Solace
. . .
In the final days of her pregnancy, Solace had been a lumbering, uncomfortable mess. She had kept to her secret meadow and let Kagerus shoulder the day-to-day business of the kingdom. But then the twins had come, and to her surprise, life hadn't become much easier. In the first week or two after the twins were born, she had barely slept. When one Clegane slept, Valdis was hungry - When Valdis dozed, Clagane wished to explore the mountains. She had been pulled in two different directions at every moment despite the help offered to her by Hyaline's residents.
But now as the twins grew (and they could survive without eating every ten minutes) Solace found that she was regaining some semblance of her former life as Caretaker.
With a skip and a glide, she overtakes the bone-plated stallion, and they come to stand together among the stony foothills. "I think it's his calling," she laughs in response to his first question. Svedka had taken to babysitting with ease like he did everything else, and her children had been charmed from their very first interaction.
But suddenly Smoak's smile grows a little more cautious, and the curtain of his pale forelock shields his face from her. His weight shifts away ever so slightly as his next words find her, and Solace reaches out to brush it away from those hazel eyes she had always admired. She thinks better of her actions as her muzzle drags gently across his brow, but she finished what she set out to do anyway.
"Stay with me today, Smoak. We can patrol together." Her tone is light as if she had not noticed the awkwardness which threatened to put a damper on their conversation, and she glances out across the empty miles surrounding them. But before they can continue on their way, her resolve breaks, and she cannot pretend she did not notice the downcast air of her childhood companion any longer.
"Smoak," she begins, unsure of how to put into words the uneasiness she feels, and the deep concern she has for his happiness. But then she changes her course, not trusting herself to say the right thing and her care-free smile is back on her lips. Springing into a trot, the gold splashed mare covers several paces before calling back to him.
"Let's trot and talk, I've been standing around for months. Tell me, did you have to fight off any intruders while I was tucked away in a cave? Or maybe you were the welcoming party for a lovely, free-spirited woman who has already come and gone?"
@[Smoak]