It was strange, really, how everything was so very different and yet so very much the same. Toland was gone, and with him the first herd that Morrigan had ever felt herself a part of. And now Baba Yaga was gone, yielding her position and authority with the changing of the wind. It felt prophetic in a way, when the golden mare recalled her first (and only real) meeting with the gray matriarch. She had claimed to neither reside or belong to the Forest the way the Morrigan did, but to be like the breeze itself.

In their place stood the mysterious black and white stranger who had once approached her. Fate had called her away too quickly that day to make a true assessment of the stranger, but he piqued her curiosity in a way no one else had since Toland. There was something about him that made her think he might be that nameless something she'd canvassed the beach to find on their last encounter. That he might - however strange it was to countenance - be the very thing that had brought Toland to her life in the first place.

The white-freckled mare had watched in silence as Hasan confronted and dispatched the stranger from the North, but did not fret as he weathered blow after blow. Whatever would come from the battle would come, and whether or not Baba Yaga was driven to surf by the very man she had needled for seasons would happen regardless. It was only a shame that the guilt of a loss - should it occur - would rest on the tobiano's shoulders despite his innocence in the accusation. Or so she assumed, anyway. Guilt was a fickle thing that often denied any sort of logic or reason, and she had little experience with it herself.

When he emerged victorious and slipped into the trees, the Morrigan followed. Initially, she had no purpose in doing so other than an unyielding curiosity in the stoic man, but as she watched him scratch himself, a reason unfolded in her lap.

"Would you like help?" She asked brightly, stepping into the clearing with ears twisted forward. "I may not be as sturdy as the beautiful pine you're using, but I am known to be more flexible." She smiled, knowing he wouldn't see it. "And perhaps even better at taking instruction."