TThere is always comfort to be had at Sigurdr's side. He is neither her father, nor her mother, but Sigurdr has always had a special place in her heart. As her big brother, she had spent her formative days looking up to him in wonder as he helped Siobhan show her the Ridge. Had darted to his side when something scary threatened her safety when they were adventuring. Had trusted him to always show her the way back to their father, even when the path grew muddied with conflicting emotions.

She curls into him, her ears tipped back to hear his words but in truth, she's already decided to forgive him. He was family, and she loved him. As much as she wanted to heap the blame on his shoulders, Roisin could not keep it there. He didn't deserve it any more than Ailill had.

As Sigurdr catches up to the worst part, the darkest part, Ro nods sadly against his chest and sobs anew. The separation was hard enough, but she couldn't get the thought of what her momma was going through out of her head. It was eating her alive and she had no idea how to stop the pain of self-loathing. Her momma had sacrificed herself for her. Had said that Roisin and Akadi's freedom was more important than her right to her own body, and Roisin could not let go of the guilt of it.

"The Arch," she mumbled sadly against Sig's shoulder, "with her."

In truth, even though Roisin knows that Sigurdr's mother is Nyimara, she has never connected them as mother and son the same way that she did herself and Siobhan. She has never seen them cuddle close or share a bond that was not wholly dictated by what Nyimara wanted of him at any given point. In Ro's mind, Sig easily switches from her half to whole brother in most conversations, and even now she imagines that he is just as torn up as she had been.

Except he didn't have to bear the guilt.

"But it is my fault," she chokes out brokenly, peeling away from him so that she could meet his gaze. The tears continued to drip from her face as she desperately pleaded with him to understand why she was the one to blame just as much as anyone else. "They c-came for me first. Me and Akadi. But momma said no and so th-they t-took her in-instead."

The words are a barely audible struggle as she chokes on them, the heavy shackles that they represent as restricting now as the had been when the challenge was issued.

"She should've sent m-me." She sums up with a stamp of her hoof.

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