Vanya stays away from the herd as much as she can, but there are times when it is not wise to be far from the protection of a group. Even stronger than the danger of the big cats that prowl through the undergrowth, looking for the unwary, is the pull of her son towards others his age. Drogon yearns to run and play with the other foals, and the older he gets, the less her excuses sway him. He resents her, she knows, for this distance, but Vanya cannot bring herself to come closer to the herd.

Rougaru is the only creature in the entire herd she had possessed any patience for, and unluckily for the silver bay, he had entirely destroyed it. His audacity at trying to separate mother from son still fed the slow-burning embers of rage in her heart, and she knew that she would make him pay. Even if it meant that she had to spend months immobile and unhappy, she would make him suffer in return for that which he tried to pass onto her. Rougaru had known it was not a bargain she would take, she had realized in retrospect. That no amount of freedom was worth losing Drogon to her, which was why he had felt comfortable in offering it to her in the first place.

He still misunderstood why she fretted at the bonds of his claim in the first place. Refused to see her need for his appreciation and adoration as anything other than the nattering of a needy mare. But Vanya was no content herd mare. She was no Fjord queen to grow fat and happy on the crumbs of his affection, nor vicious enough to derive her pleasure from the pain of others as the tobiano drappa. Vanya did not want to share her spotlight, which made the fact that she had none of it to begin with only more apparent. Her lithe figure only held interest to the silver stallion when it was ripe for the making of children, or weak after the delivery of one and she'd grown tired of it.

Days had passed since she had spoken briefly to the red stallion and the speckled white mare. Days that she had spent in reclusion, nursing her wounded pride. It was perhaps the first time in a long time that her looks had not managed to win at least a base amount of respect from a stallion, and she had nearly slipped back into the trap of doubting herself. It was rare for her to lose her confidence, but there was something about being pregnant and feeling used that left her unsteady in her games.

It had never been her intention to have children, let alone two of them in very short order.

The absence of the spotted stallion was noticeable, and Vanya did not mourn him. She had, in truth, expected Jabari to challenge for Titania as well. To free the pretty girl from the clutches of Rougaru, and yet he had not. Instead, he had absconded with a different mare of the silver stallion's, and her opinion of him dropped even lower. Clearly, despite his pretty words, he was no different from all the rest.

The roan mare waited sleeplessly at the edge of the herd gathering, Drogon's lean figure splayed out at her hooves with the utmost trust he placed in his mother. Vanya may not consider herself a fighter capable of thwarting an enemy's attack, but she was still a superhero to the small colt. Vanya's dark eyes rested sightlessly on the dense jungle beyond the group, her ears tipped back against her poll in discomfort at her nearness to the group. Movement to the side catches her eye, and she watches the small mime played out by the spotted mare with an expressionless mask.

The two of them had not spoken since Vanya had taken her leave of their duo, and the roan was not entirely certain why Titania flagged her down now. Their chance for a fast escape was now long gone in the form of the roan stallion, and the best that Vanya could hope for now was to make a run for it sometime in the near future. It did not fit her plans well, all things considered, but she would be damned if Rougaru did not pay some sort of price for his insolence. The worst part of all of this was the knowledge that, for Vanya, she needed to do it now. Before she became too large to swim safely, and before the weakness of the child ensured that she was trapped here until it was old enough to swim.

After a moment of consideration, Vanya stepped delicately around her weanling and followed the dark mare as though she were doing nothing so much as taking a midnight stroll. Drogon would be safe enough among the others of the herd for her to have a brief side conversation to assuage her curiosity.

When she finds Titania again, the roan slows and draws to a stop somewhat near the mare. She wasn't sure what was wanted of her in this situation, considering the lukewarm reception at their last meeting. Vanya's fluted ears flick front in back in a small dance as she decides what to do, before offering an apology that feels awkward on her tongue. Sincerity and gentle emotion were not aspects of herself that she used frequently, and they felt poorly sized for the mare that she had become. "I am sorry he did not take you with."