Mikhael gently ran the knife over the piece of wood in his hand, shaving off small parts bit by bit. He was not sure what it was going to be yet, maybe another tree, or a leaf. Wood carving was something he was not exactly amazing at, but he found the process relaxing and fun. And that was what counted, right?

He looked out the window of the shed, taking note of the low position of the sun. Eris and Nilas should be back in another hour or so. Spending the day checking to see if anything in the house needed fixing and then carving or making furniture was a nice way to relax, but it got lonely after a while.

Even years later he still hadn't been able to fully get used to the silence this far away from the village.

The large centaur's ear twitched, turning subconsciously towards something before he realised it. He looked up from his work, focusing on the distant sound that stood out against the constant background noise of the forest. It sounded like someone, or something, was moving towards the clearing. Eris was not usually so loud moving through the forest, and it sounded too large to be Nilas.

Standing, he grabbed his large axe from where it was sitting on a bench and moved over to the window to check. He did not think it would be one of the creatures of the forest, Eris told him that the larger ones preferred the deeper woods where their food was larger and more plentiful, but it did not hurt to be careful.

As he watched, Mikhael caught sight of a very familiar shape through the trees, speeding towards the clearing. His ears flickered in confusion. There was no way Nilas could keep up when Eris was running as fast as she was, so why-?

Eris flew into the clearing without slowing, single-mindedly focused on the house and giving Mikhael a glimpse of a small, bandaged figure spread across her back, just before she slammed the back door open and disappeared inside.

Mikhael's hearts skipped a beat and then felt like they had stopped. His axe dropped from loose fingers as he moved rapidly towards the door to the shed.

That had been Nilas.

Dark and terrifying thoughts of what could have happened filled his head as he galloped across the grass to the house. What was wrong? How bad had Nilas been hurt? What if it was too bad for Eris to treat? Even at a gallop it would take time to get to the village. Time his son might not have.

Why had he let him do this when he was so young? He should have just put his hoof down and told him and Eris no.

But he could not do that, to either of them. He could not be the one to tell Eris no, not after Nilas had shown so much interest in the things she loved. It would hurt her. Hurt both of them. Maybe he was weak and foolish for that.

Sounds of frantic movement reached him from the open door just before he went through it himself.

The worried centaur flinched at the sound of something crashing to the floor, and spotted Eris frantically shoving books, containers and other parts of her workshop out of the way or onto the floor. Her face was set in an angry, determined scowl as she flung open a box and pulled out a vial filled with a red liquid.

"Eris, what happened?" His voice was strained, forcing past the lump in his throat.

She barely even glanced at him as she moved out into the main room.

Following, Mikhael felt his hearts squeezed inside of him when he spotted the bandaged young centaur laying motionless on the blankets. The gentle rise and fall of his son's chest relieved some of the tightness, but it still hurt to see him like that.

He watched as his wife sat down beside the sleeping foal, and shook his shoulder. "Nilas. Nilas, wake up." When he did little more than stir slightly, she shook him harder. "Nilas! Wake up!"

Eris had begun to raise her voice, and he could hear the tell-tale signs of anger in it. He moved forward and placed his hand on her shoulder gently, which only brought her angry gaze towards him; her mouth open and ready to yell.

Nilas stirred and then hissed in pain, his eyes shooting open and then clenching shut again. The whimper that left his son made his hearts ache more, and drew Eris' attention away from him. She removed the stopper on the small glass bottle and held it to Nilas' lips. "Drink."

After a moment of hesitation the young foal did as he was told. The tension and pain on his face seemed to just flow away as the healing potion disappeared down his throat. With a peaceful sigh, Nilas slipped back into unconsciousness.

Eris began remove the bandages that were wrapped around their son's rear and partway up his back. He could see the bloody injuries already slowly closing up. The hair would have to grow back in on its own, so until then Nilas would have bald patches where the cuts had been.

Without another word, Eris stood and walked past him back into her workshop. Mikhael watched her as she went, the tension throughout her body clear as day to him. He had a feeling he knew what was coming next.

He found her leaning against one of the tables withher back to him. He gently closed the door behind him.

"Eris… what happened?"

The emotions building inside the centauress snapped and she slammed her fist down on the table, shaking it heavily. "THAT IDIOT! WHAT DID HE THINK HE WAS DOING!"

