» A New Frontier

another mind, another soul, another body to grow old. it's not complicated. When it was just Otem against the red-eyed stallion, there was nothing at risk. No one here knew her; she could be as bold as she wanted. Bus as Tilney appeared at her side, nodding in a way that made her wanted to wrap her wings around him and whisper a thousand thank-you's in his ears (because the gesture only came out of respect for her mother), and then Amaris appeared in the faces of those assembling, the stakes suddenly felt higher. Now there were those around her who knew her mother; she couldn't just be shouting like a wounded child. She needed to be better, someone her mother would have been proud of (if pride was the sort of thing her mother could ever feel). But before Otem had time to think of a more or less polite way of saying that she didn't give two fucks about whatever Kingdom the red-eyed stallion was talking about, her Father appeared. The sunlight and soil coloured child tried to hide the relieved breath that puffed out of her lips as Volterra thundered towards her and Azarel, easily pulling and bearing all the tension that Otem had unwittingly created onto his shoulders. Vulkán appeared at her side as Tilney left it, and although her ears flickered to catch his words, her gaze remained trained on Azarel now that the presence of her Father had promptly raised her confidence. "We are from Helovia." She replied, her voice a perfect imitation of Isopia's academic (and often condescending) cadence. "Kaos, or Kisamoa-" Otem's eyes flickered to the shadowy shape, unsure which name they were meant to call him now, "-brought us here."

_{art by Chloe!}