She set herself on a quest, and she cannot, will not, stop with the easy visits… but she won’t go to Castile as it is right now. She’d tried to talk with him countless times, and every time he kept on starting about how she wouldn’t agree with him anyway - about things he never bothered to talk to her about before actually doing them - until she indeed started to disagree with his methods.

After all, that is not how one treats a friend.

She knows the Comtesse isn’t on good foot with the actual queen of her territory, as well. Ilma doesn’t have to hear or see things the way others do; she sees glimpses of futures, of Lepis deciding on something that was proposed to her a while ago - something the white mare can calculate back on, what the question would have been.

She’s not all-knowing, but she knows things. And she also knows how to move with the waves - a skill she had not always mastered, and once too many instead.

Taiga and Loess might be the most dangerous territories for her personal quest (one that the fairies had never needed to ask of her, unlike many others); though she knew the true dangers to be elsewhere.

Perhaps that is why she comes. Subtly and quietly, like a ray of sunlight through the trees’ canopy; but warming one spot at the time anyway, until a trail is visibly dry on the forest floor.

Slowly, and steadily. Warmly.

As such, there are things she can’t avoid( like making up with the mare who once tried to convince her she wasn’t out for war, but peace.

And so peace is what surrounds the white mare when she lands near the border, and calls for the land’s leader.

Lepis has become good at pretending - so good, that it is hard for anyone to distinguish what is true and what isn’t. But the white mare knows to look at her eyes - truly the navy and dun mare had a little trouble remembering Ilma’s name, and she doesn’t seem to mind any differences they may have had in the past.

Her question is casual, nearly distant, the way diplomats have mastered it but not quite - a little bit too ingrained is how it sounds, but this is very likely only so because it is Ilma who stands before her.

You is the answer that she once gave Castile; but that conversation somehow had steered in the wrong direction. He’d taken it as an accusation, where she merely stated the truth as to that she was visiting him. Lepis might understand as a diplomat rather than a warrior, but the sunlight-winged mare won’t take the risk with such a direct answer; she knows Lepis far less than she knows the dragon-horse. ”I’m making a round through Beqanna,” she starts, because that answer is also true. ”Forging friendships, I hope. I wouldn’t want to miss out on you.”

She knows it sounds a little weird. Heck, she couldn’t quite tell why she wanted to do it. To prove that lands could peacefully unite and fall apart? She wasn’t nearly there at all. She might never even make it, but sitting still and watching the world pass by wasn’t an option either. She needed to participate.

She also thinks Lepis isn’t as calm as she seems to be; having a good idea about what was going on in the near future, she must be in turmoil.

But some things are better left unsaid in a first meeting.

It would be a surprise, she knew - well, not that it isn’t in the line of Ilma’s previous behaviour, but perhaps the Comtesse could find a few reasons for them to rather be neutral than allies or friends. But Ilma lives for alliances and friendship - when Castile had once asked her what she wanted, truly needed, she’d known she wanted a family. A big one, inclusive of all Beqanna residents. And still, siblings fought and not all family members might agree with one another. But they would know they were tied, and that hurting one family members would deeply hurt the others too.

That’s the kind of ideal world Ilma envisioned when asked what she wanted. Of course, she knows that this can’t ever work for all of Beqanna. Sometimes, only a formal agreement or even agreeing to disagree was the most peace anyone could muster.

Ilma would at least try, and she could not skip Lepis no matter what she thought of her in years prior. She was a diplomat, and that meant being able to talk to everyone, even if they disagreed.

Why now is a more appropriate question, but she knows why. ”Several reasons. The most important one is that I’ve received a gift with which I see glimpses of the future. In the past, that meant I saw a war coming with nothing to do to stop it.” Lepis knows exactly which war: she knows it very well, so Ilma does not give her details of what she saw and what could have happened - how several timelines still ended with the same result: powerless watching.

That’s why no-one heard from her in that time, and only a handful of horses now knew why.

