When Rose next awoke, it was to Burnished Bronze stirring fitfully under her wing, whining fearfully in her sleep. The tired pegasus pulled her closer and kissed her cheek, before she began absently humming a lullaby. Burnished Bronze calmed down a bit, before rolling onto her side in her sleep and wrapping an arm around the pegasus. At her back, Uzoma briefly stirred as well, nuzzling into the back of her neck and muttering something in zebrican that sounded like it was supposed to be reassuring.

When she looked about, she could tell that a significant portion of the day had been allowed to pass, with the sun already having passed its apex. At some point during her sleep, a couple of thick woven blankets had been draped over her and her companions. Upwind from her and her two sleeping companions, the rest of the group had made a small campfire, tended by Xolani and Aberash. Abeni lay at the base of the tree talking with Zuberi, while Zephania seemed to be off elsewhere. As much as she didn’t want to, she instinctively knew that she needed to rise and do something before the day was out. If nothing else, they should move by twilight, so that there wasn’t a campfire to spot them by as they lounged so close to the zebra tribe.

Leaning over, she nuzzled the sleeping mare firmly, “Burnished Bronze, wake up.” Rose murmured into her ear, before giving her cheek another nuzzle.

Burnished Bronze slowly lifted her head, only to yawn loudly in the pegasus’ ear. “Eh? Wha- Where?” She slowly turned her head about, blinking bleary eyes.

“You’re safe. We rescued you from the tribe, remember?” Rose asked her slowly.

“From the-” As the other mare’s mind finally caught up to her waking body, her eyes widened a little and she wrapped both arms tightly around Rose, “Thank you!”

“Hey, hey, it’s alright now.” She cooed in a calming voice, “How are you feeling?”

“Tired.” Burnished Bronze sighed with a frown, before looking away to avoid Rose’s gaze, “Sore.”

Rose nuzzled her tenderly, “Is there anything I can do~?” She whispered sympathetically.

Burnished Bronze shook her head, before slowly turning back to face her, “You’ve already done so much and you don’t even know me...”

A small, skeptical smile came over Rose then. “We all risked our lives to rescue you, don’t look so surprised.” She offered the mare a bloop on the nose and a small, wary smile, “Besides, you’re not alone, not quite.” Burnished Bronze remained silent for a moment in thought. Wordlessly, she gave Rose another squeeze and delivered a soft kiss to her cheek. “I mean it, you’re not alone, Burnished Bronze.”

“How do I ever thank you?” Burnished Bronze asked with a look of almost immeasurable gratitude, “They were going to...they were-” She buried her face in Rose’s neck again, “I don’t understand.”

Rose wrapped her neck around the other mare’s and nuzzled her neck in the soothing manner that her mother had done to her a long time ago. “Neither do I.” She hummed and quickly decided to distract her, “You know how you can start? Telling me about yourself over br-” She chuckled self-consciously then, “It’s not really breakfast at this point, now is it?”

Burnished Bronze finally leaned back a bit and looked about, before shaking her head in an almost solemn manner. “No. No it is not.” She offered Rose a hesitant smile, “I guess we’ll just have to eat twice as much to make up for it.”

Rose snickered and nodded. “Let me just wake Uzoma up.”

“Uzoma?” Burnished Bronze lifted her head slowly to look over Rose at the sleeping stallion. When she saw him, her eyes went wide and she lowered her head back behind Rose’s, “That one scares me.” She whispered with an almost deadly serious tone.

Rose looked to her stallion confusedly and then back to Burnished Bronze, blinking, her face contorted in evident confusion. “Burnished Bronze, Uzoma was the stallion that helped free you.”

“I know.” Burnished Bronze nodded slowly, “You didn’t see what he did to those stallions, though.” As she spoke, she glanced suspiciously around the pegasus at the stallion, who was, at that moment sleeping like a foal with a soft smile.

“I doubt he did anything to them that I wouldn’t.” Rose’s mouth pulled back in a skeptical grin.

“I imagined a thousand different ways to kill those bastards while they had me.” Burnished Bronze replied with a shaky breath, before looking Rose dead in the eye, “None of them compare. He. Scares. Me.”

Rose sighed. “Burnished Bronze, he is a loving, caring stallion and I know that if you give him a chance, you’ll see that too.” She offered the mare a hopeful smile, “Would you let me show you what I mean?”

“I’m sure lions care about their prides, or timberwolves care about their packs.” Burnished Bronze hummed thoughtfully, “That doesn’t make them any less terrifying up close.”

“They killed your companions and kept you like-” Rose shook her head, taking a deep breath to calm herself, “What did he do?”

“I know what they did.” Burnished Bronze nodded with a small frown, “I know they killed Grassy and Tin Cup.” She sighed defeatedly and shook her head, “I don’t want to talk about it. I’d rather forget the whole damn thing.”

