everyone;

[Talulah]

Wedged as she is between her son and his father, she’s never felt happier. She’s never felt like she has had a purpose as great as being the bridge connecting the two. As if her life has led her to this moment, a blissful triad reunited under the blazing Dalean sun. It feels like a pinnacle. But despite its glittering peak, this moment is hardly golden. Elysteria and her filly are mere minutes behind Talulah and Ramiel. She hears their approach, and when she turns, she knows. All the pieces, at last, fall into place. As she looks from one face to the next in their little group, she finally sees what had been in front of her for the longest time. Blinders that she hadn’t known she was wearing (or maybe that she put there herself, rose-colored as they were) finally come off. Elysteria’s tender eye as she assesses Tiphon, the way she holds herself – not in deference to her king - but in the familiarity of an equal. And if she hadn’t been able to untangle the knots, Joscelin does with her telling question of parentage. Pappa, she calls him. Talulah feels an odd burn in her stomach, a different kind of warmth than the one heating it just moments before. It’s so uncharacteristic that she has no name for it; it’s so alien in the way it drinks greedily from her happiness. She tries to muscle it away, but it anchors down into her gut. Suddenly, the grey mare knows how Tiberios must feel. Ramiel doesn’t pick up on the underlying tension of his mother or the revelations coming to light around him. He only knows that his father is back, at last, and he cannot believe his good fortune. His white and gold sire praises his name and ruffles the hair falling down his face, and he thrills at it all. “I only hope I can live up to it, for my family.” His usual stoicism crumbles on such an exciting day, but he always chooses his words with the utmost care. Joscelin, as per usual, is the sunshine to his pensive moon, and she doesn’t hesitate to express her joy. Tiphon answers her question, and Ramiel leans forward to hear his response. Saving the world? It doesn’t really surprise him, and he grins openly back at his sister. They would have a lot to talk about on their next adventure. The metal mare smiles faintly at her son’s enthusiasm. Tiphon soon diverts his attention back to them, apologizing for his absence. It chips away at her every time he looks at Elysteria; it eats at her that they’ve shared these glances before and she’d had no idea. Deep down, she knows she has no right to this resentment. For hasn’t her heart been pulled two ways? The angel doesn’t understand the irony when he speaks his son’s name, and Talulah looks up quickly, as if he’d caught her thoughts. “We held down the fort as best we could. There were a few new faces, but we haven’t seen them again.” She looks at Elysteria for confirmation, a weak smile playing on her lips. She doesn’t – and wouldn’t – hold it against the bay woman who has become her friend, but the realization is still fresh enough to hurt. “I think Tiberios needed a bit of time to himself to reacclimate.” Perhaps the understatement of the year, but she didn’t want to speak for him. “Is the trouble you warned us about passed?” t a l u l a h lady of the Dale

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