Though Koholet’s words were mostly directed to Khar’pern’s questions, Mae does not miss how they selectively tell her of the changes made since her escape. The apology engrained within them made stronger by the tears that Mae wants to wipe away. Her nurturing nature pushing her to step forward, to offering a comforting touch, perhaps even an embrace that most mothers would give their child. But for now, she stays steadfast, unmoving, as Khar’pern replies. The grey mare’s truth is a harsh reality that Koholet has been blind to until now. What had made her finally see the demon for what he really was? Did she bear witness to his cruelty? Or succumb to them herself? Mae cannot help but to take the opportunity to glance over the patch work skin of the younger mare while she is distracted but is relieved to see there is nothing new there.


“You can still help them.” Mae interjected. She did not know if Koholet could go against Fell. If love still lingered in her heart for the stallion, despite the hurt truth had left her. “The mares of the Bay are completely alone. Your influence over the…. Over Fell, is gone. What is to sooth him now?” Mae had almost called him demon, just as she referred to him in her thoughts. But she had not been blind to the way Fell treated her, how he looked to Koholet in a way he didn’t anyone else. “I did not hold such power, but what will you do with yours?” If Koholet still chose to do nothing, Mae would not blame her. Returning to the Bay was a nightmare she would not face, nor force onto others. But she was sure that the painted girl could help the mares left behind in some other way. As she had told Khar’pern, she was from the Cove, which held weight all on its own.


Mae cannot help but to look to her daughters again, seeing that Hiyori had finally stopped playing with Kaeja’s tail to munch on some grass next to her sister’s muzzle. As if those strands were better in her elder sister’s personal space, than the ones respectfully a few inches away. The memories of Fell ushering Kaeja into the surf, and the utter horror Mae felt thinking the stallion had taken their child to her death. It caused a cold dread to crawl up her spine even now, and she looked back to Koholet with a haunted look in her green eyes. “His cruelty is not limited to mares. But to his children too.” she barely managed to whisper, her throat feeling constricted as Mae was briefly choked with the emotions of memory.