The Academy: for Renata.

Aelina, too, knows wandering. She knows, just as well, that this does not mean she is lost. There have only been glimpses, caught and lost in a single instant, in which she has questioned her path. Fane once warned her not to wander far. He once warned her not to take the path too lightly.

Wandering and home are two things Aelina has, in her youth, thought of very much. She has thought of love, too, of hearts and of what they mean. For a small, pretty mare with sunny eyes she does think quite a bit.

Through the spring day she treads lightly. She is nearly doe-like, a small smile pressed into the relaxed lines of her lips, twinkling faintly in her eye. It is a distant smile but a genuine one all the same. When she comes across Renata she sees another wanderer. It is in her eyes, effortless to see for the Clairvoyance-blessed girl. She wonders what it is like to not wander. She thinks she would not like it, being so bound to one place.

Aelina, if nothing else, knows she is free. Despite those glimpses of doubt, she loves her wandering. Perhaps Renata does too.

“Hello,” she says, and it is with a small smile. “I am Aelina. You must be Renata.” And then, an offering of a warm greeting. Her muzzle extends to the other mare’s, a sweet breath exchanged, a soft bump of her lips to the mare’s cheek. “The elders told me you were my next student.”

*

a e l i n a
apprentice, airIII