Since Osprey’s birth, Mouse had noticed more warmth pervading the air, particularly further down the mountainside. The pair lingered there and quietly bode their time for a few days while the filly grew stronger. She need not have worried about being a good mother; since the moment she had seen her daughter she had known. Impa had been right, but there was something else Mouse had realized. Osprey was not her first born, as she had assumed. Labor had triggered another surge of memories. They were happy, so she still had no indication of what had caused her brain to empty itself temporarily. They showed her that she had loved, and had borne another child. Name and other details still escaped her, but she now knew something of what she had actually done in her life prior to arriving here.

On this day, as she tore at the fresh blades of grass and Osprey slept, Mouse was thinking of nothing in particular other than satisfying her hunger. Over the past few days, her mind had been buzzing with thoughts and worries about Impa, Styrke, and how she would one day have to explain to the painted girl at her feet why her father was not around. But as she continued lipping at the greenery, she let her mind go blank. So blank, in fact, that it took her several moments to realize that a familiar whinny had reached her ears. Then, more faintly, she heard her name.

Without responding to the calls, she nudged at Osprey’s sleeping form. The filly blearily opened her eyes and let out a small noise of protest, but quickly got to her feet. Mouse knew that they were not far from Impa, but broke into a brisk trot all the same. They reached the top of a small hill, Osprey straining to keep up with her mother after her nap, and saw the large blanketed mare waiting restlessly. Both slowed to a walk, and the somewhat intimidated filly kept behind her mother as they neared.

Before Mouse could utter a sound, she glimpsed Anath across from her, and the little grulla suddenly became wary. Though the champagne mare’s demeanor was pleasant today, Mouse prepared herself for a potential flight as she walked up on the right and gave her friend a soft nudge on the shoulder without a word. Her mind was fitting to burst with questions that she felt she should not ask in front of the general. She wished to know where Impa had been, and why she smelled of salt. Their arrival had been too late to hear Anath’s statement, so she waited quietly with Osprey pressed close to her side for one of them to speak.