How does one explain the feeling of knowing one's treasured child is elsewhere, subjected to Moon knows what? How does one explain the guilt which infested one's gut at not having been there to stop it from happening? How does one explain the intense rage which smoldered in one's soul, the desire to simply let out a roar and watch the world flatten to its strength and combust in its wake?

To sum it up, Mauja was one angry parent. He'd not been neglectful in caring for his daughter, but he had had no desire to hawk over her shoulder anyway. Ironic, how the words of Smoke haunted him - as she told him of Nyra and how she'd kidnapped a child, trying to hold it ransom for an invasion, presuming he had no clue of what she spoke. And now, the tables were turned. Someone else had kidnapped his daughter, but... Something about it just felt terribly off. Some green-roaned pegasus shitheel had once staged an ambush on the King himself, and later some landrat bitch had tried it, too. Unsuccessful they had been, and he'd been able to fend them off. He'd been counting the offenses in his head. One more and Kri will hear from me he'd told himself. How bitterly that when the third time came, they were successful - and, of all things precious, they'd taken his daughter. Of all the stupid moves they could make, they'd made this one. And of all the cowardly things, they'd taken a defenseless child, snatching her up and forcing her far from home. Mauja growled where he walked, frosty hooves smashing into the dry meadow with each step he took. Behind him, a retinue of angry Edgers came, and by his side, faithful as always, walked Monster.

But beneath the terrible heat of his rage, lay guilt - guilt, that he'd let it happen, that he'd not been there to protect her, and save her. Guilt, that he'd let some skyrat bitches steal his daughter... In so many ways, he had failed her, let her down. Another growl escaped him; walking was slow, but should it come to blows, he did not want him and his warrior blown from a mad run across half of Helovia. Mauja felt like melting, but from the sun's heat of the fire in his own soul, he had no clue.

Specks on the horizon. A wind stirring the dry grass.

Kri?
A flash of white beside the dark brown, a scent that made him want to weep tears of joy.
Snö.

He let out a thundering bellow, and broke into a ground-shaking canter. What on earth where they doing out here? Was Kri going to take his daughter up to some ledge somewhere and kick her off, a sacrifice to some heathen god? Or what? So caught up in his thoughts, he nearly forgot about Monster - mid-stride he remembered, and for some reason switched lead as he swung his head around. "No drip drop," he told his pet. It might very well come down to it, should Kri be an asshole, but he didn't want to risk Snö getting caught up in something violent. Despite the incident with Smoke, it didn't cross Mauja's mind to tell him not to court Kri either - after all, they had no word for it.

Mauja slid to a stop in front of them, his entire expression some fairly unreadable mixture of pure rage, confusion, and relief. Snö was unharmed, at least her skin was unbroken and she had no limp while walking. "Snö!" he cried out happily, before switching his gaze to Kri. She looked more pissed off than usual, but if it was just because he was here or because of something else, he couldn't tell. "Kri." That was a lot more cool in tone, but his emotions were sort of haywire still. "What is the meaning of this?" He wanted to hiss - some part of him had been ready to scream things about skyrats too - but just seeing Snö made him go sort of cracked in the head. If this was his Achilles heel, he'd just shouted it out to the whole damn world. Tail flicking, he tried to school his face into something more neutral, but figments of his emotions kept leaking out through the cracks in his armor.

( unless they change their minds, the Edgers with Mau are: Monster, Cineviam, Lena, d'Art and Descaro, so derpa doo, go post :D Let me know if you want anything from this post changed! ^^ )