Storm Heart

The only boon to the Windy Region was seeing Neith again, Sidra decided. The trip there had been tense, neither of her stallion companions pushing her much. They didn’t want another magic explosion, Sidra surmised. It was mostly filled with a tense silence, and the cold shoulder Sidra gave them didn’t much help the positions they were in.

So when the wall outside of Artmesium rose, Sidra let out a breath of relief.

Neith had been waiting for them, and with one look at Sidra’s expression the young mare turned the stallions away.

So Voyeur and Sulien remained outside of Artmesium, and Sidra fell gratefully into the fold of the mares who lived there.

Pandora, the motherly mare she was, treated Sidra like one of her own daughters. Sidra didn’t realize how much she yearned for that sort of affection until Pandora began to fuss over her and care for her. Only then did Sidra break down in tears.

She told Pandora and Neith everything. How she had given in to that darkness, how it had torn her apart and won. How she had given herself over to the magic, and the awful aftermath. Sidra didn’t dislike the swamp sisters, but she had been far from herself. Even now, it felt like a shadow of herself remained.

Pandora and her daughters gathered around, or at least the ones who were there. Avia was in Espeor, thankfully. And Idalia was still off on a grand quest to find herself, from what the others said. But Eadwine joined them, and even Datura came out from her cave for a bit. It was a gentle evening, and as Sidra fell asleep under the stars, she felt refreshed, like some part of her was slowly healing.

“They are just hanging out on the border,” Neith reported the next morning. Sidra hadn’t asked, but she had been curious about how Voyeur and Sulien were faring.

“They did ask to see you though,” Neith added, and Sidra sighed, looking at the clever mare before her.

Neith had an attitude, and was a bit spoiled and stuck up. But something about that resonated with Sidra. There was a daredevil edge to Neith, and Sidra had woken up to her arguing with Pandora about going out and seeing the world.

Sidra saw the singular gate of Artmesium rising ahead as she walked with Neith. She wasn’t quite ready to see her companions, and even her cat was restless, tail twitching as he walked by Sidra’s side.

Neith opened the gate, and Sidra gazed out at Sulien and Voyeur.

“I’m going to stay here for a while,” Sidra announced her decision. “You two are free to roam the lands around here as you please.”

Sulien and Voyeur shared a look. “Sidra….” Sulien murmured, his tone a bit bleak and helpless.

Sidra shook her head. “Please don’t, Sulien,” she murmured. “I need this time, for me.”

“As you wish,” Sulien said softly. “I know we cannot enter… but please let me know that you are okay every once in a while.”

The sorrow in Sulien’s tone almost broke Sidra’s resolve. But she only nodded slightly, looking at Sulien and Voyeur, her dear friends, a moment longer.

“Be safe,” Voyeur said, and his tone was just as gentle as Sulien’s. Sidra gave a tight smile and nodded, before quickly retreating back into the safety of Pandora’s land.

Neith seemed a bit antsy as they headed back toward where Pandora’s small herd was. The wind was picking up, which really wasn’t unusual for the Windy region.

Neith pulled to a stop, the gears in her mind turning. Sidra watched the other young mare curiously, wondering what kind of shenanigans that Neith was about to come up with. It was Neith’s plotting that had led to the huge snow battle last Solstice, and in the time that Sidra had known the youngest princess of Artmesium she had noticed there was always some kind of plot on Neith’s mind.

“Let’s go exploring,” Neith finally said, and Sidra tilted her head slightly but nodded all the same.

Wandering Pandora’s land, Sidra felt lighter than she had in a while. Neith chatted endlessly about random things that Sidra had never considered, and while she wasn’t Sulien, she was still a good companion.

After traveling with Voyeur and Sulien, it was strange to have a sense of female companionship. While Sidra had interacted with other mares on her journey, it was always Sulien she turned to. He was an extension of her, and without him by her side it felt like she was missing a limb. While walking with Neith Sidra constantly found herself turning to ask Sulien his opinion on things, but finding nothing but empty space.

