No dreams within her heart,
but dreams of love.

The mare’s tulip-shaped ears flick to the side when she hears her name, the call managing to tear her attention momentarily away from the enchanting creature (an elephant! She has learned) and her egg. Having already recognized the uniquely accented voice, it comes as no surprise to see Galiel prancing to her side, but that doesn’t mean that Tiamat is any less excited to see the little one. She offers her young friend a bright smile, her features haloed by the dim light of dusk. “Galiel! Hello, my dear,” she welcomes the winged filly with hushed delight, trying her best to restrain the enthusiasm that hums eagerly beneath her skin.

Movement from the elephant’s large ears brings Tiamat’s eyes back to her, widening with awed wonder when her voice—as lovely, soft, and tender as her song—explains what exactly this is. A hopeful assembly, a happy gathering for the Little One, the precious egg. The blue mare’s heart swells within her breast, warming her from the inside out, so enraptured by the very reverence of this meeting, that she fears she might be glowing herself!

Overwhelmed for a moment by this joyous veneration, Tiamat does not speak at first, listening instead to what some of the others have to say. A few of them mention a parental love that they have given, or have wanted to give, while others seek after the companionship that this egg would bring, a union not only of friendship—but of life and soul. Could there ever be a more beautiful bond?! The ocean mare already feels herself surging with emotion, that when Galiel speaks up and mentions her grievous loss, Tiamat cannot hold back the tear that wets her cheek. Whickering gently, she reaches out to the filly, pressing her lips to the top of her neck and nuzzling softly.

Galiel is not alone—even if the companionship of this egg is not granted to her, she is not alone. Tiamat will not allow that to happen. The blue mare cannot distinguish why it is the little filly’s plight that grips her so fiercely—perhaps it is their relationship with one another—but nearly every one of these individuals seems to have not escaped life unscathed. Tiamat’s heart leaps for them all, wishing only to comfort and heal. After all, it isn’t only injuries of the body that her healer’s heart seeks to rectify.

Sighing a heavy breath to steady herself once more, the ocean mare glances around the circle. By now a majority of them have already spoken. She looks again to the elephant, feeling a wave of calmness and love settle over her with the wrinkled matriarch’s gaze. Tiamat doesn’t know what she’s going to say yet…but she does what the elephant has asked, and follows her heart. “I don’t think I would be a better guardian than anyone here, nor do I suppose myself more deserving than them,” white eyes circle the gathering, offering them a smile. She declares the truth—each of them seems to have spoken from the heart, and each of them has shown nothing but caring devotion, which is what every child deserves.

“I have yet to be a mother,” Tiamat continues, pressing velvet lips together and exhaling from her nose, “but I have felt the precious love and companionship of family, of friends,” she looks fondly between Zero and Galiel, ever grateful for their friendship, “and I would not squander even a moment of the love that this child deserves—that any child deserves—and share with it both the magnificence and goodness of this beautiful world.” Her grin brightens across her lips, too captivated by this moment—this miracle—to try and hide her rapture. “Innocent eyes needn’t be tainted, after all,” the last is hardly a breath, more for herself than anyone else. The purity of a child is far too rare, too fleeting…she only wishes it could stay with them all.


notes; Wishlist Searching for a leviathan; no prior refusals.
AB Herd Member—extra name into draw from Sept. Herd Champions.
“Speech.”