The late autumn or early winter - whichever it was, he didn’t really mind - brought news on the wind. Or lack thereof, he thought. He knew Carwyn hadn’t suddenly chosen him over another, her husband as she’d said. But he liked to think that he could offer something different, a distraction - perhaps just a temporary escape from everyday life.

But when she landed in the fields of the Pampas, her grave face had told him enough. He’d experienced the consequences of such nights of escaping and pleasure before, and Carwyn looked no different than others who hadn’t particularly had reproduction in mind at the time.

Some called these events, and these children, mistakes.
Aodhán would never.

But Carwyn still sulked around the winter flowers, still obviously wasn’t happy. She’d had children before - grandchildren even - so it wasn’t the prospect of birth, he was quite sure. No, this was something that caused her shame or fear.

With a deep breath, he changed back into a horse, a few yards behind her, after she had passed by him unknowingly. A small butterfly became a larger form, the stallion soundlessly appeared but then his hoofsteps would be heard when he approached. ”What’s on your mind, Carwyn?”

from the ashes a fire shall be woken

The spotted male softly touched the roan’s neck, a gesture that buys him a little time while his mind races for an appropriate answer. Perhaps… ”Perhaps you could stay here a while longer?”

But really he knows what she means. ”I think you do know… but perhaps you think the things you want, you can’t have?” Really that seemed to be her problem all along - wanting two things that don’t match. It’s why she ended up with his child in the first place. It’d be easier for her if she simply left Ischia and stayed here but that was not enough. He could not be enough while her other children lived elsewhere.

”Alija came looking for you, too. I think I distracted her this time, but I don’t know how long you can hide away without it being noticed.” he finally tells her. Emerald eyes scan her with concern - she can’t stay away from home too long unless she wants this, what they have, what they’re about to have, become public knowledge.

from the ashes a fire shall be woken

It would not be fair of him to ask - he wants to things as well. Several more perhaps, too, if he had the luck to meet some more. Keep their interest. So far there had been two, and, he would not complain about that.

But his heart wanted more. Wanted all of them around. And he could not have it, for they were separated and he could not be in more places than one at the time.

Carwyn and her child were a responsibility with a looming danger, but the evidence of said danger seemed less when he was with her on land. She felt safe and, truly, if her husband was that terrifying, he could always mimic him. So when she expressed her wish to stay, he nodded. ”I don’t want to keep you from your family. But perhaps you’re right that you and the child might be better staying here, at least for a while.” He embraces her lightly, feeling her skin upon his. He wouldn’t let her return to a place she was unhappy, he decided. But most of all he would keep their foal safe, if she stayed or left. ”Or I could come with you.” Maybe. But it was a silly thought, a wish more than an opportunity.

Her naming question throws him off balance, and he disengages to look at her and frown. ”I’ve never thought of any names.” he admits. So far his children had been named by their mother, and he was fine with that. When put on the spot, honestly nothing came to mind. ”Are there any names in your family you want to reference to?” After all, his name meant basically the same thing as his aunt’s, even if he never personally got to meet her.

from the ashes a fire shall be woken