Mikhael took a step back, the sheer anger she was displaying shocking him. This was worse than usual. "Eris what-"

The raging centauress spun around to face him before he could blink, her face red and tainted by a frightening scowl. Sometimes he forgot just how quick and agile she could be. "I TOLD HIM TO BE CAREFUL! HE PROMISED TO NOT GO TOO FAR! I TRUSTED HIM TO NOT BE STUPID AND LOOK WHAT HAPPENED!"

Every sentence was punctuated by aggressive hand movements, and Mikahel didn't realise he had been backing up till he felt the door against his rear. "Dear, please. Just take a breath a-"

She was in his face in an instant. "DO NOT DARE TELL ME TO CALM DOWN, MIKHAEL! YOU DO NOT GET TO TELL ME TO CALM DOWN WHEN YOU SPEND THE DAY HIDING HERE WHILE I AM OUT THERE."

Mikhael frowned. He could feel himself getting angry; a rare event. He understood she was upset, and she had a temper but she was going too far. "Eris. Stop."

She got louder instead, the ranting and yelling becoming crueler and sharper; Aimed at both him and Nilas. Mikhael had always been quiet. He very rarely raised his voice, and almost never got truly angry. So even he was surprised at what came out when he next spoke. "Eris, I said STOP!"

The guttural, angry tone of his voice shut Eris up instantly. Her eyes widened in shock and then widened even further as her anger burned out and she realised what she had been doing. Mikhael watched with a sad, understanding look as hers lips started quivering and tears gathered in her eyes.

With a choked sob she buried her face in his chest, clinging to his shirt. Wrapping his arms around his sobbing wife, he held her against him as she cried and mumbled incoherently.

Slowly, her crying lessened and she became more coherent. He began to gently stroke her face, which was red and blotchy from the crying. "Eris, please. Tell me what happened."

The centauress took a shuddering breath and looked like she was about to start crying again. "Shh. It is ok. Take your time."

Finally, she calmed enough to speak. Her voice was thin and hoarse. "On the way back, I asked if... if he wanted to go hunting. Of course he agreed, he enjoys it almost as much as I do." She manages a crooked smile, but it does not reach her eyes. She looks back down. "I let him go off on his own. He seemed so excited. I believed he would be able to look after himself, and I was going to do my own hunting."

She tried to stifle more sobs, her tears coming back. "I-It was my fault. I s-should have waited until we were closer to home, further out of the forest. I should have not let him go alone. I-It… was my fault."

Tears flow as the centauress is pulled back into her grief once again. Gently, Mikhael managed to coax Eris into going outside and sitting on the grass. She explained to him what happened; How she heard Nilas crying out for her and finding him being attacked by a Cathpala. How he had been screaming and trying to get it off him. Mikhael felt sick and horrified just listening to it, he could not imagine how it had felt for Eris to see it.

These were the kinds of things he had been worried about, and they had come true. He was not stupid enough to believe that those things could be avoided entirely, even Eris had had similar encounters over the years. But at such a young age? He did not like that at all. Young children should be having fun with their friends, not stalking around the forest with the chance of… of being killed by something.

He was not able to tell them no, but he could not just let it happen again. Maybe he could convince Eris to wait till his was older, and stronger.

"Are… are we going to stop him from going in there, now? At least until he is older?"

"No!" He stared wide-eyed down at his wife and her urgent reaction, having grabbed his shoulders with a scared, desperate look on her face. He bit back the small spike of anger and irritation at her refusal. There son had been attacked and hurt! He could have been killed! "We can not try and stop him from going in!"

"And why not?"

Eris seemed to curl in on herself, a bitter smile on her face as she looked down. "Because… he is very much like me."

Mikhael sighed, hugging her close again. He knew what she was talking about. Eris had been notorious in her young age for not listening to anything anyone else had told her, so sure of her own thoughts and beliefs. Not even her parents could stop her from doing what she wanted, and even punishing her had barely slowed her down. She would sneak into the forest constantly, and actually started doing it more when people started telling her not to and that it was unsafe. "And you worry that he will do so anyway… And if something like this were to happen again..."

"...I would not be there to keep him safe. If that were to happen..." The defeat in her voice made his hearts ache. "We can not try and stop him Mikhael. We just can not."

They were silent for a minute, before Eris punched him gently in the chest. "Why could he not have been more like you. It is your fault by being so boring." Her voice is still shaky, but the humour in it lifted Mikhael's hearts.

He snorts at her, smiling and pressing a kiss to her forehead. "Of course it is, Dear."

"...What do we do now?"

His wife sighed and pressed herself against him more. "We just have to wait and see what happens next. This is not something you just walk away from untouched."

She gently traced her side as she spoke, following the path of something long faded away.