[open] some people have fancy quotes; Pyxis

[pyxis]

she'll lie and steal and cheat and beg you from her knees
make you thinks she means it this time

Pyxis is many things, but exceptionally observant has never been one of them.

She is bright-eyed and sharp, but only in the things that immediately pertain to her—specifically, the things that pertain to her own survival, her own safety. And, now, she supposes, the things that pertain to her family’s safety. So her observation of the spotted bay child are distracted and scattered.

That is, until she asks the question that cuts through the noise in her mind.

It clears the fog and brings her eyes refocusing on her, the ice of her eyes suddenly much brighter.

“Oh, uh, it’s a volcano,” she says absent-mindedly, only just realizing the question that she had been asked. To be honest, Pyxis has never really paid much mind to the central piece of Tephra’s landscape. This is just a home for the moment, a place to rest her head, a place to keep her children safe.

She shakes her head, dropping it slightly so that she can get a better look at the filly. Her blue gaze is fierce and unscrupulous, studying her face for a moment before huffing, her nostrils flaring. “That is funny,” she says, although there is not much humor in her voice, just a sharp-edge of recognition.

She is quiet for another moment longer, taking a deep breath, before she finally asks:

“Elkhazel,” it certainly sounds like a name from her family, “who is your mother, exactly?”

She knows the answer already; in her heart, she knows.

But she still needs to hear it directly from the girl’s mouth.

she'll tear a hole in you, the one you can't repair
but I still love her, I don't really care

@[Elkhazel]