[private] we're the wild ones

[Vastra]

Fatherhood, or whatever the hell this was, suited Vastra so much more than being a mother had. Her memories of her first children (or, at least, her first horse children) were hazy but she did not remember a strong sense of love. She cared for them, kept them safe, and that was it. They had not been born of the same affection Chel had. All through the winter, Vastra had guarded the pregnant Brunhilde - often as a lioness, deterring any equine or another predator from getting too close. The flood of joy she had felt upon being told they were expecting was second only to the wave she felt on the day Chel had been born. Vastra had not known there could be happiness like this - had not known she could be like this or that there was this much love in the whole world. As the dawn breaks over the young filly - Vastra knows for the first time in her life how her father could have sacrificed himself to save her. She would do nothing less for her family. Today she has changed her favourite mountain lion shape for a leopard as she lounges on a thick branch of a nearby tree. A soft noise, halfway between a purr and a growl, rumbles from deep in her stomach as she calls to her daughter - urging Chel to wake, to come find her. v a s t r a

artwork by space1993