Siobhan had struggled with Faolain's claim of the Ridge from the first day they had met each other. It was one thing to have lost the man she considered the love of her life, and another to lose the very home upon which she stood. Not that Faolain had attempted to drive them away, but in the wake of Bjorn's absence and sudden return, she had felt whiplashed and unsure. If anything, the implacable black mare had done her best to make Siobhan and her brood welcome, even in the face of Siobhan's own lack of warmth. As if that were not enough, Faolain had calmly and resolutely stood in each time that the red mare needed a defender, rising to the challenge without complaint or preamble.

She owed Faolain more than she could express.

Still, the thanks that she offers is met with surprise, and a wan smile curls momentarily along Siobhan's lips. She had never believed that Faolain did what she did because she sought glory or recognition, but it was heartwarming to see her genuine reaction to such praise. However, the matter soon turned to darker affairs and both mares sobered. The brusque tone of Faolain's initial response sends tension spiderwebbing across the red mare's coat, but she does her best not to react too strongly. If she has learned anything when dealing with Faolain, it was that her brusqueness was hardly ever ill-intentioned. To Siobhan's surprise, the black guardian then begins to elaborate, giving life to her initial negative reaction.

The story that she spills is one that Siobhan had suspected, but had not known for sure. She had not needed to be particularly observant to notice that hostilities between Paradise and the Ridge had ceased abruptly at approximately the same time as the little silver-maned boy had been conceived. She had assumed, however, that such an arrangement had been purely voluntary, given the limited interactions she had seen between the Guardians, and then later, between they and the silver stallion, when Rougaru had come to visit his son. A way to bridge the chasm between the two herds by making shared connections.

The truth, however, made Siobhan want to castrate the Paradisian King herself.

Both rounded ears pin back as Faolain elaborates, and she steadies herself with a long breath in. There was nothing she could do about Rougaru's underhandedness now, but she could spare Faolain from a similar fate. I just feel terrible for having another person take that fall for me, she says and Siobhan shakes her head mutely, but lets the Guardian continue. I'm afraid that a child will tie you even tighter to Nyimara, she confesses and Siobhan's face flickers as the shadow of a similar fear crosses it.

The truth was that there was nothing she could do to stop Nyimara's obsession. She still didn't understand how the Lagoon had come to be involved in the whole mess, or why Cullen had agreed to do the bidding of a mare, of all things. It seemed so… contradictory to both of their personalities that it baffled her mind and made her question what she had thought was true. Cullen had once kidnapped Nyimara's son and held him prisoner for nigh on a year, and then, when the Ridge herd had banded together to rescue him, had been taken captive herself. This new partnership made her wonder if the whole thing had been a plot on Nyimara's behalf to begin with.

It would explain Cullen's desire to injure Ysabel, and could offer more insight as to why he had captured Ysabel's yearling daughter at the same time. What better way to punish the golden mare than to rip away the child she held dear?

"Me too," she offers somberly, her ears still tipped back. The prospect of being away from her children again was painful, but so was the thought of Faolain's happiness being ripped away. As strong as the shadowy Ridge guardian was, there was something dehumanizing about having your choice ripped away from you. Faolain deserved to choose the father of her first child, if she ever decided to have one. The choice should have never been taken away from her in the first place.

Faolain's second comment is so unexpected that a small bubble of nervous laughter escapes Siobhan and she shakes her head emphatically. "What a strange way to phrase it." Almost immediately an apologetic smile flits across her lips and she shakes her head again. "Do I want that vile man to touch me? No, of course not, Faolain."

For a second, Siobhan falls silent as she attempts to round her thoughts together into a more sensical order. "What I want is for you to have the choice." Her lips purse together and her gaze rises once more to Faolain. "Of who and when and how."

Her thoughts linger painfully on Laoise and her loss for a moment and she takes a deep, shaky breath. "All children are special, of course," she says with a trembling smile. "But there is something about carrying that first child inside of you, feeling their movements and their heartbeat for the first time. As a part of yourself that changes you forever." Tentatively, the red mare steps forward to press a soft touch to Faolain's shoulder. "And I would do anything that I could to save you from hating any second of it. I know what it is to resent a child before it is born, and while I was lucky enough to have such resentment fade… I know that not all mothers are as lucky."

Smiling again, Siobhan reaffirmed her point. "I don't want you to regret a single moment of carrying that first child of your blood."

She let that moment fall for a moment, her gaze dancing away to the path that Faolain had been on. The Guardians' normal resting place was not far away, and Siobhan realized that Faolain had likely been on her way to retire for the night in the warm embrace of her co-Queen. Turning back, she shook her head gently. "You don't have to decide now, of course. But I wanted you to know it was an option."

OOC: I figure it would be perfectly fine if you wanted to end Sio's part after this next reply and you could probably just consider her as having gone back into the jungle when they were done unless Fao wanted to discuss more.