[private] you called me rude and I take that as a compliment

[Mazikeen]

If there was a list of those who Mazikeen would Most Hate to See Her Cry, it would have everyone in the world on it but Sabal would’ve definitely been near the top - so, naturally, of course that’s who finds her. The arrival of the squid is heralded by a gentle glow and Mazikeen turns her head away from the water as she hears her friend. Mazikeen never did have the instinct to run and it does not even rise up now. She’s tempted to feign an attack just to be left alone, but any desire to do that dissolves when Sabal hoists her whale body onto the riverbank and asks her, in her own unique way, what was wrong. A short, humourless laugh escapes her at the sort-of-offer to help that follows and she tries to calm herself by inhaling deeply but her breathing is ragged and nothing is going to help that. Though she does not run, or fight, Mazikeen is too ashamed of her current state to look at her friend. So she looks up instead, at the bank emptiness of the sky. “I… went…” Ugh. This was going to take forever to tell if she kept hyperventilating like this. She takes another deep breath to steady herself before continuing. “I went up the mountain to -” Her head feels foggy and there’s a headache forming and it is not helped by the way she tries to navigate the situation and save whatever little pride she has left. “Well. To be stronger, I guess. And I got a quest - but…” More tears come now as she thinks about it and she angrily stomps one of her dark hooves but does not look away from the sky as she continues in a quiet voice. “They took my shifting until I can complete it.” This truth weighs heavily on the mare and she closes her eyes, locking herself in total darkness. When she manages to speak again, there’s a humourless laugh that punctuates the hollow words. “Pretty stupid thing to cry over, right?”

@[Sabal]