"Hey Snow, how far in the forest do you usually go?" Red asked with a pep in her step. 

She still had some excitement and nerves pent up from the thought of returning to her mother and her home village. Red also didn't want her thoughts to be overrun by the snarls and roars she heard that day either. The hooded girl linked arms with Snow in order to anchor herself, though she also kind of wanted to be closer to her. Snow really had a calming presence, beyond any fuzzy feelings the girl in red had for her.

Snow glanced down at the map and continued following the path, before replying, "I don't go too far without one of my housemates. It's really dangerous for me to be too far out, so this is the one time I'm leaving the forest."

Dangerous? There must be a story there. Maybe one day Snow will tell her when she's comfortable. "I'll protect you if you need! But usually our village is more on the dangerously repetitive side." Red believed that the last time anyone in her village saw someone from outside was years ago, when people would still move there. Hopefully, her hometown won't overwhelm Snow.

The two girls continued to trek through the forest, eventually reaching the open field that Red would run through. The breeze was just as calming as it had been before that day. Red wondered if Snow ever ran for the sake of it; she was painfully aware of how most didn't share her affection for high speeds and wind through her hair.

Walking calmly through this part let Red take some more time to think. As she knew the way home from the fields, she passed Snow the map to put in her bag, the one Snow literally lit up showing her. ("I dyed and embroidered it myself," she explained one afternoon, when she let Red borrow it to carry some of the dwarves' spare clothes to the mines. It was nice seeing her so excited.)

The fields have not changed since that day. Red would not be wrong to believe her village would do the same; she wasn't wrong about calling it dangerously repetitive. Red, however, would never be the same girl that she was when she last passed through the plains. That girl never felt danger, never really felt loss, and never met someone who could nurse her back to a walking state, even without knowing who she is.

Past her would never have to relay bad news to her mother. 

Red still needed to steel herself, for how to tell her mother anything that happened in the time she was gone. That Grandma was attacked (could Red ever believe her to be gone?), and that Red would not have returned if not for Snow's kindness.

The girl in question held out her hand to Red, with a worried look on her face. "Ruby, what are you thinking about?"

"Hm?" Red looked down, and just realized that she stopped walking. "Just..." Red should have foreseen this, she was always terrible at keeping a straight face. "Psyching myself up for talking to Mom. I don't want her to hate me or feel so sad." Red takes a breath, a little shaky, "I must be a bad host for you, I couldn't even take you to my home without being so gloomy..."

"I shall not expect you to focus on my comfort when you are about to do something difficult, Ruby." Snow turned towards her, speaking with a stern tone that Red never really heard Snow use much. Snow's hand is still there, an option for Red to take if things are getting difficult. With her own, lightly trembling hand, Red takes that comfort. Snow's voice softens to almost a whisper. "I want to help you Ruby, I'm here so that you can feel safe. I don't know much about mothers, but I do know that family wants you to be alive and safe, first and foremost. If she's the same woman you told me about, she would love you no matter what."

Red nodded to that, and with some sincere thanks, continue to lead Snow by the hand to Amberton village. She really needed the comfort, no matter how much she originally was scared about asking for it. She will tell her mom, and she will comfort her the same way.

In the back of her head, however, she still wondered what Snow meant by "not knowing much about mothers".