It was good to see that small smile, the slight pull of dark lips, on Mauja’s face. Even in the peace of the moment, Mesec’s heart wrenched at the memory of the last time he had seen the spotted unicorn - with the dead body of Aviya between them. They had both lost family that day and Mesec regretted now not taking the chance to linger and see if perhaps they could have found solace in each other. All he had thought about was escaping then, focusing on the task of bringing Najya to the Throat safely because it was easier to think of that than it had been to face everything that happened in the Labyrinth.

He couldn’t take any of it back now, as hard as he wished for the ability to reset and live that day over and maybe he could do things right and no one would have died, no one would have left.

To escape those memories, to return to the peace he had felt only moments ago, he had looked away and to the tree - to the gathering crowd. More had come, faces that Mesec recognized - drawing his attention from the beauty of the tree ahead and towards the crowd. Gaucho was there with a pair of young foals, a small smile on the demigod’s face at the sight. He wondered idly who the mother was as his eyes drifted around the crowd and picked out familiar faces from his past. A mixing of the herds, of the herds he had once been a part of - the Basin, the Foothills, the Throat. For the most part, everyone seemed to be gathering peacefully. Was it the magic of the turtle and the great tree? Or had everyone simply felt bonded by the recent fights with the gods. Herds banding together to defend their gods against those that had tried to invade.

When Mauja spoke, Mesec’s attention was drawn back to the area around him - eyes flicking just for a moment to the departing figure that was introduced after-the-fact as Mauja’s daughter. Mesec stood a few lengths away from the pair of unicorns, with the dark blue stallion he did not recognize between him and Mauja and likely the one that had been spoken to.

And then the tone changed, from introduction to uncertainty. Quiet as the words had been, Mesec was close enough to catch them. Something was wrong.

The question about just what was wrong died on Mesec’s lips - his mouth opened for it to come out but he closed it again as Mauja moved off. Silver eyes shifted for a moment to the one that had been standing with Mauja, wondering if perhaps he knew what was going on, but Mesec didn’t linger any longer to ask. Quickly, he moved to follow - keeping back about a length but alert and looking around to see exactly what Mauja was looking at, what had set him on edge. Nothing stood out to him but he trusted the older stallion’s senses, immediately feeling on-edge at the idea of something interrupting this peaceful moment with the crowd gathered.