"But the dream, the echo, slips from him as quickly as he had found it and as consciousness comes to him (a slap and not the gentle waves of oceanic tides), it dissolves entirely. His muscles relax as the cold claims him again, as the numbness sets in, and when his grey eyes open, there’s nothing but the faint after burn of a dream often trod and never remembered." --Brigade, written by Laura
07-03-2017, 12:28 PM (This post was last modified: 07-27-2017, 07:29 PM by Tangerine.)
tangerine
face to the sun
Tangerine wades threw the increasingly familiar world of her dreams. The blue eyes of the field look up at her, their heads turning to follower her progress across the endless meadow. The farther she wanders into the cornflowers and grasses, the more her body seems to grow. She grows heavier, immensely heavy, ballooning out until her hooves sink into the squishy earth with each step. Soon, it is more than she can do to keep moving.
She stumbles, she falls.
The force of her bloated body hitting the earth causes the blue flowers to detach from their stalks and float above her – still watching and inquisitive.
And then she is not one, but three. How it happens she doesn’t know, they simply ooze from her, they are her. But before she can take a good look at the glowing boy and girl who have split from her, Warrick is there. She murmurs his name, her voice momentarily bridging the gulf between the ethereal and the earthly. Her happiness colors her golden.
The three of them play together in the cornflowers and starlight, and she is completely at peace floating as a specter above the scene of familiar harmony. Warrick’s face is the only clear one of the three, and he wears an expression of pride and love she had never seen so clearly displayed. Six blue eyes hold her heart.
And she knows she needs to find him.
Tang wished she could tell him before he saw the changes her body had undergone, but he would probably notice the way her slender legs and neck contrasted the thickening of her barrel. After her dream, she had assumed he would be happy to know, more than happy, but now as she approaches his home a flicker of doubt causes her heart to clench tightly.
She stops short as soon as she has crossed where she believes Tephra’s boarder to be. Warrick had said something of a new king in the volcanic land, but she had not played attention or asked for more details. That day, diplomacy and politics had been the last thing on her mind. She remembers the ups and downs of that fall day with vivid clarity. Their reunion severed, the restoration which followed. The scent of him, the weight of him. The promise they had made.
The night of fire and earthquakes, which thought brief, had held Hyaline in disorder for too long and prevented her from seeking out the blue and auburn stallion for companionship. She had accompanied Ament on a diplomatic trip and helped to keep watch over the young territory of Hyaline, she had been kept busy.
But with winter her belly began to swell, not only in her dreams, and it became apparent that their union by the river had bound them in more ways than they had originally intended.
So, she grazes (she is so hungry these days), an unassuming figure on the edge of Tephra, hoping the father of her children will see this pregnancy as a gift like she does.
The profound lines of worry deepen across the auburn of the strong angles of his face, settling there unceasingly as he watches the sun rise above all of Tephra. So much has happened. It’s a whirlwind of memories and emotions, but despite the things that seem to be pounding him into the sand, like the powerful waves on the shoreline, he is content – happy even, if he dares to let himself feel it. Of course, he wouldn’t allow himself that (couldn’t, at least not yet), for his thoughts are still lost on the horizon, melting into the cloudless sky that shines brilliantly with golds and oranges of early morning.
The air is thick and sultry as it begins to burn from the sun’s golden heat, Warrick’s coat sleek and shining from the unusually high temperatures. Winter has come for the rest of Beqanna, but Tephra remains untouched and unchanging, much like the volcano that towers over the land almost protectively. Feathers the color of the night sky rustle uncertainly, their massive size hidden by the way he has them tightly wound to his sides. The new attribute had him hiding away, unable to understand how he had come to receive them or how to even use them. The sea breeze, laced with the chill of winter from the south of them, ruffles the feathers against his skin and he twitches them involuntarily, the bones beneath their softness flexing gingerly before he forced them to press securely into his sides once again, shifting his weight from one muscular navy leg to the other.
