we built this city on broken glass

The sudden shake and shudder of that house in those moments that followed his initial words so momentarily caught Frost himself off-guard, that look of surprise crossing his features readily. The stallion so momentarily believing that shake to be a natural event, after all, they lingered close to several volcanoes and yet those thoughts that turned in Nadya's mind readily alerted the man to a new possibility. Frost so at last allowing that faint simper to touch his lips as his gaze turned to rest upon his girlfriend, one eye lifting just so and yet that thin veil of amusement was surely clear. Nadya's show of power, if nothing else, seeming to have captured the attention of most as Frost returned to those words he intended to deliver. The war horse offering some explanation of that plan to the room at large before calling forth one of the oldest boys amongst them. The child was, perhaps, still to young for what he desired and yet any older boys had long since been separated out from this herd and sent to join those military lines. Most boys existing with their mothers until fourteen or fifteen at most. Hemlock the best choice available to them. After all, most of those other mares had children and in those pivotal moments it would be their children they worried the most for- not the task at hand. A young boy, nearly a teenager, would be far more focused on what needed to be done even if he seemed daunted to have been pulled from the crowd.

Nadyas own words readily saw Frost turn towards her as she contemplated that very party she had been invited to tonight before offering that suggestion that, if another party was held tomorrow night there was every chance the vast majority of the Hunters within the camp would attend it- or at least find themselves distracted by it. Whether or not enough noise could be made to conceal the noise of several hundred moving horses remained to be seen and yet the idea was a sound one all the same. Nadya's forethought in this distinctly impressive as Frost readily nodded in turn. The snowy-haired man remaining distinctly quiet for several more moments as he contemplated just what they might do before he offered those words to Nadya in turn.

"It is a good plan, we will see what we can do tomorrow. There is supposed to be a storm tomorrow evening, that too might assist us in more ways than one. Tomorrow morning we'll see what we can do, you and I."

It could hardly hurt, after all, to add another layer of distraction to his own plan. A number of those mares so readily beginning to chat amongst themselves then, two more raising their hands with questions on just how those gates would be opened. Frost content to refuse those very answers. After all, the less they knew the less likely it might be that anyone else might overhear those thoughts. Frost himself hardly the only being capable of reading what existed within the mind alone. It was imperative, after all, that come the morning each and every one of those mares acted as if nothing was wrong and that day was to begin as normal. This group was no more than mares and foals, it was unlikely they would see many Hunters at all throughout the day and yet Frost was determined to exercise caution all the same.

"Nadya and I will see to most preparations tomorrow morning. After dinner tomorrow evening we simply require to have all the other women and children ready, that is where most of you will come into play. Is there anyone unwilling?"

Frost paused then. His violet gaze sweeping that room. The vast majority of the women within it he had known since his own childhood. None of them, it seemed, inclined to raise their hands and turn away and yet truly he had already come to wonder whether or not they objected and merely feared to disobey a stallion amongst them. Yet- there were several strong women within that group. If they disapproved they would surely have spoken. Frost content to answer several more question then before disbanding that group and seeing them return to their own homes leaving Nadya and himself alone with his Mother and Gaeska once more. Frost at last easing himself onto that bed beside Nadya, one hand lifting to pinch at the bridge of his nose before his fingers ran through his hair. His mind content to turn with a myriad of thoughts all at once. His Mother's hand so suddenly resting upon his own and drawing his attention upward as she insisted he had done well. That smile that found his features entirely genuine then- even if those concerns for just what might go wrong continued to turn within his mind. After all, to fall would not merely result in angry words. To fail might very well see the deaths of several horses. That escape attempt, even if successfully, unlikely to be without casualties in turn. How willing was he to gamble with lives not his own? Frost's lips parting to offer the finer details of that plan when a knock at that door saw Gaeska hurry towards it. That young, raven haired woman stepping inside then. That dark hair unique to but barely a few of the beings here. Her hand clutched around that off an older, blonde boy of at least seven or eight. His hair far more golden than white, his eyes quite a striking blue, like his mother's own, yet his danced far more closer to violet then hers ever would.

