that's all there is
She has no inkling of the darker thoughts beneath the dark mare’s sweet exterior; she has no reason to suspect the mare of ill intentions, and so she simply does not. Instead she flicks her darker-tipped ears forward and peers at the stranger through dark eyes while she introduces herself. The girl tries to paste a bright smile on her face, but it’s probably fleeting – half-there, like her quiet voice. “This is a good place to protect it,” she agrees. “And, um, I can help you if you need it. I can heal the plague.” She keeps saying this, and she can feel the truth of it in her bones, but she sincerely hopes she will not fail to deliver when the time ultimately comes that someone needs her.
In a smooth and logical flow of conversation, Shiya asks if Noah was from Loess, and this time she can read between the lines. Two Kingdoms would have converged here, two Kingdoms that even a nomad like the red roan knows were once close and are now quite at odds; Shiya probably knows already that Noah did not come from Loess or from Sylva; if not from knowing most of the residents personally, than by smell. She hesitates, but decides to give the truth to her new acquaintance. “I didn’t have a home. I thought maybe I’d settle in Pangea, after everything we put into it. But…”
The grief threatens again, swelling in her chest and showing itself in glistening tears she fights to hold back. “My father was all I had We were going to move to Pangea and start over, together. And they killed him, and unleashed this thing, at Carnage’s behest. So I have nothing. I’m looking for a fresh start, and this is where my heart and my feet brought me.” She lowers her nose, tears dripping onto the ground, and where the hot liquid hits the ground, more flowers bloom out-of-season through the snow. “It lies dormant under snow now, but it will be so beautiful come spring.”
noah
