take me home before the storm

in my thoughts i have seen rings of smoke through the trees, & the voices of those who stand looking. At first, Otem thought that despite the mare's strange appearance she seemed nice. At least, as Otem approached the mare's pale eye seemed to survey her not as a predator looking at prey, not like a wolf devising how best to trap a sheep, but just as one soul might look at another who is simply waiting out the storm. But as the oak-marked child pulls her gaze as speedily away from Morrigan's dismantled wings, the mare's countenance changes. Or perhaps it is simply her voice which has the illusory effect of making her look different. Otem tries not to bristle as the mare sneers, but inside her guard is suddenly up. She does her best to appear just as she had been moments ago - a child, slightly agitated by the presence of this sudden storm. A knife twists in Otem's gut and she wants to spit a respond of, because my mother is dead back at the mare, but she keeps the words down. Instead Otem offers a polite shrug and her face spreads into a youthful smile. "Wouldn't I know it. I've seen monsters in the labyrinth, was nearly trampled by a herd of...well, I'm not actually sure what they were, and have been stabbed-" Otem slid one wing backwards away from her chest to reveal a healing scab that raced across the front of her body and around her shoulder. Because she was young it would likely heal quickly and might not even scar. But for now, it looked every bit the terrible wound that it had been when she first got it. "But this is the Rift. Not being alone won't save me from monsters."