There is a storm of thoughts that seem to race through the white-masked mare's eyes that I cannot begin to untangle. I hadn't thought that she was a prisoner in the Arch - though I would not put it past Zion to do what needed to be done to grow the Arch herd - but her first sentence does not ease that worrying possibility.

It's not the pace I would have chosen. Which... admittedly was fair enough. I didn't love the long winters either, but the rest of my life was good enough that I did not feel the need to wander. But, as she continued, I could see why someone else might not feel the same way. I had grown up largely solitary apart from my mother, and had never been the sort of creature that knew how to make (or keep) any kind of friends. My edges were too jagged and my tongue too sharp, not to mention my need for control too strong to make for easy friendship.

But as I contemplate all of this, she seems to balance her nays against her yays without any of my help. As she references her pregnancy, I nod because that I do in fact understand. Caine's existence hadn't been a total surprise, so to speak, but I also hadn't wanted to acknowledge that I was pregnant at all, either. Being a mother seemed like such a terrifyingly large duty to be on my shoulders and I'd balked at the idea. When he had finally arrived though, I had found it both far more infuriating and vastly more rewarding than I had expected.

At her final question, however, I pause, a frown forming on my lips. I wanted to lie to her, to say that I had in fact just spoken to Zion mere moments ago. That he was waiting for us both back in the Arch. But while I was not above lying for my own gain, I couldn't bring myself to fib to this sweet mare, even if she was carrying my lover's child in her belly. "No... I haven't." I finally answer with a creased brow. "But I don't think they're truly gone."

A strange resolve creeps over me and I take a step toward her, sincerity in my words. "But I will keep you safe... if you let me?" I wasn't a lead mare in name. It wasn't even something that Zion and I had ever discussed. But this mare needed someone, and right now I was the closest someone and I'd be damned if I let anything happen to her or to Caine's little sibling.