There is something to be said, about the connection between a mare and her foal... as it was between any mother and child it is something that is never forgotten and easily recognized. There have been stories told, of mothers and their children separated for years by ill begotten fate somehow instinctively knowing when their child is near. Carwen had spoken often to Talien when she was a child about this so called "power". The young girl of course had not believed it at the time... but now, now in this moment she did.

She could not explain the sudden urge to leave Baylor sleeping comfortably beneath the sheltering branches of a great old fir tree. Could not explain the stirrings in her breast the travel across the Dale, far from where Rhaego and his herd grazed through the thick blanket of snow that covered the open meadows. Could not explain it until the moment that her eyes fell upon the young black mare.

As if suddenly doused in cold water Talien froze. Paper thin nostrils quiver as silver blue eyes widen in shock and fear. Turmoil gripped her heart as she froze in place in the open meadow. Silhouetted by the morning sun as it peaked over the ridge, Chiyoko stood, her piercing blue eyes searching the herd below. From the distance, Talien could tell that the young black mare was tense, worried even as no doubt she was taught. Ichiro had spoken often of those in the Dale to Talien and his words had been instilled into her own heart as well. Savages. Brutes. Cold. Heartless. It was all the same and though now she knew differently, at least of Rhaego the one father had hated the most, Chiyoko did not.

For a moment she ponders what to do. A part of her wanted nothing more than to flee from the searching eyes of the sable mare. Flee from the ghost of the past that had brought on the young mare's conception. Triplestrike had promised to love her, promised to stay by her side for always. Talien had been foolish and young. Seeking and hungering to find that same love and adoration that she saw in the eyes of her own parents and thinking that the copper stallion was just that. She had been wrong. He had taken her beneath him, planted his seed into her belly over and over until her sides of brandished gold had swelled with the signs of life within... then he had disappeared. Day and night she had searched for him after Chiyoko had been born, but all traces of his presence were lost. After that, despite herself, she could not meet her daughter's curious eyes without thinking of Triplestrike and his broken promises. She had taken the little girl to Paraiso to see her parents... confided in Carwen her fears and pains but the darkling queen could not offer her any condolences or solutions to quell her spirit.

So, she had left. She knew that Carwen and Ichiro would care for Chiyoko. Care for her in a way that Talien couldnt. So she had left. Left without telling her daughter why because truthfully she did not know that she could ever explain it to the girl.

There was no escape for her now. She knew that no doubt Chiyoko's searching eyes would find her before she could flee from her past. She owed the girl this much. Cautiously, as though she were approaching a ghost or the image of a fleeting memory, Talien approaches her firstborn. The wind pricks against her hide of brandished gold as she climbs the hillock and pauses a few feet from the girl. She had grown into a beautiful mare. She looked a lot like her petite black mother Carwen with her darker than midnight colors and thick lushious locks. Here and there, when the wind blew just right, Talien could glimpse the perfect white star on her brow. "Chiyoko..." she breathes, letting the gently stirring winds carry her words to the girl's waiting ears. She did not know what to say, did not know how to begin... how to explain her grief, her sorrow, her anguish and her guilt to the girl... but somehow those emotions managed to work their way into that single word.