As the sun lifts itself from the horizon, warming his skin with its intense rays, he begins to move.
He fixes himself at a slow trot, keeping his wings tucked in as if to encourage them to melt away into his skin, to disappear so that he didn’t have to wonder and question, or be lumbering through Tephra with a certain incoordination that was not unlike a freshly weaned colt. The weight of the wings against him causes an undeniable issue with balance that he has yet to be able to get used to, which in turn is the reason his deep voice is heard with a very exasperated grumbling.
Warrick takes his time to investigate the borders of Tephra, something that he has started doing more, though he knows who he wishes to find during his exploration. Each day he wonders if she’ll come to him, but with the recent events in Hyaline, he understands that it might be easier for her to stay with Amet. But winter is on the wind and he cannot help but wonder if she will come.
Navy-tipped ears prick forward as he inhales a familiar scent, his heart quickening as it pulses against his ribcage. Memories of that night in the cool of autumn flood him and he instantly begins to move a little bit faster, despite the cumbersome wings that are at his withers. When his deep blue gaze finds her, wide with concern and sparkling with excitement, he cannot help the smile that pulls at his indigo lips nor the soft nicker that rumbles deep in his chest. Warrick draws up beside her, his shoulder brushing against her own. He momentarily forgets that his appearance would be as much of a shock to her as her own appearance would be to him. His lips are at her neck, gently huffing along the line where her mane meets her golden and ivory skin, placing quick and soft kisses on the warmth of her skin. His indigo feathers flutter involuntarily at his sides as his mind ceases to think about them, opening up slightly as they respond to his thoughts that he didn’t even know he was thinking, brushing their velveteen softness against her as one wing begins to stretch instinctually over her back, as if to draw her closer to him.
He cannot allow himself to draw his touch from her, but his cerulean eyes are quietly scanning her, observing the slight differences that have arrived on her from their time apart; and though he immediately finds the soft scarring around her ankle from that terrible night in Hyaline (he should have been there still, he should have never left), another change lingers on her from a different night – a night she had spent with him.
Warrick says nothing yet, content to be basking in the warmth of her body and to know that she is safe and protected. He notices the swelling of her barrel, a gentle weight that she carries beautifully, but does not address the obvious just yet. He’s alone in his thoughts, a sense of pride washing over him at the idea of children (something that he had not been expecting, but Warrick had not been expecting Tang either and it was such a glorious thing), his heart twisting with a sense of love and adoration he had not felt until this moment.
“You should not have traveled alone,” he says tenderly into her skin, a hint of a laugh reverberating in his chest as he chides her. He pauses, his lips turning downward slightly as he suddenly becomes serious. “You’re alright?” He asks, his voice quiet and cautious, referring to what he could only imagine as a frightening and terrifying experience for her.
This year, she had felt the winter more than she ever had before. It seemed like whenever she stopped moving the chill would settle into her bones. So, she had kept moving.
But now, she is in Tephra. She can feel her muscles loosening under the gentle touch of sunlight and her bones thawing in the warm, salty breeze. Tephra would be a good place, a safe place, for her children to be born.
The sound of approaching hooves puts a stop to her grazing, and fresh excitement in her chest. Her breath catches as Warrick come into view, the wings tucked neatly to his sides surprise her and a soft and amazed “oh,” slips from her lips as he draws up beside her.
But nothing can distract her from the happiness she feels at being together with him again. His touch completes her thaw, and the expression on his face melts any concern she had felt. Tangerine leans into his caress and places her own touches along the line of his shoulder and the muscles of his chest, nearly humming with contentment.
So much had happened in the short amount of time they had been apart, but that would have time to talk about all of that later. His voice is full and flavored with a laugh, and the tenderness of his tone sooths the little wounds she had been accumulating.
