She can hardly keep from smiling. Pressing her nose against the soft, supple skin of the newborn companion (her companion, she thinks with another chill down her spine), Tiamat closes her eyes in a moment of sweet, overwhelming joy. Is this really happening? Has she really been gifted such a blessing? Part of her feels like she could wake up at any moment, a simple pinch or nudge ripping away the most beautiful moment of her young life—it seems so fragile, she fears she might smother it. (But can you blame her?). Sapphire nostrils flare and her throat tightens beneath the weight of her emotions (such sweet, sweet emotions) and a single tear manages to squeeze from between her eyelids, trailing slowly down her cheek.

When the deep, gruff voice of the black stallion suddenly pushes through the silence, Tiamat nearly starts in surprise. Her attention must have been so consumed by her little soul mate—whose wouldn’t be?—that she had entirely missed the arrival of her dear friend. Sniffing any more tears away and inhaling a gasping breath in an attempt to regain her voice, the ocean mare turns her eyes to the scarred healer, keeping her cheek gently resting on Nimue’s nose. “Thank you, Nox,” she smiles with glittering eyes, “It means ‘lady of the lake’; I thought it would be fitting.” Her gaze lingers for a moment on the Basin’s unfreezing lake, before shifting to the babe who has been born at its banks.

Could there ever be a moment more perfect than this?
More meaningful?

She chuckles lightly when both Nox and Rexanna question exactly what Nimue is. “She,” Tiamat corrects the golden mare with a warm smile, a hint of amusement sparking through her eyes, “She is a Leviathan—a creature of the ocean, and a cousin to the larger whales there. I’ve only ever seen one before.” She doesn’t fault them for their ignorance; there are many things she has yet to learn about Helovia herself. Memories rise of the pegasus’ Ardere, a floating dolphin who had captured her heart instantly. Now, on this humble early evening, her whole soul has been captured in those large, ice-blue eyes.

“She is beautiful,” the ocean mare breathes, almost reverently. Exhaling a warm breath across the little Leviathan’s face, Tiamat attempts to encourage Nimue in leaving the egg’s shell. Uncertain of this large, new world, the blue orca retreats with a squeak. The Mender smiles, and laughs gently. “It’s alright, my darling—come say hello. They want to meet you,” reaching again, the mare manages to coax the babe to her side, who presses desperately against her legs. Staring up at the strangers with her crystal eyes, Nimue hovers in place, lips parted in a little ‘o’ of—mostly—fear. Tiamat lowers her head to stroke her companion, smiling against her smooth skin.


Nimue reference <3
“Speech.”