He stopped and Aly could feel her heart doing the same when he turned. She was surprised to see the tears and although she could not look away from them, she felt as though they were something private that she was not meant to see. She had never seen him like this. This was a part of Mauja laid bare before them, before her and Sacre, and for a brief moment she furiously believed they would be able to help.

But before she could go to him (because that was everything her body was telling her to do), this moment - whatever it was - came crashing all around them when Raeden showed up. Jealousy stabbed at her as she walked right up to Mauja as if it was nothing to whisper comforting words to him but a quite different emotion raged through her a moment later when the spy focused on Sacre. How easily she dealt out her opinions on matters!

Whatever Alysanne was immediately going to say in reaction to those rude comments - masked with diplomacy, perhaps, but they were still rude and misplaced - was choked in her throat when Mauja changed from sorrow and pain to anger and fire.

The desire to go to him, to comfort him, did not fade.

Not when the ground beneath them erupted in ice - shards of it sticking out in a beautiful but dangerous display radiating from Mauja. Alysanne danced away from it at first - she was farthest and it just reached her front hooves - but of course she couldn’t (wouldn’t) leave as he roared at Raeden, demanding her to leave.

Later she may wonder what the difference between Mauja’s rage and Tembovu’s was, how it inspired such different reactions in her. Was it because there had been something raw in his expression just before, that this seemed to be born out of self-defense?

Her heart ached for Sacre and for Mauja, for the accusations placed on one and the exposure of another. She quickly took a step, the ice crunching beneath her hooves as she did so, and then more to bring her to Sacre’s side - reaching out with a muzzle with the intention to touch his dark shoulder lightly. Don’t leave, it would say for her. This isn’t your fault. And another step to place her just ahead of him, a clearly protective stance.

She hadn’t been eavesdropping so she didn’t know what part of the conversation Raeden was focusing on, it had happened before she arrived, but even the snippets she was receiving now made it quite obvious that it was between the two stallions and no one else.

In the wake of Mauja’s anger, her smaller voice might have meant nothing but her green eyes focused on the Sleuth all the same. She needed to speak quickly before anything else happened, before this got out of control.

Or had it already? As she spoke it was like Mauja's outburst hadn't even happened. Like they were just having a conversation, like the ground wasn't covered with small barbs of ice giving the scene a deadly appearance.

It was easy for her, right now, to pretend to be calm in the face of someone else's anger because she believed that anger was justified. “Speaking of holding your tongue, Raeden,” Her voice was calm but laced with her own anger, giving it an edge. “Assumptions made as you eavesdrop are hardly grounds for insulting our newest member. Much as I appreciate you keeping watch, perhaps your skills as a spy would be better focused outside of this herd.” The hint for Raeden to follow Mauja’s "suggestion" to leave was, Alysanne hoped, strong. She felt fiercely protective of the two stallions, though she didn’t really have any right to, but also of Raeden and getting the young, brash mare out of the area was the quickest way to ensure her safety as well as everyone else’s.

She couldn’t forget the tears falling just moments ago, they swam against a pale face in the front of her mind, deepening her resolve to fix… anything and everything. As though this situation would be as easy to heal as burnt skin.

Alysanne