198: WHAT MATTERS
“The most important thing?” she echoes.
You nod.
She considers, her gaze shifting from the campfire to the forest stretching out below the ridge. The firs sway gently in the cool night breeze, bathed in the pale silver light of Luna’s star-strewn sky. In the distance, a timberwolf howls; a moment later, an answering howl sounds from even farther away. Closer to the camp, an owl hoots softly.
She is silent for a long time, so long that you wonder if she has forgotten the question. You awkwardly trace a hoof along the ground, trying to decide if you should say anything.
She abruptly turns back, and you blink in surprise: you have never seen Daring Do look more solemn. Her normal bravado is gone, and she somehow seems small and vulnerable. Her magenta eyes gleam in the firelight as she stares at you, but you have a feeling she is looking at something far, far away.
“The most important thing?” she says again. “The most important thing is to remember what really matters.”
You blink again, nonplussed.
Her face twitches in a brief, bitter smile. “Not what you were expecting, huh? Truth be told, it’s not what I was expecting, either. It took me a long time to figure it out, and by then . . . I’d already lost what mattered. Who mattered.” Her voice is very, very quiet, edged with pain. She sighs, shakes her head, and turns away again, looking back out over the forest.