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"Home..."

The thought was just a small raindrop in the vast, black sea of her mind. It disturbed the water a little, sending a faint ripple outward, but the sea stood still. Her pupils were dilated as far as they could possibly go, as if trying desperately to let in some glimmer of hope.

"Home..."

That very word seemed to be the only thing that registered to her. She made no show of it, not even the slightest clue that she comprehended it. But there it was, and she repeated it again and again. Had she the ability, she might have pondered what home meant to her. She might have struggled to remember if there were any remaining vestige of a home on this mundane plane. But, as it was, only a faint image of Etherwood crossed her mind before fading back into the emptiness. She remained kneeling for several seconds, seemingly stunned. Then, almost as if her body was acting of its own accord, she once again bared her neck to the fey-creature.

"Home... yes, send me home..."

Epona hid in the brush watching the entire thing, sobbing to herself about her sudden inability to act in the face of this strange man who had called her by a new name. Secret could have killed him, but he was as powerful as she was. What was this strange person? She'd never seen someone like Secret come from the town before. The shock of it was too much. Her father had tried to convince her she was just the same as everyone else, but she wasn't a fool. She knew she was different, though she had no idea in what manner that was. Here was someone who seemed to not only recognize her difference, but embrace or appreciate it.

Tala perched on Epona's forearm and cocked her head as the scene quieted. Secret had very obviously lost, but was doing something very strange. Secret had never lost before, and she seemed to delight in tormenting others not like herself. The short man knelt next to her, and seemed to have a tenderness in his eye, but something was wrong. Secret's body looked hollow, as if all the life had gone out of it. Hue gently put his hands on the sides of secrets head, and Epona could see him speaking. After a few seconds, Secret's body went limp. From watching her ailing mother die years ago, Epona recognized immediately what had happened. She held in her emotions for a while and finally let out a loud sob.

"You Murderer!" She cried as she trotted out from her hiding spot to the side of Secrets body, where she knelt down and sobbed. Secret was the first person outside of her father's house to ever be nice to her, even if she was sometimes quick to anger, that made her important to Epona. She picked up Secret in her arms and sobbed while Tala landed somewhere nearby in a tree to watch.

Even though she was kneeling on the ground, Epona was still just taller than Hue. This revelation coupled with the tears in Hue's eyes gave her a new sense of her situation. Sure he could light himself on fire, but she was probably a lot stronger than he was and could totally take him out with a swift kick to the stomach. Struggling to pull herself back together and make sense of the situation, Epona listened to the man say something very exciting and her spirits lifted. There were more of them! There were people like her! And he wanted to help her...

But he'd killed Secret, and what he said about her life didn't make any sense at all. She suspected a trick, like the games her father used to play with her when she was younger. What if this were one of those games? The world was quite different now than it had been at the manor, and there was no telling what might happen to her. She looked down at Secret's face, and it was the most peaceful Epona had ever seen her, she sobbed a little at the remembrance of the death of her friend. But perhaps there was something to this... Perhaps she needed to trust this little man with pointy ears, or at least trust her own ability to survive and defend herself. Her father had taught her well and she should have no cause to fear. She was smarter than that.

"Come back in the next few days..." Epona struggled to keep her voice flat, "I live in the center of the forest. With Secret..." Epona's body was racked by a sob and it took her a moment to continue, "...Dead.....you'll be safer. I'll find you...somehow..." She looked down at Secret's face and noticed it was damp with her tears. Wiping them gently away she laid Secret down and stood up to present herself squarely to the man who was a third of her height. She crossed her arms and frowned, trying to stare him down. "Recover well from your encounter. I will be waiting for you," she declared flatly, hoping she looked more intimidating than ridiculous.

Epona stood squarely until she could not see Hue any longer. Her knees shook and finally they went out from under her and she sobbed in front of Secret's body. Secret had her flaws, of course. She was uncomfortable with anyone entering her space in the forest, and it was through the sheer grace of god that she'd seen Epona as a poor helpless thing who wasn't going to harm her or the forest. Epona would never know why Secret had trusted her now. Secret was gone... Epona was alone... Her father had left unexpectedly, Secret was dead... Her mother was dead... There was no living being in the forest besides herself and Tala, and if she didn't do something with Secret soon they'd both probably get sick too.

