The sky was heavy with clouds and the distant roll of thunder could be heard. Rain pattered down softly, for now, though the pale gold mare was sure it would become worse. How long had she been outside the Ridge? It had been too long, like another lifetime. Things were different now, she was different now. Still, in her heart, Saoirse wanted answers.

And who else could she turn to?

Roisin would hopefully have some news of their mother, maybe even Naenia. It was not likely but even so, there was a pitiful amount of hope like a moth's wings. Fragile to the touch but trying to live. Saoirse made her way along hilltops. She wondered about Charybdis. If the mare was still over the land Saoirse once called home or if someone else had taken charge一it smelled different, she thought. More acidic than before. Perhaps like limestone or sulfur.

Her nose wrinkles delicately and she snorts, head tossed gently. She knew this land was no longer her home. It was a shadow of what she remembered before she went away.

Saoirse stands on the top of a hillock and lifts her gilded head. Her eyes search for that familiar but hazy face of her half sister. Roisin?” Her voice cracks like thunder, “Roisin? Are you here? Are you ….”

Alive. She wants to scream into the rain. Who was to say if any of her family lived? If any of them were more than spirit drifting on the wind and the clouds. Saoirse feels the rain trickle down between her eyes, into her ears.