“Will you at least give him a chance? He did rescue you.”

“Yeah.” She nodded slowly, still eyeing him suspiciously, “I guess.”

Rose smiled happily and turned around to her stallion, prodding his cheek gently twice. “Uzoma, wake up.” She whispered into his ear. Uzoma stirred briefly, but didn’t wake. He yawned and smacked his lips and when he did, if Rose hadn’t known any better, she could’ve swore she caught a glimpse of a fang. The mare blinked in surprise, but when she did, there was nothing there and was thus convinced that her sleepy eyes were playing tricks with her. Leaning back into his ear, she breathed across it sensually, “There’s a kiss in it for you, if you wake up for me, sleepyhead~”

The stallion’s ears immediately flicked up and he slowly blinked his eyes open with another yawn, “Hhmm? What? Kiss?”

“Good morning, Love.” Rose tittered, giving him a peck on the lips, as promised.

“Mmmm, past morning.” He chuckled with a soft smile and pressed tiredly into the kiss.

“It is,” Rose nodded, “but good afternoon hardly sounds like a way to greet your stallion.” She chuckled and then turned around toward the other mare, “I imagine there was scarcely time to be introduced last night?”

Uzoma nodded and looked over at Burnished Bronze, “I never did give you my name.” He extended one of his hooves to her with a gentle smile, “I’m Uzoma. It is good to meet you under better terms than before.”

Burnished Bronze stared at his hoof for a moment as though he was offering a poisonous snake, before hesitantly reaching one of her own hooves to take it. “Burnished Bronze.”

Uzoma gave her hoof a gentle shake, before releasing it, “You have a pretty name, Burnished Bronze. Almost as pretty as our Rose.” He nuzzled the mare in question with a proud smile.

Rose laughed melodiously. “Uzoma, love, comparing mares’ beauty will never end well for you.” She turned to Burnished Bronze with a flattering smile, “Especially when they are attractive.”

Burnished Bronze nodded with a small smile, “Thank you.” She gave a barely noticeable blush at Rose’s declaration. “Both of you.”

“My apologies.” Uzoma bowed his head low, feigning a look of shame, “But when faced with mares of equal beauty, a stallion often feels it his duty to prefer his mate.”

“Then maybe you should curry her favor by helping Xolani get some food cooking.” Rose gave him another peck on the cheek this time, “I’d like to be moving before sundown.”

“I will make sure he makes something good.” Uzoma nodded determinedly, shrugging off their blankets to stand, only to sigh somewhat sadly as he looked over to where his fellow stallion sat working with Aberash. “Looks like he’s already working on some grass soup...” He shook his head and started trudging forward.

Rose giggled and turned back to Burnished Bronze. “Xolani,” - she pointed toward the stallion in question - “has something of a fixation with his grass soup. It’s actually better than it sounds, but I can see how it would get old.”

“He seems nice.” Burnished Bronze nodded slowly, looking after Uzoma for a moment. “He still scares me, but he’s nice. Xolani is ok from what I saw last night.” She forced a smile then, “And grass soup will be a nice change from nothing but bread.”

“I imagine that seeing someone kill another would be rather disconcerting, especially after the way you were treated.” Rose acknowledged sympathetically.

“Yeah.” Burnished Bronze swallowed with with a quiet voice, “I...” She stared down at her hooves, “I don’t know what to do, now.” She closed her eyes and lay her head against Rose’s neck with a sad grimace, “My friends are dead and I don’t have any family back in Aura.”

“But you do have friends in Aura.” Rose offered her reassuringly.

Burnished Bronze gave a wry smile, “I didn’t think I had that many.”

“Polar was the one who approached us, she seemed pretty worried about you.” Rose offered her with a sincere smile.

“Polar...” Burnished Bronze smiled softly at that, “She’s a good mare.”

Rose nodded at that and nuzzled her softly, “Think about what you want to do when we get back to Aura. We’re going to try and help the mares of that tribe and punish Abidemi for everything he’s done. You’re free to join us if you want to when we eventually leave to deal with him. Until then, I’m here for you and I’m sure that the others are too.” She lay her neck across Burnish Bronze’s in a consoling fashion.

“Thank you for the offer.” Burnished Bronze closed her eyes with a sigh, “You can call me Bronze, by the way. My name’s too long.” She paused for a moment, before adding, “Or Burny. My friends always teased me with that name, but I didn’t mind.”

“I think it’s a pretty name, but so is Bronze.” Rose smiled faintly, “You can call me Rose if you’d like, my stallions do.”

“Ok.” Bronze nodded softly, “You call me Bronze, I’ll call you Rose.” She opened her eyes with a soft, almost nervous smile, “Maybe we should get up...”

