Four days later, she was back at the villa. The flight was the same there as it was back: long, boring, and very cold. The instant she was inside, she requested the bath be heated up. She was sore, and during her training, these baths were a lifesaver. Soon, her armor, weapons, tunic, and caligae sitting on a bench outside, she slid into the hot water, reclining back with a sigh.

She let her thoughts wander as she shut her eyes, letting the water soak into her fur and the gaps in said fur. She thought about what she did, and her thoughts on it. A quick reflection.

She didn't regret it, per se. They deserved it; they were a disease, and her intervention had prevented them from harming others. However, her old self would've been disgusted by what she did. Back in Equestria, she did have a bit of a rash streak, and that did mean she got into fights at school from time to time. But, even then, she never hurt anypony seriously; never killed anypony. But out here, not only did she kill, she felt a rush from it. A natural violent streak? Long dormant pegasi instincts, perhaps? Or maybe she had just gone fucking mad.

This led her to consider Dermot and the way she had killed him. He had been bled to death, bleeding out his eye and his crotch. He had been screaming, writhing and, at her last look at his face, crying. Like she had. Was she regretting it? Hell no, and she would buck anyone who said such through a wall. No, she was just aware of what she had done, and how similar it was.

She was drawn from her train of thought by a wisp of air flying over her head. It felt like a light breeze go over it, caressing the sweat and oil-soaked face. But, she was inside the bathhouse, which had its doors shut and had tiny windows. Plus, if she recalled correctly, it was a somewhat hot day, with not a cloud in the sky. So, what was causing the breeze?

"Get back here, Iuvenes Dominus! Please!" That was Castus. She opened up her prosthetic eye, wondering what was going on. When all she was greeted with was the wall, she rolled her head over on the headrest on the edge of the bath. Then, when she saw what was going on, her second eye opened and they both widened in shock.

Sure enough, Castus was in the room, chasing Depressi around the room. The reason why he was having such a hard time catching the ten-month-old colt was the same source of the breezy feeling on her face. Her son was flying, darting around the room like a gust of wind. Rainbow smiled, both at the funny sight of the normally serious Castus falling over himself trying to catch her son and the fact her son was flying.

"Castus!", she called out, which caused the caragor to grind to a halt. He turned to face her, head bowed and paw placed to his shoulder. "What in the name of the Caesar is going on?"

He lowered his salute and raised his head, which was graced with a sheepish smile. "Oh, uh, Domina. W-well, I was just tending to young Depressi while you were away on your, *ahem*, business. And, well, almost as soon as you left, he started causing some mischief. At first, this wasn't an issue, as he is a surprisingly receptive little colt. However, two days ago, he, er, learned how to use his wings. He's been a bit of a pain ever since."

Rainbow couldn't help it anymore. She leaned back, letting most of her body fall into the steaming water as she began to laugh. "Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Oh, that is priceless. Boy, he's his mother's son, ain't he?"

"Yes, Domina," he said, a little annoyed. "And now, as funny as that is, might I have some assistance in catching the Iuvenes Dominus? I fear you are the only one he will listen to."

"Yeah, yeah," she said, still laughing lightly. "Just give me a second to get out of-"

"Look out!," Castus then yelled. Rainbow looked over to the side, just in time to have her son smack right into her face. Both of them tumbled back, with Rainbow losing her balance on her back hooves as she fell into the bath, her son flapping as hard as he could to avoid the water.

Rainbow shook her head, overcoming her surprise as she fully registered the situation she was in. She began to try and push up to the surface, but the new claws didn't exactly make this an easy action to perform. The water was, at this point and depth, almost burning, making struggling even harder. Besides, even back before all that happened to her, she was never a strong swimmer. These factors all combined to lead her to slow her thrashing and start to part the gates of her mouth.

Suddenly, a splash resonated through the water, and she felt something grab onto her sides. Said force started to lift her up, soon bringing her to breach the surface. She sucked in a massive breath of air, and then light coughing and sputtering as she expelled any water she had swallowed from her lungs. As she did so, the person who had jumped in, who she had now realized was Castus, swam over to shore, laying her on the edge of the baths stairs.

"Are you alright, Domina?," he asked.

She replied back, "Ye-yeah. I'm-Wait, where's my eye!?" Sure enough, lifting one of the talons up to her face, she couldn't feel the obsidian orb that had replaced her left eye.

Castus looked back into the large bath, sighing as he apparently saw it. "I'll go get it, Domina."

She looked at him, snorting. "I thought cats hated water."

"Only those with fur because they can't shake it out well," he replied. "I, like the rest of my species, have no fur, and so it's not an issue. Now, I'll go get your eye, and perhaps you should have a talk with your son."

She looked over to the side as he dove in. Sure enough, Depressi was sitting on the edge of the hot water, head held low and a sad look on his face. "Young man," she said as she trotted over. She then stood over him, looking down at him. He looked about ready to cry. "Hey, hey. It was an accident. But you need to pay attention."

Her son looked up, the faint outline of tears on his little face. "I sowwy, mama." Rainbow recoiled in surprise, her one eye going wide. He spoke! His first words! And he called me mama! She leaned in close, wrapping her wings around him and hugged him. She looked over her wings as she felt a tap on her shoulder.

"Umm, Domina? Your eye. Here."

A point I feel I should make now. All the characters, including Depressi, in the main storyline are speaking Demosian, while all the characters in the Equestrain interludes are speaking Equish. I'll come up with a system for telling the two languages apart when I get to the part where the two sections meet. Just a heads up to avoid confusion.