Finally. Zevulun snaps at her, blue eyes incandescent with rage, anger so clear and pure in his tone that Riesling relishes it. Her ears pin back even tighter to her head, and she lifts her chin imperiously. At least this she can understand. Not why he’s angry - after all, she had only spoken the truth. The child is a bastard, clearly unwanted in whatever herd he claims to have plucked it from. At least here, Zevulun and his bleeding heart will offer all the coddling a child could need. Certainly he’s done his best to ruin Claret with it - and with a lonely little orphan that he saved? Well, is there anything more attractive to someone as self-aggrandizing as Zevulun is than someone who he can play hero for? But anger? This she understands, better than anyone else. Riesling thinks, perhaps, she has been angry since the moment she had to give up Arneis to save his life, and that she will never stop.

Riesling listens to his imperious little speech and snorts in disbelief. “And you never, for a second, considered that he lied? Perhaps it is Darshan who sits there, captive and desperate for escape - a mare Balor actually kept as part of this herd. And what proof do you have that the child is his and not Balor’s as well? Or maybe your friend is who he holds hostage - not missing, just kept hidden from anyone who might help.” She cannot believe this - does he truly think he could waltz in to another territory, demand to speak to someone and just be granted full access? Be told nothing but the truth? If he had shown up to her father or uncle that way, he would not have left the island alive. Riesling knows well the temper of a stallion tested - how has Zevulun not learned this lesson by now? He has daughters. He has sons. Has he not taught them such important realities? “Did you even stick around to investigate his claims, Zevulun? Or leave, pleased with your little rescue, and no mare or foal in sight.” She lets that thought sit for a minute and then asks, voice moving back to bitter rather than full of rage, “Will you go back for them? Fight a war against some unknown stallion when you could have avoided it all by thinking for one moment? Not just jumping at the first damsel in distress, the first chance to make yourself feel better.”

He understands her so little. She would burn the entire world down around her to ensure Claret gets everything she deserves. Forcing him to be the sort of stallion who has his priorities in order is nothing in comparison. She would do anything at all, and he claims she has no heart? They’re in this whole mess of a situation anyway because she was loyal enough to Balor to bear this burden. “I am not heartless, Zevulun,” she says cooly. “I am a survivor. Claret is the only important thing to me. I do not care about you. I do not care about your herd. I do not care about these hellish islands. I will do whatever it takes to ensure her safety.”

She glances to her daughter, who is now cowering behind her, watching the two adults argue in hissed voices with wide, frightened eyes. Riesling’s heart aches to comfort her, but this is a lesson Claret must learn swiftly and learn well. A stallion may lead, but he is not infallible and her voice should not be silent.

How can she explain this to him? Explain that with Balor gone, her future, Claret’s future, is tied to his success. And she is quickly starting to realize he doesn’t have it in him to be successful. Not in the way she knows a stallion needs to be - cutthroat and with his priorities in order. Family first, others only when it will benefit you in some way.

“If I must drag you kicking and screaming into understanding the realities of the world, I will do so. I do not care how you wish to lead the Prairie. Our daughter will be protected, and if you cannot lead in a way that ensures she is, I will not stop until we are free of you.” She sighs then, honey-gold eyes slipping closed before she turns to brush her muzzle over Claret’s fluffy little mane, soothing the girl with a whisper. “You cannot save everyone, Zevulun. You cannot play hero to the whole world.”