bit more keen since her hearing had vanished.

“Wait here,” she says, but whether or not the child listens will be another story all together. Sure, she has no control over the stranger filly, and the movement could have been caused by a raccoon or something similar (were there even raccoons here?), but she wasn’t willing to place her bets on something friendly lurking within the forest. As her eyes peered through the trees, searching through the brush at what could be causing the disturbance, she sees a glance of brown, a flash of gold.

Was that the handsome companion she had met so recently in the frostbreathe steppe? And that only meant one thing.

That bastard made it through.

A light laugh escapes her. As much turbulence that existed between the starlit mare and the gilded stallion, her heart vibrated with happiness that he had made it through. How many more from the Basin had survived, and made it through the portal? The tiny cerndyr was gone nearly as fast as she had seen him, dashing through the woods as if being chased. She lets out a whistle, calling to the buck, hoping he will come back. If she has to take on the responsibility of making sure the filly isn’t eaten, she can at least protect the deer from whatever is pursuing him. Typically she would have chased after him, but she couldn’t just leave the girl to her solitary wanderings again. She thinks of Vesper, then. Was anyone protecting her? Was she safe? A pang of guilt rips through her stomach.

She steps back towards the filly, attempting to shift the attention back to the situation at hand. “Sorry, I thought I saw someone I recognized.” She shrugs, wishing the best of luck for the buck should he have not circled back towards them. “Is there anyone else out here with you? A friend, a parent?”

- when a shooting star streaks through the blackness - - turning night into day- - make a wish and think of me -

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