So, he knew. Of course he knew. Other kingdoms were involved, news would have spread (she did not know Amet himself had brought Warrick the news). In the turmoil of that night her burn had only been a minor incident compared to the rest of the damage, and she tried to remind herself that things could have been much worse in the weeks which followed.
But right now, she just wanted to be happy - she didn’t want to see him frown. She kisses the corner of his mouth where his lips have grown taunt after his second question. For months now she had been suppressing all the feelings that senseless violence had stirred in her. Amet already carried too much guilt for that night, she wouldn’t add to his burden by letting him see how it had changed her. Tangs eyes like liquid honey look up to Warrick, gently pleading. “Later,” she says, softly. “We have more important things to talk about first.”
The light returns to her face and she gestures to her thickening waist. “Come spring, we will have twins.” The excitement seeps through her voice as the words spill out of her and her eyes sparkle as she pictures the boy and girl she had seen in her dream.
Suddenly Tang remembers he knows nothing of her odd dreams. It must seem strange to him that she spoke so confidently of the twins and not just one child. “Or, at least I have a feeling it’s twins.” She lips at his blue mane between her sentences, not ready to put any space between them.
She has come to him, just like she did last winter, to spend the warm few months in Tephra and to lie beneath its warm sky and sun, to bask in the salty spray of the sea and to listen to the waves as they pound against the darkened shoreline, to hear the ever constant rumble of the volcano as it settles down deeper into the earth.
His concern doesn’t melt away, not yet, until the velvetiness of her lips purposely press against him, a reassuring and certain gesture that allows him to exhale slowly, his warm breath sweet against her creamy skin. He won’t press her, he won’t push her, and thus allows her to hush him, her gentle eyes sparkling with excitement as her mind shifts to something else, something of extreme importance. His eyes become illuminated as she whispers of spring, the warmer months so close yet so far away. But the stallion cannot help but draw away from her momentarily as she mentions twins. He lifts his muzzle from the golden patterns on her neck, inquisitively watching her to visually see her confidence in the way that she had spoke.
Twins?
Warrick swallows hard, a feeling welling up inside him that had long since been repressed. The delight in his eyes does not fade, but there is a hint of sadness in the blue irises as the edges of his face soften, his smile not as bright as it had been before. Beyah, he thinks to himself, his mind reflecting on his own twin that had been his lifeline for so many years.
Not wanting to worry her, he reaches forward again to fill the space that he had involuntarily created, pressing her warmth against him. “Twins,” he murmurs a bit breathlessly into her slender neck. Should he even be that surprised? Twins were obviously a family genetic that has been passed down, but the idea of watching two foals grow up as he and his own twin had, leaves him with a mixed feeling of excitement and hesitancy – no longer were the stars the only reminder of what he had lost, but now his own children would bring him those memories. “I am a twin,” he says quietly, sure that Tang already knows this but wanting to explain his sudden quiet stance and thoughtfulness.
Was? Should he say was a twin? He doesn’t correct himself, but methodically flutters his cobalt lips across the patterns of her skin like he always did, a thoughtful yet endearing expression on the auburn of his face. He closes his eyes, letting his lids flutter as he inhales deeply, her scent mingled with the smells of her travel filling him, reminding him of the light that she brings him and that he clings to so desperately.
He takes a step or two back to brush his muzzle away from her neck, pulling the one outstretched wing towards his side, his mouth lingering softly on the soft swell of her belly that begins behind her shoulder, a gentle smile pressing into her. “Twins,” he says again, more confident now and with a gusto that had been absent a moment before. “I do hope you’re right,” he says with finality, pressing his lips in a swift kiss on her before stepping forward and standing shoulder to shoulder with her again, allowing himself to take her head beneath his chin.
She can not take her gaze from his blue, blue eyes. The turning path his thoughts are taking is hinted at there, in those eyes. Much of her future hinges on his reaction.
She hoped he wanted them, her, here with him. She knew not how long it would be before she grew restless in the false summer of Tephra, but she wanted her, their children to truly know their father and understand his world - for they would probably never see hers.
