[FIN] Hatching (Last Whisper & Stardust)

[Darkmoon Dancer]

A few days had passed since Last Whisper found her beloved little baby sac. Well, not her baby sac, but she had claimed it as her own, as no one else was going to take care of it! She figured that if no one was going to stop her, or claim it, then why shouldn't she take care of it?

Now this behaviour was not very much like Last Whisper. That is, not the part about bonding to something that is living. That was definitely a new trait for Last Whisper. She was used to bonding to dead things, creepy things, rotting things, but not living ones. This baby sac had awaken some sort of strange and motherly part of the doe that she had not known she possessed.

New things came in threes, she would often say, and this was very true, for not only had she stumbled upon a baby, and discovered a new side of her, she had also made friends with a mongoose. This mongoose had spent the last few days trying to get close to the baby sac, but as persistent as Last Whisper was, she could not get rid of it entirely. She would not let the two touch, but the mongoose gradually became less fussy about wanting into the rock crevice and became much more enamored by the doe. He would chatter and click at her, and even bring her food when she was too busy fussing over the baby sac. Click, she had named him for rather obvious reasons, and he had become more and more attached to her every day, much like she was growing to the baby sac.

That day, Last Whisper had spent all morning gathering supplies like food and tender branches and feathers. Around lunch time, Click had re-appeared with some tasty nuts to eat, but refused to share them. By dinner time, Last Whisper had finished adding soft feathers to the nest of sorts that she had made alongside and underneath the sac. She knew it was going to be any day now that it would hatch, and so she kept adding more and more down every day in anticipation.

The sun sank through the sky, making it's way below the horizon, being pushed out of the way by the dark night sky. A few stars were already visible here and there, but the moon shone rather brightly this night, casting silver on the Swamp and it's inhabitants.

Last Whisper was outside of the rock formation, trimming the trees that stood over it's entrance when all of a sudden, the mongoose came tearing out of the rocks and weaved circles around the doe, darting in and out of her legs, clicking like mad. Her head came down to attempt to nudge the little fluffball to calm it, but it simply dashed back into the rocks. Her ears perked up instantly, a thought crossing her mind. Could it be...? The dark doe quickly ducked down and crawled into the space, making her way towards the sac at the end. She made it to the edge of the nest she had made and lay down, tail twitching expectantly, but she stayed quiet. She barely breathed as she watched the sac bulge uncomfortably and move more than it had ever before.

Click ran up the doe's leg, shoulder and finally settled by sitting atop her head to watch from there. He was almost as excited as the doe he sat on was. He shook, nose quivering, as his tiny little eyes peered into the darkness that was lit by Last Whisper's eyes' red glow.
 

[Darkmoon Dancer]

The doe watched, utterly amazed at the entire process as the sac began to move more and more, putting strain on the edges that had attached to the walls of the tiny cave. She held her breath as she saw a part of the being inside valiantly push at a specific point until there was a minuscule p***k of a hole, which grew very slowly as the little one inside persisted with it's clawing, with it's pushing, and with it's biting.

The first part that she saw was a tiny little nose that quivered in the new found air on the outside of it's dwelling, and shortly after that she could see it's entire muzzle: it was the brightest of yellows and white. She didn't have to wait long to look upon this little foal's entire head, as soon enough it pushed it's way out of the sac and lolled, presumably very tired from all of this activity. She stretched her neck out to sniff at the little one, take in it's very first scent, but she did not yet touch it, not wanting to distract it from the mighty task in progress.

So she waited, withdrawing her nose, and watched as the little warrior's front legs managed to worm their ways out, one after the other, and then finally the entire bundle tumbled out, landing rather heavily, which made Last Whisper gasp softly and lunge forward, but she stopped herself before coming too close. She told herself that she must approach the little thing calmly and gently, so as not to scare it, afterall, who wants a mother that they're scared of!

And so, very gently she crawled forwards, Click sitting atop her head, between her horns, and nuzzled the little bundle of life that had just escaped it's sac. Her tongue made it's way over the little foal's head, down along it's neck, and then over the rest of the tiny body. She cleaned it thoroughly of the slime that all babies found themselves covered in when they first hatched, and by the time she was done, it seemed like the little foal was soundly sleeping, so she wedged herself in closer, curled up around the little one, and lay her head across it's little tummy. As she listened to it's steady heartbeat, she too fell asleep as the thoughts in her mind fought to tell her which would be the most important to teach the little one first when they awoke, but in the end, sleep won out, and it wasn't long before mother and adopted son were sleeping, curled up together next to a broken, slimy sac where the mongoose quickly scurried over and began digging and rearranging it to make a nest for himself for what was going to be a long, hard-earned nap.