He’d been stirred from the depths of slumber by a whisper on the wind. Immediately his heart leapt in his chest, and he turned to his family in panic. But They were okay, all three of them, safe where they slept among the trees of the Forest. The herd had taken them in without hesitation, and for this, Dances was indebted to them. A glance cast about revealed none of the herd nearby, and so Dances settled, ready to doze off again, but just as his head drooped across Rowena’s back, a scent from his past taunted him into immediate wakefulness. His heart started a-racing in his chest, and he quietly drew away from his beloved, their precious daughter, and her newborn son.

A song thrummed in his blood, leading him south.

She cut a lonely figure, slumped at the base of a tree, not so unlike the way Echo had sprawled in agony, not even seven days past. So old, and so tired, and yet there was something timeless about the ebony mare. As Dances loomed over the prone form of his mother, the breath hitched in his chest. The last time he’d seen her, he’d been a lost boy, and his heart had been hurt deeply. Guadalupe had abandoned him. It was not far from here, just beyond the border int the Prairie, where they’d laid eyes upon one another. Guadalupe’d had two red foals at her heels. Dances had turned and fled.

He’d never thought they’d meet again, but here they were, almost back at the beginning.

Trembling with a turmoil of emotions, Dances With Wolves lowered his head, gently brushing his mother’s forelock from her face. It was still damp. She stirred at his touch, and Dances shied away, shocked at the revelation that she was really here, and that this wasn’t some phantom memory haunting him. “Guadalupe?” he breathed in astonishment, the very sound of her name stabbing at an old wound that had never quite healed.

“My son, my son… ?” The black mare struggled to her hooves, reaching to trace the lines of her oldest child’s face with her grizzled muzzle. “I found you, after all this time, I found you.” The peace of their long-awaited reunion was cut short by a strangled cry of pain, and just as he had with his daughter, Dances found himself lurching forwards to bear the weight of his mother as she collapsed, and he found himself comforting his mother as she sobbed, despite the conflict in his heart.

“I’m not long for this world, my son,” Guadalupe groaned, her face wet with tears. “I only pray that the babe inside me doesn’t suffer for what I’ve done.” It had been a risk to make the swim, so late in her pregnancy, but Guadalupe had been willing to bear the consequences. Now, with the knowledge that her son was here, there was no doubt in the mare that what she had done was right, and worth giving her life for. “I remember… Remember how you danced with the wolf,” she whispered, already fading. But still, she held on – she would not forsake her unborn child.

“Hold on, just a little longer,” Dances encouraged, his voice thick with grief. He pressed a kiss to Guadalupe’s forehead, and hummed a song in her ears, one that she seemed to recognise. Her colt came easier than Echo’s had, a small blessing for the dying mare. Dances moved to help her clean the boy, his coat brown as the loamy earth beneath them. “I promise to look after him always,” the stallion whispered in the ears of his mother and brother – an oath he made to them both.

“The song,” Guadalupe muttered, sinking to the sounding exhaustion, rambling in her delirium. “I followed it from the lands to the north. It led me here, to you.” The black mare only grew distressed when Dances tried to comfort her, tossing her head her breath coming in shallow gasps. “Take him away from this place,” she begged. “Him and all you hold dear.” A moment of clarity was given to the mare, and she nudged at her son’s lowered muzzle, gazing into his sorrowful blue eyes. “The Bachelors of the Lagoon – they’re coming to spill blood upon the Forest floor.” Guadalupe wheezed in pain, but she lingered still, desperate for Dances to show that he understood. Only after he had promised twice to take his brother away from here did she close her eyes, and slip away from her sons like the tide.

Dances hovered over her body in silence for several moments, no longer trembling, but motionless and numb. “May we meet again, Mama, upon some other shore.” The words were a whisper, heard only by the newborn colt, who shivered against his mother’s side, gazing up at the bay and white stallion with huge eyes. The colt flinched as a shrill cry from Dances rang out, a cry of desperation and warning, calling his family to him, as well as the herd who had taken them in. His mother had given her life to warn them, and Dances would see to it that her sacrifice was not wasted.