Giving the pegasus’ cheek a peck, Bronze started to stand, her legs wobbling slightly under her. Rose took to her hooves next to her fellow mare, her shoulder close by, should the mare desire some help walking, or even just her closeness. Bronze leaned into her gratefully and when she did, Rose finally got a clearer picture at the mare’s figure than she had last night. Not only did Bronze have a more clearly defined musculature, but she was clearly a few inches taller than the pegasus as well with somewhat broader, almost stallionish shoulders.

“I mean this in the most flattering way possible, but Bronze, you are a big mare! I mean, broad and heavily built…” She grinned at the irony, “I’ve known full-grown pegasus stallions smaller!”

For the first time since their meeting, Bronze actually giggled, “I’m a blacksmith. Like my Papa. It comes with the territory.” She lifted a foreleg to flex playfully and when she did, Rose caught a glimpse of her hoof, which seemed to shine like the metal she was named for through a set of trimmed fetlocks. “You like?” Bronze continued with a somewhat teasing grin.

Rose shook her head, “If I were large like that, I wouldn’t be able to fly.” She jabbed back playfully, “I think I’d like to see you hoof wrestle one of my stallions, Zuberi. He’s pretty big, for a zebra.”

“Maybe later...” Bronze’s grin faded slightly, “I used to do that with some of the zebras near home. They liked my size.” She gave a soft chuckle. “Had one or two even ask me to join their herd. Strong mares make strong foals, I guess.” While she seemed to intend for her comment to be a happy memory, the last traces of her smile faded at the last part and she fell silent.

Rose urged her forward. “Would you tell me a little about them? Your zebra friends back home?” She hoped that talking about them would remind her that not all zebras were...messed up, like the tribe they just rescued her from. She grinned then and giggled conspiratorially, “Ever thought about taking up a cute one on the offer?”

“Nah. I never had the time. I was always busy at my shop.” Bronze’s smile started to return, “Maybe when I had gotten older... Well,” She gave Rose a wry smirk, “...there was this one zebra in the Mwezi Wafuasi that I had something of a crush on.” Bronze shrugged a little sheepishly against the pegasus, “Her name was Bolanle.”

“Her?” Rose blinked in surprise at the revelation.

“Yeah, her.” Bronze gave Rose a skeptical look and bumped flanks with her, “There something wrong with having a crush on a mare?”

“No…” Rose shook her head, regaining her wits, “I guess I’ve just never met the right mare to send me head over horseshoes.” She shrugged.

Bronze snorted with a smile as they made it to the fire. “You’ve never met Bolanle. She was smart, she had the prettiest blue eyes.” The mare sighed sadly, “Her mane was almost pure black unlike the rest of her tribe and her stripes ran over all the right places.”

“Dare I ask, but...was?” Rose asked hesitantly, worried that she was walking into yet another tragedy for the mare.

“Still is as far as I know.” Bronze shrugged once more. “But about a month ago she fell head over hooves for a warrior from another tribe visiting the area and I haven’t seen her since, though I did occasionally get messages from her. She was one of my best friends.” Her smile grew a little more at the memory.

Even Rose had to smile at that. “Well, that’s good to hear.” She chirped.

“Don’t get me wrong, I liked plenty of the stallions, but most of them wanted foals at the time, so...” Bronze shrugged and sat down at the fire, “I guess I was drawn to the one zebra I liked that didn’t want foals from me.” She gave a wry chuckle.

“I think that most stallions want foals.” Rose shrugged, “Or at least want to make them.”

“All stallions want to know the pride of being a father.” Xolani chimed in with a soft smile.

He and the other stallions currently in camp had arranged themselves upwind from the two of them across the fire. Aberash currently sat between him and Burnished Bronze, while Abeni separated Zuberi and Rose. When Xolani spoke, Burnished Bronze was once more reminded of the three stallions’ presence. She smiled nervously and leaned into Rose again, trying to hide the uncomfortable shifting of her rear.

Rose leaned against the nervous mare, hoping to reassure her. “Burnished Bronze, these are two of my other stallions. Xolani,” - she gestured to the stallion that had spoken to them first and then to the hulking stallion - “and Zuberi.” She then gestured to the mare, “This is Burnished Bronze.”

Both of Rose’s stallions nodded respectfully and allowed her to be the first to speak, “Uh, hey there.” Bronze offered Xolani a tentative smile, “I remember you from last night. You helped Aberash. Thank you for that.” She switched her smile to the mare in question - whose improvised bandages had been replaced with fresh ones from Xolani’s bags - and bowed her head, “And thank you for taking care of me when...well-” Her smile started to fade once more and she turned to stare into the fire.

Rose took notice of the mare’s souring mood and nuzzled her, bumping her jaw gently, and shot a pleading look to Aberash, hoping that she would have something to say to cheer Bronze up.

