[open] ; in restless dreams I walked alone (gunsynd, any)

[Aranea]

there is a familiarity to the way that the valley seems to settle around her. the way the air seems to blanket her, embrace her, envelop every fiber of her being. it is comfortable and the ashen mare cannot completely mask the odd smile that turns up her lips.  they do not have long to wait - aranea shows no reaction to the comment of a prison, though she feels an unusual need to defend her silence. it was no prison and, in fact, most days she welcomed the peace that it brought. it was an inconvenience, at best, and so thshadow focused her attention on the one that came.  oh she knew him. she knew him more deeply than she could even tell. it was not that they had crossed paths a thousand times - a few, at best - but that his story was wound with hers in a way that even she did not understand. yes, there was history there.  gone was the eager youth and returned with a shadowy cloak was the ancient mare who had once COMMANDED attention. though she was not unusual to look at - plain, in fact, compared to most in beqanna these days - she drew eyes wherever she went. it was a simple confidence that oozed from her very pores. it was present, now.  her gaze bounced from gunsynd to eight and she felt the shift. it was as if a bubble had expanded and settled over the three gathered and aranea knew that they would be able to hear her.  how convenient she focused on projecting her thoughts, something which required about the same effort as speaking. home. yes, that has a nice ring to it. she wondered if it had been her home before it had been his - her memory, though long, was imperfect.  to them both, then. i am aranea. do you remember me, eight? do you remember my mother? do you know what i can do?   ARANEA (immortal, mute, infrared vision)from dust, she returned the dream, an enigma... silent