The weather was fierce. Though no lightning streaked across the sky, the pounding of the rains thrummed heavily against his eardrums, the sodden skies far too difficult to take to the air. He had not seen Cass for a few hours, and as always began to wonder where she would go on such a day. The Throat held little shelter, small copses of trees, but otherwise the open lands greedily drank the rain, funnelling it into the river that was moving swiftly today. The humidity was high, Azzuen’s eyes, electric blue today, peered about in the dreary weather, hoping to seek his mate and ensure her safety. It did not take him long to assess that she was not within the Throat.

Concern filled him, anticipation for their child’s arrival made him quiver with excitement – excitement fuelled by both happiness and an edge of fear. Sometimes things did not always go right during births, but his mother had survived the birthing of himself and his brother, and so too will Cass survive the birthing of our child. The thought resonated through his cranium, though he was still worried about her, he knew she would be OK. She has to be OK. He didn’t know what he would do with himself should she ever leave him. He would follow her until their dying days.

But today was not a dying day – no, today was filled with life. He walked the lands, trying to follow a scent trail he recognised as hers before the waters washed it away. As his strides lengthened into a speedy walk, he could feel the heartbeat of the lands around him, urging him onwards. There was something about today – and suddenly, he knew. Today was the day. Inspiration struck him then, and he moved swiftly now, his sure feet carrying him carefully across the slippery lands, towards where the land met the sea, knowing instinctively where his beloved would be. Breathes came faster now, an urgency that wasn’t there before shook his entire bodice.

As his obsidian form came upon the sandy dunes, he heard her call, he heard the insistence within it. Deep, reverberating baritones answered her as he strode forth, folding his wings out only enough to help propel him along – he wasn’t foolish enough to attempt to fly in such unpredictable weather. As fast as he dared to he approached her, throwing quick glances here and there to ensure no harm was befalling her other than the uncomfortable arrival of their dearest child. Happiness overwhelmed him, he smiled as he came upon her, viewing her beautiful form from the front so as to not get in the way of her thrashing wings or legs.

Lowering his handsome façade down to her own, he wuffled quietly, lipping at her wet forelock affectionately with his velveteen lips, before rubbing his muzzle along her nape in a loving and reassuring gesture. “I’m here my love, always I am here.” He spoke now, warm calming tones, knowing not what else he could do. How strong she was, to carry their child for so long, never once complaining but instead relishing in the cycle, and here now, she longed for him to be by her side, and he always by hers. Whickering encouragingly, he awaited what would come with the intensity a warrior might watch an unknown situation unfolding.

He watched, in wonder, his eyes an excited vibrant azure, blinking only when rain trickled droplets behind his eyelids. He whickered encouragingly where he could, but he didn’t want to be antagonising to her condition, rather he wanted only to support her. He was quivering on the spot, unable to contain his excitement yet unwillingly to move and risk missing a second of it. Feathered appendages had extended a little ways, providing some shelter from the falling liquid above for them. Birth was a messy process, but the sensation of witnessing new life come into the world was one he would never forget. He sorely hoped Cass was all right, and she seemed to be, the strong mare making quick work of the task of ejecting the tiny filly’s body.

A filly!

Azzuen bounded around to the foal then, unable to contain his movement any longer. He lingered back a bit of course, his wings continuing to provide shelter for like a stretched out black canvas. He looked at the filly, at Cirrus, with amazement and wonder upon his handsome crown, his svelte ears pressed forward as he eagerly watched his beloved Cass wash over her. The filly bleated where she lay, looking at the world through her bright, electric blue eyes, absorbing the towering figures of her parents. They smelled like love, and security, it was all she could process in her newborn state of being. She was shivering, not necessarily from cold, but simply because instincts told her to shiver, to get the blood moving and pumping for itself, instead of relying on her mother’s warm umbilical attachment to do the job. The small bundle leaned into her mother’s licks, her small, soft lips stretching and trying to lip back.

The stallion stepped forward now, touching his nose to the dark muzzle of his daughter, sealing the bond of fatherhood with her. Cirrus loosed a bleating that turned into a somewhat shrill whinny, and the dark brute could only chuckle warmly at her antics.
“She is perfect.” He surmised neatly, looking at his beloved mate of heart and soul. “Just like her mother.” Running his maw down her nape now he allowed mother and daughter to continue their ritual bonding, smiling fondly at the shaky filly as she attempted numerous times to gather her spindly limbs beneath her. “I should have thought of it earlier, but here-” he held his nose against Cass’ hide, and closed his eyes, focussing his magic upon her. He located the nerves within her body that might still be causing her upset and pain, and he essentially nullified them, preventing them from working anymore. He wasn’t able to remove her fatigue, only make her a bit more comfortable in her fatigue. It took barely a couple of seconds for him to perform it, and required no energy output from him at all. A smile was everpresent upon his lips, as he adoringly looked over the pair before him.

He wasn’t able to focus on them long however, before movement along the beach caught his eye. The light tendrils of mane and tail, the stockinged limbs – they were familiar to him. It was upon this beach he had first met the young filly. She was still young, though her body had filled out and her withers certainly stood a lot higher than before. He smiled at Ktulu, recognising her easily, her hybrid scent being one he had locked away when they had first met.
“Well met, Ktulu, and thank you.” He responded warmly and clearly, aiming to signal to Cass that she was a friend, as well as make the youth feel welcome here. “This is my mate, Cassiopeia, and our daughter, Cirrus.” He introduced them proudly, unable to hide the gratification he got from being able to call these beautiful beings his very own mate and daughter. Looking over his daughter once more – for he was unable to avoid being drawn back to her every other moment – he noticed something, and quirked a brow upwards in curiosity.

“Cass.. I think her coat, it’s moving?” It was a strange phenomenon, but as he looked on, and particularly if he held his wings over her and halted the onslaught of rain, he could make out strange, dark shapes upon his daughter’s hide. And a marking too! Her pelt was darkened by the afterbirth and rain, but there was a creamy blue star, inherent of the tribal markings Azzuen received due to his father’s genetics, upon her left shoulder. And wherever her hide did not fade into the same dark points her mother had, storm clouds, like those in the sky above them, seemed to roam. Even tiny flecks that looked like rain blurred across her. “A filly born for the sky.” Was all he could say, as he looked on with an awe-inspired smile curving his mouth, he was completely enamoured by her.