Welcome to Gaia! ::

It was curiosity moreso than stubbornness that made her reluctant to leave her third child behind in its egg sac. Initially, Stormslick had been prepared to mourn what she believed to be the loss of her third lamb, but, as she realized that there was, in fact, a very young and fragile life still developing within, the totoma had decided to remain with it -- this must be how the kin that had fathered her children had developed. And that, in turn, made her a sort of new kind of mother, in the strange new swamp.

She refused to allow the frailer, sleeping kimeti not-yet-lamb delay her instruction of her totoma-blooded children, and so started to teach them. But Stormslick always returned to the third child to keep watch over it, equal parts eager, anxious, and protective of the little one. Totoma or not, it would still be one of her blood, and she planned to raise it as such ... whenever it chose to awaken fully to life.

(( Are Too, want to hatch and meet your siblings? =D Gilded, you're welcome to join us if daddy is sticking around and you're feeling up to it? ))

The Totoma lady regarded the struggling creature with a combination of curiosity and caution, knowing that the youngling was her blood, but at the same time not recognizing it, since it had not arrived as her other two children had. She plodded around the struggling little one, wondering whether to help it at first, but as she watched it fight through the film of the egg sac, Stormslick's pride swelled and she elected to simply watch. Kimeti or not, her children should inherit her strength. If it could not fight into the world, it could not fight to stay in it.

... And then motherly instinct caught her up and Stormslick stepped forward to offer her third stranger child a welcoming nudge into the world of the wakeful.

Naptime is over. Time to grow. ... Kimeti. Of course, first-born, it had no name.

The little thing looked so weak, squirming with closed eyes out of the strands of goo like some insect with wings still wet. It was tottering, nearly hairless .... but still hers.

She kept near, but not touching it, and tried to coax it to come to her. Calling for his mother, was he? Then the totoma would use that need to teach the littlest brother how to walk. Stormslick took a half-step back, lowering her head a little and rumbling softly.

Your mother is here. Come, follow me, follow my voice. You are not totoma, but you can still learn to stand like one.

It did not strike her as a harsh lesson. Stormslick had learned in this manner, as well.