I'd bare you my heart, if I knew that it still was there
I'm too nervous to look, too afraid to close the book

Breach does not expect the other mare to arrive today, but she cannot say that she didn’t expect her to arrive ever. Some piece of her had known that Straia would arrive—would seek her out. There is a piece of her that wonders if she should have sought the entity out, but she brushes that to the side. She had other things to worry about. Other things which occupied her time, her mind, her energy.

Should the woman want an audience with her, she would find her.

And she does—mid-hunt, as it was.

Breach had taken to appreciating the morning hunts nearly as much as she loved them by moonlight. There was something about starting your day when the fog was still rising off the lake and the rest of the residents were quiet. Something about setting out with an empty belly and blurry eyes and returning sated and ready to tackle whatever was to come that day. It was a jolt to the nervous system.

She is running, her coat shaggy and thick in this body of a wolf, when she gets the flash of a vision in her mind and she slows to a jog, tongue lolling out the side of her mouth. For a second, she angles her head down the path she had been running, thinking about continuing her pursuit of the prey, but curiosity gets the best of her. So she shifts quickly into a hawk, taking to the skies and seeking out the river she saw.

When she sees the mare, she pulls her wings in close and dives down, spiraling and then shifting as she draws near to the earth. There is a flurry of dust and feather, but it is Breach who emerges.

Or, at least, this latest iteration of her.

There is no smile or softening when she sees Straia, just a clear-eyed look and a nod.

“So you’ve come to talk.”

so take all the wind from my lungs if you're out of air
just deliver me truth, deliver me you