Tephra would be a safe place for them to spend their first years, not all of Beqanna could boast of such security as Tephra could provide. When they grew strong and lean they could decide on their own which paths to follow, but the burden of motherhood was new and she was taking her responsibility seriously. Tang knew Warrick well enough to know he would never turn his children away, but she wanted him to want them, not just tolerate them here with him. He gave her no reason to think this, but she had to be sure.
The happiness in his eyes is clouded but still there - diluted but glowing around the edges in the same way the sun shines out from behind a passing cloud.
Warrick takes a step back and she is inclined to follow. But with an effort she surrenders control of the space between them to him, staying planted where she stands. Her face is still bright and she looks to him encouragingly, turning to the side to better show off her middle. She had been given weeks to process what motherhood meant to her and for her, he was just finding it all out. She had been confused at first and not sure how to feel, it was only expected that he too would have a cycle of emotions when finding out such important news.
“I am a twin,” He say, almost as an explanation. The touch of sadness completely understandable. Soon, the sadness seems to turn into thoughtfulness as he returns to her, running his muzzle along the new swells of her body. As if making up his mind he speak again with more confidence than before. “I hope you’re right” And with those words her heart fills with joy - hot and boundless. Tang pushes her head against the safe place below his chin tears threatening to spill onto her cheeks.
Of course he wants you here. She lingers, enjoying the sound of his pulse and the warmth of his body, trying to settle her unruly emotions. The rustling of his wings brings her out from her shelter with a start, she had not even mentioned them, she had been so consumed by her own news! This time, it is her turn to take a step back and give him a looking over.
“Well! You seem to be moving up in the world!” She doesn’t question the origin of his wings just as she does not question her new dreaming. This world of magic is full of mysteries and she is content to leave them as such. In an instant she is back at his side and she uses her muzzle to lift one of his great blue wings, tucking herself neatly beside him, her side presses into his and the wing covering her back. Tang looks up and back, enamored with the shimmering feathers and all their texture. “I can’t even imagine. They are beautiful, Warrick.” She says with a sigh, her eyes full of admiration. “The twins will never get into any trouble with their father always watching from the sky.” A laugh escapes her, she could picture Warrick circling in the thermals above as their children made new friends and learned to explore on their own. Thoughts of Solace and Svedka are never far from her mind and she is happy to have finally shared them with him.
His mind wanders to the future, of children and laughter and a family; a thought that had only been a figment of his imagination for so long. It had been stripped from him and now, utterly unplanned, he has been given the responsibility, duty, and sense of belonging that he accepts whole-heartedly, and thankfully. He would protect them, protect her, more than he had ever done – he would not lose this family - not now, not ever. A certain seriousness hardens the angles of his face for a moment, his brilliant blue eyes electric and sparkling as he silently vows that he will never be torn from their presence like he had been in his past, he will never be absent and always protecting.
She allows him the time to digest their new future together, the quietness that grows between them one of patience and understanding, a comfort as he sorts through his thoughts. His heart is elated, knowing that he would never have to fear that Tang’s prolonged absences from him could become permanent – her soul now intertwines with his own, now physically as well as emotionally, and their story now weaves a new chapter together. She presses into his embrace happily, his heart thrumming joyously in his chest at the sense of pride and comfort she brings him, closing his eyes momentarily to soak in all that has happened and how after all this time, they still have found each other; a bond unbreakable.
Her voice, bright and gentle in the stillness of the warm air around them, chimes excitedly as she steps out from beneath his strong embrace, and though his eyes glimmer affectionately as they open, he wishes to be surrounding her once more, a compassionate hold that does not so easily loosen. But she is noticing his wings, her honey-gold eyes roving over his new features like he had just done with her. He allows her enamored stares, grinning bashfully as he extends them a little bit more as if showing off, stretching them just enough so that she could tell that the wingspan itself is extremely large and almost frightening (to him, anyways, who still is uncomfortable with the power that is harnessed at his sides). His own eyes leave hers to look at his own appendages, curiously watching as the thin bones bend and move with just a mere thought.