"Ebony?"
This one, it seemed, Frost remembered entirely. The young woman very near bursting into tears as she dropped her sons hand and all but dashed towards him. Frost moving hurriedly to stand as she all but threw her arms around him with such force he was nearly knocked down again. "I missed you so much, Frost." That very hug was....more then he had anticipated. The tension within his frame surely clear and yet too he was distinctly aware of Nadya beside him in turn. Frost carefully attempting to extricate himself from that hug as Ebony called toward her son. The boy coming almost warily as if undecided just how he felt about this entire situation. Ebony breaking readily into that Icelandic then, insisting to the boy that Frost was the one they had spoken about. Frosts own gaze content to rest on the child now.

"Your so much bigger then when I last saw you, Zero."

That, it seemed, prompted the boy to hold himself a bit taller. This mother and child, it seemed, far more familiar to Frost then the others and yet he remembered Ebony well. After all she was near his age, they had known each other....before they had been together. Ebony, for the first time, seeming to notice Nadya at all. "Who is she?" Tact had never truly been Ebony's strong suit. She had always been hot-headed.

"This is Nadya, my girlfriend."
"Your....girlfriend? When did this happen?"
"When? Ebony, I've been gone for years. Nadya and I have been together some time now."
"Do you have children with her?"

Just why exactly Ebony was content to speak as if Nadya was not standing beside him he hardly knew. Had Ebony truly believed he had come back to this place to....live? Had she truly thought he might have returned for her? He had seen her once in nearly ten years and yet the dark-haired young woman hardly seemed content. Her eyes shifting between Nadya and himself readily. Frost's own eyes narrowing near warily and yet those cool, easy lyrics left him all the same in that same unconcerned manner as always.

"We have two."

That he was hardly the father of Micah and Isabella surely did not matter here and now. Frost hardly choosing to share those specifics. Ebony appearing almost....shocked. As if such news was surprising.

"She isn't even a horse!"
"I am aware of that. Zero, could you go with Gaeska and Katrin a moment, I need to talk to your Mother."
"Don't tell him what to do."
"Ebony that is enough."

That firmness within his voice, this time, seemed to finally reach the woman. Those Icelandic words offered in turn to afford the boy permission to head out with the two older women to see those stars and constellations outside that they assured him they knew several stories about. Frost, this time, allowing his own words to be more forceful now that the child was gone.

"I am leaving again, Ebony. With Nadya. We are not returning here once we have left. You will have every chance to leave as well. I would like the chance to know my son, but if you cannot-"
"We are not leaving."
"What?"
"You heard me, we are not leaving. Zero has already been chosen for a Commander's horse when he is older. I won't waste that opportunity."
"Opportunity? Ebony, he will get himself killed! That is no opportunity it is a death sentence."
"I don't see how you have any say all the same. You or her. We are not coming tomorrow, Frost. I can see coming here tonight was an equal waste."
"For hells sake, Ebony your being a goddamn fool."
"You are the one they are going to shoot at tomorrow, Rikarour. Do you really think your going to get out again?"

Ebony, it seemed, was hardly inclined to wait for an answer as she marched right back through those doors she had come from. Frost content to mutter several words beneath his breath that were hardly complimentary. The stallion so rarely inclined to raise his voice as he had done only moments ago before he eased back onto that bed once more with that ready sigh.

"The sooner we leave here the better."

He offered simply. That snowy hair falling readily back into place over his eyes. That stress so evidently tugging at him despite that usually placid demeanor he so often held.

"I apologise for her, I have no idea what she thought."

She was a fool if nothing else. That much was surely clear. Surely it was bedtime wasn't it? Frost suddenly desiring nothing more than sleep.

FrosT