There was no exhaustion similar to the one experienced after childbirth. Lying in the still silence of the aftermath her sides heaved in rapid succession, her lung filling with the sweetness of spring air. As still as stone she is waiting, taking in the moment – afraid that it would pass all to quickly into the next. The waves beating against the sandy shore of Nerine played out the soundtrack to her first meeting with her son. How perfect, she marveled, that she would first have a daughter and then a son. She imagined every inch of him, similar and yet distinctly different to his older sister. Feeling once more she noted the soft protruding of his budding horns, a feature Reshi had lacked.
Content, though she was, to remain there lying beside him, instinct bade her to stand. Clumsily, and ever aware of his fragile body crumpled in the grass, she drew her legs up underneath her and, with one giant heave, she lurched to her feet. She hears, rather than, sees, his struggle as he attempts to stand for the first. A soft grunt follows a gentle thud as his first attempt ends in failure. Smiling she draws near to him, offering her body as aid for his next attempt. She could feel him fidgeting beside her and she chuckled and nuzzled him affectionately.
“Come on,” she said encouragingly. “Try again.”
Standing firm, she doesn’t budge as he attempts once more to stand. Steadier than before she marvels at his height. Despite her malnourishment, she could feel the strength of him and was relieved to tell that he was a very substantial colt. Although a bit wobbly he moves along the length of her body, easily finding the source of her milk. As he latched her tail swished at the sudden and unfamiliar twang of pain associated with the first feed. Greedily he suckles and her heart warms.
“I promise, little one,” he crooned as she nudged his rear end in encouragement. “I will never leave you.”
Not like how I left her.
Regret and longing filled her with determination. She would be there for her son and though she could not remember who had fathered him, she liked to imagine that her beloved Astray’s blood ran through his veins.
VI
lights will guide you home
@[Drustan]
@[Scorch]
@[Hestoni]
@[Reshi]