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

Wasp watched with interest as Mouse and Impa regarded each other with such warmth. A short-lived smile cracked her whiskered lips to witness their reunion, now that she had a name to go with the stories she'd heard while growing up. She only wished Macabre could be here to see their homecoming.

The dark bay mare nodded solemnly as Impa and Mouse took in the news of their fallen comrades. Wasp remained silent out of respect for them - mares who were well before her time. But she perked some as the conversation shifted to Adelheid. "I'm sure she'll be happy to see you both again." Wasp offered quickly. But the pleasantries soon gave way to more serious conversation. Wasp physically braced for the question hanging over all their heads - she was growing used to having to explain the current state of things in the Peak.

"Well," She began, her earlier confidence wavering in her voice. She stopped once to snort, as a way to clear her throat. "During your time away, I'm sad to share that it's been a grim chapter for the Vulcan herd." She began. Wasp tried to quickly gather her thoughts. No matter how many times she had recounted the war, and what came before and after it, she never settled on a succinct way to get through all the complicated and sometimes gruesome details. But she did her best to explain to Impa and Mouse that Cullen, the son of Rade, had waged an islands-wide war against mares in position of power. The Lagoon stallion allied with two land-owning stallions, Rougaru in Paradise and Warsaw in the Inlet, to specifically attack mares who led territories. It was her own mother, Macabre, who rallied the Vulcan herd to aid the mare-led territories in need. She explained that Macabre died during the war, by a blow from Cullen. In the aftermath, Božena, the Vulcan herd's fierce General, acted on her own and beat Cullen in battle, stripping him and the Lagoon of all their recruits. While the Peak had indeed temporarily crippled the Lagoon, they were now responsible for this swath of insufferable bachelor stallions.

"We are negotiating their release as we speak." Wasp confirmed, hoping to temper any feelings of ill will about the current, crowded state of things on their mountain home. Then the Prime Minister fell silent for a long minute, giving them both some time to comprehend all the details she'd just dropped on them. "We do feel a change is in the air. We've made in-roads I think will lead to better connections going forward."

W A S P