Emotions. She'd always had a difficult time controlling them when they began to threaten her, their warnings burning like a hot flame beneath her skin as she felt them begin to overwhelm her, the zephyrs growing in speed and strength as they seemed to swirl around her protectively. In those moments where her element began to feed almost instinctively from the strong feelings that gripped at her young heart, she'd become frightened as a young filly. She'd been afraid that she would hurt those near her, and it was this fear that only made the winds swirl even fiercer around the girl. Then, when she'd thought she would lose complete control, tears streaking down her sabled cheek, she would suddenly feel a presence against her small frame. Once tightly shut eyes would fly open at the sudden and comforting pressure and find the powerful frame of her grandfather as he would lower his proud spanish head and pull the frightened girl close to him, almost immune to the winds that buffeted against his chiseled musculature with pale whipcords twisting and turning this way and that in the whirlwind that enveloped young Chiyoko.

It was his presence, his strength, his comforting embrace that eased the girl and soon the winds would slow into nothing more than a light breeze. He never let her go, never stepped away from her until she would reach this point of relief... Despite the absence of her mother and the feelings of abandonment that often left the midnight filly prone to sudden moments of lost control on her elemental powers, he had always come to her swiftly and refused to leave her until he knew she was alright. In dwelling on these memories where her grandfather had come to her side and offered her strength and comfort until her emotions subsided, she came to find a small sliver of courage as she stood alone upon the snow covered ridge and in turn the zephyrs calmed to a warm breeze that stirred softly around her from the whipping winds that rheyd begun to take to.

"I may not always be with you, but when you need me my spirit will find you and give your heart strength... Remember this, Chiyoko"... Slower still the zephyrs became as the deep baritones of her grandfather found their way into her thoughts and for a moment she could almost swear she felt a warmth rise in her heart. He had been her ever enduring support and endless source of nurturing love when she needed it most, whenever she felt like she might lose herself. It was this very love and devotion that she could see in her grandparents that only upset the midnight maiden further when her thoughts dared to drift to her long lost mother. Why would she have left behind those that cared for her the way that no one else ever could? Why would she abandon not only her child, but those who had raised her with surely the same love and protectiveness that Ichiro and Carwen had raised Chiyoko? It was especially upsetting that her scent had led her here. Her grandfather had told her of the stories, of the crime that Rhaego had committed... Had her mother been taken hostage? Had he hurt her to where she could not come home?

Yet even if she had been taken, her grandparents always told Chiyoko that Talien was a strong woman that was capable of handling herself in dire situations, so in the mind of the young midnight maiden, the only reason that could possibly be is that she simply did not want to come home... This was the only certainty she could rest upon, though it still left a barrage of unanswered questions in the wake of that assurance. Then, she sees her approaching. Instantly, the warmth melts away and the winds begin to stir around her again protectively as the zephyrs detected the swift change from calmer uncertainty to unnerved anticipation as he mother drew near. It had been so long... Some would have eagerly closed the distance between their lost loved one, but instead, Chiyoko feels herself take a step back as her heart begins to succumb to the emotions she'd kept bottled up for so long... all the unanswered questions rushing to the forefront of her thoughts. The brandished mare ushers her name softly, and it triggers the midnight maiden's memory to a time when those silken tones used to sing her to sleep. And then she abandoned me.... like I meant nothing to her... Suddenly, from the darkest depths, she felt something she hadn't felt for a long time. Anger. Piercing blue depths so no wounds on the mare, she does not appear weak or malnourished. She was here of her own free will, of this she could not doubt any longer. It was this realization that awoke in her the anger risen from the gloom of longing and abandonment.

"Mother..."

A single word slips past satin lips softly, painfully... She wanted to be happy to see her mother. She'd imagined it so many times before, her mother running to her side and taking her into an equine embrace as mother reunited with daughter. Ah, but that was just a silly dream from a naïve filly who wanted nothing more than to have her mother beside her. Tat girl was gone now, standing in her place a young woman who yearned for her mother and yet struggled wildly with trying to understand why she'd been left behind... Hadn't she meant anything to Talien? The zephyrs grow a little faster as they continued to envelope the midnight maiden as she watched her mother. She could see the guilt, but where Chiyoko had thought it would have been enough for her, it wasn't now.

"Why... Why are you here?"

She stands there in silence now, never having been so close to another and yet still felt worlds and worlds away... While the meaning to the softly spoken string of silken words seemed clear, seemed like such a simple question to answer, it ran much, much deeper than it appeared to on the surface. Beneath the words, hidden under each syllable, there was something so much more that cut into her heart so much deeper.... While she'd asked her "why are you here?", she was certain that if Talien was any sort of mother, these very words would also whisper a second question.... Why did you leave me?