Thankfully, they had returned to the tea table before Epona or La Muerte could have gone to look for them for taking too long. Unfortunately, La Muerte and the baby had already finished off with all the snacks, so Epona asked Zipacna to accompany her to the castle for more, he agreed only on the condition he wouldn't have to get on a horse, and she had no other choice but to agree. Xibalba knew they were using the lack of snacks as an excuse to leave both he and his wife alone once again, and he was grateful for it. Unfortunately, soon he realized that Medianoche and Blanca, as well as Nezmal, were gone. He could guess they had gone with the herd of wild horses, leaving the two gods no other choice but to go look for them.

Xibalba refused to let La Muerte walk too much, so he opted to pick her up bridal style as tightly as he could and fly around Epona's realm at an altitude high enough to see the perimeter, but low enough to land quickly if there was an emergency. Now that La Muerte could see Epona's realm from this perspective, she realized it had lots of prairies and a few patches of forests except for the one near her palace, and a few lakes located there and there, but the largest one was the nearest at the moment, and the most likely place for the herd to have gone.

"Are those horses bred by Epona or wild horses?"" she couldn't help but ask, having to raise her voice due the sound of the wind at this height and Xibalba's wings flapping muffling the sound of her voice.

"It's the same thing, her jurisdiction expands to all types in the Equid family, and that includes mules, donkeys, etcetera!" Xibalba explained. "But most of them roam freely around, the only ones in her stables are either expecting mares, or injured and ill horses. I guess you have heard of horse whispering, haven't you?!"

"Sort of!"

"Well, Epona is a strong believer of it! Why do you think she has never put a bridle on the horses she mounts?!" Xibalba caught sight of a familiar speck of black among other color specks in the shore of the lake. "There he is!" He tightened his hold on La Muerte and started to descend, gliding down to a clearing nearby, careful not to project his shadow near the horses unless he wanted to scare them away. He landed carefully on the grass, and placed La Muerte on her feet like she were a fragile piece of glass, much to her annoyance.

"I'm not that fragile, you know!" she growled gently.

"You're not, but the baby kind of is, in case you forgot." Xibalba retorted.

"I know, but you don't need to overreact."

"You would have rather walked all the way here?" he didn't want to upset her again. "Come on, let's get our horses back before nightfall."

La Muerte didn't protest as Xibalba gently grabbed her hand and led her through the trees towards the edge of the lake, but she noticed he was a bit tense, especially when the lake came into view, he looked at the waters as if he knew something would come out of it. The herd of wild horses was drinking from the lake, Medianoche, Blanca and Nezmal among them, but La Muerte noticed there were not only horses there in that place. There were a few brown donkeys, some beautiful white unicorns with glistening coats and even winged horses bathing themselves in the lake like swans.

Xibalba took his fingers to his lips and let out a whistle. Medianoche lifted his ears and his head, walking over to his master with some difficulty due to the other horses. "What am I going to do with you, chico….?" The dark god sighed in dismay, patting his horse's neck.

La Muerte was about to whistle to Blanca when suddenly she noticed shadows moving from the depth of the lakes. The horses were momentarily startled, stepping away from the banks and the winged horses taking flight, but they weren't frightened enough to flee. Blanca and Nezmal took advantage of the momentary calm to head over to the two gods, but Xibalba realized what was going on and grabbed La Muerte's arm. "Well, my dear, we have our horses, let's go." Much to his frustration, she released her arm off his hold.

"Wait, what's moving in the water?"

"Probably some fish, let's go." He tried and failed to take his wife away, this time she took a few steps closer. "La Muerte, don't approach wild horses!"

"I'm not approaching them, I just want to see what are those things…"

"They're Kelpies!"

A few seconds later, four beautiful black horses with dripping manes and tails poked their heads out of the water and then stepped unto land, but surprisingly they continued to be soaked wet even after minutes passed. The horses regained their calm and started to disperse, except for a few mares who turned on the Kelpies and started swashing their tails at them in an almost flirty way. The Kelpies, apparently all stallions, were soon trotting after the mares in heat along the shore.

"La Muerte!"

The goddess sighed in irritation as she finally ceded and followed Xibalba away from the scene, Medianoche, Blanca and Nezmal going along on their own. When they were back on the clearing, Xibalba looked at his wife annoyed. "La Muerte, what were you thinking?!"

"I didn't do anything bad, I just wanted to see how Kelpies were like!" she retorted.

"Those are only glamours, their real appearances are not that pretty!"

"I didn't even disturb them, I don't see why you are so upset about this! Besides, I thought Epona said her Kelpies were not aggressive!"

