Mauja Frosthjärta

[ LET'S KEEP ENJOYIN'. ]

It didn't add up. Nothing about it added up—not for himself, nor for d'Artagnan. He couldn't draw any kind of conclusion about Nyx, because frankly, he didn't know her. But maybe this was just as strange, just as uncharacteristic, for her, as it were for them. Troubled, Mauja kept staring into the distance, down that path. Following now would likely to do him little good, yet he wanted to, because the red doctor was his friend. And weren't you supposed to take care of your friends? True, d'Artagnan wasn't really the heart-on-his-sleeve kind of guy, but he'd shown once before that every once in a blue moon, life got through his walls and to his heart, too. Just like it did for everyone else. But whenever something did... it wasn't just a hoof in his rock. And that, was what worried the former king.

The tension had largely gone out with d'Artagnan's departure, and unless Nyx was going to start mouthing off about his friend, he felt it was unlikely he'd get all prickly himself again. He was just too tired, too troubled, and when he was, he just turned blue. Still, her words drew a harsh snort from him. It felt like something good-natured in disguise, and was fairly accurate. But it didn't make sense anyway... Nyx was a unicorn! Her only fault had been her horror at the fact that Aramis was a heart-eater, but that kind of thing had never been enough to set d'Artagnan off in the past. It wasn't like they'd blabbered to her about the Plague and had to silence her (because frankly, if so, she'd be dead by now). And what was that about having left the Basin..? He wanted to sit down and yell what's going on?! to the skies.

Staring down the path like that, he'd almost forgotten about Nyx. He knew very well she was there, but he'd sort of expected her to not say anything. Cease to exist in the mind, pose no questions or speak no words to break his thoughtful silence. One ear flicked back, listening in.

"Did a grey mare once piss in his water or something?"

At that, Mauja snorted again, before turning back to her and shaking his head. He didn't know any other mare which looked like Nyx, nor had he seen d'Artagnan with one. Kou, with her dished head and cream locks, was the furthest thing from his mind in that moment. "No," he said quietly, frowning slightly. "Not that I know of." Because despite everything, they actually didn't live together. They didn't spend every waking moment by one another's side. He sighed. It was a useless mystery to ponder, because much as he liked d'Artagnan, trying to deny that he was mad was pointless. And who knew how the minds of madmen worked?

You're pretty mad, too. Thanks, Irma.

"I don't even know," he said after a moment's silence. "He is unhinged, but.. that horn should've kept you from it. And he's not enough of a doormat to get angry with you just because I didn't want to be interrupted. I have no idea what happened." His voice carried that slight tone of tightness, of unease, worry; because he knew that the Doctor was troubled, and not by something trivial, either. He just didn't know what, or if d'Artagnan would even let him help. Or when he'd see him again. Helovia was vast, and with him roaming the lands like a nomad.. it could be months before Mauja got lucky and found him again.

A million miles from home, I'm frozen to the bones, I am... a soldier on my own, I don't know the way.