Papillion watches as her herdmates brow furrows and lips fade into a frown. She tries to prepare herself for the answer but as the ‘no’ reaches her ears she feels her heart sink. But the next words caused a spark of hope to flash within their eyes ‘I don't think they're truly gone’. Yet the fact still remains that neither of them knew where the twin kings had gone or when they planned to return, that's if they returned. With a disheartened sigh Papillion reluctantly turned her gaze back towards the Bay for a few seconds. Before dismissing the idea by shaking her head and looking north towards the Arch. What should she do? Should she remain loyal to the stallion that claimed her? Or should she continue with her plan to find a safer place to give birth to her foal? Did she really have to choose between staying loyal or her babie’s safety? The conundrum was making her head hurt and heartache.

Fortunatly for Papillion the choice was made easy. She is surprised by the buckskin mare's bold step towards her but she doesn’t bolt this time. The declaration causes Papillion’s mouth to hang agape in astonishment. “You would do that … for me?” She stammers. Still unable to believe that someone she barely knew would step up for her like this.

Closing the gap between them even further, to the point where no gap existed at all, Papillon wrapped her neck underneath Avarice’s in a firm embrace. "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you ..." she repeated her gratitude over and over again. Tears of joy threaten to stream down her painted face and cause her voice to crack. After a moment the red mare took a step backwards and looked at her herdmate with a slightly confused expression, “Ummm, what is your name?”

And once again she had held a whole conversation with someone without knowing their name.