"They're not aggressive with people they know, but you are a complete stranger to them! Heck, the first time I touched one of those I managed to save my hand because I only had to slide it out of my glove!"

La Muerte rolled her eyes in annoyance. "You're exaggerating again."

"I'm worried about you and the baby, okay?!" Xibalba didn't know why he was acting like this again himself; he guessed it was the pre-parental stress, he didn't know how La Muerte managed to stay so calm when he was worrying over little things that he thought might affect the baby. He managed to calm down as he spoke again. "I'm sorry, I just… Well, I'm still getting used to the idea of fatherhood, and I want everything to be perfect…"

La Muerte softened up a bit. He was just worried about her, she couldn't blame him for it. She smiled lightly and ran a hand down his cheek. "Did I ever mention you're cute when you're nervous?"

He blushed deeply at her touch, and smiled goofily at the warm sensation of her hand touching him, his wings limp and touching the ground. Medianoche rolled his eyes and nudged his shoulder to make him react. Xibalba regained his composure, but he was still blushing. "Once, I t-think… how about we go back? I think Epona and Zipacna must have returned by now…"

"Are you going to carry me again or are you going to let me walk this time?"

"If you'd like to walk I can't oppose, unless you want me to carry you…"

He led her towards the same way they had come from, followed by the three horses, and they walked unto a beautiful field of pink and yellow flowers. The smell of pollen was overwhelming, and La Muerte let out a sneeze. She felt the baby faintly squirming, like she had been startled by it. Still, it seemed to be a nice place to rest… There was a beautiful oak tree just ahead, going up the small hill, and it gave a refreshing shade beneath its thick, healthy branches. Wiping the sweat off her brow, La Muerte followed Xibalba up the hill, in turn followed by the horses, but when they were by the tree she started to pang from the heat and exhaustion, her feet aching. Xibalba looked back at her in concern. "Are you tired? We can stop for a while if you'd like…"

La Muerte took her giant hat off her head and placed it down temporally. "I guess it would do good…" She sat down on the flowers underneath the tree, and lay down on top of them like pillows while letting out a deep breath. Xibalba soon lay down next to her, while the horses walked a bit further away to either rest or roll on top of the flowers, on Nezmal's case.

The two gods just stayed underneath the shade of the tree, recovering their breaths and resting from the sun's shining rays, the breeze gently caressed Xibalba's feathers, giving him a ticklish but refreshing sensation.

"You know what this reminds me of?" La Muerte sighed in nostalgia.

"What?"

"I used to look for shapes in the clouds with mamá, and then my little sister when we were young. Sometimes I used to do it with a friend…"

"A friend? Who?"

"A boy. He was really sweet, even though I never learned his name…"

Xibalba couldn't help but feel a bit jealous when he heard there had apparently been another man in his wife's life, but she had been a child, he was probably someone she hadn't seen in a long time. He looked at the fluffy white clouds, and tried to find a shape. "I think that one has the shape of a… bird."

La Muerte glanced at the cloud he had pointed at, and found a different shape. "It has the shape of a chicken."

"Chicken? I thought it was a songbird." He took another look at it, and saw it had, indeed, the shape of a chicken. "Diablos…"

La Muerte giggled. "It's all a matter of imagination. Open your mind, don't stay with just the first thing that comes into your mind."

Sighing in dismay, Xibalba glanced up at the clouds again and tried to find another shape. Another passed on top of them, and he stared at it thoroughly, until he managed to find something. "That one looks like a horse…" On closer inspection… "It has the shape of Medianoche."

"I saw Blanca, but you got close."

He had to admit, it was fun. He had not done this in a long time, ever since he lost contact with Snow White… He and La Muerte continued to look up at the clouds, finding shapes in them, watching as sometimes birds flew by above them, and La Muerte would use them to her advantage. A while later, Xibalba had leaned in closer to his wife and pulled her closer with his wing, wrapping it around her to keep her warm as he whispered into her ear. "Look at that cloud…" he pointed at a small white cloud that was passing by just over them. "What shape do you see?"

La Muerte glanced at the cloud, and soon she started to make out a particular shape that made her heart flutter a bit. "It's… It's a baby…"

"It's our baby…" Xibalba smiled at her, placing his hand on her slightly bulging out abdomen. "She hasn't been born yet and she's already the light of my eyes… Just like you…"

She was a bit moved, he said the sweetest things when he wanted to… The refreshing shade and breeze, the warmth of her husband's embrace, and the smell of the flowers soon lulled La Muerte to sleep, snuggling against Xibalba's arms in delight. Xibalba smiled and kissed her forehead, his hand still on top of her abdomen in a protective way. It wouldn't hurt to sleep a bit, would it…? They both needed the rest, after all, La Muerte had walked quite a lot, and his wings were still a bit tired of having to fly over Epona's realm. With a yawn, Xibalba fell asleep, holding both his wife and unborn child closer…


She walked into the clearing she had found a few years ago, it was her favorite place not only because of the tranquility and the companionship of the animals that often went to graze, but because of the flowers that grew there. They had the peculiarity that they would change color sometimes, though the reason was still a mystery. Sometimes they were blue, others red, yellow, pink, and in rare occasions they would change into two colors at once. This time, the flowers were of a beautiful shade of purple with a bit of green blending in the tips. It was a rather bizarre combination for some people, but the flowers were so beautiful she didn't mind such combination.

