In truth, Siobhan has had little to do with the chocolate-coated mare, but much of that was by choice. She had been gone when Siobhan had joined the Ridge, off to fight in a war that made no sense to the red mare. She had left her young son alone and motherless, terrified that his beloved dam was not going to come back to him, and it was not in Sio's nature to not provide care for the charming little colt. Sigurdr had shown her all the best places of the Ridge, and in truth, was a large reason why Siobhan had fallen for Bjorn as fast as she did. What mother didn't love a doting father?
Her first true introduction to the mare had been far, far later. After the raid attempt where Siobhan had panicked and frozen as Cullen made off with precious Sigurdr and Isabel. Where Ysabel lay injured and Osiris dead. Where the red mare had been forced to confront the ramifications for Bjorn's actions before she had even known of them. All too clearly she remembered her own guilt and grief at the thought of all that the young foals were set to endure, and how that mixture had spawned a fury that scared her to this day.
No, her first introduction to the chocolate mare had been after her defeat of Ysabel, when she had crowed about her victory. Her attitude had rubbed Siobhan the wrong way, but she had resolved to give the chocolate queen a chance. After all, Siobhan had not desired the position itself. The longer Nyimara held her queenship, however, the more apparent it became that she was a terrible one. The silvered queen wanted the pride and the notoriety of the title, but did none of the work. She did not know the herd. Not what troubled them or what pleased them. Nyimara did not know anything about them, and she was content to stay that way.
Thus, it had come has no surprise to Siobhan when at the end, when the herd desperately needed leadership when Bjorn was gone, Nyimara was nowhere to be seen. The flighty, disloyal mare had already ditched the Ridge herd to take solace in the Crossing, forgoing everything that being a queen entailed. The herd, her children, her family. Even Bjorn.
In truth, it was not just Nyimara's inability to lead that kept the red mare's hatred alive. It was how blind her once-lover was to Niymara's darkness. He refused to see that she was a cancerous growth on the herd, growing in strength by bleeding it from the grullo stallion. He looked at her beauty and fierceness and mistook it for something desirable, forgetting that everything Nyimara was came at the expense of her compassion and kindness.
And jealousy.
Even now, as her heart grows ever colder toward the bera konung for his part in this drama, she is jealous of Nyimara's pull. That the chocolate mare could convince him to abandon everything that he held dear in favor of this frozen wasteland, leaving herself and her family behind. That she could make him blind to her own faults and bend him to her will. To know that Nyimara had been allowed to know that he was alive, to not have to worry for months on end, soured her greatly and it was with a deep, unfettered loathing that she looked to Nyi now. As if all of that was not enough, she had ripped from Siobhan the start of something new. Something that was her own. She had forced Siobhan to watch as she left rips and tears in the hide of her beautiful lover, had forced Sio's children to hear her call their mother a slave. She had forced Siobhan to say goodbye to her daughters, to weather their anger with as much stoicism as she could muster as she retreated to the last place she wanted to be on this godforsaken planet.
Siobhan glares as the chocolate mare makes her way closer, the Cheshire grin on her lips a fair indication of her intentions. It would be like her to take pleasure in someone else's pain. She watches warily as the queen strides closer, sidling alongside Siobhan as though they were close friends rather than sworn enemies. Her ears pin even more deeply in the tangle of her chestnut mane, but she cannot deny that the warmth of the other mare's body was already beginning to dampen the worst of the shivering.
Nyimara's taunting is enough to spawn a tight, hard smile, although it has little effect compared to the pinned ears and harsh glare. She does not miss her emphasis, but attempts to not let it rankle her. Sio had not wanted the queen position. It had been given to her because it was something she was good at, not something that she desperately wanted. She had deserved it, unlike the bitter witch before her.
Her hide shivers in revulsion as they touch, but she does not move away. The warmth is needed, else Siobhan will shiver away the meager stores of fat her body has managed to regain after nursing two fillies all summer. The thought of needing Nyimara's kindness in any fashion rankles her, for she knows it will not be long before the mare's attention wavers and Siobhan will be left to deal with the aftermath all on her own. The temperature of the air here was enough to make her miserable, but she doubted she would have energy enough to paw away at the ground for what scant nourishment could be found here. Fear seeped into her as she considered if she was going to be able to eat enough to stave off the cold and provide what was needed for her growing child to be healthy and strong. Already she could feel their presence in her body. It was too soon for much more than a knowing that the baby is there, but soon they would begin to move and kick, but she was grateful for this small sliver of Ailill that she could keep to herself.
Nyi was pregnant too, she could tell as soon as they touched. It did not surprise her. Of course, she would have given Bjorn access to her body. Spreading her legs for him was just another way Nyimara held her power over the grullo stallion, and it was no wonder that he had raced for the chocolate mare upon his return to the islands. Hopefully, she wouldn't abandon this one. Even as much as she hated Nyi, Siobhan would not wish a motherless existence on any child. Ever.
"Yes, of course you would need me Nyimara," she offers in the same sickly sweet tone the silver woman had used, even as she steps forward to join her. "We wouldn't want Bjorn to think you could do it on your own. After all, you couldn't last time either." Whether she is referring to the fact that Bjorn forced her to share queenship because Nyi lacked the ability to be diplomatic, or the fact that Siobhan had parented her son for most of his youth was up for debate, as both had equal merit in Sio's eyes.
As the trees draw closer, the red girl drops the pretense, and turns to the mahogany woman. "Why, Nyimara? He chose you, not me." Her eyes flash in anger and she gestures toward the frigid landscape around them. "All of this is for you. Why drag me back into it?"