Recently Eyas hadn’t slept, which meant that she couldn’t dream. Catcher couldn’t visit her dreams if she didn’t have them, and lately it seemed as if every time the pegasus went for a peek into Catcher’s vision, her eyes were closed as well. The timing just wasn’t right for them to meet in their unconventional ways. So tonight, Eyas sighed and went looking for another sort of distraction. She passed by the ancient spires and red rock hills, growing shorter and shorter the farther south she trekked, swishing her tail and jostling her closed wings with every stride.

The smell of the landscape was sweet and dry in her throat, burning still from the heat of the day. She could feel the warmth coming off the ground and hear the soft clattering of little clay stones as they tumbled out of her way, and for just an instant Eyas pictured herself as a child again. Nostalgia swept through her, bittersweet, and feeling her heart clench painfully, Eyas stopped.

“Santana?” She asked the quiet dark, pensively. The buckskin pony hadn’t heard him following her; maybe she’d just happened to come across the place he’d carved out for himself while they remained here, waiting for action. At least I hope it’s him. She thought silently, waiting but flicking her ears around to listen. She hadn’t looked with her vision manipulation - it had been her other power, that darkness she refused to tap into, that had alerted her to the presence of another being. It could be anybody, really. At the very least she was sure it was ‘a body’; something with a soul she could possess, or control if need be.

Funny how the sight of him put her at ease these days, when once it’d been the opposite. Eyas smiled, watching him rise and unfurl those leathery wings with a snap of wind that bent the Pampas wildflowers underneath him. Each lovely bloom bowed its head and then rose once more, and Eyas started walking toward him again. “I can’t sleep.” She admitted with a breathy sigh, pulling up to halt in the same patch of overgrown grass he’d bedded himself down in before she’d arrived. Nevermind that she might’ve interrupted his own chance at an early rest; something told her if he wanted her gone he’d say so.

Until then, she’d keep her mind occupied by small talk.

“It’s so damn beautiful out here.” She smiled, having missed the one he’d already given her earlier. Unlike his own eyes, hers weren’t as sharp; she’d also purposefully avoided looking him directly in the face for the moment. It unnerved her since their meeting earlier this morning, with Elio. Looking at him meant she’d have to admit the feelings she had this morning were the same feelings she was currently struggling to puzzle out now, which were realizations that she’d be terribly sad to see him hurt because of her desire to outnumber Wolfbane.

Something about the stoicism there, in his eyes. The certainty in himself and his willingness to support her in a family endeavour made her think twice about her feelings for him, and a part of herself feared the sudden attachment that was growing inside her heart. She felt as if her whole life had been dedicated to keeping her distance from others who might’ve loved her (Catcher immediately comes to mind), and relinquishing that fear was a hard thing to master.

“For a moment I can almost forget the nightmare.” Eyas laughed, but then immediately fell quiet.

The weight of everything she’d been holding in suddenly felt like too much for her fragile, narrow shoulders to hold up, and she burst apart at the seams all at once, unexpectedly. “Santana!” She choked on his name, and then flung herself aside in one movement to bury her face into the round, warm section of his breastbone. He was so much taller than her it was the best she could manage. Gale wasn’t here - she was glad of that. Catcher hadn’t been able to visit. She felt like her mother and brother were strangers to her. Carnage’s echoing warnings pounded in her head and for a moment, she struggled to breath because she felt the pressure building up in her throat. She wanted to tell Santana everything, but she... couldn’t.

“I’m terrified.” She said instead, muffling her sobs and blinking her dark eyes as she pulled away from him in an effort to compose herself. The buckskin mare shook her head. “Really, truly scared out of my mind. These past few days have been hellish.” She sniffed and grit her teeth. Enough, she told herself. Be a mare, not a foal.