07-06-2017, 07:43 PM
tangerine
face to the sun
This year, she had felt the winter more than she ever had before. It seemed like whenever she stopped moving the chill would settle into her bones. So, she had kept moving.
But now, she is in Tephra. She can feel her muscles loosening under the gentle touch of sunlight and her bones thawing in the warm, salty breeze. Tephra would be a good place, a safe place, for her children to be born.
The sound of approaching hooves puts a stop to her grazing, and fresh excitement in her chest. Her breath catches as Warrick come into view, the wings tucked neatly to his sides surprise her and a soft and amazed “oh,” slips from her lips as he draws up beside her.
But nothing can distract her from the happiness she feels at being together with him again. His touch completes her thaw, and the expression on his face melts any concern she had felt. Tangerine leans into his caress and places her own touches along the line of his shoulder and the muscles of his chest, nearly humming with contentment.
So much had happened in the short amount of time they had been apart, but that would have time to talk about all of that later. His voice is full and flavored with a laugh, and the tenderness of his tone sooths the little wounds she had been accumulating.
So, he knew. Of course he knew. Other kingdoms were involved, news would have spread (she did not know Amet himself had brought Warrick the news). In the turmoil of that night her burn had only been a minor incident compared to the rest of the damage, and she tried to remind herself that things could have been much worse in the weeks which followed.
But right now, she just wanted to be happy - she didn’t want to see him frown. She kisses the corner of his mouth where his lips have grown taunt after his second question. For months now she had been suppressing all the feelings that senseless violence had stirred in her. Amet already carried too much guilt for that night, she wouldn’t add to his burden by letting him see how it had changed her. Tangs eyes like liquid honey look up to Warrick, gently pleading. “Later,” she says, softly. “We have more important things to talk about first.”
The light returns to her face and she gestures to her thickening waist. “Come spring, we will have twins.” The excitement seeps through her voice as the words spill out of her and her eyes sparkle as she pictures the boy and girl she had seen in her dream.
Suddenly Tang remembers he knows nothing of her odd dreams. It must seem strange to him that she spoke so confidently of the twins and not just one child. “Or, at least I have a feeling it’s twins.” She lips at his blue mane between her sentences, not ready to put any space between them.