"That's incredibly stupid," he retorted to Solstice's clarification of the god's attack. Ricochet furrowed his 'brow in concentration, eventually shaking his head in exasperation. "I do not know these gods, do not much believe in such anyway, but only those with no will to live would openly attack a flaming immortal. Even I am not so brash." He grinned at the last bit, hoping the small joke would lighten the effect of him questioning the intelligence of this mare and the rest of the herd that had participated. In all respects it seem Smoke had made the wisest choice, but even so, it now put her at a disadvantage. Pregnant she could not fight without an impact on herself and the child - although if the damn god spawn perished, who would it hurt? Yet Ricochet knew she would not risk such, and her own health would be in too much a danger.

Such is why mares were naturally weak.

Solstice continued, speaking of Aarde, Cielo and Imiq, to which Ricochet snorted dismissively. Misguided children given too much power too early in Ricochet's eyes. If they had been trained properly they would not have met such an end, a fault of poor mothering no doubt.

Solstice's admission that she tolerated the other species for the sake of the livelihood of Helovia astonished Ricochet however. His features perked up, immediately intrigued and surprised. He had never even considered that she might still dislike all of them, but sacrificed it for the sake of something greater. "I have to admit," Ricochet began with a slow drawl to his tongue, suggesting deep consideration an thought. "I certainly don't want any repeat of those black devils." Could he be as honorable as Solstice and coexist for the sake of something greater than his own feelings?

"But I don't think war between the species is as much to blame for that as a negligent guardian and a body toll garnered over centuries of existence." Ricochet closed his eyes briefly, trying to phrase himself the best way to try and make this mare understand. "Isilme was old, so they say. She had seen good times and bad, and though she drank much blood, most did not die in the wars." He leveled her with a serious gaze, his lips terse with stubbornness. "The old, the weak - they perished, as they should. The strong lived on and built over the bones of the fallen. Life continually does this. Even plants will soon bloom over a felled trunk, finding nourishment from the dead and the broken." He sighed and shook his mane to resettle it as it had begun to fall into his eyes.

"It is in our nature Solstice. We are drawn to our own kind, we populate better with our own kind, and we will protect, defend and bleed for our kind. The Originals went to war because they had overgrown the room provided for them. Peace had given them too much - more foals meant more mouths to feed meant less food and less shelter and less water. They warred because they had to fight for the survival of their kind, for the good of their kind. Senseless war is just that, senseless, but war in and of itself is not to be blamed." Had anyone ever considered the negative impacts of peace? They would overrun the land like excess deer when all the wolves had died, and then the land would wither and eventually the deer would wipe themselves out. Ricochet didn't intended to be wiped out - he would exterminate all of the scum and leave the healthy, the beautiful, the worthy left to populate this land. They would know their limits and they would cultivate and grow from the pools of blood that would father. He would be the flowers sprouting on a rotting tree.

Kimber had spoken up at some point and Ricochet turned to eye her steadily now, cautious to place her mother in too poor of a light but not fully in agreement with the grulla mare. "Learning is important, and the god's foal will need instruction if it is truly to avoid the same blunder of Aarde, Cielo and Imiq - whom were left to their own devices. Yet pride and hatred can provide some of the strongest motivations. Same as love and honor, yet none ever seem to warn little foals of these traits which are just as deadly and liable to sin."