”Presently, I see important decisions coming. The outcomes become more predictable, the closer someone is to deciding.” Ilma looks at Lepis now. ”Which is why I believe that you might want to talk to an outsider rather than the people whose answers you can already predict.” She won’t need precognition to know their answers; sometimes it is best to ramble your own thoughts to a stranger to come to your own conclusion.

She doesn’t mention how a friendship with a seer could be useful in the position of queen; the white mare knows that the pegasus before her will see that for herself. But Ilma is not offering herself to be allied with Lepis or any kingdom. The simple fact is that she doesn’t offer it as exclusive, as she had already told Lepis upon arriving: as such, there are no ulterior motives to be found, and perhaps that makes accepting the offered friendship easier.

The dun mare doesn’t fully trust her - how could she? Their past is made up of differing opinions, and rivalry perhaps between their kingdoms; or just a general dislike. But Ilma has weirder friends. One betrayed her trust during a rule all already knew would be brief, and for that she is not yet ready to forgive - when she will (she knows in time she will), she still won’t forget. Heartfire said to never forgive - to not fall back into the charm, something like that. But a difficult relationship with Castile does not mean she’s given up on him, on the man behind the dragon. He hasn’t condemned himself fully in her eyes.

And even if he has, there is always room for hope.

As such it is with Lepis too - nothing unforgivable. Besides, Ilma hadn’t been on her best behaviour either. ”I know better than to try and teach you when it doesn’t suit you.” She starts, referring to her mistakes back then. ”As friend I could listen while you set your thoughts straight, and let you come to your own conclusions. And, if you want to know, I could tell you what glimpses I can see, should you decide this or that.” The offer is genuine - and as she gives it, there is one other thing. ”Regardless of if you want to trust me with your decision-making progress, I only ask that you allow me to help prevent another war, if we can. I do not wish to see my friends hurt, nor hurt one another.”

After all, Lepis is not her only friend. Ilma’s relationships with both Castile and Nerine as a land, are strong and old. Heartfire is a relatively new player, but Ilma does not think Breckin would have appointed her if she did not trust what she did would be in Nerine’s best interests.

She finds herself in the middle ground with Lepis - a dangerous place for one alone, but better if shared with someone you can trust.

The dun mare before her can be an annoyance sometimes - probably on purpose, though Ilma isn’t always quite sure why she chooses said tactic. If it is to be released in some manner, it appears to Ilma that it usually has an opposite effect (though she thinks Lepis would say that it worked with Ilma at the time). Nevertheless, it doesn’t surprise her that the likes of Heartfire would not let go of a territory so easily as Ilma had been willing to release a stealee on the same conditions she’d had in mind for her.

The ethereal-looking mare swishes her tail a bit when Lepis talks about ‘freedom’. ”It’s your phrasing. Nobody likes to think of themselves as the oppressor.” Not unlike you didn’t, when you took over, she doesn’t add. Heartfire would argue that Taiga had been free until Wolfbane and Lepis wanted to change it into an actual kingdom, she sees.

It occurs to Ilma that her friendship with Lepis may for a long time still be tedious, but at least she is content with having made the move. Nevertheless she needs to tell the mare all details about her own offer. ”My predictions can’t be wholly accurate. There’s conflicting vision, the more people are involved. But no, I don’t think it's likely that this would be similar to Tephra.” An ear twitch, thoughtful look. ”Have you considered choosing neither Heartfire nor Castile? I would by far prefer that my friends won’t hurt my other friends,” Ilma then wonders. There were of course risks in denying either, but either could make up for that, she feels. Denying both would be a bolder move, but wouldn’t Taiga benefit more from being relatively neutral? The land had always been a bit of the ‘land of the free’ vibe. It was central enough to do so, after all.

”Perhaps you should leave this choice to Pteron,” she concludes. That’s what she did when she had decided to leave her own throne and kingdom behind. Not because she could not, but for the heir. Some might consider it trying to rule through a puppet. She’d made that mistake. Amber eyes fall on the dun and navy mare with the certainty of this knowledge. Of course, things could be undone, but it would take him so much time - and would anyone still trust either Lepis or Pteron?