i'm waiting for this sky to fall, i’m waiting for a sign.
i know you're out there; somewhere out there.

She hadn’t exactly planned on getting pregnant. Physical affection and children have never truly had the chance to feature in her life - survival and self preservation have always been paramount in her mind. 

But, then she’d met Elysium.

She doesn’t love him, to be sure. Not in the romantic sense anyway. But when she’s with him she feels … at home. Like she’s no longer alone in the world. 

So, when he’d left the Gates she’d followed, seeking the only sense of closeness she’s come across since coming to Beqanna. Trying to keep that feeling of belonging to … something. Anything. 

She hasn’t interacted with him much since arriving in the Valley, spending most of her days in the river and lake that make up the Valley basin, but the few interactions they have had, have been enough. Enough to make her feel happier, and less alone, than she’s ever been in her life. And one of those interactions had lead to well, more than she had expected. 

And now, months later, her time has come. 

Unsure of what could result from a union between two such unusual creatures, she gives birth on the river bank where the child will not sink in the water. And oh … what a child it is. When she rises to her feet, she’s instantly captured by the little creature that, only moments before, had existed only in the damp and dark of her womb, and the speculative recesses of her mind.  

The girl, for it is a girl, is the same colour as her dear father, tipped with a lovely dark mane and tail. And she has the best of both Karris and Elysium - thin gill slits on her neck, lovely glittering compound eyes, and a pair of delicate moth wings that are still damp with the muck of birth. 

Karris does not clean her as most mothers do (lacking a tongue as she does), and instead uses her tail to flick little streams of water at the girl, thereby washing off most of the mucus and afterbirth. She nudges hopefully at the girl, then quickly looks about, beetle-black eyes scanning the banks of the river. Her mouth is not well-formed enough to call out for Elysium loud enough for him to here, but hopefully he is somewhere nearby. She wants him to meet the beautiful little thing they have created together. 

Karris

all we are is all so far.