WATCH THE FLAMES CLIMB HIGH INTO THE NIGHT

She avoided everyone this winter. And as spring threatened to bring forth the life that now widened her barrel beyond any question as to why, she found herself burrowing deeper into Nerine. It's not that she forgot her duty to Nerine by any means - she'd brought Woolf here from the field after all - but it was more that she needed to disappear for some time. Perhaps if Hestoni hadn't disappeared in the summer last, things with this pregnancy would have gone differently, in fact it might not have happened at all; but for now, she must endure the weight of her infidelity and the weight of her unborn child on her own, unsure, uncertain, and scared.

She got her wish, in the end - just one more child to raise and love.

As spring crept closer and closer, a familiar male scent began to frequent Nerine's cliffsides; for a few days, Scorch wondered and hoped that it might be her husband's, that he would seek her out and listen as she cried and then pull her close in forgiveness and understanding. It was silly to think that her confession would play out so smoothly, and she cried whenever she got to the end of the daydream and had to remember that there would be consequences for her actions; but life went on, and eventually, she stopped crying. Oh, and she realized that the scent was Leilan's, too.

He'd be looking for her soon, if he wasn't already. After taking the time she needed to prepare herself for her son's rage at her infidelity - though his own could easily be called into question if she knew about it - the ancient mare unfurled herself from a twilight disguise, walking forth in all her pregnant roundness, expecting to be found shortly by one particular stallion.

"I don't care about our fight," she delivered flatly when he did find her. He looked somewhat different than she remembered, but she doesn't fixate on that now, instead giving into the weightedness she felt so often these days, an exhaustion that ran bone deep reflecting in the dull grey of her dragon's eyes. "If you're here to finish it, you're better off not wasting your breath."

Scorch

Once Khaleesi of the Amazon Jungle

WATCH THE FLAMES CLIMB HIGH INTO THE NIGHT

His face showed consternation when he first spotted her, but as he admitted to not coming to finish their fight, Leilan's expression slipped into an all too familiar foxy grin. It almost pained the mare to see it right up and close - and when she noticed the irregular emerald of his eyes (also uncannily similar to her natural born ones) she tossed her head, snorting softly in confusion. What remained of her forelock flipped lamely to her other ear, looking bedraggled and for all the world like a rat; similarly, the stub of her tail flicked at snow which caused her skin to itch, a habit from fifty years before that had yet to die despite her hairlessness.

Let me guess, it's a girl?

She would have smiled, if the baby weren't a bastard.

"Despite what some of you children seem to think, I have a pretty good ratio of girls to boys." The joke came out rather tightly, but she did allow herself to chuckle at the end of it, trying to shake the nerves that threatened to close her airway and leave her passed out on the wintery ground. What Leilan said next made all of her efforts worthless though, as his eyes went beyond her into the forest, as if Hestoni would be following in her wake.

And he would have been, in a different world.
She wouldn't be alone, in a different world.
She wouldn't have cheated, in a different world.
But they were here, and she had no answer for him besides the truth.

"I haven't seen your father in months Leilan." As she spoke, a gust of cold air came and buffeted them hard; Scorch reflexively put up a tangible twilight barrier, a huge arcing wall which shifted softly as it deflected the nasty wind. In the moment when the magic formed, she bit her lip nervously, and by the time its distraction ended, her face was again impassively neutral.

"The child is Brennen's."

Scorch

Once Khaleesi of the Amazon Jungle

WATCH THE FLAMES CLIMB HIGH INTO THE NIGHT

In the wake of her confession, only a word escaped her son; and then, as if his skin could no longer do its duty, he seemed to deflate. Proud Leilan, who always took his mother's side even when it came to alienating his own twin sister; joyful Leilan, begging for attention as the youngest son because if he didn't, he wouldn't get it. It pained Scorch to watch such vulnerable expression flitting across her own son's face, a face that she'd known since birth and had raised and loved every single day since then. It reminded her of how insanely hard it would be to explain this all to her husband, when or if he ever returned... But he always did, and for the first time, Scorch couldn't tell if that was entirely a good thing.

He took a step back, eyes gradually lightening and shifting tones until the icy blue of a blizzard laid claim to their shattered depths. Scorch went to take a step forward, but stumbled, catching herself halfway as she realized that she no longer had the right to demand his closeness and his love. She wanted to of course, but she couldn't; not with Leilan. They'd always been too alike for their own good, much like how she'd been with her first set of twins; no amount of brute-force love would overcome the issues that they had both created for one another in their unthinking impulsiveness.

So... she's not one of us.
Scorch's heart stopped at the utterance, memories of Wrynn's birth flooding her mind.
And although it sickened her to think of, she couldn't deny that a part of her felt the same way about this child, too.
Tampered with by magicians - tainted - not of the pure bloodline she and her husband had created and built and struggled to maintain for decades. Except this time, she'd been an active player in the conception of the child. The magician Camrynn had only taken a twin and shaped her aesthetically.

It's a moment's hesitation before she answered, but it was enough to indicate her uncertainty on the subject. "Of course she's one of us, Leilan." Her tone is harsh, though the anger is aimed inward as opposed to towards the roan stallion. She chokes on the next syllable, squeezing her eyes shut as a headache with the force of a typhoon rocked through her skull. "Of course she is." This time, soft.

With a shuddering breath and the sensation of being pulled back into the network of twilight she had made for herself within the depths of the Nerinian pine forests, the mare slid a hoof back and spoke in a voice that was empty of any emotion. "Come meet her in the summer, Leilan. She'll need a big brother to look after her."

And, turning, she left him there to his heartbreak, as she had been left alone to hers.

Scorch

Once Khaleesi of the Amazon Jungle

WATCH THE FLAMES CLIMB HIGH INTO THE NIGHT

Just as her shoulder turned towards the pine forests, voice rang out behind her once more. Momentarily, she considered just ignoring it; had it been anything except an apology, she probably would have. But something about this demanded her attention, and so - feeling as though the world rested atop her shoulders and that to turn back would only add to the weight of it - she looked to him once more, a tiredness in her eyes that spoke to how grievously this pregnancy was affecting her.

"I am sorry too, son. If you would like to move past this, then so would I." Her voice seemed even choppier than normal, as if the fire's laceration upon her vocal chords had intensified somehow despite the event having occurred nigh on forty years prior. "But please - I must go and rest. I hope you are staying around Nerine for good this time - " she paused, looking at her son for either a nod or a shake of his head, " - because we could always use your dedication."

"I'm sorry again, Leilan... I will see you in the summer."

Scorch

Once Khaleesi of the Amazon Jungle