Neith seemed to recognize that restlessness.

“You and I are going to have an adventure, Sidra,” Neith said with a smirk.

The stallion's surprise was worth the trouble of sneaking away from Pandora and Neith’s sisters in the middle of the night. Neith had a wicked grin as she led them across the windy region, both of the stallions still sleep dazed and highly confused by their antics.

Sidra found herself laughing freely and joking along with Neith as they traveled, and as the morning dawned grey and drab, Neith called them to a stop.

“Found it,” Neith said with a victorious grin, and Sidra grinned right back.

“What exactly have we found?” Voyeur asked, with a yawn, looking around. “All I see are storm clouds.”

“Exactly,” Neith grinned, and Voyeur and Sulien shared a concerned look.

“Falkreath says the storm is brewing fast,” Sulien said as his hawk soared down and landed on his back.

“Shadowdancer agrees,” Voyeur replied. “We should find shelter.”

“We are going to do the opposite,” Sidra replied a bit smugly, a bit wildly. “We are going storm chasing.”

Sulien glanced over at Sidra again as her wings shimmered into existence at her sides. Her cat rested on her back, looking more at ease than Sulien was for sure. But that made Sulien smile slightly.

Like Sidra, her familiar had been restless and on edge since the swamp. It was good to see them both more relaxed and free, more settled.

So Sulien glanced at Voyeur, and grinned. “Guess we aren’t staying dry,” he commented.

Sulien saw the same relief in Voyeur’s eyes at the change in Sidra.

“I guess we are,” Voyeur agreed with a shake of his head.

The storm brewed stronger above them, and Neith stood like a general before the three other Quirlicorns.

“It’s traveling fast, so we are gonna have to be fast to keep up,” Neith said, studying the skies. “TIme to move out!”

They traveled rough and hard, racing over the flatlands at the top of the cliffs after the storm. The stallions concerned proved true, the storm was a raging beast. The rain lashed, thunder and lightning crackling above them. But it was worth it; Sidra had a look to her that was wild, untamed and free.

Neith was laughing, and Sidra soon joined her as the wind picked up.

“Look!” Neith called out over the wind and rain as the clouds began to change shape and swirl. “We are in luck, we got a tornado!”

Neither Sulien nor Voyeur counted that as luck, but the mares raced ahead, fearless in the face of the storm.

Sidra felt free. The rain washed away the darkness, and it felt like being reborn. The wildness in her heart that she had always kept tightly leashed, barely letting out, broke free. She was a creature of this world, and she felt every moment of it. Here, racing in the storm, there was no responsibility, there were no roles or titles. So far she had come from the spoiled mare in Queensbreak, taking the moments she could to soar among the clouds.

This was freedom, this was wildness and being one with the world. In the heart of the storm, chasing down that tornado, Sidra understood that the darkness wasn’t something to battle, but to accept. That the world was of light and dark, that the light couldn’t shine without the dark, and the dark couldn’t exist without the light.

As her hooves pounded against the ground, her muscles straining, she realized that chasing a storm would have never happened if she hadn’t snuck out of Queensbreak like a fugitive. If she hadn’t listened to Aberfa in her dreams, and taken to the world.

She would have never gotten the strength in her muscles that she had now, harded from the long days of walking or flying the world. She wouldn’t have grown so much into her power, would have never realized the dangers of its allure. She would have never grown out of the titles placed upon her, never have grown into her own Quirlicorn. She would have never have made the change for the better, for the strength in her blood and body.

So Sidra raced with the storm with a recklessness that made her feel truly free. She was a child of the gods, born of this world around them, born with magic of the regions. Deity blessed they had called her, but feeling the wind in her mane and tail, the magic of the world around them that permeated the very air, Sidra knew it was so much more than that.

Her future was her story to write. Despite the circumstances and prophecy that had been talked about in hushed voices behind closed doors of her birth, she was more than just a triplet with missing siblings, she was more than the image and power of her mother reborn, she was more than any of that.

So Sidra spread her wings and took to the skies, flying into the heart of the storm.