Megaera watched as the mare and stallion clashed. Despite the urgency there was a moment when she stood, utterly captivated, wanting nothing but to watch the battle-craft unfold. The brindled mare changed tack but Einarr shifted to match. He lifted himself for a strike, and the warrior in Meg marveled at his power. He was skilled. He was mighty. He was terrifying.

The strange nudge at her belly had the rapturous warrior snapping back to the present situation and her place in it. She whipped her head around, thinking of the foul cat but stopped in shock at the sight of the little filly routing around under her. What on earth? Meg stared for a brief second, bewildered, before some untapped instinct whispered to her. The babe’s hungry Gentler than even she might have thought possible, she reached down her nose to nudge the poor lass away with a quiet, if certainly strained murmur “No, child, I cannot—“

More yells from the fight behind her cut off Meg’s words and she flipped her head back towards the battle. The foul bitch was reciting her list of all the people she planned on killing and it sent another bolt of fury through the Megaera. She lunged forward, intent in aiding Einarr in the mare’s destruction but only made it half a stride before yanking herself to a stop. A wretched growl of frustration ripped from her as instincts warred. Megaera was a warrior and had a warrior’s instinct to attack but what held her back was older, deeper. The need to defend and to tend had never before been at the forefront of Meg’s concerns but it was knit into her blood and her body. She had to choose: be a spear or a shield.

Shield won out in the end and the mare whirled around to the black pair, they needed her, as did the chick that trembled in his hiding place underneath her mane. She embraced that connection again, trying to calm herself and send that calm to Gwaihir. Rhoa was attempting to guide the tiny child southward and Meg knew she must see them both home safely. She moved up alongside them, trying to place the babe in between them. “Come along then, my strong girl, we’ll get you home.” She tried to speak gently, to reassure all four of them, but as soon as the words were out, she had to let out a scream.

There was fire on her back, a hot liquid burning that fell from the sky. She screwed up her eyes, trying the hide her face before she realized that the other two would be in the line of fire as well. Quick as a flash, she threw out her wing to cover the filly and as much of Rhoa as she could reach. The acidic droplets fell across her outstretched wing but she would not retract it until they were in the clear. It cut at her to hear there terrified trills of the chick as he suffered her pain with her and when she moved to urge them all on her voice was a plea as much as anything else “Move!”