The champagne mare’s tension did little to ease Mouse, who saw Anath’s slightly stiffened posture as something of a threat. Still, she gave her a slight nod of acknowledgement and attempted a smile. The look she gave Osprey was not missed by the grulla, however. Shifting slightly to her right, Mouse shielded her daughter from the general’s sight for the time being, while she looked up at Impa and smiled. Glancing down at the filly, she nodded. “Thank you. Her name is Osprey.” At the sound of her name, the young child let out a tiny bleat, then fell silent again and carefully watched the adults. Mouse then faced Impa again as she spoke of Styrke.

Though she knew what Styrke had done was wrong, she could not determine how to feel about her friend’s news. Furthermore, she found herself feeling rather conflicted about the theft of his daughter. The mare, she could care less about, but she knew how fond he was of Skylar, and now three of his children lived in a place where he was unwelcome. Her lips pursed slightly as she made her decision before she voiced her thoughts. “I appreciate what you did for me. It will not be forgotten.”

During this brief interaction, Anath went momentarily unnoticed by Mouse, but Impa’s question brought the pale mare back into her thoughts. While the two spoke, she reached over to Osprey, who was still attentively watching the interaction with a bright expression. The filly’s gold-brown eyes lingered particularly on Anath, though Mouse was unsure why. It seemed to her that the mare of most interest would have been Impa, if only for her height. But Osprey showed no signs of being intimidated by either mare, nor did she choose to direct her vision elsewhere.

Finally, after Anath had spoken, Mouse was forced to roughly nudge the side of her child’s face and whisper sharply to her. “Don’t stare, it’s rude.” The girl pinned her ears, but noiselessly decided that eating would be a better use of her time than fighting her mother. As she turned around, tail flicking, her mother spoke again, this time to the general. “My apologies for my daughter, Anath. She is young.” She was quiet once more, not quite knowing what to say next. While she waited, Osprey finished her meal and curled at her feet to doze, remaining just as silent as her mother.