Leaving the Manor was a chore - the ice caverns were an absolute labyrinth to travel through, but the Queen wouldn’t let that stop her - she’d heard stories about the forest, about the terrible place it had become in her absence.
The spirits all seem to avoid her as she finally steps out of the cave, nervously making her way toward the forest, reddened claws tapping together, eyes glancing this way and that, watching out for all the horrible creatures the child had told her about.
But then she feels an aura so much darker than the forest’s, matching only her own - and as she follows the feeling until it almost hurts, she finds herself looking at...
“The Snatcher...“
The awful ruler of the forest, the one that had apparently put the hatted child through hell...
“I’ve... I-I’ve heard stories about you.“ Comes her voice, an odd echo to it as she watches the ghost with fearful eyes.
“About your... wretched contracts, about the... terrible rule you have over my forest.“
Yes, she’d done terrible things too - but her darkness had been something different, whereas this ‘Snatcher’s cruelty was all so deliberate, manipulating lost souls into doing his dirty work.
Souls that wouldn’t be roaming the forest had she simply listened, and forgiven, all that time ago.