The truth always came out in the end, no matter how deep one tried to bury it.

Dances With Wolves had allowed himself to fall into the belief that maybe his time of making mistakes was over, and that the fierce red mare who still haunted his dreams had been wrong about him. Her cutting words had carved themselves into his very heart. You are no good for anything, worth nothing to anyone. Many had done their best to prove otherwise, but all the ones Dances With Wolves had ever loved were gone. The ocean took everything from him, bearing them all away to the mainland, or to places where the living did not belong. Nephilim. Mariael and her siblings. Tolinka and Shiriki. Sai and her boys. Oswin. Silvanus and her daughter. Jokulros. Zaida. Guadalupe. And a loss that was still young and raw… Rowena.

All he had left was his daughter, Echo, and Tigerlily…

The truth had clawed its way from the grave where Dances had laid it to rest, and clung to his legs with a vice-like grip. No matter how he tried, he’d never be free of it. He was a coward, no good for anything, worth nothing. The bay paint stallion had failed the ones who needed him most. His blind daughter had been brutalised by a beast when Dances had left her alone, and he didn’t even have the backbone to accept the blame. Instead, he’d tried to run from what he’d done, and had torn Tigerlily down, channelling all the hate he felt for himself onto her. And he’d returned to Echo again to find her distraught, begging him not to leave a third time.

In desperation, Dances With Wolves had driven her into the sea, guiding her away from the Commons, and setting his sights on an island that had once been home to Tolinka. He had truly believed they would be safe here, but the wind had carried a scent that had Echo crying and keening and shaking so hard that Dances wondered how her legs didn’t give way. He’d tried to comfort her, but every time he touched her she shrank back from him, and sobbed all the harder.

The blind bay mare, speckled with white, was tucked away in a small cave at the base of one of the sea cliffs, and Dances With Wolves guarded its entrance. He was empty of all things, of love, of joy, of hope. And he was so tired. Tired of being afraid. Tired of loving and losing. Tired of failing. If not for Echo, perhaps he would have lowered himself to the rocky ground, never to rise again. But Echo had no-one else, and though he’d failed her, he’d not leave her to suffer alone. As it was, he wore his tiredness like a second skin. It was there in the slump of his shoulders, the slope of his back, the lines of his wretched face.

His blue eyes stared out to the horizon beyond the waves of the sea, unfocused and glazed over. He stood still as stone himself, until a clatter of loose stones nearby shook him from his reverie. His ears turned back and his eyes rolled in fear. What if it was the grey monster that had so callously taken advantage of Echo? A spark of rage glowed within Dances, and before his fear could smother it, he surged out of the mouth of the cave, a shrill cry of fury tearing up his throat and bursting from his open mouth. If that despicable creature thought he'd come back to finish Echo off, he was dead wrong.

Dances was almost upon the stranger when the anger fizzled out and was quickly replaced by a strange mixture of emotions; confusion, hope, and guilt. This was no stranger, and certainly not one who’d ever harm Echo. “Rowena?” Dances’s voice was husky, his throat rough and raw from the scream he’d issued moments prior. “Is it really you?” His words were soft, and uncertain, and he longed to dispel any doubt about her physical presence by touching her. But Dances made no advance toward her, rooted to the spot by a double dose of guilt. After all, he’d refused to leave for the mainland with her, claiming that the islands were his home. He’d lost her, because he couldn’t let go of the ghosts of his past. And if his eyes weren’t deceiving him, and she really was here, well…

How could he tell her what had happened to their daughter, after he’d promised to look after her. If Dances hadn’t been so weak, if he’d only held on to what he had, instead of pining for what was gone… If he and Echo had gone with Rowena, stuck together the way family was supposed to, then none of this would have happened. ...