Fear Upon The Horizon: Rebirth

Sweet. Whatever she could smell it was sweet. She wasn't sure how she knew what sweet was but she wanted it. Curse this mortal body, unable to sustain itself long enough for her to even so much as get directions. Why had she been so weak? This wasn't something that she had dealt with the last time she was in a mortal body. She did feel the heavy feeling she had once but she returned to the Spirit Realm when it happened. Something was draining her then! She was under attack! No… No she felt better now. Still heavy but not as weak or useless.

Now the question remained, where was she exactly? Lorthalis opened her eyes and felt the stinging pain of the sun's rays hit her dead on. She groaned and rolled over, taking most of the… fabric stuff that was on top of her in the same direction. No she knew what this was, bedding. Last she'd seen bedding, ponies were still using hay. Moving more carefully she found that it was still indeed hay just covered by cloth and in a wooden casing. Lorthalis sat up, keeping away from the light and tried to let the world come into focus.

Simple wooden room, nothing more nothing less. The bed was near an open window to the day light and near the centered door was… big box with doors and a mirror on a table. All that gave any sense of size in the room was the low table near the bed. She sniffed the air again, trying to get more of that sweet smell into her nose. That smell alone was making her feel better. Looking down at herself, she had no marks of a fight or being injured, so definitely not attacked by anything. She was still in her red and white form, to her dismay. She took a step off the bedding and felt a rush of something to her head.

A gray curtain started closing in on all sides from inside of her own head and nearly taking her entire range of vision. She took deep breaths, trying to summon magic to get her out of there, but the light headed feeling and gray curtain vanished just as quickly as it had arrived. Shaking the feeling, she steadied herself and made her way to the door. It opened just as she reached for the handle. On the other side the yellow mare she had encountered… previously.

"Good to see your awake Darling." she said with a smile. Lorthalis was about to berate her for calling her "Darling" but was suddenly hit by that sweet smell again. It made her middle section growl. "Seems your hungry. Good thing I was on my way up." The mare stepped past Lorthalis, and she caught the strongest sniff of the sweet thing she'd had. Looking over to her, she noticed the sliver offering tray balanced on her back, her wings keeping it perfectly level, with a pot of something steaming and a stack of some bread covered in a thin white layer of something on top.

Lorthalis' midsection rumbled hard and something in her mind begged her to take it as soon as possible. She wasn't sure exactly what she'd do with it but she knew it would make the rumbling stop.

"The baker didn't have in the way of variety but this should sate your appetite for now." Lorthalis walked up to the table as she set everything down with her hoofs. "We have glazed scones and tea."

"Bounty is something I convent normally. But considering resent events we will be glad to accept your offering." Lorthalis said not taking her eyes off the plate.

"Well…. I am grateful you are pleased. May I have your name?"

"Lorthalis."

She looked surprised. "Lorthalis? As in the Patron God of this town?"

"I do not know exactly what towns I have given my blessing to but if it makes sense then the same."

The mare suddenly burst into laughter. "You? HA! You're Lord Lorthalis!?"

"Puny mortal, you dare question me!?" Lorthalis said slamming her hoof on the table.

"If you are Lorthalis, I am Lady Faust!" she continued her bout of laughter for a moment longer, Lorthalis growing more and more annoyed with her.

"And what is so amusing mortal?"

"You seem so serious about it! *snort* You truly look like you meant it."

"I do. I am Lord Lorthalis!"

"Well then, Lorthalis, welcome to Crows. Now eat up. My brother will be showing you to the temple before lunch."

"Temple?"

"You requested to know where we talk to the Gods last night. And Cave Diver needs to see the new paintings anyways."

"Very well. Leave us so we may… Eat." Lorthalis just looked at the plate of… scones and the pot of… what was it? Tea?

"Does their Worshipfulness not know what eating is?"

"Of course I know what eating is! Now leave us Plebian!"

"Very well Dear. And if you are going to address me, address me as Miss Check." Check said getting up. "You pour the tea into the cup next to the pot." She said condescendingly.

"Away with you!" Lorthalis said unable to summon her Godly Voice.

Check shut the door behind her and left Lorthalis alone with the food. What was it she said? Pour the tea into a cup? There was an abysmally small challis sitting next to the pot. She lifted the lid and sniffed the steaming brown liquid. It was nowhere near as pleasant as the scones. It smelled…. bitter? She wasn't sure what the word meant but it smelled bitter. Lorthalis set the top back on it and put her hoofs on either side. The rumbling continued getting worse just from her proximity to the pastries.

There was a tube going from the pot and just hanging in the air. She assumed that was where it came out judging from the hole on the end. She tilted the pot towards the challis. The brown liquid began to rapidly flow out and into the challis, quickly filling it over the brim. Lorthalis yelped and stopped as soon as she could. By then the tray was retaining more tea than the challis. She set the pot down and attempted to handle the challis in the same way, a hoof on each side. As she raised the challis to her face, the challis slipped up her hoof and tipped over enough to spill over more.

Lorthalis shouted in pain as the searing hot liquid burned her flesh. Nothing major but it certainly hurt. She blew on her right hoof to cool the burn and decided to leave the tea alone for now. She sifted her focus to the scones and wasn't quite sure what to do. She'd been to a feast once before but didn't "eat". She just fed what was on her plate to the Lioness that was sitting next to her. The tea pooled under the plate the scones sat on wafting the bitter smell through the sweet scent of the glazed balls of bread. Whatever glazed meant.

She picked one up in her hoof, the white layer sticking to her hoof but also feeling very solid. She began to think back to that banquet, the mortals were putting stuff like this in their mouths and doing…. something, she was still shaky on exactly what it was they were doing. She'd come this far, she leant down and took a bite out of it. Her eyes grew wide at the magnificent sensation. Whatever glazed was, she loved it! She chewed, wondering how she knew what it was, and swallowed. The empty feeling in her midsection grew lesser but the grumbling grew stronger. She began mercilessly biting into the scone with renewed vigor.

If she'd had even a single thought of savoring the sweet taste it was long gone. Once the first was gone she moved to another and knocked a couple off the plate and onto the tea covered tray. After finishing the plate, she moved to the ones that fell in the tea just for neatness' sake. When she took a bite of it she let out an involuntary moan of satisfaction. If the scones tasted good before, they tasted much better with the tea as opposed to without. The contrast in flavors blew Lorthalis' mind! She couldn't quite explain why. The deluge of feelings washing over her taste buds was overriding any other thought that could've possibly distracted her. She spent Lord knows how long eating and dunking the scones with the greed of a dragon.

Once she'd finished she finally took notice of what she'd been doing. The table was a mess with crumbs and spilt tea. At the thought, she took the challis and drank from it. The tea on its own was bitter as she'd thought just a good kind of bitter. Lorthalis wasn't completely sure what the bad version was but it might've been advantageous to stay a while longer in this body, if only to have more scones. But it was time to move on. She sat and drank tea for a time before getting up and making her way to the door. She hadn't noticed until now, but the empty feeling was gone… What was it Check called it, Hungry? Needless to say Lorthalis was glad to be rid of it.