Amaris was no healer, no midwife. She had never witnessed a birth before, never welcomed new life into a herd - unless one counted the birth of her beloved cousin, Tandavi. But she had been a child then, and her memories were fogged by the joy of receiving a new family member, a cousin to love and play and frolic with once she found her feet.

Queen troubled, Dramyrth rumbled through their bond. He wasn't too far from her, but still, she puzzled over how he knew this knowledge he shared.

A dragon queen? she asked in return, wanting clarification, prying more words from his limited vocabulary (and his nature to be a dragon of few words anyway).

No, mare-queen. Painted-queen, he clarified willingly, urgency colouring the mental tones he used over their bond.

But how..? the question hung, unanswered only for a moment, as an owl rushed past her seconds later, having already met Dramyrth and alerted him. "Hemlock?" she questioned the bird, who seemed to hoot in confirmation, before continuing onwards in his flight, hesitating when she did not immediately follow. He doesn't like dragons - something is wrong, was the conclusion the dragonmare came to, as she urged motion into her limbs. Through their link, she felt Dramyrth stir and fly as well, scouting the way so that his beloved could traverse the lands more swiftly.

"Alysanne!" came her cry as she rounded the bend in trees to view the sweaty, restless hide of her Queen. Smoothly, the dragonmare moved in close, all thoughts of decorum and paying respects forgotten as she motioned to close the space between them, to use her own body as a barrier to make the mare stop and rest. She reached the mare's side and slung a wing over her, holding her in an embrace, feeling the contractions as they rattled her tired body.

Amaris did not know the specifics of what Alysanne was going through, but something inside her - call it instincts, perhaps - urged her to ensure the laboured mare laid down. That much, at least, she could remember of her cousin's birthing.

And if her queen would not comply, Amaris would summon a touch of the magic she had barely dared use since acquiring it, the magic that could paralyse one (with added pain if the dragonmare chose, though she did not wish to inflict any more upon her friend and queen), to pause the painted mare's motions, to give her time to talk some sense into her.

"Look at me, Alysanne," deep, steady tones spoke, authoritative where she had no true right to be, besides being a friend whose mind and body were not currently fogged and troubled with pushing out an entire new citizen. "Breathe," the dragonmare instructed, and breathed with the mare. "Now, we're going to lay down, you and I," she said, using her free wing and tail to push some leaves and soft loam around so that the area they laid would not bruise or otherwise hurt their hides.

"Come on, with me now," she encouraged, buckling her own knees to show that she was going down, that her queen should follow her - subtly applying more of her stilling magic should her painted queen feel the need to try and move off again.

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ooc: Shout at me if anything Amaris has done oversteps the boundaries a bit too much. She only attempts to use her magic to hold Alysanne in one place if Alysanne looks like she'll keep walking, so feel free to ignore it completely if Aly listens to her straight away xD
@Alysanne

Amaris