She brings herself back to him and he immediately sighs contentedly, and he chuckles gently as she draws beneath one of his great wings, curling beneath its shade happily. For the first time since the wings have been present, he is happy to have them. He wants her to always feel safe and secure with him, and now there was a way to physically do that. “Thank you,” he says, his deep voice soft and meant only for her as he nuzzles his nose into her cheek, kissing her gently. “And neither will you,” he says jokingly, his sweet kiss turning into a playful nudge against her, simultaneously bringing her closer to him with a tightening of his wing around her. “I’m not sure why I’ve been given them, but I’m not one to question such magic.”
He pauses and brings his cobalt lips away from her skin so that he may look into the gentle gold of her eyes. “Have you named them?” He asks her this genuinely, wondering if he could put names to the small children he already pictures in his mind.
07-25-2017, 07:07 AM (This post was last modified: 07-25-2017, 07:08 AM by Tangerine.)
tangerine
face to the sun
Tang watches as the lines of his face harden, but do not darken. She admires the strength she sees there, a new brilliance which is foreign to her eyes but at home on his features. He wears this new resolve well.
She inclines her face into the touches which heat her blood, bringing warmth to her cheeks and ears. But as they change from ardent to playful they bring warmth to her heart. His gentle banter, his meaningful looks she feels at home tucked in by his side. The wings are fitting.
He asks her of their names and she can hold her excitement bubbles over again. “Oh Warrick,” she breathes “I've seen them in a dream, it was a beautiful dream and you were there! The filly she looked a lot like me but with your blue eyes and streaks of the most brilliant blue in her mane and tail, I have been calling her Solace.” her words spill out of her in breathy excitement as she remembers her vivid dreaming “and the colt, he looked just like my father, pale gold and white and wild. But he too was marked with blue like Solace, I have been calling him Svedka."
She watches his face carefully, more carefully if possible. Maybe she should have waited to speak with him before naming them, they were as much apart of him as they were her. "I was thinking Tephra would be a good place for them to grow up." A little pause as she gauges his reaction. "At first at least, until they get a little older and can travel and make up their own minds." Tang looks around her briefly before looking back to the blue of his eyes, "there are so many living here now! They will be able to meet and learn from others without leaving home - they will be safe." Safe was never something she had factored in before, but motherhood was changing her.
Subconsciously she takes a deep breath, enjoying the support of his side, the shelter of the large dark wing.
She is fully immersed in the moment, his gravity pulling her in, tugging on the string of her heart like only he could. Her mind is neither ahead or behind, simply there. She cannot pull her eyes from his face seeing her children's eyes set in the fine yet strong bones of his face. “Warrick, I missed you.” she hums into his mane, happy to say his name again. She exhales the weight she had been carrying, the weight of remaining undamaged and the effort to be resilient and unaffected after the worst thing which had ever happened to her. She had been hiding her troubles for so long.
But she doesn't think on that night or the little turmoils of her soul, she weightlessly basks in the golden love which warms her, content to let it go and be herself again with him.
Her excitement is infectious, as it always is, and he cannot help the feeling of euphoria that warms him to the bone. He has come so far - they have come so far – and the memories of his dismal days and the long, sleepless nights beneath the shadow of the volcano, though still causes a certain type of ache in his chest, seems so distant and so trivial.
His soft, downy feathers rest gently against the broad of her back, their navy color ruffling in the gentle, warm wind. She is breathless as she describes them to her, and he lets his blue eyes flutter closed so that he can imagine them, patterned like her but with features that directly come from him. “They have my eyes?” he questions admiringly to himself with a bit of surprise, auburn lids slowly opening to reveal the stark blue that resides there, looking deep into the honey-gold of Tang’s irises.
Solace. Svedka.
