Months had come and gone in a flurry of wonder and pain. The uncertainty of what would happen soon became quite certain as flesh began to pull and her stomach began to stretch. It had been a mere nuisance at first, the growing and changing of her bodily matter, but then it became a trial nearly unbearable in its validity. Too many truths had been laid bare and too many long nights had convinced Essetia that it was likely she’d been wrong for making them so. Her days were spent feasting on vegetation both dry and moist- anything to settle the growing hunger pangs that seemed to consume her every desire. If nutrition wasn’t the focal point of the day, then sleep surely came as a close second, and between the two Essetia found her time entirely spent nurturing the child within her womb. 

As mysterious aches and twinges gathered themselves within her joints and muscles, the Spy was quick to catch the bodily messages her child sent from within. However, as time passed and her patience waned, Essetia began to realize that the ultimate battle of her life was soon to come. Perhaps that’s why it came as no surprise when she woke from a rather fitful sleep with little to no appetite.  The warning signs were there and for the first time, the mare was experiencing a restlessness that appeared to have no end. Shortly after an abundance of pacing and fearful inward complaints to Romul, Essetia finally sought the comforts of the sea where the calm ocean breeze might cool her heated skin.

She’d been right to seek the balming rush of the ocean, because as the waves rolled in, she found herself finally able to breathe. Ulrik had come to mind more than once since their intimate-encounter-turned-one-night-stand had occurred, but the Spy was too ashamed or too embarrassed to relay her condition. A creature with child was nothing like the animal they were before… and Essetia knew that. She’d become a mere shadow of her former self and more a complacent maid, best left out to graze. The fire and the wit and the burning determination that had drawn the Engineer to her side had dimmed to a dull spark. Sheer exhaustion had made sure of that.

Romul paced the sands before her, watchful and protective. Since her conception, the wolf had been nothing more than a menace. His coddling and careful attitude had grown tiresome, which gave the Spy another reason to rejoice the eminent birthing of the beast that had robbed her of her strength. Still, she lacked the proper maternal instinct that most mothers clearly embraced, but she did pray in quiet moments for it appear just as suddenly as the child itself. She tried on numerous occasions to imagine what the foal might look like- would it have his eyes? His wild, unruly mane? Of course, those thoughts were quickly banished by the torrent of wolfish scorn for the man that had yet to inquire about his… deeds.

As the pain began to bunch and chord through her stomach and back, Essetia stood taller than before. She would fight as she had always done, wishing and hoping for the things that would never come for her… It wasn’t fear of becoming a mother or that she was an unfit candidate for the job, but rather the idea that she’s imagined it differently and with more love.

Soon enough the agony became too much for the Spy and she dropped heavily into the moist coolness of the sand. She intended to wait as long as she could before she welcomed her first offspring into the Throat. For it would be a day she would always remember, even if it shared ties with good and with bad.