The doe accepts my warmth, and I am glad she does so. While pressed against her, I crane my head. Horses shouting, so many of them calling, desperate to regain their sight. I flick my ears back, my sensitive hearing causing the shouting to be twice as loud. My head throbbed from the explosion, and my muscles ached. This was so much effort for such a small orb, for such a small unborn child. But I suppose we are all selfish in someway, no? I tried to keep Ru in mind, wondering if I and the unborn child, together, could watch over the strawberry girl as she grew.

Suddenly a mare wails, and I crane my neck, despite the pain. I watch as a pristine white mare screams a name, Faelene is the name she is calling. I drag my green gaze to an coal mare who has sunken to her knees, her body being devoured by the black tar. For a moment I think blood is pooling atop the tar before realizing it is the mare's mane, her bloody red locks trying to escape the tar's grasp. I turned away, afraid to look. Faelene, the red maned, sunk into the depths of the tar, and my heart sunk with her. We had already lost one to this stupid game, and I was about to give up. Several others had already left, clearly not wanting to take anymore chances.

I watched as a white mare with an odd red marking on her skull stamped the tar to dust, walking away afterwords. Curiously, I began to hesitantly stomp down the tar before trying to carve away at the doe. I remained close to the doe, continuing to provide my warmth. It was then that I saw the clearing brighten only slightly, a faint increase. Was it because of the love being shed? Or was it because the doe found hope within us? Did she see something behind our eyes, a hidden voice that speaks with the eyes of others?

I exhale, my lips quivering. I felt nervous, my heart thumping. I was so desperate to get the orb, for several reasons. I wanted to raise the unborn like my own child, replacement for a child I may never have. I wanted to raise the child to be a leader, a powerful creature that could live beside me. I wanted to train this child to protect Ru, and even though she's capable enough to defend herself, I would still let this child stick with Ru as protection.

I listened as the doe asked a question, a question I know little about. But nonetheless, I tried as hard as I could. I was no mother, nor had I really had no mother."For me, love is a foreign thing. I never had a mother for very long, nor a father. I had no parent figures to replace them, and so as a child I depended on my random encounters with others to guide me. I don't wish your child to go through the same thing, I wish to be a parental figure for it, to guide it to the light, to be it's light. I will love it not as a companion, but as a piece of me, a piece of my heart. Never will I once let the child go astray from it's path or stray from the light. I will offer this child my love and attention, as a mother does to a child." I look at the mare, a faint smile on my lips. My heart beat, both panicking and beating for excitement. I was eager, desperate for this hole to be patched. My soul was willing, my heart was too, willing to be given to another half. I spoke words of truth, my tongue would not lie, it would not work for the side of the dark.
"Talk talk talk"