I DON'T WORRY, WORRYING DON'T AGREE
THINGS THAT BOTHER YOU, NEVER BOTHER ME!

Talya did not like this stranger. This stranger made her worry. This stranger made an inky, distasteful, bitter darkness burn away the prettiness that was the Forest and the cheerful days she had with the Goddess of the Forest, her bestest friend Aurora, and her mamapapa. This stranger needed to leave and never come back. The sooner she was gone, the sooner Talya could forget she had ever come. It would be easier when she wasn’t standing there, talking.

And she said the name that wasn’t supposed to be said. Mamapapa had made it very clear to Talya the name was never supposed to be said. He had told her again and again and again and again. This stranger didn’t care about those rules, though, and said it anyways. Talya’s blue eyes blinked wide at the mare and she shook her head slowly back and forth, mutely denying any involvement with the name. Shaking her head didn’t count as lying, did it? She looked at Goddess Persephone.

It was so much nicer to look at the Goddess of the Forest, she thought. Looking at Goddess Persephone, the blackness and the sick feeling stole away, blinded by her brilliant light. She was Talya’s savior in this moment. The filly shifted her weight, sidestepping so she could lean against Goddess Persephone, closing her eyes and snuggling up to her. It was a very sudden thing, but that was what Talya often did – very sudden, unexpected things.

They decided they were going to walk away from the beach – the stranger and the Goddess of the Forest – and Talya’s mind shot big, flashing lights toward an escape. She blinked, lifting up her head and looked at Goddess Persephone. The word of goodbye’s was in her mouth and she was ready to shout it, turn around and run, but then she caught sight of the stranger.

If she left, there was nothing keeping the stranger from saying what else shouldn’t be said. She’d already said the name, and mamapapa would be very angry about that. Talya hated when mamapapa was angry.

She swallowed down the desire to run away from the stranger and instead pushed for a few lofty, bouncing steps up the path they were going to travel. As best she could, Talya avoided looking at the stranger, instead poking her nose into various plants and the like along the way. Thankfully this generally seemed a thing she often did, so her behavior didn’t seem too out of the norm.