It was a hard and thoughtful conversation, but d'Artagnan was glad he had it. Even the terrible Nightshade needed a friend to confide in and if it wasn't Kou then it was always going to be Mauja. Words left maws and the sparkling midnight sky silently accepted them, he wondered what his life would have been like now if he had defeated that unicorn when he was just a teenager. Most likely, he'd of succeeded in becoming the head of their clan and Seiren would have remained the innocent girl instead of the snake she was now. Was it all his fault in the end? Did that one mistake all those years ago set him up for the calamities after? He would never know the answer to that and he had made sure that he had never been defeated in battle since. He wondered what that stallion was doing now, the one who broke his horn in two, probably lapping up life as Lord of his land. Fate had been cruel to the Nightshade and those who dared get in his way now paid the price for it. He smiled again as Mauja spoke until his snowy friend said something that had his head snap up in shock.

"She what?! So that's why she disappeared." The shade started mumbling incoherently then under his breath, shaking his head as mismatched eyes hardened in anger. How far had his shady sister fallen? He wondered if Seiren would've killed the child, it wouldn't of surprised him if she had and if d'Artagnan had been there to see it himself then it would surely have been dead. No child of Nicolas tainted herself in such ways. Did she not remember their fathers teachings?! "Little whore. I should've killed her years ago and now she's tarnishing our family's name. Even I have to admit though, she wouldn't be easy to kill, she's always been the most adept fighter of our clan." He spat bitterly. d'Artagnan had a sneaky suspicion that if he did go one on one with her then they'd probably both die. They knew each other too well for any other outcome.

It didn't take long, however, for the shade's mood to be lightened when Mauja spoke in mockery. Bursting out into a rough laugh "you said it not me my liege. Don't be infecting my madness with your stupidity though, think of the children" lips plastered in black amusement. d'Artagnan lingered by the plant and watched as Mauja explored his colourful abode, it wouldn't be long until both of them were completely out of it and the day would become a happy memory he could return to in dark days. He smiled crookedly at his friend's curious question and thought of Aramis bringing him back 'patients'. "It depends. Most of the time Aramis brings me back live animals to experiment on, but when he's not here I guess I just wing it. I'll probably kill myself by accident one day, but fate doesn't seem to want me dead yet." A thought suddenly occurred to him and he tilted his head towards the Frostheart, his gaze intense with caution. "By the way, if you see anything dead looking in the herdland ... Don't touch it." He laughed then and waited for the poison to take it's effect.

"I'll give you a nice burial." He joked along.

d'Artagnan the Nightshade struggled to remember that night. In fact, he could only remember parts of the herd meeting never mind much else. The feeling of being free of burdened thoughts still remained, knowing that at some point he and Mauja had spoken. The stars were bright that night and with them was the sound of intense maniac like laughter as the plant had taken a hold of him. The stresses of the real world were lifted from his mind as a serene sense of calm settled on him and for the first few minutes he truly felt bliss. No doubt he participated in whatever Mauja was doing and he soon came across the unbelievable revelation that he could actually walk through walls. His mind was blown. He spent about an hour believing he could waltz through the mountain and another thinking he was captured by Throat once again as he swung his glass blades wildly at what he thought was Kri, throwing himself around his cave calling out "come 'ere and say that to my face short arse" before finally falling sound asleep to wake up with some rather painful bruises and a few new scratches on his already battered horns. Eying the plant with an amused smile as he took a quick guess at what could've happened that night.

Alas! He had no regrets. They both needed some time to simply let go and be wild.