Their thoughts are shielded from each other, yet Tolio has a sense of understanding that has always attached itself to his attributes. Though he does not always see through to the truth of people, he has always been overly emphatic. Somewhere inside he knows that this is what Mauja needs. Perhaps not Tolio himself, but to know he is still wanted. Followed, adored, respected. Despite having desired this meeting more for his own sake, to gather his thoughts, it surprisingly helped him to know that maybe Mauja was benefitting from it as well. Once this was over, though Tolio hesitated lengthily to even leave his presence, it was hopeful that they would both leave in a better state. So he merely enjoyed this while he could, knowing this would be the last goodbye, the last bit of strength given to him before he left.

Leaving. Why was it so hard? When all that he had gone through since stepping hoof in Helovia was heartache, betrayal, and destruction of his own morals?

It came to him suddenly, as if he had been struck blind by a bolt of lightning. This was why it was so hard. Despite having been burned so many times, people like Mauja had kept him steady and grounded. Kept him hopeful. Faelene, Mauja, his children...so many people that had changed his life for the better despite the pain he'd had to go through to find them. They had made his life so special, kept him from doing something terrible like killing himself. It was a depressing prospect, to know he could have been that weak without them, but they had saved him. Soft sigh escaped his maw as they pulled away, feeling like a small blooming flower of hope and strength had been implanted in his chest. Mauja being the last person he saw before leaving Helovia had been the best, clearly.

Icy blues would be imprinted in his mind for as long as he was gone, along with the eyes of every other whom had loved him along the way.

Joking could only brighten their mood for so long, and the darkness swept into their eyes with exhaustion in its wake. Seriousness was not what Tolio had wanted, but quite possibly what he had needed. Soft smile tugged at pale lips as Mauja bared to him the exact complications being a leader entailed. It made him feel infinitely better to know that Mauja was both willing to share this with him, but also to be reminded that he was the King that Tolio remembered. "And that is what makes you a true leader, Mauja. That ability to hold the pain of others, alongside your own...it matters not what title you hold then, you are a leader regardless. That trait is not often found in people, and it is what I respect the most in you, Mauja." Honesty shone in brilliant silver eyes, smile pulled wistful and adoring across his face. Mauja, his King. The stallion he would kill, die, and fight for. Even in death, nobody would be able to untie the chains that kept his heart wrapped loyally to Mauja the FrostHeart's. Tolio would never bow his head to another, even if they were an immortal. Mauja was his only god.

Soft laugh, still far too similar to a giggle for any other stallion, bubbled from his lips at the playful tug to his carmine locks. "And it is a part of me to always wish to relieve you of such weariness, Mauja. It is the complex system of a King and his Follower. When I return, we can either be weary together, or strong together. There is no half-point for me, my King." Gaze had fallen in such tiredness of which he spoke of, but the gentle touch of his Bane had him lifting his crown once more in an act of strength only the Ice Heart could have drawn from him. Mercury irises locked onto glacier blue and held. Was this truly goodbye? Would this be the last he saw of his beloved Leader until Frostfall once more touched the lands of Helovia? Pain cracked in a heart that had frozen in such beautiful arrays in the Basin. Only Mauja's ice had ever managed to protect him, and Tolio could feel it washing over him like a cold blanket of understanding and well-wishes. This was not a sensation he wished to cast off. This was the cold he had loved so long ago, living side by side in the Steppe with his injured Commander. It would get him through the days to come, until he could return and aid his shoulder in Mauja's reign once more. All of this was written out in perfect guidelines for Mauja to follow in his orbs. Words that flowed in steady script only for him. Nothing was bared to his Bane. So when lips moved to verbalize the last thing that needed to be said, it was a whisper of complete acceptance for what was to come and what had transpired between them in such tender moments. "Yes, it does. It makes me feel worlds better, Mauja. I couldn't have asked for a better person to say goodbye to last, my King. This is all I could have needed to do this journey. Thank you." Last two words were said with such reverence, such utter sincerity, that Tolio knew his perfectly ice-glazed heart had been placed in Mauja's possession until the day he returned. Cared for, unharmed in that beautiful snowy substance that had been Mauja's signature for as long as Tolio had known him. There was no other he trusted to hold that third piece of his heart. Faelene and Phaedra held the other two, both encasing it in a protection he trusted them with. It was time to say goodbye. Perhaps...not forever. But in the end, Tolio knew he would return to find Mauja waiting for him, just as he had promised.