Would Kassandra be happier if she had no recollection of Furae? No memories of the awful trances and horrid dreams, prophetic spectres of its future, and its end? Her phantasmic visions were tinged with the very real smell of sulfur, of burning flesh, flecks of red and shards of bone being thrown and tossed; the great, vibrating feeling of the whole world rending and upending in one burst; Oculos screaming to not look back, do not look back.

Why did she keep looking back?

“That’s horrible,” Kassandra murmured, her tone apologetic for forcing Polar North to relive her traumatic memories. In a way, Kas herself was numb to such a thing, for she spent so much time there. So much time looking back. “I’m so sorry.”

It was a comical attempt at an amende, with Kas stuck in mud near up to her shoulders. Still, she was much cooler down here. “Oh, I’m quite alright, I think.” She wiggled a bit from side to side, feeling the muck squelch and suck at her legs and chest, and the front curve of her stomach. “This is a nice way to beat the heat, even if by accident.”

Pol slipped her tail forward and Kassandra found herself taken with the bodily structure; alabaster and painted in lavender swirls, shining, slightly damp. It was fascinating and entirely un-equine. “I still think it’s lovely,” she assured. She jerked her head in Oculos’ direction. “He can bite his tail, as well. Sometimes he chases it.”

i do not! Oculos whined, coming a bit closer to inspect the situation his companion had gotten herself into, and blissfully unaware of the discomfort he instilled in their new friend. His own tail, as long as his body, tubular and muscular, acted like a directional rudder when he ran, much like Pol’s would when she swam. It had a little white tuft of fur on the end of it that was turning brown with muck.

The Vapor Treader moved to help Kas get herself unstuck, and Kas welcomed the assistance, bracing herself on her hind legs to try and pull as Pol pushed. Her back hooves dug long, muddy divots in the river bank as she scrabbled for purchase, cursing herself, not for the first time, for being so bulky. There was a loud squelching noise, and Kas gave one violet toss of her head and chest, and she wrenched herself free, tumbling sideways along the steadier ground, lungs heaving. She was free, though her front third was covered in black much.

A bit exerted, she lifted her head, smiling through her gasping breaths. “Well, if you are as good at healing as you are from rescuing people from mud, I’d say you are doing a wonderful job.”

Oculos, who had dodged out of the way of her flailing form, came up to her now, nuzzling his long snout into the mane at the junction of her head and neck. you’re embarrassing, he growled, affectionate.