Oh, my friend, the monochrome mare murmurs, and the heart buried in Vanya's chest shudders beneath the guilt of her lie. It quakes with loathing at the thing she's become but is not strong enough to stop the roan mare from batting tear-laden eyelashes toward the mare she could have once called her friend.

Thankfully, Titania rises to the bait and Vanya pauses as she makes contact, swallowing hard against the nerves that rise in her chest. He took my firstborn, too, she says and Vanya's pale lips pull into a frown as she remembers her own bitter hatred of Drogon's early fondness for Rougaru. How she'd felt that he was attempting to steal her precious child. How he'd threatened to do just that. In the end, that had been one of the reasons she had been so eager to leave. It was bad enough that the silver beast wanted to ignore her, but for Rougaru to also try to steal Drogon? Unforgivable.

To Vanya's benefit, there is little outward difference between nerves of betraying a friend and the nerves of failing to capture a mare, and so the quiver in her step manages to seem (at least to the roan) natural, given the circumstances. She pauses again as Titania sighs, turning her limpid brown eyes back up at the mare that follows her, uncertain if the mare would take the bait and follow her. But Titania is better than she is, and while Vanya can almost feel the pain radiating from her expression, it does not change her mind. She needed this to work in her favor... regardless of what Titania would think of her after.

They travel in tense silence for a few steps, with Vanya's wide-eyed gaze peering this way and that through the underbrush for any hint of Rougaru's handsome form. He had likely noticed her absence by now, which was hopefully enough to have woken him. As the days had passed since her appointment, she hoped that she had soothed the edge of his worry that she would flee from his side, but they both knew it was a possibility that she would forever keep in her pocket after her stint in the Peak.

When the speckled mare speaks again, Vanya's fluted ears twist in her direction, but she does not pause until the woman speaks of the girl's father. She pauses as the guilt squeezes at her heart. It's still not enough to erase her purpose, but it is enough to start fraying the edges of her resolve. Vanya presses her muzzle against her companion's neck briefly before shaking her head yes sadly, pale lips pulling down into a frown.

In truth, she had neither seen nor heard of the girl that Titania described. However, answering negatively would only offer more reasons for her to leave before Vanya could succeed in having her captured. If she continued to lie, then she could pad her chances of success and give herself a little wiggle room. However, she knew that she treaded a narrow path of believability and so was careful not to play her hand too aggressively. Drawing her brows together in a show of worry, Vanya frowned and then shook her head no, negating her earlier affirmative motion. "I-I think so, but I'm not sure."

"I haven't been with the herd in a while." She pursed her lips and then cast her gaze worriedly forward again as she began walking, her voice pitched low as she hastened forward. Leaves and vines brushed across her hide in a familiar fashion, dragging over the rounded swell of her pregnant belly and over the dainty shape of her hips. Somewhere ahead of them would be Rougaru, and she could only hope that the big brute would be quick enough to catch on to her scheme.

"Sweetheart?" Vanya murmurs into the night, knowing that should the silver-maned king be close enough to hear her voice that he will come out of curiosity. Vanya didn't speak gently to anyone, save for her own children. And considering that Drogon was gone and Vivienne spent as little time as possible with her dam, it would be highly suspicious for her to be cooing to anyone now.

She cast a wide-eyed glance back toward the darkly hued mare and then shifted forward another few steps, whickering quietly into the shadowy depths. Flicking her ears forward and then back in feigned apprehension, she gestured toward Titania. "You should call your girl... I don't think she would come to me, if she's here."

Perhaps, if Rougaru ignored Vanya's subtle call and uncharacteristic murmuring, he would at least pick up on Titania's voice and come running. They were close enough now that she expected to catch his scent at any point, and her slender frame remained tensed with the anticipation of Titania running off.