Striking mights and maybes even more

A useless thing called life

It's a biting cold again

If he thought upon it, upon those weeks when Kou had looked at him with nothing but a sense of betrayal and disgust, he'd be relieved at the difference now - the small, slight smile, the indication that things were as they used to be. As they should be. But he did not enjoy remembering her cold, estranged attitude, and chose to not dwell upon it that often. Of course, to just forget it would be to render her point, those strained, painful weeks, void. And if he forgot about it, decided that it did not matter anymore, he'd just risk doing the same thing again. It had been unpleasant enough that the mere thought of upsetting her again might make him think twice, although when it came down to it, he was not a creature to decide his acts upon the consequences others would force upon him. He followed his heart, and tried to not get too many killed or injured in the process.

When she spoke his name, things felt right, like they always had been. After all, they had known each other a long time, and such things mattered to him. A stranger could easily lie to you, sell you to your enemies, but one you had known for long - well, somehow sticking around bred trust, even if he did not always understand the workings of it. Warm, soft muzzles extended breaths and touches, a mother's caress given to the filly. Her breathing concerned the exiled King, though for now her lungs seemed to have settled. Whether or not the cold air was good for her was a question to which he had no answer, something like a guilty conscience knocking him on the shoulder from time to time. Had it been right of him, to lead his shattered, bruised herd to this wasteland? He knew how to survive in the snow, bred to deal with its harsh winters - were they? Did they know how to seek shelter in a blizzard, to burrow in the snow without choking when it covered you, to browse for food on the cold tundra with lips that grew cold and numb?

Looking for me? Her words tugged at his attention, gaze lifting from the steady rise and fall of Aviya's dark sides and to her face. Even though his spirits sank slightly at the subject, he didn't let it show; just allowed his enigmatic eyes to sparkle from within, as they always did. Frost in sunshine. Speak not of such evils. "Don't worry," he told her gently, not sure who he was trying to soothe - her, or himself, that it was alright? That she had truly forgiven him, and wasn't just playing at it? "I did kind of deserve it." Kind of being the truth in his eyes: on one hand, he'd known what he was doing, and stupid as it was he'd felt confident about it. On the other, it had been an act of divine stupidity, not exactly one of his brightest moments despite surviving the ordeal. Mauja forced it from its perch in his mind. He had apologized, she had apologized - so let's just not speak of it again, hm?

"How is she handling the cold?" he asked, a motion of his dark muzzle in the direction of Kou's little filly. "I don't like the sound of her cough... I have no doubts about the adults surviving out here, but... I'd feel horrible if she suffered here."