everyone I know goes away in the end, Skellig - birthing

[Ryatah]

“What have I become, my sweetest friend?
Everyone I know goes away in the end."

He is there, and she doesn’t mean to take him for granted the way she has been.  She knows he didn’t have to be. He could leave, like she does, but for some reason they have never played that game with each other. She holds nothing against him when he leaves altogether, just as he buries his questions for her beneath reassuring kisses and gentle touches. But, she knows his heart better than she knows her own, and she can feel the way it quivers in his chest, wondering what he did to deserve the way she seemingly punishes him.

But she cannot tell him. Not right now. She has to fix it first.

Her mistakes are not at the forefront of her mind, however, as their newest daughter has finally found her legs and was currently wavering uncertainly. Even without sight, she has done this enough times to recognize the sound of a newborn’s stumbling, staggering steps. Ryatah places her muzzle alongside the girl’s slender rib cage, offering gentle but firm support as she guides her to nurse. His name suggestion brings a smile to her face, and how quickly he rejects himself, turning to lip at his emerald green mane. ”I love your name suggestions,” her voice is hoarse from coughing, but even still there is a tenderness that will always be reserved only for him, as she nuzzles lightly against his neck.

She turns her attention back to their daughter, her blood-stained lips trailing carefully along the length of her jade-colored spine, feeling almost guilty for even touching her. Her throat burns with tears that can’t be shed, the sorrow of this — and everything else — shadowing the joy that had previously been on her face. But when the filly stumbles her way to the front of her parents, warm milk dripping from her lips, Ryatah cannot help but to smile and press her lips to the vibrant, white star on her forehead. ”Evenstar,” She says quietly, before tilting her head in Skellig’s direction and adding teasingly, “But Max for short.”

She sidles alongside of him then, shuddering even though the spring air, especially in Tephra, is not cold. His skin feels cool in comparison to her fever-hot own, and a sigh rattles in her chest. ”I don’t know. Keep her in Tephra, I suppose.” With her shoulder resting against his, she does not have to see his face to know he is worried. She can hear it in his voice, and can feel it in his lips against her forehead. Curling against him, and placing a kiss against his jaw, she murmurs reassuringly, ”She’ll be okay, love. We won’t let anything happen to her.”

Evenstar, meanwhile, has decided to press herself against her father’s chest. She stretches her delicate muzzle to touch his, and then her mother’s, her doe-like eyes bright as she smiles happily up at them. In this land of turmoil and heartache, she doesn’t even realize how lucky she was to be born to two parents that love her. Her short white tail flicks at her green haunches, nibbling lightly at her father’s similarly colored coat, before carefully squeezing herself between both parents, and promptly curling up on the ground below.

RYATAH

you could have it all, my empire of dirt

@[Skellig]

Um it’s okay cause there’s no such thing as too long of a Skellig post and also they are way too cute, even being tainted by what a terrible creature Ryatah is hahaha