They stayed in the depths of the forest for days after the battle to recover and process what had happened. With Shadow's renewed vigor and after seeing the bleeding, pus-filled boils on her daughter dry and fade she deemed the child well enough and finally handed out the scolding Erthë had been dreading. Overall it was very eloquent and convincing with well chosen words that had sufficient impact, and the rhetorics of it were quite impeccable. The mare had been working on it for several days after all.

It did impress the child quite a bit, but no eloquence in the world would ever make her appreciate being yelled at. So after listening for a long while at accusations and threats and repercussions along the lines of 'never seen such an irresponsible child in my life' and 'never take my eyes off you again' and 'never do that again' with the underlining message being immense disappointment, the child ran off after a very shrill, teary and forceful 'I hate you'. Mother didn't follow her, and for that the girl was grateful, because Mother did not much approve of tears. And right now she really wanted to cry.

Everything was just unfair! Was it really her fault that gods appeared wherever she went? Could she really be expected to stick to her mother every waking moment of every day, when there were so many interesting things to see and do in the world? Shadow had some nerve to come and say that she was to blame for getting in trouble, when it was the trouble that always, ALWAYS got in her way.

She ran and ran as the anger and sadness and pain rampaged within her small body, until the legs could carry her no longer and she collapsed by the roots of a gnarled old tree. They encircled and dipped into a spring with clear water, lined with rocks almost as red and eerie as the ones up by the blood falls. Snow-colored cheeks felt hot as she pressed them against the cool damp of moss, streaked with inky black filth that had begun to leak from the eyes, the ears, the nose... There was a smell like tar and tears and anger in her mouth, but the red waters in the pool didn't tempt her.

She simply lay there on the ground, feeling as though her heart might actually break from the weight of everything she carried, and though the sun was bright and warm and the sky stretched out high and blue beyond the canopy, the light seemed blurred and hazy to her. Dimmed and faded, unwelcome as the sweet perfume of flowers crushed beneath her careless feet.

It was all just stuffy, hot and clammy anyway, so she didn't care about any of it.