I did what I thought I had to. The response stops Volterra in his tracks; he's fully immobile for a moment as he digests the words, and applies the brakes to his long stride with so much force it sends Vérzés faceplanting into his neck with a yelp. I did what I thought I had to. What on earth does that mean? Did she think she had to abort their child because it would never have a dedicated father (he still tries not to think about whether she'd actually caused the fight that miscarried their foal, he doesn't want to know, as cowardly as that is)? Did she think she had to beat seven bells out of him in order to punish him for his esteemed sins?

Or is it something deeper, something the mentally-challenged stallion cannot possibly understand? He schools his face into neutrality, but all these questions are bouncing around his skull like the aforementioned nest of lemmings.

And now it is over. It is done with and we can all move on. Fuck, that's cold. Even for her, that's some emotionless shit right there, and the leviathan remains stood stock still as he computes the information. "Oh," is all he can say. Is that it? Is that the closure he'd been hoping for? He hadn't thought it would happen like that. Just those few words, so abrupt, such a statement, as though she's referring to a mundane act of herd politics rather than the life of a child and the death of a relationship. He doesn't know what to think. Arguably it's a good thing that she's so willing to move on with seemingly no ill-will held towards him, but he's also slightly wounded at the notion that he'd carried around his grief, misery and self-loathing for months since the fight whereas she'd seemingly brushed it under the carpet with the minimum of fuss.

No, he decides. They can't simply leave it at that. There's far too much to talk about, far too much that needs sorting. He can't accept this hollow, fragile peace between them, when it's clearly so easy to shatter. It'd be so damn easy to take the simple option and just accept the fragile olive branch she seems to be offering, but it doesn't feel right to just hide what happened until it will one day rear its ugly head again. They have to resolve this once and for all, and the behemoth quickly picks up his pace again to fall into step beside the Mountain. "But what does that mean for us? Kis hollo, I think we need to talk more about this. What happened, what you did, what I did...."

He pauses for a moment, debating how far to go, how much information to give out. "After the fight, kis hollo, I spoke with your father. He helped clear some things up for me, explained what I'd done to upset you so much. You know me, I wouldn't know an answer even if it hit me between the eyes." He forces a laugh, but it's humourless even to his ears. "And I understand now. He also...told me what happened. About...about the child." He pauses, scanning her face for a reaction; a frisson of grief, a spasm of hatred. He doesn't elaborate further, deciding to allow her to say what she needs to say before he accidentally puts his hoof in it.

They've arrived at the trees, and it's a blessed relief from drama central for the Indomitable to be able to scrutinise the situation with his expert eye. Some fallen trees block out the sun, creating a little microclimate in the area beneath, and Volterra nods his answer to the mare's words. Talking about fucking trees definitely has a sense of prolonging the inevitable, but a bit of manual labour may help focus them both. "I could use my magic to disrupt the bases of the fallen trees, which should make it easier for us to move them out of the way." This, working as a team, reminds him of their prior meetings - saving forest animals, making hot-tubs. It brings a wry smile to his face, and more than ever he hopes that things can be resolved between them. She's such a massive part of both his childhood and his adult life, and being with her now again has only helped remind him how much he's missed her.

Meanwhile, inside his head Vérzés is throwing his full mental weight at the walls Volterra has erected to keep him out. He's silent and still upon his bonded's back, eyes closed and muscles twitching with concentration as he launches mental barrages at the blockage, hunting desperately for a crack that he can force himself through to deliver his news. He does not want to tell Volterra what has happened, for fear the stallion may lose his mind completely, but it's not information that he can rightly keep to himself. So he attacks the Indomitable's wall like a dragon possessed, searching for any way through.