The names were perfect, but he knew that he thought that only because it was she who had chosen them – any name falling from her perfect lips would have been perfect to him.
Despite the way that their lives will now forever be intertwined by their own offspring, Warrick reminds himself that he and Tang are still very different. He won’t ask her to stay with him now that they will be parents, only because he knows that asking would be the same as asking her to put a chain around her neck. The idea, in the past, would have shaken him to his core and sent him reeling into doubt and uncertainty – but now, he greets it with acceptance and reverence, trusting her that she will always be a part of him and a part of their children’s lives.
So when Tang mentions having the twins grow up in Tephra and her staying here until they didn’t need her watchful eye and care, Warrick exhales a contented sigh. He would have never asked her to do this and is grateful that she has offered. He looks to her, a sense of seriousness falling across his face once again.
“They will always be safe,” he says to her in reassurance with a defiant nod, pieces of his forelock falling into his wildly expressive gaze. She leans into him, exhaling deeply as if there was nothing else that held her down, and he smiles easily. “You will be safe too, Tang,” he adds in a soft whisper, pressing his lips behind her ear in a gentle kiss. I’ve missed you, too.
“Tell me about your dreams,” he says after a quiet moment, his eyes glancing upwards to rove the skies above them. “The way you speak, it’s as if they are as vivid and real as a memory. Perhaps magic has touched us both.”
ok! here is the time-lapse. I took a few liberties, feel free to add anything or let me know if you want something changed. I left the actual birthing pretty vague so feel free to make assumptions about how she responds to little things
tangerine
face to the sun
And so, Tangerine told him of her dreams and the three times her premonitions had come to pass. First, there was the dream of Ivar and the theft of Castile. The same night Amet had told her the secret of his past - but this she did not share. She kept the dragon king's confessions and invisible scars hidden close to her heart. Then, there had been the Red Mare from her homeland whose words and wisdom had soothed her soul in the dark days of early winter. Finally, she told him for the dream of the twins. The vision in which she had watched, with more joy than she had ever felt before, as her two little ones play in the flowers with their father.
She told her lover of the fear she had felt on the night of the Hyaline attack and told him of the dark shadow of a stallion which had harmed her - pouring out the hurt and confusion such a senseless act of violence had caused her. Her own passive nature had not allowed her to at first understand how a complete stranger could injure another, but time had allowed her to step back and see the brutality for what it was - the act of a brute. So much so that she was able to calm Warrick's concerned looks with the assurance that she had come to terms with it.
Months past and spring was budding. She had aged, she had grown, she was learning. Beqanna’s magic had touched her, hatred had burned her. But she had come to understand as much of it as she ever would. She was not naive enough to think she would glide through life with no trials. And even though she had never seen the face of the dark stallion who had wielded the flames which burned her, she had come to forgive him. Maybe, if she had not been made vulnerable by the fear she had felt on that night her dreaming would have never come to her.
Her second winter in Tephra passed quicker than she could have imagined - filled with the thoughts of their twins and Warrick's company. He was busy with kingdom duties and she savored the moments she was able to share with him. Sometimes, she dreamed of them without politics and kings between them, wild and roaming the wild grasslands of her childhood home. But these were not her magic dreams, these were only the dreams of a girl in love.
----
With spring Tangerine's fourth birthday came and went, and her children were finally ready to enter the world. Her insides began to churn and she knew her time had come. In the shelter in a small grove of coconut palms, she paced and grit her teeth against the waves of pain which were unlike anything she had ever know. The sun set and the new moon hung invisibly above them before she finally lay on her bed of palm boughs for the final stage of her labor. Despite the moonless sky, the night was bright; the stars shone all the brighter for the absence of the moon.
The labor was much like a dream. Later, she would only be able to piece together the night in her memories. There was a face by hers and soothing words spoken, lips on her face and pain which seemed to rip her body in two.
