The second half of Warlight's morning patrol is forgotten as Isillya's call reaches her and the leopard-skin mare quickly returns to the cove where she had left Starsonder chasing little silver fish in the tide. She is surprised but pleased to see that Locheed has found her younger sister, and with a few sharp words to her offspring, the trio sets off to where Will knew the white queen would be waiting.
Quietly they add their numbers to the group gathered, Starsonder looking around with young, sparkling eyes at every horse, and Locheed purposefully ignoring them. But when Isilya begins to speak, all three of them direct their attention to her, then to the winged stallion.
A thin smile stretches across Warlight's speckled lips as Warden accepts his birth-right. The satisfaction is tinted with a shade of sadness to see the mare she considered a friend step down, but she feels that Isilya had made her final appointment as monarch wisely. She hopes the mare will remain. Her presence was one that Warlight found comforting, one she sometimes fancied she could feel woven into the trees and flowers even when the mare was seemingly nowhere close.
But Warden's words stir her, and she steps forward as he asks this of them and speaks of strength. She nods as another mare voices the thoughts very similar to the ones running through her own mind, and after another boy speaks up she does the same.
"I will be proud to continue to serve Tephra under your leadership, Warden." Warlight's blue-black eyes find those of her uncle as her voice rises from the back of the gathering, strong and clear. He knew of what she offered, and she felt her blood flow hotter as she dipped her antlered crown and fell silent.
— soul as sweet as blood red jam —
![[Image: Warlightpageddoll1.png]](https://i.postimg.cc/NMPHtrtV/Warlightpageddoll1.png)