Aberash, flattening her mane against her bandages, leaned in to nuzzle Bronze from the other side, “Smile for us, child. Those dark moments are behind you. You are among friends now.”

“Xolani and his comrades are here for you, Burnished Bronze.” Xolani spoke up with a reassuring smile.

“As long as we’re around, you will be safe.” Zuberi hummed with a proud nod, “None will touch you. All who try will be punished.”

As the three of them spoke, Bronze’s mood seemed to lighten a bit, though she remained quiet as she leaned against Rose.

“How about some hot food for your belly?” Rose suggested cheerfully, trying to distract her further.

“That sounds really good about now.” Bronze nodded and raised her head with an eager look at the small pot on the fire, “Someone said something about grass soup?”

“Yes, Xolani’s specialty.” The wild maned stallion nodded eagerly and pulled a bowl out from a bag sitting behind him.

Dipping it into the pot, he scooped out a generous portion before hoofing it across the fire to Burnished Bronze. She took it with a thankful smile and before he could warn her that it was still hot, she had raised it to her lips and was chugging it down as though it was the last meal she would ever have. Rose gently rubbed her back with a chuckle.

“Bronze, take your time, there’s plenty.” Rose instructed her gently, before looking up to Xolani, “Where did Zephania run off to?”

“Zephania declared that he would be creating a false trail for Abidemi’s warriors. For a small while at least, they will be headed northeast from here.” Xolani explained plainly.

“He should have woken me up so that I could do it. It would have been done by now.” Uzoma commented with a prideful humm.

“You seemed busy.” Abeni spoke up for the first time that Rose had heard that day, and when she was calm, her voice was much like her mother’s, but softer and sweeter. “He didn’t want to drag you away.” She cast a knowing look to Rose.

Rose blinked confusedly, “Northeast? I thought the desert was to the northeast? The...the, um, the Muudi Desert?”

“It is, but I doubt they will follow the trail that far.” Xolani shook his head slowly, “Even if they do not realize that they have been duped, I doubt they will wish to follow us into a desert.”

“After I eat, I’m going to go help him.” Rose declared.

“No need to.” The stallion in question called out, slipping into the clearing from the grass by the tree, “I’m all finished.” Zephania trotted slowly toward the fire, his mask hanging off the back of his head with his staff slung across his back, “It should buy us a day or two of headway.”

Rose’s eyes sparkled brightly upon seeing the last of her stallions back in camp. “Zephania, welcome back!” She chirped happily, but there was something about the look of her eyes that screamed; I was worried.

“Thank you, Rose. I am glad the rest of you remained well.” Zephania smiled softly and stepped in to give his mare a nuzzle, before looking to Burnished Bronze, who had finished her bowl, “And how are you holding up? I trust our little herd has been treating you well?”

Bronze wiped her mouth with a hoof, before nodding slowly, “Um, yeah, they’ve all been very good to me. Thank you, uh, Zephania.”

Bronze gave him the briefest of smiles, before her face suddenly seemed to burn and she once more fixed her gaze on the fire, though with the color of her coat, only Aberash and Rose were close enough to really tell. Rose decided not to say anything - at least not yet, there would be time for mare talk later - she instead looked to Zephania with an eager expression.

“We didn’t decide on it last night, but I’m thinking we should head toward Aura.” Rose suggested, “There are ponies and zebras nearby, and it would allow us some safety while we recover and plan our next move.”

“That would make the most sense.” Zephania nodded in agreement, “I’m certain they will want to deal with Abidemi swiftly.”

“The ponies of Aura will definitely be willing to lend a hoof, too.” Bronze commented with a small scowl, “Tin Cup and Grassy were well liked and respected. Tin was a merchant that started out in cooking ware, before teaming up with me and Grassy... Grassy was a talented farmer that had just enough money to back us up to start out.”

“I’m worried about the sentiment this might create between the two races.” Rose murmured deep in thought.

“I doubt this will cause friction.” Zephania shook his head firmly. “Not if they’re standing together.”

“The problem is zebras are fractured, Zephania. Ponies will be more wary because you’re not one people, like ponies are.” Rose shook her head softly.

“So you think they would turn upon those they already call friends?” Zephania asked pointedly.

“I think that though ponies once were three tribes, we’ve been united long enough that seeing the zebra as a collection of tribes will be more difficult for some.” Rose explained to him, “There may be those who wonder which are the exceptions and whom are the rule, in zebra society…”

“Then that is a problem we will have to deal with as it arises.” Zephania replied calmly and Rose nodded sagely in agreement; she hadn’t thought it needed to be solved right now, though she still felt it was worth mentioning. “Whatever happens, I am sure the ponies of Aura will be convinced to see reason. When other tribes learn of this, they will do everything they can to prove that they are different from the Kuchomwa.”