Warm. Why was it so warm? The fawn moved through the trees all alone, her belly swollen like a fat puppy full of worms. Her already narrow face appeared to be hollowed out from the inside, high cheek bones pressing sharply against delicate skin; the pain was not only plainly disguising her face, but cloaking her entire body. The fragile woman merely appeared to be a skeletal frame holding a belly full of rot that may explode at any given time. Her withers and spine sat in a jagged line upon her body, milking the sickly look she already wears. Sweat dripped down the back of her legs and trickled from beneath her thinning mane that reached over either side of her scrawny neck in messy chunks.

      It's only Birdsong. Why is it so warm? 'Is it just me?' she wondered as her pulse thrummed in her ears.

      Despite the heat, she moved along. She needed water - they needed water. While her body carried what weight she had kept, her mind ran back home to her beloved Dameon. Why had he left her? How could the man she admires promise her eternal love - deep, sappy love that would make their children roll their eyes -, a home... a true family. He had given her everything she had so craved her entire childhood. He embraced her body and each and every scar. "They make you, you Addie." he would always remind her.

      ...Addie. Would she ever hear the nickname again? She tries hard to swallow back the pain and forming tears, but it's difficult when your mouth has been bone dry for hours. Instead, her rough tongue presses on the back of her teeth, trying to find any saliva that may have formed since her last check. The child inside her belly twitches and stretches, her barrel flexing in response to give it more room. A single tear drips from her left eye, finding a route around the rough edges of her face to fall to the thirsty earth.

      The sun finally reaches the middle of the sky, noon bringing nothing but more unbearable heat. She has to have reached Helovia by now. Or was she even headed in the right direction? It had been years since she had left. Since they had left. The antlered woman sighed outwardly, trying to focus on something else. 'One, two, three.. four, five, six -' each quiet step was counted out in her head, slowly steering her mind away from him again.

      A large tree with upright branches and small, waxy leaves stood by itself among all of the tall, thin white barked trees and produced a small halo of shade. The ghostly pale woman quickly shifted her point of interest, now hiding below the thick branches in the warm shade. Her ribs rubbed against the smooth bark, the life inside once more moving around uncomfortably; it had to be a rather large child, as she still had an entire season to go before the child should be brought to this world. Dameon was a rather large man in her mind. Though, standing just higher than a pony, it wasn't difficult to seem like a giant compared to the fawn.

      Cyan eyes closed to the bright light of the day, images of a painted man with golden-dipped wings and godly eyes appearing in her head. He had helped her upon her first arrival to the gates of Helovia. She had been looking for her sister, Arvakl, but her weak legs and famished body could no longer take her body any further. There was a woman too, she recalled, who had watered the weak girl while in a half unconscious state.

      They had saved her life, and she couldn't even remember their names.

"Speech"