She should be used to it now, she supposed. Used to putting herself to bed. Used to cleaning the little marks of dirt off of the twins when Ailill was busy with border patrol or too lost in his thoughts. Soothing their boo-boos and stopping their bickering. She should be used to the feeling of heartbreak that she could see reflected from her face onto Akadi's.

She should be used to this, and yet she wasn't.

Each new day without her mother felt like an eternity, especially given the current circumstances. Before, she'd had the lure of her father. Had known that come late spring, come hell or high water, she would have gone to the Inlet. Would have cuddled right up to her dad and forced her momma to play nice... and her daddy to throw out Nyimara. But that was no longer an option. It was not Bjorn calling Siobhan back to Tinuvel, but Nyimara.

The delusional chocolate mare would not let her grudge go, and for that, hatred grew in Roisin's heart. Someday she would make the gold-haired witch pay for every moment her family had to suffer without their mother. Someday.

For now, the dun girl wanders idly through the forest, making sure that everyone is accounted for before she feels comfortable to depart. Ailill is a good caretaker, but without Siobhan, Roisin can still feel herself stepping into that role. Not that she wants it. If anything, watching her twin baby sisters bicker and argue over inconsequential things has very much made the girl decide that she will wait years, if not decades, before she has her own. But she will not abandon her family, no matter what it costs her.

Today is a rare moment where she is comfortable enough to be alone. Her pale hooves scuff along the path with no true purpose. She has crawled across every inch of her beloved Ridge to no avail. No amount of aimless wandering will bring either of her parents back to her, nor deliver her Nyimara's head on a platter. Still, being alone is it's own form of bliss and she is happy for the reprieve. It's easy to lose yourself here among the noise and the cacophony of the jungle; to chase butterflies and forget your worries. Roisin tries to find her inner self again, to unlock that light-hearted filly that had raced down these trails after feathers and flowers, but she seems so far away that Roi's not even sure she exists anymore.

A nicker nearby startles the filly from her reverie and her head snaps toward the source in disbelief. "Sig?" His name is a bare exhalation of a question, and it hardly manages to slip past her lips before she's trotting toward the source. When at last she can see him - looking far more grown-up than she remembers - it is joy that suffuses her face at first. Joy that quickly falters when she reconciles everything that she knows of him. That he has always travelled with their father. That he must have known what happened to Siobhan. And that it is strange that he would show up again now, when things once more look dire.

She halts suddenly a few paces away, her face contorted in an agonizingly blend of longing and suspicion. "Hi Sigurdr. Long time no see."

More than anything she wants to tackle him in a hug and wrap her neck around him. She wants to take her comfort in the reunification of long-lost family and she wants to beg him, down on her knees if she must, to take her to Bjorn. Their daddy is the bera konung. If anyone can make this right for them, surely it must be Bjorn. And yet she can't. Conflicting emotions rip her apart inside and she is stuck staring at him with heartbreak in her eyes. "Did you know? About mom?"

FILLY | MUTT | 14.3 HANDS WFG | BAY DUN SABINO | THE RIDGE | BJORN x SIOBHAN | LOVEINSPIRED | CREDIT