Standing before her now, Cherish so resembled the young woman she had once been... brave and yet innocent to the ways of the world. It had been the false promises of Triple Strike and the desire for the same love that shown so brightly in the eyes of her parents that had led her far from the protective borders of Paraiso and into the waiting arms of false promises and temptation. She had been like Cherish... once so very long ago.... but no more.

She stared back at her sister now, emotions hidden beneath the depths of her pale silver blue eyes that had once shown so brilliantly each thought that crossed her heart. She was merely a hollowed shell of that pure creature she had once been. She had chosen her path in life, and it was not the one that her family had ever intended... and yet she was okay with it. It was far better than being surrounded by the constant reminders of love and adoration in Paraiso. At least in her mind anyway.

The power of her heartless words wash over Cherish now as though she had managed to spawn fire embers to mar her golden pelt. The golden girl winces beneath the implication of her words and the same sparkling silver blue eyes that mirror her own shine bright with sorrow and pain. She knew that she hurt her sister... knew that her lack of emotion did more to harm her than had Talien riped flesh from her skin. A single flicker of her ear is all that she offers before continuing on with the mission that led her deep into the heart of enemy lands.

Ash dusted labrums press together tightly as Cherish mentions her long gone absence. Pain flashed through her eyes as reluctantly Talien casts her gaze to the dying yellow grasses at her hooves. Tiny twin sonars flex, falling to midstaff in regret at the implication that Cherish's words met. Though she had not spoken them... she knew what her sister meant. And deep within her cold exterior... her hardened heart burned with regret. She had never meant to hurt them. Never meant to cause father and mother worry and pain. She had never meant to abandon Chiyoko and Rishiri... and yet she knew without a doubt that they would be safest in the one kingdom that she no longer felt comfort within. So she had turned her back that day when Rhaego had come upon her in the meadow. She had meant to come back home... meant to return to her children and parents and yet when she felt the seed of Rhaego stir within her womb with the promise of life she knew that once again she had screwed up... and that the ties that had bound her to Paraiso were severed... at least in her mind anyway.

So lost in the tangle of emotions that the simple words of her darling sister brought up that her reason for coming hit her like a bucket of the coldest water. Immediately her eyes rise to meet those silver blue of her sister praying that indeed there was mere lies in attempt to draw her home. Father... sick? Never did she imagine that the great stallion would fall.. nor did she expect to hear his fall be from age. In fact as most children viewed their parents, she tended still to see him as immortal... a figment of power and ever present. Like water on burning embers her heart of cold smothers in the power of those words. "But....no!" she stammers, her proud head shaking away the images of the champagne stallion, lying weakly upon a bed of dried leaves, his body damp with sweat and hoarse breathing shallow. A chill shakes her pelt of brandished gold now as she takes another step backwards, away from the sister she had once held so close to her heart. "It is a trick... it cannot be." she says again, startling silver blue eyes wide and begging for truth. A fierce desperation crosses her delicate features now as Talien raises her head defiantly, desperation evident in her words. "This is not possible... father was in perfect health... this is just an attempt to get me to come back and abandon my children..." she breathes, turning her gaze away to transfix for a moment upon the sleeping form of Ragnar who slept peacefully in the deep grasses, oblivious to the emotions and turmoil that wrecked his mother now. "My life..." she finishes, turning her gaze back to Cherish. Though Rhaego had long been absent, still she caught the faintest hints of his scent high on the moorlands, and upon the deep thickets that dotted the hidden Dale. She had not given up hope on him... not now.

She looks to Cherish again, clouds of doubt blinking back behind the thick veil of long dark lashes. "I cannot..." she begins, her voice trickling away like the last of summer's grasp to the cold touches of autumn's chill.