[open] lost in the woods; any

[Lepis]

again you’re gone, off on a different path than mine i'm left behind wondering if i should follow There is no further objection from the unicorn after her suggestion. Lepis can’t help that even her suggestions come off as commands. Even if she could it’s unlikely she would; he’s already admitted that he’s one of the common folk, and while Lepis does not think less of him for it she simultaneously doesn’t not think much more. Those worth knowing tend to distinguish themselves early, after all, and for all his pleasant demeanor Tipp is still just a friendly stallion from Loess. Tipper is brighter, at least in temperament, than most of her acquaintances. He reminds Lepis a little of Popinjay. The dun mare realizes as she smiles in response to his willingness to humor her that it has been some time since she laughed. Really laughed, not just chuckled for company, not just shaped her face in a way that perfectly mimics genuine amusement. At this realization, that genuine joy vanishes, but Lepis takes another long breath as Tipper begins to describe his favorite view. It would be easy to suffuse herself with amusement, but the emotion remains untouched amidst her arsenal; she chooses instead to listen more closely in an effort to return to it naturally. The view that he describes is not one she has seen – at least not from the vantage point that he describes. She can picture the place though, the southern hills where one might sea both the sea and the Forest. “That sounds nice,” she replies with a slow smile, “Though I’ll let you keep the seclusion you like and do my best to not find it.” Lepis knows the value of solitude, after all. There are places she does not share – not anymore, at least. Perhaps she is overdue for a place of her own, she thinks, and as though the dusty unicorn is able to read her mind he asks something quite similar. “Besides Loess?” She repeats, a brightness in her blue-grey eyes at both the idea of being someone else and ever choosing someplace else. “That’s a tough one.” For all her accomplishments, the dun pegasus is not especially well-travelled. There are few lands where she has lingered for more than a few hours or accepted offers of a tour with more than passing interest. Hyaline was pretty, she supposes, if she could forget her captivity, and Ischia if she could bear the lack of a winter. She thinks first of landscapes, but after a moment considers the other aspects. Her children are mostly in Taiga, at least those she can find, but the misty redwoods had never truly felt like home. “The Pampas,” she says after much consideration, and a sharp nod accentuates her certainty. There are memories of an old life there, but they are happy ones, lit with the surety of safety and the brightness of a youth. She’d barely been an adult when they’d lived there, Lepis realizes; she was younger than Pteron is now. It feels like yesterday, she thinks, and a thousand years ago. “Have you ever been there? It’s beautiful.” Lepis glances back at the brown-eyed stallion, and there is a mischievous tilt to her smile as she adds: “The view of the flowers in summer is better from the ground than the sky even.” LEPIS i’m the one who sees you home-- but now i’m lost in the woods and i don’t know what path you are on

@[Wolfbane]