Dances and Rowena are two souls cut from the same cloth. Both of them blame themselves for every hurt. They let their pain twist them up inside and complicate their lives further. Consumed with guilt, Rowena made some poor choices, choices that left her separated from Dances for far too long, and add the complication of Osiris now.

But she is not thinking of Osiris in this moment.

Tears stream down her face, as she looks away, not wanting to see the accusation in his eyes. Had Rowena taken any time to think, she would know Dances would never do such a thing to her. It's why she fell so hard for him all those years ago, and why she still loves him more than any other to walk this earth.

His words gently coax her away from her shame. He touches her face, the softest of contact, but the power of it takes her breath away. The dark mare turns her face to his, brown eyes filled with sorrow and regret. She weeps for Dances. She weeps for Echo. She weeps for Elvira, and Vodnik, and Circe, and Macabre, and Ailill and everyone else she's ever loved and lost. She weeps for herself, and how she's failed to protect them all.

For so long she thought her greatest losses were her parents, but as she looks into the sympathetic eyes of Dances, a realization dawns on her. Dances with Wolves was her greatest loss of all, and here he is, returned to her by some twist of fate. For once, fate is kind.

Tears continue to fall, but as the silence stretches before them a calmness settles over her heart. A part of her that was cold, and shivering, and alone, is now cloaked in the heat of his presence. Then he continues. Word pour from his mouth, words so different from the ones her nightmares told her he should say.

The calm inside her rises to a chorus of overwhelming emotion. Everything she feels inside reaches a crescendo and a release. She hears everything he says, but as his words some to a close her entire body is shaking with both sobs and laughter intertwined. Through all of it she managed to find her voice. It's hoarse from crying, and spoken in halting phrases broken by hiccups. "Dances" -hicc- "Oh Dances." She sucks in a deep, shuttering breath. "You have nothing to be sorry for." -hicc- "I love you too. I love you with all my heart, and I'm sorry. I'm so sorry I left you. I never want to leave you again."

The black mare takes takes one swift step to close the gap between them. She draws him into a tight embrace, breathing deep the sweet, familiar smell of his mane. She can't let him go. She can never let him go. He won't be like the others. She intends to keep him close until the day she draws her dying breath.

"I love you" she whispers, one more time, into the shadow of his neck.