And at once I knew I was not magnificent - Naga/Amazons.

[Vineine]

***She breathes in sharply, the cold air stinging her pink nostrils. Her ears flick, and the head follows obediently, soft brown eyes compelled by a whim outside of her own thought process — like the gravity of a great body, uncontrollably sucking in smaller bits as its blazes its trail ever onward. She blinks and smiles, as calm and erudite as ever, but her heart thumps against her ribs. She wants to reach out, perhaps now more than ever. But she restrains, inhaling the scent and packing it somewhere special. She was all there was left of her origin soup. Birth mother was gone, much more tied to nature's forces than Prague — much more impermanent. The little pink mare had run her course and returned her body to the root network. ***The conclusion could not have been more fitting for Ella. ***The serenity of the exchange surprises her slightly, but then, maybe it is both of their natures. It is a momentary, rare thing. Don't you already know where you belong? And, of course, she does. She has had her dalliances, and the Gates had been good to her for the blink of an eye that she called it home. She had always felt promised. Obliged. It was never an unpleasant drive, but she had stilled it. She had made it wait, ruminate and grow or otherwise die. It lived. A live coal. ***“I'll see you there,” She chimes into the grey mare's wake. ***A self-same smells fills her nose, rushing up and ringing bells in her head. Sweet and lush. Sometimes she thought she could smell it on Ella, deep in her pores. It circles her now, heady and floral. But this is different. There is something feline in it. She turns to look, the instinctual race of her heart subsiding. “Oh!” She says, surprise and curiosity in her voice, she shakes her head lightly, rustling out her daydreams. “I am, yes. Her daughter,” She smiles, testing again the non-equine scent that permeates her. A part of her, an inborn identity. Not a second body, but a single one of unencumbered, double form. Vineine has observed her fair share of shifters, and has come to accept that nature makes mysteries every day. Each great and full of possibility. ***An endless well of things to note. She wasn't sure at this point if anything was an affront to nature. There is no moral or sentiment in its works. ***“I am, okay,” She says, nodding and turning her head to take a good look at the black mare's face, “Just short. It is nice to meet you Naga. I'm Vineine.” She shifts, the taste of endless questions lining her tongue. “Will you show me that way?” Is the only one she lets slip. There is a touch of shame in her voice, and she says it quietly. That jungle is ancestral, but she is not aligned with it like a compass.  *magic-borne daughter of Prague and Elladora ****‘...Herself in the Heavens, her beam on the waves.’