something wild calls you home

[Scorch]

Though she told Aletta that she would head straight for Nerine as they parted in Taiga, she found herself meandering. It seemed, in one, confusing and simultaneous moment, that she'd been in that self-same kingdom both yesterday and decades ago. Stranger yet that that emotional sensation would attach itself to the Amazon Jungle, too, since that land became obsolete actual decades ago (or close) by now.

Alas, she made a commitment to Aletta. One that she felt loathe to follow through one but one which her honour (in shambles though it may be) demanded she attend to. So, later, she found herself at Nerine's borders.

She entered not.

What entitlement could she even pretend to claim to this place any more? Once, she'd warmed Nerine's thrown during a leadership interlude, that much remained true... and though she told herself that her loyalty extended unyielding into the future, her extramarital affairs forced her to consider otherwise.

She felt thankful when her new gray companion arrived at last. With the sun setting on their backs, Scorch kicked up into a canter and headed straight for the other mare, chuckling low in her sternum at Aletta's blatant (and innocent) disregard for the kingdom's borders. Her re-familiarization with the political batshittery inherent in this land would come soon enough and without Scorch's intervention, if she could help it.

"So, you made it," the scarred mare churrs with a good-humoured chuckle. "Welcome to Nerine." The mare's dragon eyes (currently a deep, pupilless blue) turned to the cliff-strewn horizon. "I am sure that some wide-eyed and eager diplomats will be by to sniff us out in no time. That or else a war-hardened woman or two."