belladonna, in italian a beautiful lady; in english a deadly poison.

Had Lakota known that Resplendence was ill at ease, exhausted by the disappearance and final return of her own daughter, would she have bothered her in her clumsy passing? The Poisoner hadn't the faintest idea. Her head felt like the cottonwood fluff that decorated the winds just before summer, intangible and fuzzy. Wasn't she a selfish person? Or was that just who she wanted everyone to think she was? It was confusing, she was just so damn tired. Couldn't she catch a break? Invasion, pregnancy, Ktulu disappearing, her brother eluding her, her aching fucking hooves. She loved the little tyke already, but the pregnancy itself was not nearly as uncomplicated as her love for her baby.

A crimson dragon spiraled above her, and Lakota watched it warily, distrusting of fire and all it came with. Instead she focused on the mental and emotional strength that Aodaun was pouring into her like molten silver, thick and beautiful. She clung to it, used the sharper state of his mind to focus on the mare that emerged from the clinging tent fabric of her crumpled tent. Lakota moved no farther than where she'd approached, not out of disrespect but because she could simply go no farther. Hooves were held aloft in circulating turns, trying to ease the ache but only chasing it away for mere minutes. But if she stayed too still, the nightmarish thoughts would return with a vengeance. Or worse, an actual nightmare to plague her dreams with worries of inadequacy and impending solitary motherhood.

A smile was managed at Resplendence's words, finding it amusing that the Medic was the Kitten and she the Lioness. And yet it was Lakota who had come to her with the thorn in her paw, not sure whom else she could turn to. This was what she got for having no friends, she mourned bitterly to herself. Aodaun could say nothing to that, could not lie to her, because she truly had none. Instead he pressed against her foreleg, sharing his head and strength should she somehow disastrously crumple and fall. It was an appealing idea, with how she ached all the way up to her knees from walking alone. Not to mention how bruised she felt inside from the tyke's vicious kicking at not being expelled sooner. I'm trying, bambino, she thought woefully at the child. It was not her fault the labor had not set in at the correct time. Perhaps it was the stress. But wait, didn't that make them come early?

Aodaun mentally prodded her as Resplendence spoke, repeating the words Lakota had missed in her haze. She didn't hesitate to brush her maw against the similarly velveteen lips of the Medic, eyes slipping closed in a horrific, pitiful display of weakness. Lakota was a nymph of touch and affection, but her walls were too far down for her to conceal her positive reactions from the Medic. "I don't mind, most people just call me Poisoner," she snorted, a little bitterly as her eyes sluggishly opened again. Gods, how could one body be so tired?

Ah, what did bring her to the Medic's tent? Was it a sense of loss, of uselessness? Why hadn't she grown used to that in the Edge? New herd, new place to taint with her uselessness, she snapped at herself. Firstly she answered the offer, still trying to sort out why she was there, how much she should say without making Resplendence think less of her. Wasn't she supposed to have a hardass reputation? Why did people even like her again? Oh, probably for my magic. Aodaun whined beneath Lakota's tired words as they finally drifted free. "Thank you Kitten, but...I don't think I can even make it there at this point," she laughed, more of a weak huff of breath than anything.

"I...I came because..." Aodaun whined louder, and Lakota mindlessly hushed him, a soothing sound she normally didn't make aloud were she not in such a fuzzy state. And to her horror, those god awful hormones decided to kick her right in the fucking face at that moment, and tears began quivering in her eyes, chasing the cusp to spill down her cheeks. With a blink, they did, and Lakota gave a somewhat hysterical laugh as they came pouring down. "I-I don't know what to do," she sobbed, eyes scared and plainly shown, because she didn't know what her body was doing to her or why she was so emotional. Her dam had never liked her, had never let her near when she was pregnant with Hana, and Lakota had no experience with pregnant mares aside from - clearly, now - herself.

"I haven't seen Ktulu since our quest when I was made pregnant, and I can't find my brother and I have nobody to help me with this!" she half-yelled, for it was all her tired vocals could manage. It came out in a rush of emotion and distress, but she was far from done as she hung her head in one last attempt to hide how far she'd fallen. "I don't know what I'm doing, I-I have no experience with this, and the foal is late and it hurts so bad because it won't stop kicking, and my hooves hurt and my spine hurts and -" she broke off on a sharp breath in, almost hyperventilating. It came right back out as a rattling sob. She'd completely lost control.

"And I'm emotional and it scares me, because I don't want anybody to see me like this," she wailed, heartbroken and terrified. After a few heaving breaths, trying and failing to get herself under control, Lakota whimpered out the last few words on her mind. "I don't want to be alone, I don't want to raise my foal alone, and I'm so scared I'm the one who made Ktulu leave," she squeaked brokenly, eyes like shattered amethyst stones as she lifted them warily to Resplendence's, unsure of how she would react. Probably laugh, revel in her misery because the tainted mare deserved it. Hadn't she always? Perhaps this was just another cruel joke from the universe aimed, as always, right at her.

Lakota