A breeze lightly blew across her face as Impa begain to play with her mane. There was a hint of warmth upon the air, signaling to her that spring was near. With it would come labor and childbirth, likely toward the start of the season. She let her thoughts drift again, thinking of her first memories here. They had been pleasant, filled with sunshine and warmth, and her friend had invited Mouse’s poor confused self here. She smiled at the memory as the grooming continued, and felt for a moment as if she were young again, and it was not Impa but her mother tugging at her mane. This was the past she would rather remember, as opposed to the roughness she had experienced that led to her current state.

It seemed her friend did not see it the same way. Her tension eventually brought Mouse back to the present, particularly as she spoke. Though she tried, there was an unmistakable edge to Impa’s voice that was odd to hear in combination with her reassuring words. It nevertheless calmed her to hear that for the most part it was an instinct driven process to care for a child rather than a learned one. Perhaps in her previous herd she’d given birth, but at the current moment she was not about to try and recall. At the mention of Anath being a mother, Mouse looked up in surprise. She still saw Anath as unnecessarily harsh, for she had but one interaction to refer to. “I didn’t know Anath had had children.” The other mare mentioned, Ardea, Mouse had yet to meet, but she assumed it was the new scent that had arrived not long after Anath’s flight from the group gathering. Truthfully, she would likely not seek advice from either mare. She would take what came to her and hopefully Impa was right and it was in her nature to be able to keep a child alive.

The next words were also a comfort to her. Knowing that someone physically stronger and larger than she was looking out for her was relieving, for she did not remember that she could hold her own in a fight. However, she knew it would be nearly impossible to even try while pregnant. At the mention of few horses being as large as Impa, Mouse had to let loose a small chuckle. It seemed to her that everyone was larger than she, though it was true that none she had encountered were quite as tall as her spotted friend. She had time to murmur soft thanks before Impa further questioned her on Styrke. Her ears slanted back and she looked sharply up at Impa. She considered for a moment whether or not she wished to give a better description, for she could guess why the large mare wanted to know more. Her first reaction was to refuse to say more, but then she let herself remember how it had felt those months ago, and how it had triggered even more past memories that also held pain and fear. Besides, it’s not as if she had much more left to tell. “He’s black with white markings. Not like yours, bigger patches. He’s taller than me, but still much shorter than you. That’s all I know.” Stepping away slightly so she could better look Impa in the face, she asked one more question. “What are you going to do?”