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

Wasp was beginning to feel paranoid. At first, she wasn't sure why. The Prime Minister of the Peak was offloading a lot of her stress and responsibilities. She was ready for this captive period of the Lagoon stallions to end. Božena had done well - the Vulcans' message to the murderer Cullen, rang loud and clear when she robbed the cream-colored stallion of his gang of men. It was a short-lived, but honest win. And the Peak needed a win.

Nevertheless, the dark bay warrior of the Peak was ready to see the gaggle of gangly stallions go. They were ornery and dense. A few proved smarter than the rest, and keeping them all in line for two seasons had been a lot of work. Now with foals on the ground and the spring and summer seasons nearly behind them, Wasp's patience for their antics was wearing thin. They couldn't realistically keep them here forever, could they?

It was her conversation with Nekharat, which came shortly after, that instilled this weird bout of insecurity in the mare. Nekharat questioned things. She poked holes in Wasp's leadership. Still newly minted in the role and relatively young, Wasp took these pointed questions personally. She lacked the experience and the foresight to understand that some criticism was good. It was humbling, it made her better. Instead, she saw Nekharat as a snitch who secretly visited with the Peak's greatest critics - Solomon - and who may have other motivations.

As such, Wasp kept to herself, mingling mostly with her two most trusted council, Božena and Adelheid. She was grazing near the Peak's creek when the scent of someone unfamiliar wafted to her in the crisp fall breeze. The dark mare's amber gaze shot across the low lying valley. There she spied a heavy set mare with a greying face. She was older, but stood tall and strong at the base of their mountain. She looked out at the boulders and the rocky trail ahead as if she'd been here before. Curious, Wasp lifted her head from the grasses and trotted over, nickering lowly as she approached. "Welcome to the Peak." She offered in neutral greeting before settling into a relaxed position a few feet away. "Looking for someone?"

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