At this point, I was basically blinded by fatigue. I was also growing itchy to leave the Basin for just a little bit. There was only so much you could do, only so many faces to see every day and I felt as though I couldn’t be annoying anyone further. I knew that Frostfall was approaching, but the chill of Orangemoon from the fading Tallsun was still on my breath. I figured I could at least venture out a bit from the Basin and if need be, I knew that someone would have to pass by to return to the land. So if I did run into a bit of trouble, I’d be safer to stay in the Steppe at the furthest. With that thought in mind, I kept my mind on the goal of only traveling that far, though it wouldn’t take a lot to keep me from traveling further depending on how exhausted I got from going to the Steppe itself.

I carried a swollen barrel full of life and spunk. The child seemed to dance around at odd parts of the night, and so my travels to the Steppe set foot bright and early in the morning. The pink hues danced across the sky of dawn and fell onto my pelt creating a light orange coloring. It was clear today, but it was also chilly. I watched the sky as I made my way to the Basin’s border and when I took my first step across them, I couldn’t help but to smile to myself. Step one, out of the Basin. Step two, tell the child to not pull anything while we were away from home. “You better stay in there until we get back home, okay?” Muttering to my child and to myself, I looked back toward the sky briefly before orienting myself by looking down through the mountains.

I took breaks as I needed them and moved on when I felt was necessary. I came across a small cave lined within the Steppe along the road most traveled where I found a few small things of interest. A couple of feathers from birds that had passed by, an extremely tiny tooth that I assumed had fallen out of a pup’s mouth, and an intriguing larger back room. I made my way to the back and noticed at the far Eastern wall, there was a hole that allowed light to peek on through. It was surprisingly warm in here so I took the time to investigate before I figured I’d continue. During my small resting period, I flipped over a few rocks looking for anything of interest. Nothing came up other than the typical things of dust and a few insects. When I thought I was ready to move on, I felt a small kick in my barrel followed by a larger one.

“What did I tell you before we left the Basin?” I spoke to the two of us, eyes shutting as I breathed in. It was nothing like a contraction, so I wasn’t really worried in that aspect. But I hoped that it would only hold on for a bit longer. My previous pregnancy’s contractions were rough and definitely one of the worst pains I had experienced aside from Calstron’s magic use on me. These little kicks seemed like nothing compared to those. My ears flickered down in annoyance before figuring I’d wait a few moments here, hoping to soothe the baby. I knew it wouldn’t be too long until the child was born. Perhaps it was spending this time while I was active to move around and get ready. I wasn’t sure, but I knew that he couldn’t be born out here. It would be too dangerous.

About an hour passed without any movement from the child, causing me to breathe a sigh of relief. I looked toward the opening, contemplating on if I should leave and head back to the Basin or travel deeper into the wilds of Helovia.

"Talk."

I had a dream you were two towns from me

GOT TO SLEEP,
     spent the whole night

running