He has been watching and waiting for her arrival since the moment he gently guided Echo ashore. Dances With Wolves should have given more attention to his daughter, but he cannot rid himself of the anxiety he feel in Rowena’s absence. To have parted from her so soon after only just finding her again, it was enough to cause the painted stallion physical pain. But it could not be helped. The Ridge was not the place of safety it had once been, no, it had been compromised by the appearance of a brute upon its shores. He and Echo had remained undetected in the sea cave, but the winter had been worsening, and such a place was not well suited for birthing a foal.

Dances felt his heart clench within him, and a sickness weighed heavily in his stomach. It filled him with dread, the despair that had taken hold of his daughter, and he feared for her life. What had been down to her had broken Echo, and Dances didn’t know how to piece her back together. The very sight of her – the despondency etched into her face, the rounding of her barrel – served to set Dances on fire within. He burned with guilt. And so, he chose not to look upon the miserable form of his daughter, watching instead the treeline as they meandered the outskirts of the forest.

It took effort, but thus far, the bay and white stallion has managed to fight off the sickening fear and aching grief he had become so familiar with over the course of his often lonely life. This time, it had been he who had taken to the sea, braving the icy waters, leaving Rowena behind. And she had promised that she would follow. There was no room in his tender heart for doubt, not where Rowena was concerned. Of all his lost loved ones, Rowena was the only one who’d come back. And more than that, she was fighting so that she could be with them. Dances With Wolves didn’t have faith in much, but he had faith in her.

Behind him, Echo gasped and teetered, stumbling and groaning in pain. Dances had led her to the base of a towering tree, hoping it would offer shelter from the wind that still howled cold from the sea, not so far from them. He hadn’t dared to venture deeper, not without Rowena. There was no way he could be sure they’d even be welcomed here, but he held out hope, none-the-less. “Echo?” His ears turned back at the pitch of his own voice – high and taut with fear. Before he could speak again, Dances found himself shying at the loud cries of pain that Echo could not withhold. At least the trees and dense undergrowth would muffle the sound, but still Dances feared that a stranger might hear and approach, or worse yet; a predator.

Before fearful blue eyes, Echo crumpled to the ground as her legs buckled and gave beneath her, and Dances was almost too slow to catch her. He grunted as they came together and he bore her weight safely as she sank into the leaf litter. Listlessly, her flopped to the ground, and Dances With Wolves could only watch helplessly as his daughter writhed with pain. Her breathing was laboured, and her dark coat patched with sweat. The tobiano stallion paced, completely out of his depth, and still, still torn. Rowena, Rowena…

And suddenly, a movement in the distance drew the male’s attention only and handful of minutes later. There she was, appearing like a miracle, the distant silhouette of her between the trees distinct and immediately recognisable to Dances With Wolves. How many times had that tragically beautiful face appeared to him in dreams? It was beyond counting. “Echo, she’s here,” the words fell frantically from his mouth, and he paused long enough to lower his head and brush his whiskery muzzle down the line of her damp mane. And then he lurched away, stumbling over roots and rocks and his own desperation. “Rowena,” he called softly, in hopes of allaying any uncertainty.

He was here, always waiting. And she had returned to him once more.

Dances With Wolves pulled up beside the black mare, draped his neck over hers in a hungry and comforting embrace. Upon drawing back, he tossed his muzzle in the direction he’d come from. “Echo, she – I think there’s something wrong.” His heart yearned for a time when it could just be him and his beloved Rowena, at peace together in the stillness of the forest at night, but right now, their daughter was in trouble, and even if there was nothing to be done to help her, at least she wouldn’t be alone.