Róisín had not yet found her footing in her new role, although she would freely admit that she had not devoted as much attention to figuring it out as she should've. With Anath making an appearance and Oswin helming the Peak, she had found herself cowed by their experience and poise. Compared to them, she was just a scruffy filly trying to fill out shoes far too big for her feet. Even Bane seemed to hold a more mature sort of poise that Róisín had not been able to emulate, no matter how hard she'd tried.
Hell, she'd nearly run off to the Lagoon on the first day of winter to demand they let their prisoner free, which in hindsight would have probably ruined what meager relationship the Peak and Lagoon shared. Not that Róisín particularly cared to keep nurturing it any longer. The fact that the Lagoon had taken a prisoner despite their claims of change, and then proceeded to keep her throughout the entire autumn season (the scariest time for a mare with no one to protect her), had ruined any belief Róisín had that Rade had been telling the truth about the men beneath him.
He may have changed, but they hadn't. And he clearly didn't have the power to force them either.
They were still up to their own schemes and now, if she were to unfairly judge by the way Oswin had seemingly agreed to their whole villainous proposal (judging solely from the comments Oswin had made regarding it), she could no longer trust her either. A part of her had almost begun to wonder if the swelling of the golden mare's belly had anything to do with her newest softening toward the Lagoonies, but Róisín knew this was an unfair assumption. The Lagoon should have been the last place any sane mare would look for the sire of a child. And it wasn't as though pregnancy would, in theory, make her less of a leader… even if Róisín knew from observation that pregnancy came with hormonal swings and physical challenges she would not have otherwise faced.
The trio of them - burnished gold, gold on black and gold on white - swam steadily to Atlantis. Given Róisín's habit of resorting to mindless physical exertion when emotional or mental stress weighed on her shoulders, the swim did not wind her. In fact, what tiredness had crept into her limbs on the swim dissipated the moment the familiar scent of home filled her nostrils. Unabashedly, the slender girl lifted her head and dragged in a handful of flower-scented breaths that did more to soothe the frayed edges of her nerves than anything else had. She missed Atlantis, but more than that, she missed the easy memories of her childhood. When the most pressing question had been whether crimson petals or sandy mud would show up best on Iscariot's pale coat.
At Oswin's insistence, Róisín leads the way to Paradise. She'd never technically stepped foot into the silver stallion's land, but she was well acquainted with the borders. Together, the trio of them settled at the edge and Róisín watched as the Prime Minister lifted her head to call for Rougaru without saying anything. They all knew their mission, and right now certainly wasn't the time to discuss anything personal.