It sounds like it's maybe... hard to think about, is that right?

The mare gives her a narrow-eyed look. :Seems normal enough to me: 

Sorry, would you rather drop the subject -?

Sayshen looks at her some more, tilting her head a bit. :...Well, girl, what did you come here looking for?: she sends finally. :You wanted to know something about Companions, but what you're asking after is only relevant to me, no?: 

It's... only relevant in practice to you right now, but it seems like it sheds light on some of the things I'm interested about - the bonds and how they're set up and what they do. But I'm also curious about other things if it's a sore subject.

:Let's walk, if that's all right: Sayshen starts meandering across the field. :Bonds, then, what about them?: 

Bella walks. It's called Choosing, but it doesn't have a lot of hallmarks of choices as humans make them. You're not... interviewing people, say. What is it like on your end?

:...It's going to be a little hard to describe to a human, so bear with me: Sayshen walks silently for a bit, tail swishing. :So, we generally don't know for a long time. Though some Companions get a hunch, sometimes for months or years before the Call. The Call is...: she tosses her head again, :it's - like I was one half of a puzzle, and he was the other, and I looked into his eyes for the first time and saw how it fit. And...there's a moment that does feel like a choice, not the Call, but that last step. Saying, I'm going to pick up this other half of the puzzle, and ask if it wants to be whole, and then fit the edges together. It's, just, why would you ever not take that step? It's what we're made for: 

And no one ever just doesn't? Or... puts it off?

:...Well, sometimes you don't ride out that day, if it's inconvenient. And sometimes the Call starts out quiet, it's just a peep, and then you can either go looking or wait to see if it gets stronger: A soft mental chuckle. :My friend Dalia started getting her Call when she was in foal. She waited a month. But most of us are impatient: 

Her shoulder twitches. :Sometimes you hear a Call and then it fades out again. If - something happened, to the child that might have been Chosen. And then you'd wait longer to hear it again: 

Oh wow.

And you didn't get a - hint, in advance, foresight or anything like that, that yours wasn't going to - stay put?

Sayshen walks a few more paces, stops. :I may have, and not recognized it. Our sense of what's coming is, well, often hard to interpret. But hindsight is easy. I didn't see it coming, no: 

Do you think you might have - waited, or anything, if you'd known more clearly?

:No: 

How come?

Her tail swishes back and forth. :Because he was my Chosen? He - needed me - to be the person Taver needed, to - do right by Valdemar: She's pausing a lot between words again. :We grew together, a lot, and then - and now he's where the Kingdom needs him. And - he needs Taver, for that. Not me. Not anymore: She lowers her head. :But he was mine. And - I'm so proud of him: 

Nod. This is... really helpful, thank you. Um. The Bonding process - results somehow in the Companion and the Herald loving each other, can you characterize that in more detail?

:...From the inside, it - didn't feel separate: Sayshen sends, slowly. :It felt like - if you look into someone that deeply - you can't not love them. That that's what love is, mostly. Knowing someone. And - knowing that you're headed down the same road, together: A twitch of her haunches; her blue eyes turn downward, to the grass.

Is there always a lot of looking into each other? I've gathered that it can be filtered.

A thoughtful pause. :It varies. And, yes, we can shield more or less, so can they: Her tail flicks irritably. :Far too many Heralds shield their physical discomforts from us, for example, if they don't want us to worry. And some Heralds find it easiest to do really focused work, whether it's just magic or writing up a legal contract, if they're alone in their head. But - in general - we...like it, to share what our Heralds are feeling. And - we can help more, that way: 

The other main thing I'm curious about is how you're a god-made and -managed species. There are some of those in my world but they're really different.

Sayshen's ears prick up. :Oh?: 

They don't tend to form pairs with any other species, at least not the ones I know about, and I think they might be in more regular contact with their gods? But I don't actually know how regularly you're in contact with yours - I don't even know which one or ones made Companions.

:...Neither do I: Sayshen admits. :The gods of our world - aren't like that. They don't speak to us. Not directly. There's - Foresight - something they made, perhaps - but that's all: 

The idea is the gods have you - Companions in general I mean - in place for keeping the Heralds, uh, responsible, non-corrupt, that sort of thing - without being in touch with them how do you know what their standards for that are?