I look ahead to all the plans that we made
and the dreams that we had
I'm in a world that tries to take them away
oh, but I'm taking them back

because all this time I've just been
too blind too understand
what should matter to me
my friend, this life that we live
it's not what we have, it's what we believe in

It's not my time, I'm not going
there's a fear in me, it's not showing
this could be the end of me
and everything I know

- 3 Door's Down, "it's not my time"

The woman’s voice is pleasant, calming even and yet it is all I can do to keep from narrowing my eyes in suspicion. I find myself hard pressed to trust anyone these days and I am not about to let my guard down now. At least she doesn’t seem to have a stallion smell about her which hopefully means we will not be interrupted by some perturbed male coming in search of her. I am opening my mouth to scold my sister again and some how she anticipates it without even turning to look at me. “Relax Illy, she’s not going to hurt me…” the girl says confidently, “nice to meet you Dawson as my sister said I’m Namasté and this bag of feathers is Remy.” She accents those last words with a toss of her head which bumps the white owl into the air and he flutters with a disgruntled look to her back instead. Able now to move without straining she lowers her muzzle towards the Dhole, “I’ve never seen anything exactly like you before, I like your colors Ducky.” She smiles sincerely at him before turning her attention back to the mare…

I know exactly what question she is gearing up to ask and I move quickly to intercept it as I assume this mare will have no better answer than I do, “my name is Illudra and my companion goes by Tinder, I am also pleased to meet you.” It is not a lie, one can be pleased to meet another without being willing to trust them immediately and I have gone so long hearing no voice but Namasté’s that the change is in fact rather nice. I do not move closer figuring that the younger girl is already crowding our new acquaintances enough but I do relax just the slightest bit deciding that my sister is right in believing that neither the mare nor her axian mean us harm. The silent exchange between the Dhole and the golden mare was of course conducted well under my radar but Tinder, who misses nothing, did catch the odd looks cast his way by Ducky. I see the sly smile curve his lips and sense the wickedly playful intent building in his mind, “Tinder! Do not play mean tricks, haven’t you noticed that the easiest way to piss another horse off around here is to pick on his or her axian? That’s a big mare I don’t want to deal with her mad… especially since Namasté refuses to back away.”

His disappointment is not at all masked to me but he does as I wish and in order to smoothly defuse the situation he simply changes to a shape that the Dhole will no doubt find less attractive. A beaver now stands at my side irritably shaking snow from his paws, “thank you.” This clear appreciation of his suffering appeases my dear friend and with him in check I feel I can focus on Dawson again. My head tilts to the side studying her trying to decide if she is new to these lands or a long time resident. Finding myself unable to tell for sure I decide to just ask, “have you been here long?”

| axian speech |
| mental speech for both |
| regular speech for both |



Call me ILLUDRA for that is my name. They say my 15.2hh (when full grown), Silver Buckskin coated, FEMALE person is not terribly aesthetic, especialy with the FLOPPY RIGHT EAR. Trust the steel in my gaze for these TWO short years of life have not taught me to bend. Recognize my breeding as a mix of HANOVERIAN, THOROUGHBRED, MUSTANG, QUARTER HORSE, LUSITANO & LIPOZZANER. I remember my parents as SHADOW & DELLISSA of this land and others. Connect me with TINDER the --- coated MALE AXIAN of skill level 3 my better half and link to the element of --- in which we are pursuing the --- (0/0) tree with --- trees completed. Look for me in --- for it is there I reside. Place me in the court of --- under the title of --- and trace my blood down to ---. My FEMALE sibling NAMASTé is a YEARLING of BUCKSKIN coating. She shares the MUSTANG, QUARTER HORSE, LUSITANO & LIPOZZANER HALF and carries an ARABIAN HALF from her father LAFAYETTE. Namasté is unlikely to grow to more than 14.0hh. She travels with the MALE axian REMY of skill level 2. Our strings are pulled by the beautiful TZARRA who should be credited with both our creation and our words. --- of --- is the painter of our portraits.