a new world hangs outside the window
beautiful and strange
it must be I've fallen awake
I must be

The first time Wasp had left the higher elevations of their mountain had been the day she found Solomon, Coda and Adelheid, all seemingly trespassing into Peak territory. The interaction had been wildly different than anything she had expected, and the situation grounded her in a time of great need. Wasp toiled away for weeks at the top of their mountain, mourning the last of the Peak's leadership and her mother, Macabre. She'd never experienced the heartbreak she did now. It was all consuming and downright awful. Never, up until this point in the mare's life, had she imagined a day where the steadfast Codebreaker, her dam, wouldn't be in her life to guide her and offer support. Even when the war was imminent, she couldn't dream of Macabre not making it out alive. Not with her there to protect her. Not with Bozena so loyally at their side.

It was all a nightmare she just couldn't seemingly wake from.

And then there was Bacardi, Ruger's son. Her half-brother. Wasp had seemingly lost track of the gangly colt, and she felt a deep sense of shame and guilt because of that. Bacardi knew only the Peak as his home. And the last thing Macabre would ever want is for Wasp to abandon him. But she couldn't look at the young painted stallion and not feel a new wave of immense grief all over again.

She knew she couldn't keep on like this. The Peak needed some kind of semblance of leadership. The fact that horses were so willy-nilly trespassing into their lands was reason No. 1. Secondly, Bacardi needed family. And the rest of the Peak warriors who fought alongside Wasp against the Lagoon and the other stallions, they deserved better. They were grieving too.

So despite how difficult it was to leave the loneliness of the higher trails behind, the dark bay mare made her way down the mountainous path and back to the valley, where she forced herself to stay. She strayed mostly to the nearby woods, if she went anywhere, and tried to stay close to her half-brother. On this day, she found herself drinking from the creek which had nearly all but iced over. The season's first layer of snow was gathering on the small of her back. She gave it a good shake when it grew too heavy. In the distance, she spied another mare - one she recognized with some familiarity after the Solomon situation. Her amber eyes focused on her for a while before she called out with a whinny and trotted over.

"So what, you live here now?" She said with a somewhat skeptical gaze.

W A S P