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Spider had not bothered to show her face at the Festival. There were too many kimeti there, and she had come to think that a Legendary kimeti suddenly appearing among the masses would have detracted from the point of the festival. She'd considered moving around in her other-shape, but the idea of suddenly coming upon two kimeti in the heat of the moment had neatly shut that idea down. How would she act? What would she do?

So, instead, Spider had been industrious and roamed the swamp perfecting the art of charm making. She had collected a large amount of feathers (lightness of heart), flowers (for beauty), strong liana vines, mouse skulls, the jawbone of what she thinks is a lynx; things that nobody but Spider would put stock in or make work.

It is in one of these quiet places that she's laid a days' collecting on a large flat cypress stump, reviewing her finds.

Wood Spider's ears flick backwards as he approaches; she turns to greet him with the little smile she uses to greet everyone. With Nudge's display of politeness (so unlike her first meeting with him), the smile grows warmer. "Hello, Nudge." She looks around the clearing, which is thick with birdsong and the warm light slanting down through the mangroves, "What brings you to this part of the swamp? The festival, I'd imagine?"

The momentary safety Meets-the-Sea had felt at Nudge's side after her declaration on the stage had disappeared when the two kimeti were separated in the crush of the crowd. They had been trying to escape the hubbub of the festival, to find a quiet place to sit and talk together, or perhaps simply to make their way slowly back to Nudge's pond, pleased in each other's company. Of course it couldn't be that simple, Meets thought to herself, beginning to panic at the push and shove of the crowd around her. She knew the best plan would be to get to the edge of the clearing and find her way out into the woods calmly, and surely she would find Nudge there -- but the horde of kimeti around her seemed to be watching her, a million eyes, causing her thoughts to become panic-ridden and race out beyond her control. Frantic, Meets began to run to the nearest patch of woods, hoping she would reach her destination before the paralyzing fear took over entirely and she was reduced to a whimpering mess, curled up underfoot on the clearing floor.

After an agonizing minute, the doe reached the borderline of the woods and all but collapsed, closing her eyes and panting, taking in the sounds of the forest to bring her back to herself. A few moments later she thought she could hear a familiar voice -- hard to distinguish over the fading dull roar of the festival, but one that she thought belonged to Nudge. Gathering herself, she perked up her ears and attempted to follow it.

Relief floods through his mind, and unconsciously he relaxes. Meets had gotten free, after all. He is glad, and it's clear in his voice as he asks, "Will she? That's wonderful." His shoulders visibly drop from the bunched, tight position the'd been in as he had prowled the trees looking for his lady.

His typical stoicism gone, Nudge does something odd for him: he raises his voice above a gentle speaking tone. "Meets!" he yells to the trees, "we're over here!"

Hopefully the mild doe isn't so panicked that she can't hear him. He hates to think of her being frightened. "Meets!" He calls out to her again.

Nudge is relieved even further when Meets appears in their small clearing. And he blushes beautifully under his fur when she begins to rub against his neck. He dips his head to lay it between her shoulders, confirming that she is real and unharmed.

"This is my mother, Wood Spider. Wood Spider, this is Meets-the-Sea, the doe I was speaking of." His mother knows who she is, of course, but it's courtesy to introduce both to each other. Nodding to the pile of feathers and other charm-making bits, Nudge says, "Wood Spider makes charms for those she feels need a bit of help."

Meets-the-Sea can't help but smile in pure happiness as Nudge nuzzles her, the lingering shivers of anxiety left over from the bustle of the festival dissolving almost instantly. "Your mother..." she murmurs reverently, raising her head towards the legendary. "I had no idea..."

The little doe is still with wonderment as her eyes meet Wood Spider's, her heartbeat seeming to slow as she is enveloped with an immense feeling of calm and well-being. A small gasp of surprise escapes from her mouth as Spider touches her nose to Meets' side and for a moment Meets is more than herself. She can feel the entire swamp, the connections between the lives of everything and everyone, the all-encompassing, all-feeling presence of the motherfather -- This must be what it's like to be a legendary, she thinks, full of awe and amazement. To feel so connected to all things...

All of this happens in but a moment, and then in a flash of understanding, just as Spider's nose leaves her side, Meets can feel the life of the swamp growing inside her, and lets out a small, surprised, "Oh!" and turns her face back towards Nudge, almost beaming with happiness.

Wood Spider, standing with her hooves primly together, looks at Nudge; after a moment, her head tips to one side, bones making hollow clicking noises as they slide over her forehead. Shaking a ticklish feather away from her ear, she suddenly seems to understand the source of Nudge's sudden caution, and then smiles; the expression is warm and breathless. "Nothing is wrong, other than your apprehension, Nudge, but I assure you all will be fine."

Her gaze is distant, though she looks between Nudge and Meets-the-Sea; perhaps she sees back through the dim ancestral memory of all of the Legendary kimeti, looking back through countless does and bucks, all who sought out a blessing after their courtship to ensure the life and easy birth of their clutches. Though this searching takes only a few seconds, to Nudge it might be a lifetime. Wood Spider, standing ethereally still, looks as though a stiff breeze might blow her over, as if she's been moonstruck. Then reality snaps back into place.

She wheels around, back to the broad, flat rock she had laid her charms on, and selects a tangle of liana vines, a brilliantly red feather, and a mouse skull. It is some doing to weave the vines in through the skull's eye holes, and to use the flower's sap to stick them to the skull, but at last she has developed a charm that is easily carried (if, perhaps, a little macabre -- the mouse's empty sockets now holding bright red blooms). This is presented to Meets-the-Sea; if the doe holds still enough, Spider sets it gently on her back amid her back spines, and then takes a step back, chin held high.

"Your children will come into this world and have the swamp at their feet. Neither they nor you will want for anything," at least for several months. And then, to Meets, she adds, "It will be easy. Rest afterwards and you'll be on your feet within a days' time."

With this bit of feminine mystique accounted for, she turns to Nudge, and her eyelashes flutter -- perhaps in mirth. "Everything will be fine. I promise. I know."