In a strange twist, Mesec actually had a bit of luck over the last couple days. He had almost forgotten what it felt like for things to fall together nicely. Or, at least, nicer than they had been going lately. After his trip to the Veins, the demigod had travelled north - drawn towards the Basin by two small figures.
He had personally destroyed any chance at family in the Throat but he still had family somewhere. Or, temporarily there at least. Mesec had no idea if he was ready to actually be a father full time but he wanted the chance to try. First he had had to get Ki’irha’s blessing and he lucked out on finding the star mare, taking a moment to tell her everything. Almost everything, at least. It didn’t seem right to show up, offer to take the kids, and leave her still with nothing more than his name. He wanted to be honest with her, wanted her to know exactly who was with her their children.
In the end, they agreed that while she was busy, it would be better for the kids to have the supervision of one of their parents. So the family was moving.
He asked Ki’irha to be the one to tell the twins, though he stood beside her as she did so - marvelling once more at how much their children actually looked like them. He knew it wasn’t always the case - he barely got anything from either of his parents who were bay and purple. Just his mother’s eyes. Vesper had them now too. They were both drops of the night sky - Virga the deep black of the sky and Vesper the shining silver of the stars that glittered there.
The twins were a distraction - the simple presence of them pulled him out of the darkness of his mind, away from the things he had done. Away from the taste of his friend’s blood in his mouth, away from the look of fear in Zero’s eyes and the sound of his screams.
He hadn’t slept since that day - and though his mother’s healing had removed the physical wounds it had not erased what he had done.
The guilt was a boulder in his stomach, weighing him down. Being with the twins helped, but in the back of Mesec’s mind he knew this was temporary. He couldn’t live with what he had done forever, but he wanted some time to be a proper father before seeing a more permanent end to his misery.
Lucius hated such thoughts and made that fact well known. With his wing still injured, the zephyr did not swoop above the twins to play as he would like but rather sat nestled among Mesec’s wings - chattering at Vesper’s zephyr and at the twins, or biting Mesec’s neck when his thoughts went too dark. There may not be any danger of transforming into the warg accidentally, but Lucius didn’t want to hear it.
So south they travelled until they reached the northern stretches of the Thistle Meadow. There, Ki’irha took her leave but promised to return soon.
Well, now what??
Mesec had spent some time alone with his children in the Basin but this was significantly different. It was just them. And it was still light out so going to bed didn’t seem like the right solution.
He stood there awkwardly for a moment, looking from the foals to the scenery around them. The late afternoon sun gave the Orangemoon meadow a golden look - with the oaks starting to tinge orange and red on the tips of their leaves and the grasses fading to a rich brown. Rustling in the grasses nearby and the flash of a Thistle Fox helped break Mesec from his trance. Turning back to the twins, he flashed them a bright smile. Enough of forced travel today, he wanted to enjoy the afternoon with them.
He wanted to forget, to distract himself. Mesec feared that if he stayed still for too long, stayed quiet for too long, his demons would swallow him whole.
“Come on, let’s go explore!”
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