[SORRY FOR THE WAIT X 10000000 @Glacia ]

I hesitated.

But of course I did. It wasn't as though I knew what to do in this sort of situation. I hadn't expected to find myself at this junction in life. After all ... but then again, no. My mind rolled back to those warm moments with Glacia, the heartbeat flutters and pulses of expectation and pleasure. Somewhere I knew that this was a possibility - her pregnancy - but I hadn't actually believed it. I had thought ... we were just two ghosts, all alone in a dream. How could that dream have become reality?

How could life have sprung up from what was almost a certain death?

And so I hesitated.

I might have just become a statue of my own ignorance and confusion right then and there, had it not been for Mauja. Am I really so unsure of my own mind, that I need a complete stranger to give me permission to move? To cry? Go on, you'll be fine. She needs you, even if she's too dumb to realize it is okay to be afraid, and to cry. I guess so, because as soon as those words reached my ears, I felt the barriers of my own uncertainty tumble and my body was able to move again.

After a few mumbled words I took to the air. It required a great deal of shoving, but luckily my height afforded me a relatively easy voyage through the sea of bodies. As soon as I was able, my embered-wings spread from my flanks and I raced into the air after the fleeing Glacia. She had a head start, but I was a fair deal faster on my wings than she was on the ground - especially with the babe - our babe - in her womb. Faster or not, it took a great deal of time to find her as she disappeared into the rugged landscape below. By the time that my sea green gaze finally found her dark form, she was crumpled on the ground. All sorts of heretical and absurd thoughts flooded my mind as I dropped like a stone towards her.

Is she-

But I couldn't even think the word, for just the mere association of the word in my brain caused a shiver to run through my body.

She couldn't be. She was just screaming at me an hour or so ago-

There was life in her, and so ...

So she couldn't be..

"Glacia-" Her name left my lips in a hushed whisper as I landed with a ragged gracefulness at her side. Immediately my knees hit the ground near her shoulder and my burning wing splayed itself over her wither.

As soon as I felt a steady warmth coming off of her, I sighed an exaggerated sigh of relief, before my tongue once again become tied.

What was it that I was supposed to say now? Did I owe her an apology? Should I be sorry for the foal? For not responding to her shouts sooner, for not finding her sooner? Was I meant to ... to congratulate her? Us? Were we an us? Was I even happy about this? Truthfully, I had no idea. I introspected quickly and found that I certainly wasn't angry or upset, but nor did I find joy readily visible inside of my beating heart.

What I felt for Glacia - for our child - was utterly hidden from me. But at that moment I was more than content to remain at her side. I could offer her that, even if I couldn't find any words.

My wing relaxed against her back and my nose lowered to her shoulder, exhaling into her dark flesh. We were still strangers, realistically speaking. And yet after our time together, touching her seemed far more natural than speaking. A spark trickled through my muzzle, my wing, and knee where we touched. I tried to ignore the feelings it illicited deep within my belly - that was what got us into this mess in the first place - but found it hard. Her mere presence was distracting.