Of all of the reactions that Apollo hoped his words wouldn't receive, this dainty mare did just that. He watched with growing trepidation as she snapped her head upwards, her sides heaving, looking around frantically in an attempt to spot him before seeming to realize that he was behind her. It's almost as if she's assessing him, judging him, or placing him with something, and Apollo is remaining stationary, head low, eyes staring into her own.

The little Red that he had spotted mere moments before then whirled, wings flapping, and even though he hadn't spent much time around dragons, Apollo knew that the creature's hiss was a warning sign. Mess up, it seemed to say, And I'll hurt you. At least that was how Apollo read it.

It was the jumbled mess of words that escaped the dun lady's pink-hued lips that caused the stallion to jerk back a step as though her words had cut him, his ears tipping low and his honey-brown eyes shining with agony. Still... After all these years, he couldn't escape from that time? After everything he had done, the change he had brought? The monochromatic overo resisted the urge to scoff bitterly, and re-directed his gaze towards the fearful mare.

"I mean you no harm, Ma'am," he answers at last, swallowing thickly. His eyes still shone bright with pain, but if Apollo was one thing, it was honest. He was never, and would never, be a liar. "You mean the Grey? Once, yes... I was a part of that band of mercenaries, and yes, we did invade the Foothills." Then was this one of the unfortunate souls that they had driven from home? Apollo understood that feeling, now, for he too stripped of everything and was without a home. A sigh of melancholy left his lips. "I was also the one who disbanned the Grey. I am no fighter, Miss, it hurts my soul to draw blood..." He was a healer now, a medic. Hell, even before the invasion of the Foothills, he had been a Medic, but now... No more. No more bloodshed. No more lives lost.

He was no killer.

"You said you were collecting herbs?" He asked at last, his ears twitching forward and a hopeful look crossing his previously pained expression. While he never supposed that this mare would forgive him for his past transgressions, Apollo would try to at least do right by her. "I... I saw some Bilberry back the way I had come, but I've yet to see any Blessed Thistle or Cohosh. I'm sorry. I don't know if you're searching for it, but I did see some Anise hyssop as well..." If his memory served him correctly, anyway. It had a lovely flavor and a lovely, sweet scent, and could be used to treat mental instability like depression. Inwardly, the stallion chuckled. Perhaps right now some would serve him well.

The stallion remained standing where he was, but shuffled his hooves nervously in the grass beneath them. This mare seemed to still be terrified of him, and he didn't want to do anything more to upset her, or her Red Dragon companion. "I... I'm terribly sorry, Miss. If you would like for me to go, I can part ways from your company. I understand my presence is unnerving for you."