But his first triumph would be robbed from him, by coincidence, by.. Valentine. He felt very rude, suddenly snapping his head around before she'd even said her name, but the movement at the edge of his vision had seemed familiar... And it was. It was Valentine, Valentine the Traitor, someone who had regarded Mauja with almost worshipful eyes when he came through the Threshold over a year ago – Valentine, whom he'd barely known but heard of since his return. Hadn't he been Snö's prisoner? Why was he out here again? Were they daft, up in his valley? Rage pricked at the back of his mind, dark, terrifying black-cold rage, a sudden desire to summon the ice and send it crashing through Valentine's chest before he'd even made it two more steps – Mauja bit back a growl, blinked several times, and sighed, ears swiveling back towards Argos. It had all been over in a matter of seconds, even less, and he gave the dark mare an apologetic smile.

"I'm Mauja," he said wearily, knowing that to drop the name Dreven would be suicide now. No, there would be not catch for Dreven today, and the Ice Lord stood in silence while The Traitor came closer, bringing his little girl with him. Gears turned and finally it clicked – he'd seen her, when the Sun healed his shoulder.. just after that had happened. He shifted his weight in silence, listening to Valentine introduce himself, but the young girl was silent; Argos, however, tried to pry a greeting out of her, and Mauja stood to the side, breathing evenly and locking the last of the darkness down. And ah, Valentine was so to the point. Did he truly think Mauja would snatch this mare from before his nose and run off with her? Had he lost all his brains, and thought Mauja was running a rag-tag mix party up in the herd he had been away from for so long?

Please. Psyche would have his balls.

"We do," he replied, honestly, at Argos' question, wondering what had her so on edge. Mauja, for all his height and sharp edges, seemed a rather placid animal, and he'd certainly not done anything to scare her.. or had he? He didn't know. He didn't think so, but maybe she wasn't accustomed to seeing unicorns? Maybe she came from a place where they used to stab you? "But we haven't met in a long time." And he offered the traitor somewhat of a nod, hoping he had enough sense to play along. Did he have a death wish anyway, daring to walk up to the Bane of the organization he had abandoned? "And, miss, if it is a home you seek, I do believe you should follow him. The Dragon's Throat is a warm place to the south, and you will find many feathered kin there."

In my valley, you would only find death.