T a m l i n
Becoming a dad had felt like a certainty for Tamlin - an eventual one. He had never worried over it, not even when Thorn seemed to be following in their parent’s footsteps for numbers - had known it would happen when things were right. When he found that someone who was right.
And he had. Winslow had stayed and not even the temporary relocation out of Tephra to avoid the nightmares could dampen the constant happiness that had descended in his mind. The pleasant bliss of waking up next to her and having her close enough that all it often took was a short reach to bridge the gap between them.
As she does now and whatever sleep had been creating a fog in his mind dissipates when he hears the soft fear in her voice. His eyes widen and sharpen on her and his reassurances come both gently and immediately. “It’s going to be okay, Winslow. I’m here.”
When Winslow had first started showing signs of being pregnant he had been thrilled - the only concern housed inside of this grey stallion’s mind had been whether they would be foals or puppies - because his experience told him both were completely possible.
He had asked Isilya and the magician had just laughed. Not in a mean way - but he hadn’t been able to get any actual answers out of her.
Other worries creep in on his mind as he stays close, ones he had been warned about. Concern for both Winslow and the somewhere-between-one-to-four babies he is expecting to arrive. He knows that help will not be far if they need it, and it is so strange to feel the twist of fear in his gut.
But it is not hard to keep it off of his face, to only have more reassurances for Winslow and then - finally - when their children arrive that grin brightens into something radiate. He nods, slightly distracted, when Winslow asks about the pup - if she is a shifter. He doesn’t mean to not give her his full attention it’s just…
They’re so perfect. Such a pure joy shines through him and it takes a minute to realize that the twins and their mother aren't shimmering - there are tears in his eyes.
Winslow draws his attention with the comment of how the pup looks just like him and he laughs softly, reaching out to nuzzle her sweat-soaked black and blue skin. “Are you telling me this whole time you’ve thought I was purple?” But he is glad that his ability to shift into baby animals will, for a time, finally be at least a little useful. On the matter of shifting to feed that wolf-daughter, he tries to remember if that had been part of the story of his birth. “I didn’t stay a pup very long when I was born. Maybe she won’t either.”
He had warned Winslow it was a possibility, right?
Once the pup is cleaned, Tamlin lowers his head to greet her - his daughter, and then does the same with the winged filly when it is her turn. All of his certainty that he would be a dad one day hadn’t prepared him for what it would feel like to greet these soft lilac and periwinkle twins. Will the wolf pup have wings when she's in her equine form or will she be like her mom? His own siblings came in such a wide variety there's no way to guess - and they'll still be perfect no matter what.
Winslow with her whisper-soft voice pulls his attention away from the twins and he is next to her again, his lips moving gently against her skin. “You stole my line, I was going to tell you that they're perfect because I see you in them.” He smiles but doesn't pull away, placing another kiss and adding with absolute sincerity. “You’re incredible, Winslow.” |
