My belly is round with child, and yet I press onwards. It has not been so long since our leader's warnings against the Aurora Basin, and yet it has been long enough to make me uncomfortable. I have heard no word of attack; in fact, I have heard no word at all. Somehow the ominous silence creates an urgency that has not been there before, and so despite my rather unfortunate condition, here I stand. The air is chilly, though it does not snow in the desert, but my body is coated with a sheen of sweat. Before me, a sheet of metal rises, bending and twisting beneath my will. It is hard work, though it is not physical work, and it pleases me to be doing something for my herd. It distracts me, too, but I try not to think of that.

The metal falls gently into place, following my directions exactly. It is nice to have at least one thing in life that will listen without questioning my orders. Skysong didn't, and now she's gone. If I look back, I am lost, I tell myself, pouring energy into my work and shoving the guilt away. I will find her. I will. I just don't know where to start. And I'm in no condition to go gallivanting across the realm, not now. Perhaps when the babe is born... but no, not even then, for I will again have a tagalong. No, I throw myself into my work so that I don't have to acknowledge that I will likely ever see my daughter again.

My pair of necklaces sway gently as I walk, a rose on a fine, silvery chain and an amulet on a plain rope. Both are gifts from my unborn child's father, a steed that has made me his, in his own way. It is not a traditional love story, perhaps, but what about me is conventional? My life has been a mess since it began; I don't know why I thought it would change when I entered adulthood. But somehow I am happier now living in chaos than I was trying to live the lie that I thought I wanted with Note. I had loved him, I thought - or perhaps it was simply the ideal of love that I had fallen so hard for. I shake my head, refocusing my energy on the wall, hoping to forget it all, if only for a little while.

"talk talk talk"
@[Valentine]

Live... I want to live on fire
Die... I want to burn out brighter
Brighter than the northern lights
Want to live to feel the daylight