Brynja was an unknown quantity, a stranger to the silvery mare - much like the other members of the herd but she had at least remembered seeing many of them around. Sightings of the chestnut mare had been been only a few, and mostly around the stony Nymeria. Therese supposed her own absence was to blame, she had hardly been around enough to get to know the herd - she had not intergrated to be part of their community and she wonders if this was one of the reasons they were drifting apart. There were still a few of Torix's mare's about, but Therese had spied less and less recently.

Her son had kept her closer to the herd than she once might have been - there was safety in numbers, although she still remained a ghost - making a few appearances when the nights were particulary cold in order to seek warmth and shelter from the masses.

She did not follow Brynja onto the beach, but ended up wandering the long expanse of sand never the less. Sverre wandered in front of her wading out into the waves and charging backwards whenever the surf broke on the sand. His play was not hectic and childish like it had once been, and it was halted every now and then so he could look out across the sea and imagine a world beyond Luthien. She would have to take him to the crossing at some point before winter came, perhaps seek out the grulla mare that had come to her side when she was in need of comfort. Mouse of the Peak.

But Therese had other people to talk to, other mares to grace her company with - this meeting, as with many others, was a long time coming. Therese spots the russet figure in the distance, and for a moment she considers creeping back towards the forest and off into the darkness - but Sverre notices Brynja as well, and gives his mother a knowing look. Therese does not back down from her son's determined gaze, he was right - she has been a shadow, a ghost, for far too long.

She picks her way slowly towards the other mare, noting the abscence of Byrnja and Vercingetorix's daughter and wondering where the filly could be - perhaps she had gone. The thought of losing her own child had been something Therese had feared ever since Sverre's birth, and she hoped that he would stay for at least another season - or until Vercingetorix could stand no more.

"Hello," she says when she is close enough, coming to a stop without intruding on Byrnja's personal space. Therese exhales, wondering where to go from here - bst to start with the basics. "I am Therese."