As far as it came to trying new things, venturing from the forest and closer the river was not groundbreaking but it was something. The woods had become something of a home for her lately, the comforting closeness and the way she could get lost in their depths and discover something new every single day. Though she was still relatively young, beneath those branches she felt like a small filly still. Filled with wonder and excitement.

But the first snowflakes of the season had begun to fall, and that was a special occasion. Worth being out in the open for. Her firefly friends did not feel the same excitement and some had remained in the shelter of the forest. A small handful ventured with her but they lay nestled among her mane, keeping close to her body and the occasional glimpse of their soft yellow light peeks out from the charcoal lengths.

She was wandering but worried about colliding with someone else so she stands near the banks, her eyes are glued to the gentle grey of the sky and the occasional white flake that descends from it. They do not stick to the autumn-gold grass or the ground, it is still too warm for that, but they dance around the air in a cool breeze and skim the surface of the nearby river before settling into it and disappearing forever.

And though Avelina is enjoying this moment, this peace and the quiet that comes with the snow, there's an ache in the silence too. On the days when her twin isn't around, when she has not run into either of her star-strewn friends, she feels a loneliness that she cannot shake. Some just aren't meant to live on their own, with only fireflies for company.

As beautiful as the falling snow is, and as much as she admires it, there is no shortage of relief that floods young Avelina when she can hear someone moving through it. Company! And… company that knows her name? Even better. At first glance though, Avelina does not recognize the beautiful girl that moves towards her through the snow. She is both marvelling at the striking contrast of deep red, black, and gold against the snow and wondering how she could possibly not have a name to put to someone who clearly knows her.

What a horrible thing, to have forgotten someone! The voice is familiar but she's so stuck on thinking about the rich colours of the coat that her mind can't quite seem to focus on that one detail.

But she does her best not to let this confusion show and she responds with a warm “Hello!”

It only takes her another couple of seconds to fully register who it is. It helps that she had only ever managed to make one friend with another filly, and the girl was too tall to be Holler playing a trick on her. Her polite smile blossoms as her gentle green eyes widen in a pleasant combination of surprise and delight that sends her firefly friends into a flurry around her as they risk the cold to feed off of the rejuvenated energy. "Oh! Gosh, Narya? Is that you? You’re gorgeous!” A small, light laugh punctuates that phrase before she continues, the fireflies settling back into the protective refuge of the charcoal strands of her mane. “Not that you weren’t before but, you know. That colour.”

It’s admiration more than envy that is threaded through the words and before long her gaze returns to the face of her first friend as she asks earnestly. “How’ve you been?”

Avelina did not know it was even possible to wake up one day and be shiny - though she had woken up one day and had fireflies dancing around her… though she also had thought she had been living in a dream for quite a few days afterwards. Surely the strangeness of the whole event explained why there was an odd weight to Narya’s unsure explanation - and the distracted way she answers Avelina’s question. It would certainly be off-putting!

When the question is returned, Avelina’s smile is bright though she hardly has any news aside from the obvious. “I’ve been good! My new friends are the most exciting thing to have happen for sure, but that’s how I like it.” Sure, the days sort of blend together after a certain point  - that wasn’t entirely a bad thing, though. Not when they were all peaceful, occasionally punctuated by the presence of her friends and giving her fond memories to float on until the next meeting.

Despite being easily distracted by that question, however, Avelina gently circles back to the distracted way Narya had replied to her question - that mostly that hang on the end of how she had been. “Do you want to talk about it?” She keeps it vague and open to interpretation. Maybe it was nothing, and she certainly would not press the point if the answer was no, but she'll of course offer the opportunity to explain if Narya was looking for someone to listen.

“That must be awful, Narya, I’m so sorry.” Sympathy and worry both work together to cause a delicate frown on Avelina’s features - she imagines that wherever the voices are coming from, it would be terrible not to know - to hear thoughts that are not your own and have them plague you. She wastes no time in thinking of possible explanations out loud - and it does not even occur to her that Narya could be making this up. “Could it be the thoughts of others, maybe? Can you hear what I’m thinking?” Avelina pauses a little, a small smile on her face as she thinks of her fireflies and other happy things - wishing such an innocent explanation could be the truth.

And then those thoughts fade into other things that could explain what Narya is experiencing. None of her options really help with fixing the problem though… but maybe they can figure that out once they know what the problem is.

Her voice is thoughtful and unafraid as she continues, almost like they’re discussing reasons why certain flowers are purple and others are pink. “Or… my brother can summon souls from the afterlife. I don’t think the boundary between our world and the next is particularly good at keeping things out.” For Avelina, death has always been there, practically part of the family thanks to Cru’s ability. It doesn’t distress her for her own sake - she just wishes her friend didn’t have to be plagued with anything even remotely bothersome. Narya deserved to live in peace.

“Can you hear what they're saying or just the general noise? Like someone is whispering and you can't quite make out the words?” She hopes Narya will forgive her for this little bit of curiosity, though the question could easily be brushed off and Avelina would not mind.