It all happened in a rush; I'm not exactly sure how.

We had taken a day apart, to wander as individuals. Something changed in my companion since then, I can feel it, I can see it - at first just in her eyes, but now, in the widening of her barrel, and in the days she often chooses to travel without me. I am happy for her - so, so happy - and yet I have questions. Ever since we met at the river, since she stumbled at the sound of my father's name - I've had questions.

Perhaps today, I'll get some answers.

She is accompanying me today, following my path as we often take turns doing. There is a purpose in my step and direction, a sort of confidence and excitement that I'm sure she can feel herself. Every so often, I reach over to brush my nose against her neck, cheek, shoulder. Sometimes, without thinking, I drop my pace just slightly, and rest my cheek against her swelling belly. We haven't discussed it yet - but my maternal instincts lead me to caress her more often than perhaps I normally would.

(If only I knew why the instinct was so strong - if only I knew that, should I have my own child, I will die).

We are nearing the kingdom, and it has been minutes since the last time I touched her - I have become distracted by the changing scenery, excited by exactly what today holds in store for us. Before we truly come upon the border, I pause and turn to her, a wide smile blossoming on my usually somber lips.

"I think I found us a home, Sig," I breathe, watching anxiously for her reaction. My companion has never shown any sign of anger towards me, but still, I do not want to be taken as presumptuous or demanding. "It's a refuge, of sorts. Anyone is welcome. I've met some of the people here - it's quiet." My eyes glance at her swollen belly, knowing that in a few months time, the old woman will need a home to raise the child in. Something consistent. My mother's heart yearns to provide.

"Do you think you'll join me?" I try another smile, but it's sheepish this time, accompanied by a light blush. "And maybe the man you've been sneaking off to see?"

Little. Did. I. Know.

In truth, I don't have the slightest clue as to where I would be if I hadn't run into this mare that day on the river. Whatever force of the universe called me from my thicket was a truly good one, one to which I owe never ending gratitude - for she and I both have grown leagues since that day. We no longer stumble over our words, and our eyes meet like the wind meets the leaves: naturally. She is the reason I am at all - and something tells me that I am the reason she is, too.

I've grown fond of my Sig. Enormously so.

She nudges me playfully and I grin, awkward in the presence of her newfound happiness, but reveling in it passionately at the same time. So much has happened in such a short time - my eyes go again to her widening middle - that it's good, it truly is good, just sometimes I can't handle it with the grace that most adults can.

I shuffle my feet in a sort of girlish dance at her approval of the land, and at her next remark - that it is I she calls home - I bounce towards her and tussle her mane, affection radiating from my every pore. "Oh hush, you big sap." I look around us again, eyes wide in wonder, squished warmly into her side. "It's perfect here and that has nothing to do with me." And it is - the mountains are picturesque, the wisteria breathtaking, and the lake that I've found on my previous journeys here - well, suffice to say, I cannot wait to share it with my companion.

Family, for me, was an important part of growing up (despite the fact that I only truly had my father) - I never knew my namesake, grandmother Kagerou, but I heard enough of her to give me countless tales to spin for any who might listen. I met my uncle Rodrik and cousin Straia, and although they had far different outlooks on life than my father and I, I loved them fiercely. Most of all, though, I long for my father. Sig has been the antidote to my disease, but symptoms of the sickness plague me still. I miss him terribly.

Her laugh is startlingly beautiful, one that inspires a sort of jubilance in all who hear it. I cock a brow at her playfully, but it dissolves instantly and figures itself into my own unique expression of mirth, my abashedness lost in the face of how well she received my jibe. I nip at her mane and tug slightly at her "oh, him;" what a silly, flippant woman she is. I grin widely at her, impatient for her to tell me more about her prince charming.

Another quizzical expression crosses my face at her teasing, toying words, though a smile wiggles its way into the picture with ease. "What on earth are you getting on about, you little minx?" Who do I know that would love to be with me, of all people? Shy, worthless, normal little me? I roll my eyes playfully.

"You're full of it, Sig. And obviously I want to meet him - that's the whole point of this!" I toss my head widely in the direction of the kingdom in front of us, eager to explore its every curve and crevice. Then, I look squarely at her stomach, before lifting my gaze back to her face and smirking broadly. "Babies need homes, you know." I step closer to her and nuzzle her belly affectionately, my heart race hiking up happily - I want to meet this baby so so bad, probably even worse than she does - or at least, that's how it feels.

"It's me, baby," I sing-song to her tummy, "Aunt Rou!"

As I stand, making games with the unborn life growing neatly within my companion, a figure comes into sight not far off- but I don't notice him, too distracted with my games.

