It's the latter Imogen take her into, after she's finished her morning's work at the stables. It's going quicker today, with half the horses currently out of town with their riders. They all went west into the Parchwood, so she's definitely going east.
She's been told, of course, that it's dangerous to ride either way alone. But while her powers have diminished a little bit, she can probably handle most of the things she's heard about in the mountains. And nobody really tries to stop her. Enough people know why she needs to, to cope, that they see to it she's not bothered over it.
The trail she starts on, one that goes through the mountains by the easiest way available, was originally made by the Hunt, though she's probably the person who most often uses it. But she'll only stay on that one so long.
Above her, she hears ravens caw, though she doesn't think they're really paying attention to her. She's reaching the point where she's gotten used to there being so many in Whitestone. No other creature, friendly or hostile, comes within her sight or hearing. That's what suits her, why she prefers riding in the mountains to the woods even in general.
Until, of course, she smells the fires coming from one of the handful of tiny settlements they know about in the Sierras. That's when she departs the trail. She especially doesn't want to meet with anyone who would ask who she is, or who, if they recognized her, would be confused that she's not wearing her Grey Hunt jacket.
The jacket she ceremonially received at the same time she was gifted Esther, when Lady Vex'ahlia insisted on declaring her a member of the group, even though she's never ridden with them and never wants to. She's the sort of self-made noblewoman who refuses to not give her constant stablehand that kind of honor. Most days since then, it's hung in the back of her wardrobe, where she doesn't have to look at it too much.
Turning off the path has led her a little bit up one of the mountains, and she's keeps going, up the lower part, where it isn't yet too steep. When Imogen looks west, she can see most of Whitestone. Looking at the plumes of smoke coming up from various chimineys, she tries to determine which one is from the Slayer's Cake. The lunch rush is probably starting right about now. She can imagine Laudna at the counter at this moment, happily handing people their orders, delighting when she sees the children grin and look excited at getting to enjoy the sweets she sells to them.
Once or twice she's taken Laudna out riding with her, beyond the city limits. She's now trusted enough she pretty much can, so long as she brings her back within a few hours. But Laudna herself doesn't seem entirely comfortable with it. Imogen fears her wife's starting to internalize the fears and feelings of the people that hold her prisoner here.
And when she's much better at ignoring the fact that they're doing so than Imogen is. Laudna's still good at compartmentalizing. Imogen's not even sure that's such a bad thing anymore, if it allows her to happy.
It helps that the de Rolos are very kind to them, day to day. How can they not be? They saved the world, and they also helped free Lady Vex'ahlia's brother while they were at it. Which, Imogen is sure, is the main reason that when they found out about Delilah, it suddenly occurred to Whitestone''s first lady that they couldn't be sure she didn't have yet another contingency plan if she lost Laudna. So they couldn't be sure that killing Laudna would not only not get rid of her, it might leave her still around somewhere with them having no idea where she was, and really, it was a much better idea to keep her where they could see her. Lord de Rolo even said that, when he first more or less demanded Laudna come back to Whitestone and stay there if she didn't want to be killed.
(Imogen's still pretty sure, from the conversations they've had with her, that Delilah does not have another contingency plan, that Laudna's her last one. But she doesn't have to mention that to anyone.)
Laudna didn't protest then, and she hasn't since. She even got the others to stop protesting, though it took her some time with Ashton. So Imogen didn't protest either. Honestly, after weeks of living in fear of the de Rolos finding out, the relief that they had, and Laudna wasn't being killed after all, had been so overwhelming, it had taken days for the rage to truly kick in.
She had, however, made clear immediately that if she ever seriously feared for Laudna's safety within the city, she'd be ready to kill a few people herself, regardless of the consequences to herself, and she knows she could before they would take her down. Lord de Rolo genuinely cares for his people, enough so that he might see crossing her there as not worth it.
So now they both live in Whitestone, and every day Laudna lets Pike Trickfoot look into her head and cast Zone of Truth on her, and there are other people, clerics and such, that visit to drill her on how to resist mind control. It's paying off, she says, to Pike while under her truth spell, and to Imogen in bed at night. It does help to hear it.
There's no doubt that Laudna feels safer living in Whitestone, that the daily interrogations maybe help her peace of mind more than anyone's. Imogen doesn't even mind that fact, most days.
But sometimes, when she's out here staring at the land they're both thus confined to, she feels like her choices are either to scream, or to take Esther back down the mountain, to one of the larger stretches of terrain where she can go into a wild canter, wild enough to keep her from thinking.
So down they go, Imogen automatically blanking her mind as she helps Esther navigating more difficult terrain. But her horse knows this ground well enough that she moves with confidence, and is soon picking up speed. Forward they surge, leaping over smaller boulders and careening around larger ones. The wind whipping her face and hair isn't alarming anymore; it's not really like the storms of Ruidis used to be.
She wouldn't have been able to pull this kind of riding off during her younger years. Not that she was bad at it, but this would've been beyond her ability. It feels ironic, that it's now she's becoming a master horsewoman, sometimes even able to beat the actual Grey Hunters on those occasions when she gets cajoled into joining their training competitions. If she and Laudna ever do come out of retirement from adventuring, they'll likely both be primed for different roles than the ones they used to have.
It's not impossible it could happen some day. As the members of Vox Machina have noted to them, retirement from heroism is never necessarily permanent; you tend to come back if you're needed. They might not like the idea of Laudna using the powers Delilah gave to her, but these days she focuses more on those abilities she (and Pike) are fairly certain don't come from her. If Whitestone itself was ever threatened, it would probably be demanded they help defend it-and Laudna might already be happy to do so without the demand.
