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The Thicket—the place to which the black and white mare hailed—was an unknown land to the red mare. She had not explored much of Luthien or Atlantis, but with a new destination now set into her mind by Vanya’s assertion, she knew the Thicket would likely need to be the next place she ventured, especially if the matter of Titania’s rescue was as urgent—though perhaps not as dire—as she had said. To this, Nekharat nodded as she set the course in her mind.

And as Wasp gave her curt but kind welcome to the mother and child duo, the red mare reminded herself that she could also resume working on fulfilling the promise she made the Prime Minister from their earlier conversation—making in-roads with some of the female leaders of herds. It was a decree she intended to honor in her venture to Atlantis, though her happening upon Vanya and Titania in that moonlit clearing with fear alive in their eyes, had distracted her from her initial goal. It was a simple pivot—a quickly made decision—but not made without confidence in that whatever the fallout, she would be able to cope and manage it.

“Let me know if either of you require anything in the coming days, but for now I believe it best for the both of you to do as Wasp suggests and get some rest,” she offered, addressing Drogon and Vanya. “There is an outcropping not far from here, where the rocky path to the summit begins, if you prefer to be undisturbed by the wind.”

At Wasp’s low nicker and aside, the red mare gave a quick but gentle nod. “Of course.”

NEKHARAT