"You are not so all seeing as you might believe," Ashamin said with a bitter downturn of the lips. For she was wrong, not he. At least in one way, she was wrong. "Your waterfall reached more than the bear. The injured and brave, too, were awash in its force."

He listened, after that correction. For the ground had been wet with first blood but also her magic. To deny the impact she may have had was foolish and irresponsible. But then again, he hadn't expected someone as quick to betray and attack from the dark to be particularly brimming with integrity.

The judgement that flowed from her then was not unexpected. She seemed bitter and distasteful. She appeared callous and perhaps, well, simply thick in the head. Position in relation to a light source? By God, did the mare not understand the slightest hint of subtlety and metaphor? Yes, she had literally been in the shadow, but so had he. Everything was in shadow, even now. "I can see that we have different values. I was taught by a brave warrior that to fight is to fight with honour--to protect. At the battle of the Blood Falls I and many others perceived a threat. One shown to us by our God, the one who has protected this land for so long. Not a beast that drooled poison and bled fire from its veins. That spread sickness and brought chaos into piece."

Ashamin searched for her gaze in the shadow. He was not cowardly here, he had only confidence. Confidence that this mare was not, as far as he was quickly becoming concerned, worth her words. "I and many others fought to protect Helovia from that threat. And when I fought you I did not fight the formal challenger I had asked for, but the enemy that from all I could tell was a cosmic force--an ambush that I would never be able to touch. To find that the one who was too cowardly to protect the land that cradles her was the same as that force was not a surprise." His tail twisted at his back--his heart began to pound again as it had in their spar. Just hearing her pathetic excuses was enough to make him wish to fight again.

"You are wrong again, too. I used my title only so that you understand what a god can do for a mortal in this land, because clearly you do not," he then added. The irony was something he would perhaps never discover. The hatred still burned too hot to consider that a mare who had defended a false god from the rift might know something of Helovia's own lore--might even be born in to it. "I am 'disgruntled' because of your actions. I am still here because of the same God you did not trust. Perhaps you didn't hurt him, I'm not sure you even could, but you stood on the wrong side that day, and I will not sit here and hear you justify your mistake."

The answer to his question grew clearer as the shadows around them seemed to unfurl. The night was deeper but calmer; the haruspex's heart grew dim. "Yes, I have called you dishonourable. If you wish to prove me wrong, I will not stop you. If you were not dishonourable before, if you are not now... I will give you another chance." He looked away as he spoke but snapped back to her figure when the sentence turned down. Was it jealousy that he felt? Jealousy for her certainty? She may have been utterly wrong, but she believed at least that she was completely in the right. And though Ashamin was not swayed by her flimsy defense, he still had his own reasons to doubt the events of that day--reasons beyond and far better than this mare's apparent unfeeling. He dug a hoof into the ground as pain bore upon him again and thought of anything other than the fear that he was wrong.

"Stop philosophizing. We are all simple, mortal creatures here in the eyes of the Gods, whether you believe in their power or not. Just answer the question I asked of you, and perhaps you can prove yourself honorable yet."

Should she refuse, he already knew the fastest way home.

""