Siobhan lingered near the well-worn track that marked the boundaries of the Ridge, heedless of the rain that streamed down from above. It seemed fitting, almost, for it to be raining today. As if this was the last chance she would get to feel any sort of grief over what was happening to them all.

If Cullen won, she would need to shove the sadness down as deeply as she could make it go, if she were to survive.

Siobhan had hoped to catch Faolain alone. They had never truly seen eye to eye, but the dark mare had always risen to her defense, even when it was not her responsibility to do so. Even now, with her sweet Ailill on his own in the jungle, Faolain had faced down Cullen without hesitation, even offering herself in Siobhan's place.

In truth, Siobhan didn't know how to feel about it.

She was grateful, of course. Moreso than she could ever truly put into words. But guilty as well. Nyimara would never stop coming for her, and it seemed monumentally unfair that she would consistently need to be protected from her advances. Faolain should not have to fight down waves of enemies bristling at their door just to protect one member of the herd that did not even belong directly to her. Of course, Siobhan knew that Faolain did not see it that way. One only had to look at the fury blazing in Faolain's eyes when she answered the challenge to see that Faolain did not consider her a burden in that sense. But that did not stop Siobhan from feeling as if she were.

Faolain's offer to stand in her place was a painful reminder of how many lives had been affected by Nyimara's cruelty. It was an offer that Siobhan could not stomach and she had begged and pleaded for Faolain to rescind it. If one of them had to be gone, Siobhan would much rather it not be the strongest one between them. The Ridge, and all of their precious children therein, needed someone to protect them. Siobhan knew what it was to be terrified for her life. What it was to have teeth raked across her hide for no other reason than to hear her scream. She knew what it was to count every waking moment to cope, and how to swallow her reactions to give them nothing to feed off of.

Siobhan knew what it was to endure, and she couldn't bear the thought of Faolain learning too.

That was, in part, why she was waiting now, despite the rain and the cold. If Faolain lost, not only would Cullen steal a herd member, but he would steal the light from the guardian's heart as well. Siobhan had watched with delight as Faolain had blossomed with Hades around, and had seen as she lifted from a fierce and stoic warrior into someone that Siobhan better understood. Children had a way of doing that.

Faolain deserved to have a child of her own someday, but she deserved to have it be one of her choice.

It was not that Faolain might not love a child forced upon her anyway, but Siobhan hated the thought of it being forced upon her in the first place. She remembered her own fears vividly. How she had despaired at the thought that she might hate Zvaid for the circumstances of his conception. And she knew that not every mare was able to move past such trauma. That for some, the ability to love the child anyway never arrived. One only had to look at Asphodel and Prima for proof. Siobhan would do anything she could to spare Faolain of such pain.

"Faolain, wait!" When the dark guardian's figure flashes by in the rain, Siobhan lifts her head with a soft nicker. Carefully, she picks her way over the wet-slick leaves to face the dark guardian, her heart hammering in her chest. The two of them have never seen eye-to-eye, not truly, and yet a warmth existed between them that Siobhan cherished. "I just wanted to say thank you. For everything."

Except that wasn't all. It wasn't the real reason she'd come to seek her out, or at least, now the only reason. Drawing in a breath, Siobhan squared her shoulders and attempted to meet Faolain's eyes. "I have a last favor to ask of you." A smile meant to be reassuring settles fitfully onto her lips. "If you lose," she said softly, her gaze flickering. "That you let me bear that burden instead of you, if he will allow it."