Already they're viewed as heroes by the townspeople. All most of them know about the two of them is that they helped save the world during the events of the solstice. Some of the older ones are aware of Laudna's history, and thanks to that little display at her resurrection, they also know she was considered dangerous at one point, but not many people have ever known the details, and the current situation has been strictly need to know information. Which means, of course, they have no idea her return here was involuntary. They probably just think she decided to come home.
In her angrier moments, Imogen wants to tell them. Let his entire city know that Percival de Rolo effectively forced Laudna back at gunpoint, and would murder her if she tried to escape. But she's got the feeling they'd side with him. And she's pretty sure that Whitestone, for her wife, would again become a place where people in the street looked at her with fear and hostility.
She's currently got what she never dared hope for after her death, a life where she's welcome in the world around her. Imogen would never, ever take that from her.
(They never did find Laudna's Andy. Instead, they found themselves hearing about just how many of the townspeople died at the hands of Lord and Lady Briarwood, many of them during the final fight after Matilda was hung. Imogen got the point.)
It would be a loss for her, too, at this point. The truth is, Imogen likes Whitestone, and she likes most of the people who live there. Also, they were people she came to live among with the circlet back on her head and a good reputation. So now she, too, lives among people who aren't really afraid of her and her powers, in a city where she's not the freak, where she's accepted.
So she thinks after she slows down, Esther clearly showing the signs of the exertion, and finds herself once again staring at those buildings, though they're now far enough away that riding back will take time. It'll take more when Imogen starts the descent very slowly, not wanting to tire her horse out any further.
Pike might be at home when she gets back; how much time everyone spends at the bakery varies. Or maybe Imogen will go to visit Grog instead, before she returns to the stables to do afternoon tasks. Of all the inhabitants in the city, they're by far the two she's most friendly with.
Pike still holds out hope of freeing Laudna by destroying her tormentor completely. Imogen knows she's spending many hours working on it, even roping in some of her friends from the Everlight's temple in Vasselheim. Obviously, she can't help but wish they'll succeed. And it's probably not completely impossible that they will, and that they will even convince Lord de Rolo that they have. But she knows better than to rely on it.
Sparring with Grog might also make Imogen feel better. Though it's more common for her and Laudna to take him on together. They all three of them enjoy it. Grog's someone who looks at Laudna's Form of Dread-and she almost exclusively does the Sun Tree one nowadays-with admiration, and they can throw themselves at him no holds barred; in fact, he'd probably be disappointed if they did otherwise. Then they go out for drinks, and he's a surprisingly good listener when they talk. Though Imogen still tries not to tell him too much. They can't ask him to keep anything from the de Rolos. She wouldn't even want to see the look on his face if they tried; it'd be like punching a child.
That's the thing with all of Vox Machina, including Keyleth, who often comes to see them when she's in town. They're none of them evil people. Pike and Keyleth especially are very good people. But they'll always be the de Rolos' friends first. Keyleth has made clear she disapproves, and very much, of her longtime friend's actions. But at the end of the day, when she can do nothing to sway him, she'll still forgive him for it.
Imogen's feelings about Lady Vex'ahlia are even more complicated. She can't dislike her. She really did try, at first, and she failed; even before she started helping out with the horses she'd given up on it, and seeing how well and justly she leads the Hunt especially demands admiration. But the real thing is, she's fiercely protective of her own-and her definition of what's her own cuts a very wide scope, and now very much includes both Imogen and Laudna. Which is what both makes Imogen able to rely on her, and also leaves her never able to trust her completely.
It took Laudna a surprisingly long amount of time to realize it was Lady Vex'ahlia whom she had been killed to be an effigy of. She knew it, however, by the time they came to live in Whitestone. It gave her relationship with both the Lady and her children an odd feeling, neither woman knowing quite how to deal with this dark link between the two of them. Imogen's told Laudna of how it was her who insisted they help when Laudna had been dead, if only because she would've found out anyway, and the feeling of obligation thus became mutual.
Even from this distance, the Sun Tree is visible. There are days Imogen turns her head away, unable to bear looking at it. This actually isn't one of them. Still, she feels her face harden a little. Fearne might tell her none of this is the tree's fault, but her varying feelings towards it have never been rational.
Fearne's the most common visitor from their own friends. Usually she brings Ashton with her, and often she's able to bring Orym, too. Fresh Cut Grass and FRIDA show up frequently as well. They're all of them so happy, now. Not without their own woes, but all in all happy nonetheless. They usually all have good stories to tell, ones that do occasionally raise a longing in Imogen's breast. But that's one that goes away when Laudna starts talking about how things are going at the bakery, and Imogen sees that glow in her eyes.
And there's the most ironic thing, that the life they have in Whitestone is not entirely unlike the one they dreamed of when they were instead in the fight. Every morning they wake up together, now in the home Lady Cassandra de Rolo finally granted them after years of keeping them in the castle, and look forward to most of what they would be doing that day. Imogen makes it a point, when she wakes up first, to spend at least a minute or so just looking at Laudna, and letting herself at least be glad for still having her. She won't let the world, or the de Rolos, take that joy away from her.
When Imogen rides back into the streets of town, that afternoon, several children rush up to greet her. She says hello to each of them by name, asks little Henry how his uncle is doing, tells them which mountain she went up. "I went to bakery a little while ago," Greta tells her. "Ms. Laudna made the crusty rolls with the honey on top today."
Imogen's favorite. She'll no doubt have saved at least a few for her wife. Imogen thanks Greta, then turns Esther towards the Slayer's Cake.