Summer had arrived and it had come as no surprise to K1A1 that some of the mares Dögun had collected were pregnant. Their bellies grew wide with child and the blue mare watched them labor under the stress of cultivating a new life. It was all so very unfair to watch these mares deteriorate in such a way—all because a stallion decided her a worthy receptacle for planting his seed. She seethed from afar at the thought, attempting to repress the horrid memory of the task she was once forced to complete—the one that had steeled her mind and ultimately hardened her body. K1A1 had vowed, never again.

K1A1 watched Macabre from a great distance, and had been doing so ever since she washed up on the Inlet’s shore—half dead and straining to bring a foal into the world. She hung back when Dögun and Freya rushed to her side to help, but could offer little assistance other than encouraging words. K1A1 had seen the blood stain the shoreline—much more than normal—and thus when Macabre finally rose and the child was able to stand and nurse, she was immensely surprised. Macabre and her son should both be dead.

But neither of them was dead, and K1A1 wanted to know why. So the great blue mare had been following them, keeping an eye on Macabre and her son, and slowly realizing that indeed one of them was not long for this world. The colt was growing weaker every day.

K1A1 moved closer to the pair today, stopping a short distance away and fastening her eyes to the dying colt. She felt no remorse watching his young life fade away, only a sense of impending purpose. K1A1 moved her icy gaze to Macabre, conveying great strength coupled with a sense of necessary darkness.

K1A1