Wintersweet and Eirlys were enough. Brightwine and Blackfrost were enough. The loss of Celestine and Sunshine were not going to cripple him. What had happened to him that a mare leaving him by choice or chance could rupture his once proud nature? It was a struggle for him to accept, thus a struggle for him to heal from. One needed to look at the wound to understand its nature and to therefore choose a treatment for its betterment.

He has often contemplated that his friendship with Nicodemus might have cause him to make a poor choice of home. They had fled here, certainly, but it had been at the behest of a blizzard and not by the choice of his boss mare or himself. There was no guidance to their fleeing except ‘keep ahead of it’. That very flight had been what stole the strength of the darling Celestine in the end. Unfair, that was what it was…

But Blackfrost had lived.

He has often considered that the Inlet was not precisely his home, but Sunshine had been rather fond of the frosty morning with its fluttering flurries. She had looked up at the northern lights and found beauty in it he could not bear to take away. What kept him there now? Why did he not seek another friend with a home more bearable in season and temper?

Eirlys. He must ask her. Wintersweet would tell him to do as he pleased and inform her later. Eirlys would help him decide. If she was no longer for remaining in this chilled place - perhaps then he could tell Wintersweet to lead them abroad. The fillies would be strong as long as they waited it out until the next spring thaw. He looks up, seeking the bright red mare with her blonde mane, and finds her with little struggle as the children napped in the summer sun. "We must speak of the future, Eirlys." His voice is soft, "Perhaps, having seen the harshness of this place, we should bear down and wait out the winter and leave with the next thaw… if we are cautious, we will not do poorly this winter… and the girls will be big enough to swim the strait to the mainland and beyond."