A sound from behind makes her blood run cold. Her head jerks up, away from Vanya, and she half-turns to face what is surely Rougaru, come to ruin her carefully-laid plans. How had he found them? She was so quiet, so cautious. She should have known his senses would be even more keen come nightfall. Remorse rises in her gut, her heart jumping into her throat as she keeps her expression sweet, innocent of any wrongdoing.

Instead of the green-eyed monster, though, stands a mare. Titania has never seen her before, slim-legged and the color of fire, and as she flares her nostrils to catch her scent, confusion flickers in her dark eyes. This strange woman was not from here, not even from the same Island, smelling of brimstone and fresh snowfall and the salt of the sea. Come, she beckons, and seize your freedom for yourself.

Come - but only one, and quickly.

Titania stands frozen with indecision. She wants to go, to take this easy path out for herself and slide without bloodshed through her captor’s grip, but… her gaze snaps to Vanya, catching the mare staring. The other snatches up the opportunity in the next instant, taking the choice out of her own hands, but she knows this is how it must be. Titania, at least, has hope for Rille’s return, even as the days crawl by and her foal quickens. She knows she lingers in her stallion’s mind, unforgotten, and that he has spent every day of the last season thinking of how he will bring her safely back.

Vanya doesn’t have that luxury.

Titania sees the desperation in her eyes, and she nods, conceding without a moment’s hesitation. She meets the mare’s muzzle with her own, brushing her lips over her in an effort to soothe her nerves. “Go,” she whispers, eyes glittering in the light of the moon. “Make your own destiny, Vanya, and don’t ever, ever look back.”

Remember me, she thinks to herself, watching her dart off to grab her son, the one she fights so hard to protect. She turns back, after a thoughtful moment, to look upon the foreigner one last time, inclining her head in a subtle gesture of thanks. “Until we meet again, kind stranger,” she murmurs, a wan smile drifting over her lips, before pivoting on her heels. Another second and she has disappeared like smoke back into the shadows beneath the trees, where she can see and hear nothing more of the painted mare Vanya’s sudden, inexplicable disappearance into thin, hot air.