[private] It's been awhile since I first saw you

[Aela]

What was the story about the branch jutting from her chest?

Aela - much like she had with Gale - leaves her Magic receptive, trying to see if there is a crack in the shield that the palomino imagines envelops her. There is always a give somewhere. No kind of Magic (despite the Dark God and the Mountain, perhaps) was impenetrable. It was like their wielders - flawed. But there is no specific memory that allows Aela any glimpse of how Sabra's injury came about, nothing that might reveal anything to the Seneschal's advantage.

All she can sense is a deep-rooted kind of grief (which isn't surprising; last time they met, Sabra had been mourning the loss of a child) that Aela hasn't sensed since her last trip into Taiga.

She's lost it, Aela can hear Obscene think and turns to look up at the Pampas Prince. Her ears flick in his direction but the palomino keeps any more thoughts to herself, her mind intentionally blank while the source of Sabra's mental barrier remains unsolved. Had the Blood Forest recruited a Magician, as the Pangeans once had?

The striped girl can certainly feel the tug within Obscene's chest and Aela feels her body lean towards him in a familiar gesture. She glances back at the color-changed mare and tries to quell her irritation that Sabra speaks as if she isn't even there; as if Aela had come along as a lovely decoration for the Pampas leader. But she reminds herself that this is what she had wanted. If they all mistake her as a pretty paramour to the onyx stallion, it is only to her advantage because they can use that to catch them all by surprise later.

For now, she'll overlook the slight that Sabra makes.

"Yes," Aela chimes in, deciding to follow Obscene's lead. "You know, you do seem different." Her refined face tilts, admiring the deep maroon coloring of the Sylvan's coat. The slender creature beside Obscene feigns concern, "you were very upset the last time we met." And now Aela doesn't hesitate to hold on to the memory any longer, letting the image of the wailing woman in the woods and the powerful storm she conjured go between the trio. Sabra had shifted into something that Aela hadn't seen before (or seen since) and it had been impressive, the way that she had called upon the lightning.

Her blue eyes widen slightly, making her appear hopeful.

"Did you find your daughter?"

@Sabra @Obscene