La Muerte walked into the field of flowers hoping to find some of her animal friends, but they seemed to be avoiding the clearing today for some reason. She noticed some of them were staring warily at the empty, dry log in the middle of the clearing, as if they thought something was lurking there. Curious, La Muerte started to walk closer to the log, despite the protesting- or maybe warning- snorting, squeaks and chirps from the wildlife hidden around the clearing. She took a peek into the hole of the trunk…


There was a small, purple snake inside. It was unusual, though; she saw a head, but when she followed the body with her gaze but it ended in another head, instead of a tail. The snake looked dangerous, and yet when she poked her head it tried to hide underneath the dry leaves it was using as bedding.

"It's okay, little guy, I'm not going to hurt you…" La Muerte whispered as she reached out into the hole to gently pick the snake up, and much to her surprise it didn't try to bite her, it started to tremble when she carefully took it out of its trunk, attempting to slide off her grasp to no avail. "There, there, it'll be alright…"

After a few minutes passed, the little snake realized the girl meant no harm, and both heads looked at her shyly. La Muerte smiled at it.

"You are lonely, aren't you? Do you want to be my friend?" She stroked one of the snake's heads, and the other head started pushing the other aside to have some stroking, jealous. Soon the two heads were competing for her attention, snapping lightly at each other. La Muerte giggled again…

She started to shift awake to find herself in a protective cocoon. When she tried to release herself, she was pulled further in; it took her a while to remember she had fallen asleep in Xibalba's embrace, and another while to realize he had wrapped both wings around her, and he was holding her in an embrace, not to mention he was snoring. La Muerte giggled at the sight, making Xibalba smile in his sleep. She wondered if he had heard her, or if he was having a pleasant dream. With a bit of effort, La Muerte managed to get free of Xibalba's hold without waking him up, and his wings instinctively wrapped around himself, she wondered if it was an instinctive thing.

La Muerte was startled when she felt something touch her arm, and turned around to find Blanca nuzzling her arm, and then turned rightwards, exposing her back, as if telling her to get on. La Muerte glanced back at Xibalba's sleeping figure, reluctant to leave him alone, but Blanca snorted and shook her head, telling her to get on her back, as if she wanted to take her somewhere. Reluctantly, she picked up her sombrero and put it on again, not before kneeling down to plant a small kiss on Xibalba's cheek-again making him smile in his sleep-and went to climb unto Blanca's back. The white mare started to walk, then fastened into a small trot towards a direction. When La Muerte looked back, she saw Medianoche and Nezmal were not following them; they would apparently wake for Xibalba to wake up too.

Blanca took her through the forest gently, and she managed to keep her balance without the saddle and bridle, gently gripping on Blanca's mane as she trotted, recalling Xibalba's earlier lessons. Blanca trotted through open, golden-painted gates that led to a beautiful castle, it almost looked like the ones she had imagined in the fairytales her mother would read to her as a child. Blanca's hooves clopped against the marble stone path and trotted around the marble white fountain of the main courtyard before stopping before a flight of stairs. La Muerte got the message and climbed down with a bit of difficulty, trying her best not to make too much effort. Still, the baby had been quite tranquil for a while, squirming every now and then, no much more than that. She was probably napping.

As some stable hands led Blanca away to the stables, La Muerte climbed up the stairs and entered the castle. With one look around, La Muerte knew this was Epona's castle; there were hanging carpets, statues and paintings of horses wherever she looked, and most of the paintings looked like they had been hand-made. La Muerte walked down the hallowed hall of the castle, and found one of the doors that led to a small balcony open, she guessed it was a sign that she could go in.

The balcony was beautiful, and it overlooked over a cliff and green valley extending over miles. All around it was adorned with plants and beautiful flowers growing on wild vines that were neatly trimmed. Like she had expected, Epona was waiting there, sitting on a round white table, with another empty chair waiting for her to sit down. With the sun shining down and the cool breeze from over the mountains, it would be pleasant to sit outside and have a 'small' snack.

