Jörmungandr has never believed in soul mates or love at first sight or any of that destined to be together malarkey. She believes the gods have plans for everyone but she does not believe that they would reach so far as to force a union. That Is, after all, how soul mates sound to her. It is all predetermined and inevitable with no free will. Choice is a finer thing; real love is a finer thing. She believed in love in its true form - a strong connection between two individuals that is built up over time and only gets stronger as the years go on. It is a natural progression, a slow build up that culminates in unbreakable ties. Soul mates sound like a mixture of lust, coercion and an abandonment of rational thinking and logic. That doesn’t even begin to cover the weird, co-dependant reliance on another to feel whole.

Lyden and Caesisus believe they are soul mates and that could potentially be the ruin of them all. There are too many stories of soul mates forsaking all others to be together, that nothing mattered as long as they are together. This makes Jormungandr uneasy. Family members had already been traded to accommodate their need to be together; would more follow? If it came down the bare bones of it and Lyden was asked to choose – Caesisus or the herd, who would he pick? And where did Jörmungandr fit into the equation? Would she end up being disposable once all is said and done?

Jörmungandr does not have the time or patience to consider the idea and implications of soul mates now however, as she moved to greeting Sylvia and Caesisus. Her ears lean forwards to catch what the painted mare had to say. She smiles at the words but does not get a chance to say anything before Sylvia motions to Joukahainen at her hip. She chuckles, swinging her rump marginally to bump the boy forwards. ”He is a handsome one alright” she agreed, and she could see the similarities between the father and son. Joukahainen’s smoky coat was darker than his father’s and he bore the bald face of his mother’s side of the family but his conformation closely resembled the pale king of the forest. ”His name is Joukahainen” though she assumed Lyden would probably have already informed Sylvia of the boy’s name. She lowers her head to nudge the pale boy gently ”Say hello to your aunt Sylvia, Jouka”. The boy bleats a quick hello and clacks his teeth to his elder before leaning against his mother’s leg with a yawn. The exhaustion of their earlier trip weighs too heavily for him to give the mare, his aunt, a more jubilant greeting.

The buckskin’s gaze drifts to the slumbering foals as Sylvia introduced the boy as her son but admitted the filly was a stray. Caesisus asks the question that sprang to Jörmungandr’s mind. Her soft gaze lingers on the girl, remembering what it had been like to be taken from her own mother. ”The Prairie herd moved on not long ago, perhaps she got split up from them along the way.”. She wonders why the mother would not stay behind to find the child. She thinks back to how she had been taken with good intentions while her mother waited for her to return. Perhaps Elliot had taken the girl but the mother was not so far as he thought. ”Will you keep her?. Jormungandr is confident she knows the answer, but asks anyway. ”I have been planning an excursion for Jouka to see the rest of Luthien, I can send her mother your way on the off chance I run into her”