A happy, happy day this shall turn out to be.

My own laughter cascades around us at her whiskery touch and the phrase that comes along with it, my eyes crinkling gleefully. The image! This mare, of mousy character and blank eyes - how intensely and beautifully she has changed. I inhale to speak, but at the frisky shake of her forelock the words escape me and wordless cackles take over, my body convulsing as I stagger back and forwards before finally resting my lips, pursed, against her tummy. "You hear that, baby? Your mommy is a flirt!" I giggle some more, bantering with the child and falling in love with it, truly and dearly. Although Insignificance is not my blood relation, her child I will hold close to my heart - I am a nurturer, much as my father was before me.

--

The image of them, together, laughing and safe in a new home - it is one that will paint my hide until time immeasurable. From the shade of the tree overhead, I watch them, my old, frail heart nearly bursting with need to see my daughter again. Since before the reckoning, we have been lost to each other - and within myself, I had lost all will to live. Seeing her now, with the woman I love and the child she bears, I know it was worth it to push through that hour of darkness - for now there dawns an eternity of light.

At long last, as Kagerus begins cooing nonsense to my unborn child, I cannot remain hidden any longer. My muscles surge with the energy of a stallion in his prime, and I lope the rest of the distance, my besilvered mane and tail streaming out proudly behind me. Standing still, I am sometimes a sight for sore eyes - but with the air whistling across my frame, one can perhaps glimpse the past self I once was.

My amber eyes, already brimming over with happiness, meet Insignificance's as I pull up next to them. Knowing well beyond thought that she understands my immense emotions in this moment, I turn without hesitation and throw myself at Kagerus, latching on to her with the ferocity that only love provides. I feel her shaking in my embrace, sobbing in the same tone as she had just been laughing, her legs pushing me over in her attempt to fit even closer to me than I already hold her.

"Hey, baby girl," I murmur into her mane, my own tears spilling. "I missed you."

--

"Daddy," I cry, delirious and non-believing. A thousand questions race through my mind, but each one can be temporarily answered by the feeling that swells and breaks in the form of sobs in my chest. Giddiness and hysterical happiness overwhelm me for longer than I can keep track of, but I don't care. "You're okay," I cry, and clutch him all the closer to me.

Eventually, as my sobs turn into snuffles and hiccups, I release him from my strangling grasp and step back - at the same moment, Insignificance steps forward. A glimmering tear marks her cheek, and an expression so serene decorates her face that my breath is once again stolen. I watch as she speaks his name, and as he speaks hers, and as he - my father - presses his mouth fondly to the base of her jaw, and then again to the width of her stomach.

"Wha.." I am stupefied and rendered dumb, the initial surge of emotion at seeing my father quickly transforming into one of disbelief, confusion, and mental cacophony. They embrace sweetly, fitting together as only lovers can, the perfect combination. My mouth drops lower. Not a part of me moves as I watch, astounded - not my ears, my tail, not even my lungs.

"Does this mean..."

--

I grin at my dumbfounded daughter, still standing intimately close to Insignificance after our loving embrace. My heart shines at the happiness of the moment, at the lover by my side and the daughter before me. I have never felt so complete - so whole - so at one with my own existence. I nuzzle Nif once again, lipping gently at the underside of her beautiful face. My darling.

"Yes," I answer, grinning ever wider, a lopsided expression that is uncannily similar to Nif's. I throw a playful, overjoyed look to the woman at my side, and then send one of more endearment to my daughter - this is news for her. Nif and I - we've had time to settle into it (and well we ought to, with the child coming so close to birth). There's a tightness in my chest, a kind of dying to know exactly how Kagerus will respond to the news of a new sibling, right after the shock of learning I was alive at all - never mind procreating.

--

"..."

"I'm going to be a sister?" The words are hushed, filled with wonder and awe, and I tremble despite the warmth of the day. My eyes mist up again, and the smile on my lips is quaking. "A-and, Sig, you're - you're - daddy's - it's both of yours?" My tears spill over at their nods of affirmation.

Without thinking, I launch myself at the pair of them and nestle between them like a filly, throwing my neck over Sig's and squeezing, then switching to Kavi. They clutch me close, and our tears mix sweetly, a unit already more cohesive than any other in Beqanna - these people are my family, and we are growing, and for now, everything truly is going to be okay.

Snuffling loudly, I break from the emotional embrace and fix a puffy, wet eye on Sig. My lips are still quaking, but my playful grin is undeniable.

"You really are a minx, you know. I don't know how you kept it a secret so long -" I touch my nose to hers, our whiskers tangling intimately. "But I'm glad you did."

"I love you guys so much."