"Okay, so." She began and his interest peaked as she continued on about a stallion named Deodat and the children they had. For a moment the children's names slurred into his thinking, what was so wrong with having a few foals? Poll tilted as eyes glinted with concern to her missing child, she was obviously worried but why wasn't she searching? What had he missed while he was gone?

"That's all well and good, but....this is the shameful part." Oh good there's more; he mused to himself eager for her to get to the point. As she explains her little adventure with another handsome stallion a deep exhale escaped flared nostrils. She was General of the edge, running around popping out children like a candy machine. And while he didn't mind the spread of their lineage (because it's a grand one) he didn't raise a whore for a daughter.

As she finished and turned her gaze away from him, he mirrored her actions gazing into the forest beside them. "I see." Words were gentle and laced with curiosity as he turned his gaze back to his daughter's face; she was obviously ashamed. But before he could assure her that a few foals wouldn't ruin her reputation as his daughter, or the Edge General, she spoke once more. "So I lied." She had lied to her leader about him, that she knew he was here somewhere on the edge of Helovia. Onyx lobes pull back against his skull and mingle with silken threads. He wasn't fond of where this was going.

She paused, but not long enough for him to utter a breath. She explained her little lie to this Tembovu and a groan escaped his lips. How is he just going to show up in the Edge now? He had to somehow follow along with this atrocious lie that his herd has been slaughtered, and his grandchildren were found by Nyx.

Mixed emotions Flooded him.
Crimson eyes alight with disappointment. 
She knew better. She was better than this.

Using his life, as a cover up for her story, for her mistake. In his anger, he had to refrain from spitting harsh words. Why not just tell them I'm back from the dead. Crimson eyes closed in frustration. Doing his best to appear calm on the outside, but a rage filled his heart. Chest heaved with a deep breath as he shook his head in disapproval. 

What if, I had died. 
What if, he had actually been slaughtered;
would it have been easier? 

Had she thought so little of him? When day and night he hated himself for leaving, and thought of his children every day. She didn't know it, but she is his favorite (should parents be allowed one) of all his children she was the most admirable. And now she was just as a filly standing before him, caught in a lie that should have never been told. If he was ever confronted on this massacre out of the love he had for his daughter, he would refrain from revealing her stupid mistake. But for now, he didn't know what to say; other than - "Perhaps... I shouldn't accompany you to the Edge." He breathed, his chest trembling as on the inside he was hurting. Limbs firmly planted into the earth under him but in his mind, he wanted to leave to run away from here.

Just returning home and just getting her back. It should be all laughter and thinking on times from long ago. Instead, there was this. What kind of trouble would they be in if this so called King found out? She never fully came out and said it, but had she considered him dead? Lobes lopped to the side as he collected his thoughts and contemplated leaving.

Leaving Her.
Here.
This.

After all, there's no such thing as ghosts.