Epona tried, once again, to pull herself together, and gently picked up the cooling body in front of her. It was evening, so Epona would have to act quickly. She would have to remember what they had done when her mother passed away. Secret had lived a painful life, but she had been kind to Epona and deserved some form of dignified send-off.

Carrying the small Secret through the forest to the back where Secret's home was, Epona prayed quietly for Secret to find some measure of peace in the afterlife, saying the Lord's Prayer to herself as she grew closer to Secret's home. Epona placed Secret on her bed and lowered her head for a moment of silence; she had nothing else to offer to Secret in return for her kindness. Epona trotted to her home for some food and trinkets to send with Secret in the afterlife, and placed them around Secret on her bed. Luckily it had been dry lately, and Epona started to gather some dried leaves around the house. After completing her word, Epona sat outside the house and sobbed, already missing her friend, no matter how distant and unpredictable she had been in life.

Epona started the fire in the house and stood back, eyes bloodshot and welling with tears as she watched her friend's livelihood go up in smoke. Then she turned around and ran. Fire crews would be there to stop the fire in a few hours, and by the time anyone reported the fire everything would be gone. She needed to go home for a while. She missed her father.

<<

It had taken Epona far too long to get home, and the pain was getting so much worse. She had had to stop several times to let the pain subside, and there was no way she could know what had happened until it was light out. Dawn was breaking by the time she dragged herself inside her hut, but she was too exhausted to stay upright any longer. The fire had gone out, but everything in that northern patch of forest was pretty much gone. The forest would grow back, and Secret would finally have some peace. Epona could only hope that no one had seen her go into the forest, and that that little magical man would soon return. If no one found her in the next few days, it was possible that she could die too, and then no one would be around to light a fire to set her soul free. She would be trapped.

Epona tried to lay down, but couldn't take the added pressure on her back foot. She was going to have to stand until she couldn't anymore. Exhaustion and pain finally setting in, Epona began to cry. Her father would know what to do. Her father would take care of her and make sure she was OK. None of this would have happened if her father was still around. What was she supposed to learn by being on her own? Was it some new custom she knew nothing about? Epona put her hands on the wall in front of her and leaned in to take some weight off her leg and started to sob. The only person who knew where she was was Hue, and she hoped he got there soon...

Like an answered prayer, Epona heard someone call her name through the forest. He had come so soon... Hue said he might come back in a few days, but it was possible that she would be dead in that time. A foot injury was never a good thing with a horse. Tears had been running down her face for hours while she stood in her hut, and now she had to choke them back to shout out his name.

"HUE!" Epona cried, trying to turn to make it out of her hut. Even if she failed she was making enough noise to put anyone in the area on high alert. She was not at all in good shape. She turned without putting any pressure on her back foot and allowed it to dangle freely. She wished she could see the damage she'd caused. Panic had begun to set in with the pain, and she tripped over a log outside her hut. In an effort to catch herself she put her weight on her injured foot and quickly recoiled in pain. Panicking again she reared and stumbled to the ground. Without having the energy to right herself, Epona lay on the ground sobbing, "Hue.... Please find me... I'm scared..."

"I just wanted to go home!" Epona sobbed, "and then there were metal men... and they scared me so I kicked one and now my back foot hurts... I don't know what to do, Hue..." Her eyes were wide with panic. Falling had made the injury even more painful, and she still had no idea what was wrong with her. It was just a stress fracture, but Epona didn't know that, and it was the first time she'd ever seriously injured herself that she could remember. The men she saw were terrifying and they were in her house... Why were there people in her house? And why were they made of metal? So much confused her, and in all this her father still hadn't returned. She was alone, besides Hue, and even though he'd killed secret he was practically falling over himself to help her now. Was it possible he really did want to help her? There was so much she still didn't know, so much her father hadn't taught her, and Hue seemed to be the key... She was going to have to trust him, especially now that she was in so much pain.