Spring blends into summer all too quickly.
In the meadow lands, the sound of crickets is a constant background to the transition. The little boy finds them marvelous creatures. He chases them up and down the hills, his own legs springing in pursuit as theirs’ do. Of course, he doesn’t always quite have the mastery of movement like they do. He’s only a few months old, after all. Just as often as not, Eldrian finds himself tripping over his gangly, black legs. He sprawls across the grass, rising and recovering every time sporting a toothy grin at his own misfortune.
He’s a happy boy and an easy boy, and Emmerly already loves him as her own. She watches him now, a faint smile curving her pink lips. Becoming a mother has never been an aspiration of her’s. She always imagined herself a fighter to the very end – a warrior without attachments, besides the land she’s pledged herself to.
But the star-crossed morning of Eldrian’s birth had changed everything. The painted woman had come across the metal lady in the late stages of labor. She’d helped her through it, though she had no idea what she was talking about, really. She’d learned the circumstances of the child’s conception, learned that Jason was the father, and learned why Talulah was desperate to keep it a secret… And as she watched Eldrian emerge into the coppery light of morning, a chocolate-colored mass of limbs and soft eyes, she learned that, not only did she want a child, but it’s exactly what she’d been missing out on until that moment. The two women had made an agreement. Emmerly would be his mother for all intents and purposes, but Talulah would visit under diplomatic pretenses. She loved him, too, and leaving the dark boy had been the hardest decision she’d ever made.
“Eldrian!” Her deep voice booms over the hills separating them, a resounding bass that has his head popping up instantly. He knows what it means, and with joyful abandon, the bay colt leaps to her side. He beams up at her, dark lashes framing his buttery eyes. “Yes Mamma?” Emmerly’s fighter-heart stirs at the moniker – only he can soften her so much. “Let’s wander to the Mother Tree, shall we? See what everyone is up to?”
And so the pair moves towards the towering, magical-looking (but now powerless) tree. The sun lingers just behind it, casting intricate patterns on the ground they walk over. She’s been quiet while the kingdom has grown with life. Now that she has the greatest responsibility of all, however, she knows she will change. Motherhood makes her eager to prove herself, because nobody’s opinion matters to her as much as her son’s. They reach the tree, its heavy branches swaying gently in the wind above their heads. While they wait for company, Emmerly explains what the tree used to mean to the Gates. She tells him how they had sort of adopted it as a gift from another kingdom – how they had grown to love it and care for it like it had always been their own.
Emmerly
walter x valien