H U Y A N A
the world is drowning

Huyana; she turned her head toward the soft sound of her own name, eyes groping through the moonlight for a face, a name. Carnesîr—it was the young grullo she had found distraught in the Threshold; she had recognized the exotic lilt to his words. Carnesîr, of whom she had a special fondness, for they were both foreigners in this strange land of dawn and new beginnings, decidedly tied through fate to this place they had no ties to. She thought of the child flourishing in her womb, who would be equal parts stranger and native, who would know no other land than Helovia, who would only know the splendor and antiquity of its ancestral home from her own words, the stories she had gleaned from the Guardian of Tomes.

The rain girl smiled at the scholar meandering towards her on deft cleft hooves, looking frightfully more slender as she grew ever wider with the glad encumberment of the general's nestling—she puzzled over this, fretting over his deteriorating state, but her obvious pregnancy had piqued the grullo's interest—that much was obvious from the wonder in his earth-colored eyes, the inquisitive lilt in his features that asked her so many questions. How have you been? Are you... you are with foal? A foal?, he queried aloud, if the astonishment in his face had not inquired that already. She laughed at this, clear and bright like summer rain, blue eyes glittering with amusement at his directness. "I've been well, Carnesîr," the mare managed to answer between chuckles, "I am with child," she confirmed. Who with? her mirth paused, a sudden tenderness permeating through her gaze. Huyana watched him thoughtfully, letting night-sounds permeate through the air between them. "Deimos," she admitted softly, warm and earnest in the way only a lover can sound. Lips tilted upward dotingly, wondering if he would express disbelief at the thought of death creating life, as she had upon the discovery of her pregnancy, and she beamed at him, feeling more open-hearted than she had in a while.

She tilted her head. "You are thinner than I remember," Huyana murmured with eyebrows furrowed, sounding concerned, taking a tentative step out of the frigid water toward him, cocking her head with worry for the meager scholar before her. All the previous bliss she had bore before had drained out of her face as her eyes went over his alarmingly willowy frame. "Why?" It was her turn to be direct.