With the scent of cold wind still in her tangled locks, Noel walks slowly, weaving through the wide trunk and glowing mushrooms of the Taigan woods. She had left the triplets with their elder sisters, needing the freedom of the skies for at least a moment. She had never imagined the possibility of having three children all at one time. Though Noel has never been given to worrying overly much, even she found herself taxed under the weight of such responsibility.
She sincerely hopes Nash will return soon. She is not certain she could ever have managed to remain as strong as she had without him to lean on.
Beneath all that however, a thread of guilt thrives. She knows his responsibilities are great. How he manages them on top of her and their brood of children, she’s never quite certain. And the guilt grows, because she is quite certain she has not shouldered nearly as much of it as she should have.
When she has drawn close enough to hear giggling through the trees, Noel draws to a halt, the glowing impression of her footsteps fading slowly behind her. Gaze lifting, she stares almost helplessly into the trees before releasing a sigh drawn from deep in her soul. Her own mother had seemed to handle having children year after year with far more aplomb that she has. It might have been pleasant to wonder how she’d done it, but she’s positive she already knows. She had only to think back on her own childhood to recall.
And if it weren’t for Nash, it would have been so very easy to let them run as wild as Ryatah had let her and her siblings.
As she stares into the canopy, she finds herself wishing once more that he would return soon. Not for their children’s sake, but for her own. It is a terribly selfish thought, but in that moment, she finds herself wanting nothing more than to curl into his warm embrace. And if she were not so lost in that longing, she might have easily found herself just as terrified at how much she was growing to need him.
- noel
@[Nashua]