"La Muerte, I was waiting for you." Epona smiled, and motioned for the other chair. "Would you like to take a seat?"

La Muerte smiled as she walked closer and took the offered seat. "Thank you." There were small sandwiches and a wide variety of cakes and pastries on a silver tray that took up pretty much the available space on the table, except for a small space where cups of tea and the teapot were placed. Without further ado, the two goddesses tucked in, though La Muerte ate much more due to having to eat for two. The cakes were moist and full of flavor.

"Did you and Xibalba enjoy your nap?" Epona inquired taking a sip of her tea.

"Well, I think we both needed it, I feel much more refreshed now." La Muerte swallowed the mouthful of fudge cake in her mouth before replying, minding her manners.

"You guys seem to be on better terms."

"Sort of… I mean, I'm still a bit hurt for what he did, but…"

"How did he apologize, by the way? Knowing him, he probably did something incredibly crazy, apart from taking such a disguise and risk himself."

"He snuck into my room, and we talked…"

"Wow. That's bold."

"I don't know how he did it, but his words touched my heart… He sounded so sincere, so regretful, and when he talked to the baby I could feel such affection and love in his voice… If anyone had told me he could be that caring and loving back when I only married him to protect my father and kingdom I wouldn't have believed it."

"He's not the same man I met. You changed him, La Muerte, in a good way. I've never seen him so devoted to a woman before…"

La Muerte placed her cup down. "Epona, I'd like to ask you something. I want you to be completely honest with me."

"What is it?"

"When you met Xibalba, what did you think of him? I know you and him have history, I want you to tell me your opinion about him. Didn't you ever feel anything for him?"

Epona was caught completely off by the question. She let out a deep sigh, and for the first time in the conversation she spoke seriously. "He was as when you knew him for the first time, but I met a side of him that very few knew. While true that he was cruel, with no regard for others and could kill in cold-blood, he was respectful and, when he wanted to, a gentleman. I knew he was not truly evil, he had gone through so many things that he closed off to everyone in fear of getting hurt again. However, I could tell he had a compassionate side when he met Medianoche, I knew there was a heart underneath those layers of tar."

"As for our history, I don't have much to say about it. While we became emotionally attached, we never got to something serious. He didn't want to be tied; he valued his freedom over all, just like me. We did have some… sexual intercourse, but it I only saw him as a good friend, nothing more, and I could tell he felt the same anyway. It wasn't until he wrote to me asking me for a horse for his new wife that I was actually surprised, I never thought he'd ever get married. A few days later I met you and I wondered thought you were lucky, I didn't learn the exact circumstances of your marriage until much later, but I imagined he had managed to win your heart with his tender side."

"As time went on, I started to see major changes in him. He'd often talk about you, praising your kindness and your strength, and eventually he talked like he were describing an angel, that was when I realized it had finally happened, he had fallen in love. Then when he drove you away… I didn't recognize him. He was heart-broken, I only saw the shadow of what he once was, and no matter what I did he just didn't want to move on. He wanted you back. And well, you know what happened next, he learned you were going to bear him a child and became determined to make up for his mistake no matter what."

La Muerte had listened intently to Epona's history, and couldn't help but be moved by the seriousness in her voice. She was telling the truth.

"La Muerte, don't doubt him. He loves you like he never loved anyone in his entire life… Well, his mother was the exception, but that's natural. The point is he would go to hell and back for you, never doubt it…"

La Muerte was about to reply when suddenly two dark figures, one of tar and the other of feathers and ash, ran into the balcony. Xibalba was panting heavily, and wiped some sweat off his brow as he glared at La Muerte, but there was worry behind the mild anger. "La Muerte, for goodness sake! Don't scare me like that! I thought a Kelpie had carried you and the baby away! I nearly had a heart attack until Zipacna slapped some sense into me!"

"Literally." Zipacna chuckled at the last part.

La Muerte glanced at him apologetically. "I'm sorry, Xibalba, but Blanca just insisted…"

"It's okay, my dear… Just leave me a note or something the next time you wander away…" Xibalba panted, trying to regain his breath. He couldn't really stay mad at her right now."

Zipacna noticed the sun was setting. "Well, lovebirds, hate to ruin your marital therapy, but the sun is about to set."

La Muerte gasped in horror. They had lost the track of time! Her father would be upset! "X-Xibalba, we have to go!" She quickly left her seat and grabbed Xibalba's hand, dragging him back the way they had come, not before glancing at Zipacna and Epona once more. "Thanks for everything again, guys!"

"Hey, w-wait!" Xibalba protested as he was dragged away. "Let me grab at least an éclair!"

As the two gods left, Epona giggled and Zipacna giggled as they shared a small fist bump.