this new air feels hard to breathe, is this how it's supposed to be? if sweet dreams are made of these then why can't I be sure?
{BLAHHHHH SRRY FOR BEING AWAYYYY}
If Otem had ever had a friend before, it was probably Iskra. And he, like everyone else in her life, had disappeared shortly after coming to the Rift. So to call Aurelia Otem's friend was perhaps a bit of a stretch, because for Otem, to be a friend was to leave. And although the golden mare had quite literally left Otem once, she had come back. And that was something no one had ever done before.
"But that's just the thing-" Otem spluttered, ram-horned head shaking slightly. "They were groups, you even said so yourself. They didn't become herds until they took over the lands - and those lands always had gods." The autumn-splattered child wasn't exactly sure where this argumentative streak was coming from. On the one hand, she did think that her logic was more or less correct. But more likely it was simply because she was afraid. If a herd just was a group of them, then maybe she could start her own herd.
Could in the literal sense, but should she?
It was only when Aurelia mentioned that a herd might serve the Rift as a whole that the majority of Otem's arguments died on her lips. Healing the Rift; that's what it was all about, wasn't it?
She's right you know - turning to see Raein, who, Otem realized in a front-of-mind sort of way, didn't have wings. Strike one against Otem being a ruler. What sort of idiot picks a spot whose location is clearly geared towards those with wings?
For a moment Otem thought that perhaps it was she who Raein was saying was right, but quickly his words suggested otherwise. But Otem's face did not crumple: Like Isopia, Otem had a penchant for learning, and despite the fact that she was quite sure she wasn't up for this task, knowing all the things she was ignorant of, somehow made her feel better.
"I-" Otem began, her lips moving faster than her brain. The girl's large bi-coloured eyes blinked like a light-blinded doe's for a moment before her intellect had a chance to catch up. Once it did, her eyes returned to a size more fitting for her face, and her lips no longer made a distressed O shape. "At a minimum we need a meeting place. If we are to heal this place we shouldn't be duplicating each other's efforts. Besides, when the Helovian's first entered through the Portal, everyone just spread out and then seemed to vanish. There was no way to relay information, no way to know who was safe, or where anyone was." Otem's winged shoulders rose and fell once. "And so far-" Otem began with a wry smile as she thought of the massive creatures that had attacked her beneath the tree, and the Magnus Metus who she had to antagonize twice, as well as Tamlin who had attacked her for her blood. "-I have been able to protect myself. That being said, at least if we gather we can make a roster of who is about, and who might want to offer their aid and protection, or other skills."
Another pegasus begins to descend from the skies, and although Otem still feels rather foolish for picking a place so inhospitable to the wingless, she can't help but feel slightly validated by another of her winged-kin coming to roost. It doesn't occur to her that perhaps this is only the case because all the wingless who heard her call decided to decline her proposed trek up a mountain.
Still the youngest by far, Otem was still inwardly relieved to see someone closer to her age, and the lack of parental-condescension in his voice makes the girl's muscles relax. However Kiada's approach made Otem stiffen slightly as the opportunity to address the rather rogish Walker was taken from her. For some reason she assumed that because Kiada was older and from Helovia, that she was somehow here to usurp Otem (even though Otem didn't want this responsibility), but the mare quickly revealed herself as an idea-ally, and the ram-horned mare bobbed her head in response, glancing towards Walker as if to reinforce that this was indeed what they were talking about.
"Hello again Rixen," Otem said to the orb-followed unicorn, who had halted at the outset of their little assembled group. Although it was not necessarily in Otem's nature to be overly welcoming, given the context of this gathering she thought it especially prudent.
Aurelia is next to speak, and not for the first time, the golden mare offers a bushel of questions that were especially apt and hit right at the heart of their issue. When would they meet? Who could call a meeting? Were they all in, or was there anyone who wanted to abstain? Unlike when Raein appeared, Otem did not rush to answer her golden friend, but took a moment to actually think. As she did so, her gold and burgandy gaze swept those assembled. She couldn't help but feel a small swell of pride at seeing (what Otem considered) so many in attendance. She was a nobody - someone most of them had met only once, or in Walker's case, not really at all. And yet they had come.
Maybe this all wouldn't be so hard after all. Briefly Otem considered asking the pendant around her neck for advice. If it spoke with the voice of her mother, Otem was sure it would have good advice. However, the young girl didn't want to take the chance and be badly embarrassed if it answered in that other voice, and so she instead decided to try to work out the logistics on her own.
After smiling toward Roscorro, the mammoth tribrid who Otem had been sure was going to eat her when she had first met him, she began: "If you're going to live somewhere, presumably you want to live in the best-sort of place you can. Right now the Rift isn't the best, but based on what Kisamoa has told us about healing it-" Briefly Otem's eyes glanced to the orbs humming brightly near all of them. "-it can be better. So regardless of what your thoughts are about joining a herd, we should have a meeting place if for no other reason than the passing and sharing of information." Otem paused to think, swallowed, then continued. "As for actually calling a meeting, in Helovia, everyone just seemed to know-" (somewhere, the 4th wall begins to crack). "Maybe we could use magic, or our -" She was about to say companions, but realized that only she and Kiada actually possessed them. And after speaking with Aurelia, she knew that the subject was definitely a sensitive one. "-other skills." Otem concluded. "Does anyone have any magic that can help? I can only do this-" Plants began to creep towards the girl. Thistles and mosses that surrounded the peak were drawn towards her like a magnet. "-and this-" At her side, a creature that seemed to be composed of wood and dirt appeared. It opened its mouth to emit a silent shriek, and instead of sound, a cloud of black smoke appeared. And this. These last words were spoken telepathically, Otem's youthful voice resonating towards the minds of those assembled.
"Does anyone else have magic?" Otem looked towards Kiada, noting both the fiery animals upon her spine as well as the dripping teal goo on her chest. "For example, if I left a bunch of moss here, and we built some sort of fire pit, Kiada could put fire in it - and if someone needed to call a meeting, they could put the moss into the fire and make smoke. And that could be how we all know to return?"
The Pinnacle
