Desolation comes upon the sky // Birthing; Shah, Brennen, any.

[Scorch]

WATCH THE FLAMES CLIMB HIGH INTO THE NIGHT

She got no farther then a few yards from the thicket before his voice materialized in her mind, following only the single syllable shout of her name into the open air. It at once built up her walls and tore them down, bringing a sob to her throat even as her steely eyes blinked once, unphased. A part of her screamed to turn and to run to the child she had left on the bed of pine, but another part longed only to continue walking; to where, it mattered not. Into the ocean for all she cared. Into a place where this all would end; where no one could reach into her mind and play the one chord which would bring her to her sense.

We're not in a good place but I love you anyway, and this is not you.

She wanted to throw these words in Brennen's face, to spit on his love for her as she had spat on all the good things in her life. A wordless rage simmered and burned at the edges of her, and she knew he would feel it; would feel all the pent up anger and resentment she felt, not only in general but also directly towards the child. Unbidden, she had transferred all of her self-hatred to the growing fetus during the months it occupied the space of her stomach; it was easier to pin the blame of everything on to something that would die within a few hours, than to face it herself in her immortality.

The tiny sliver that remained true to her prior self cried softly in the deep recesses of her heart. She cried for all that had been lost; and, gently, with the last of the sway she held over the monster that now stood in Scorch's place, she reminded herself that this wasn't her.

The stony facade of her visage faltered, a blurriness overcoming her night vision and rendering her useless.

Ma.

The single word took advantage of her momentary vulnerability, the voice of her most beloved son reaching into the single brick missing from her wall of calloused cruelty to tear down its very foundation. A sob rang grotesquely through the dark shadows of the moon-lit forest, but she expected no reassurance; she had stopped expecting reassurance long ago, when she began to make bad decisions for a living.

Please, come back.

Sucking back her sobs (an ability she has become unfortunately good at, since Hestoni left her), the pitiful excuse of a mare nodded her head and turned to obey. Tears yet slid down her mutilated face, but it was now in silence. She did not know what to say to Shahrizai; the fact that he remained by her side at all in these moments was a mystery she would never solve. Her most well-treated son, here to watch her with her worst-treated son. She had no explanation for why, had no words of thanks - was instead consumed by the emptiness she had created for herself, barely feeling anything at all except for dread's nimble fingers running through her thin, thin hair.

When she returned to the thicket, she blinked and swallowed back vomit. The sight of her lover and best friend laying sweetly next to what she now saw to be her son rendered her shattered, though nothing visibly changed about her. Another sob built in her chest, and it left soundlessly. She hadn't the mind to do anything; hadn't the mind even to apologize for what she had almost done.

Not knowing whether he would support her weight or push her away, Scorch leaned her head into Shahrizai, and heard Brennen mention the child's name. Ironically, and against all odds, the mare had an immediate answer; it slipped from her lips listlessly, the same as a sigh might from one on their death bed.

"Arctyrus. His name is Arctyrus. He is Brunhild's."

She blinked slowly, lethargically, having now fully dissociated from the pain she felt for having effectively abandoned her own child out of pure selfishness. Her fragmented psyche simply could not handle the weight of that, and instead took to the skies, floating high above the scene and only sometimes properly registering what went on down below.

"I..." But she could not finish the sentence, could not admit that she did not think she could keep him. Instead, she looked down at the black babe, without really seeing him.

Scorch

Once Khaleesi of the Amazon Jungle