It rained again, a fresh autumn storm tore through the early hours of the morning. Outside, the rain lashed and the wind howled its fury through the valley. The sun was up by now, but there was no telling the time so think was the blanket of stormclouds that obscured the sky, the darkness interrupted only when a crack of lightning split the sky. From the safety of her cave, Aisling listened to the harsh whistles and booms of thunder, content to hole up there and not venture out again until it passed.

She lay back a ways from the opening, enough to watch the storm but still be safe from the wind and rain. With her head resting plaintively on the cool stone ground, she was curled around an egg the size of her hoof that hid safely in the nest she'd carefully assembled from soft cloth pilfered from Johnny's supplies. The egg itself was a creamy white, flecked liberally with spots of a deep green. A rather squat little thing it was still pointed more on one side but only just. Aisling wondered if whatever creature came out of this egg would be speckled too. Was that how eggs worked? She wanted to ask Johnny if Jellybean's egg had looked like her, but that just made the sadness knock on the door of her mind,

The minty stallion himself was further back in the cave they shared nestled with Jellybean, both still in deep hibernation as Johnny recovered from the blistering Tallsun. Never is her life had Aisling seen anyone sleep so much and though the air was cooling, her love still would not wake. He was still alive, but as the days dragged, the girl had begun to fret that he would sleep forever, like some cursed prince. 

Aisling sighed heavily, thinking of Johnny even as she watched her egg. Though she often cuddled up to him to sleep each night, she still missed him terribly and all the more now that she had something exciting that she would have wanted to share with him. She knew that Larue missed her father too, though the girl may try not to show it, Aisling knew she couldn't compete for favorite parent when her darling man was in the running. Tap. Tap tap. Hearing it again, Aisling raised her head, eyes alert and ears pricked forward. She had thought she'd been hearing the tiniest of sounds from the egg all morning but with the storm raging it had been difficult to be sure. She had definitely heard it now.

"There you are, a stór, I hear you now." Exceedingly gentle, she brushed her lips over the shell. Whatever life stirred there, she wanted to encourage it, to help it, but all she could do at the moment was wait. settling her ead down so that the egg was at eye level, Aisling watched with growing excitement for the tiniest of twitches and listened for the tiniest of taps. When a little crack appeared on the surface of the egg, she gave a little gasp of pleasure. Waiting.. waiting...

you choose the road, Love, and I'll make the vow

and i'll be your true love forever