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

Despite the obvious tension, Wasp felt surprisingly calm in Rougaru's presence. The nervousness that made her so jittery in the days leading up to this meeting seemingly dissipated. The dark mare instead felt sharp and calculated. She accepted the stallion's offer to walk, and followed casually at the pace he set. Still, one amber eye remained trained on him as they strolled where the jungle met the beach. She could hear the sounds of the insects as they hummed away under the jungle canopy, and the crash of the nearby ocean waves at the same time.

Wasp didn't reveal her hand when she asked about the war. She knew Rougaru had allies on Tinuvel. She knew who Warsaw was, even if she'd never met the stallion. She was fairly certain which side Rougaru was batting for. But the King of Paradise confirmed it for her anyway. Wasp listened intently as he tried to offer some kind of explanation. Her dark brown ears swiveled forward and back atop her skull in response. "You don't have to justify your position to me." She offered. "I understand you're doing what you think is best for you and your herd." Wasp might not agree with his stance, but she wasn't going to disrespect it.

She allowed his comment about his mares to roll by quickly. It was uncomfortable - no matter which way he posed it.

Instead, she focused on what she came here for: Metere and Drika. But she halted when Rougaru seemed surprised to learn about this. Her amber gaze narrowed on him as he processed this information, and then posed a trade. She took a minute to consider his words, and huffed a heavy sigh.

"The last thing I want to do is face a friend on the battlefield, Rougaru." She prefaced. "But I cannot stand idly by while stallions like Cullen try to erase our very existence. I just can't."

She looked deeply into the stallion's emerald eyes, silently pleading for him to understand. "If I don't fight for this, what is the point of the rest of it?" She added.

Wasp reached out to bump the stallion on the shoulder with her whiskered muzzle. "I'll come back for them." She said, somewhat deflated. "When it's all over. Please keep them safe until then. I'm counting on you."

W A S P