But those things with fade compared with the brilliance of the four blue eyes which looked lovingly into hers - the perfect conclusion to her trials. A boy and a girl. Svedka and Solace. She cleaned them gently, completely and totally absorbed by their fragile beauty. Just as she had dreamed.
They talked all night without sleep, because they didn’t need to sleep when they were together. He shared his stars and constellations with her, while she describes her dreams in vivid detail, her gentle voice painting a beautiful picture of her mind’s eye. The night bled into the day, and those days turned into weeks and then months. Despite his many duties within the kingdom, his watchful eye had always been on her. In their quiet nights alone near the beach, he would quietly study her, watching for signs of stress or pain, ready to soothe her when needed.
Many nights, when restlessness kept him awake as it so often does, he would stand beside her sleeping figure, eyes turned to the stars to watch them change and turn across the sky until spring was upon them. He would never wake her, but sometimes she would notice the coolness of night against her flesh when he would leave her, and she would join him silently with a soft press of her lips against his shoulder or neck, the sea breeze gently caressing their faces. It would be soon, and the idea makes his heart quicken and his stomach drop.
He goes to her, even though she does not call him to her side. He can’t help but be there, because where else would he be? She is tucked away beneath their copse of tropical trees that shadow the calmer part of the ocean’s shoreline, the cool sea spray misting them. The sun set on the horizon, and the moon did not follow. The stars blaze brilliantly above them, glimmering almost proudly as they bathe the world in their starlight. But Warrick’s eyes are not on the stars, not tonight.
A sheen of sweat coats her patterned skin, her breathing labored as her lungs inhale and exhale. His lips trail over her as if it could somehow ease the process, whispering quiet encouragement beneath the moonless sky. His wings flutter at his sides in worry, stretching and folding back against him with every sound that came from her lips. He would pace sometimes, worry etched on the sharp angles of his auburn face, comforting her as much as himself with soft whuffs of his breath against her slender cheek, pressing heartening smiles into the pale and honey-gold patterns of her skin.
Then, there were three of them. Warrick’s blue eyes widen incredulously as a pair of equally blue eyes blink up to meet him, bleary-eyed with a gentle squeak leaving its golden lips as it takes its first breath. “Solace,” he says in a breathless whisper into Tang’s ear, for the now-mother had no time to bask in the awe of her first child, a daughter, just yet. Pain rips through her again and he is there, smiling and whispering to her, “She looks just like you, you were right.”
Solace is now accompanied by another, patterned white and gold just like her, but his gold was not one of honey or wheat, but the gold of the sun, brilliant and bright. “Svedka,” he breathes again, but this time Tang is sitting up, meeting her children with her own eyes now. She is cleaning them and tending to them, and Warrick merely watches in awe. His heart is wrenching, and he feels as if the happiness in his chest might cause him to collapse. Tang stands and their children huddle beneath their mother as they shakily stand on spindly legs, his brilliant blue eyes sparkling with emotion and pride. His gaze now shifts to the stars, a happy sigh leaving his lips. He wishes Beyah could see her niece and nephew, his mother to see her grandchildren.
His gaze is brought back to earth, to his children, to his son and daughter and their strong mother. Tang had invited him forward with a gentle nicker, and he willingly fills in the space between them, nearly chest to chest as he presses his cobalt lips onto her cheek, whispering his adoration and love to their sweet mother, before focusing his attention to the twins.
They are standing together, side by side, blinking sleepy-eyed up at him with gentle, perfect faces.
“They are beautiful,” he says, his voice rumbling in chorus with the sea in the distance that pounds upon the shore.
He did not think he could ever love anything more than he did at this moment, looking down on his children.
Warrick
@[Tangerine]
I hope this is okay! let me know if there's something i wrote that you wanted to go differently <3
![[Image: tzang]](https://78.media.tumblr.com/fdbcab3d10b72c9635e7d3477a153da9/tumblr_p7i6dcppkv1xplguoo1_100.gif)
