With the herd meeting drawing to a close, Evangeline was ready to take her leave and disappear into the misty forest to chew on everything she had seen and everything she had heard. Seeing Ruske with a foal had shook her in a way that she had never experienced before. The foal had claimed that Aurelia was her mother and that she had abandoned her, but how did Ruske come about having her in his care? Had he secretly sired the foal? What did it even matter if he did? He was a free stallion and could do what he pleased. And if he did sire the foal at least he was doing his duty of taking care of her when she needed it most.

"Evangeline, could you spare a moment?"

"Yes." She said absently, her head turning in Ruske's direction. 'Focus!' Tallis snapped, causing the orange mare to blink and retreat from her train of thoughts. He claimed to have a story to tell her and that she might find it amusing. "Really?" She asked dryly. What could be funny about a mother abandoning her child? Evangeline was not the best mother, she had allowed her children to venture away from her side, but she had known where they were and that they were safe because Tallis had been with them. It was when they had become yearlings that she'd lost touch because they had wanted to be off on their own. They had been in such a rush to grow up they had missed out on their own childhood.

"There's two of them?" The orange mare asked, unable to hide the surprise in her voice when Ruske mentioned a brother. It made the mare concerned for him and his well-being. There was no telling how long he had been missing from his mother's side or if she had even cared that he was gone. She probably hadn't. "Hello, Faeanne." As Ruske continued to speak left his perch on the stallion's back and moved to his bonded so he could watch Ruske and Faeanne more easily.

“Though it may be surprising to hear, I am both out of practice with children and exceptionally poor in dealing with them, in the first place. So.”

Evangeline lifted her emerald gaze to her friend then laughed softly. "Not as surprising as you may think, dear." She was in no way trying to mock Ruske, but she'd always had a feeling that he wasn't good with children. If he was then he would be a babysitter instead of a nurse. Finally he got to the point of his story and asked for help raising the young child. What choice did she really have, though? The child needed a mother and her own mother was rotten to the core. No good woman would abandon their child. "She needs a mother." Eva voiced her thoughts. "I will help you raise her so long as Aurelia has no contact with her." There was no point in putting the child through more grief of her mother reappearing.

"."

and you know this is more than you can take