Even as Adelheid’s twists of life started change her attitude towards others, the splashed mare could not completely keep her body from reacting and stiffening tensely at others. Particularly when others greeted her harshly. It was fair, she felt. With or without the desire to be amiable with others, she still had the right to prepare herself for backlash or bites. As she eyed Wasp when the other mare approached, she knew this woman held her own against intrusive stallions. It would have been insulting not to assume she would fight Adelheid if there was possibility of a threat.

As Wasp continued to calm, Adelheid did as well, trying to call up the feelings of peace she had started to feel with others when just having conversations. She had to consciously tell her shoulders to loosen and her ears to unpin from her neck. The other mare’s hoof relaxed and her body shifted. Adelheid mentally cooled her temper further, but her body could not mirror Wasp’s, she continued to stand at attention, though at ease. When Adelheid mentioned her family, the reaction on Wasp’s face surprised her. She blinked as the bay turned her face and hid from her. She knew that action but did not comment on it, allowing the other woman to have her moment to herself to feel whatever it was she needed to feel. Adelheid was new to feelings and did not want to steal another’s opportunity to feel their’s.

She did smirk appreciatively at her words though, finally feeling as though they had a better understanding and were on equal ground. I’m not a peach myself…At least she was becoming aware of how she was around others. Her head nodded in acknowledgement of Wasp’s time spent in the mountains and she again felt a mild twist of jealousy. It abated as she continued to speak, hinting to the pain she had felt earlier. She waited patiently as Wasp continued to speak, explaining more about her origin. As Wasp continued to speak, Adelheid raised a questioning brow, surprised that this rough mare would place pieces of her bleeding heart at her hooves. Ears flicked back for a moment. It could have been so easy to crush her with mere words as others had taken Adelheid’s hopes and dreams from her so long ago. Knowing what it felt like to grieve and have the loss hang heavy on her shoulders she let the other mare mourn freely. She had not known Macabre well, but she remembered the name during elections and knew her to be respectable.

Adelheid could not help it. Her head tossed back as if she had been hit at the admittance that Diamant was this mare’s sire. She had to fight back a growl. The speed of which Wasp was speaking led the mare to believe there was more that was not being said. She had been raised beside the stallion as a sibling. Shaking her head again, she exhaled and calmed herself again, bringing her attention back to the hurting mare in front of her. It is a pleasure to meet you, Wasp. her tone was uncharacteristically calm, genuine down to every last syllable, her own form of apology. Clearly, the Peak means something to both of us, and we did not want some random mare f- … messing with this place. She studied the other mare and relaxed even more, trying to put both of them at ease and knowing for a fact this was not her strong suit. Her face clearly struggling to show empathy, though she too had lost her mother suddenly. I am sorry about your mother… I know she had to have been grand. I know your sire… we were raised together… in a sense. She shifted for a moment, trying to regain her emotional footing. When did stallions start to think they can just walk right in here like it’s the Lagoon? Adelheid would do anything to keep herself from facing her own feelings while trying to allow Wasp to have the freedom to show her own emotion.