|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2007 5:14 pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2007 5:40 pm
Was it over? Oh, god she hoped it was.
She stood calmy, though occasionally her legs would tremble for a moment, or her side-muscles would ripple and threaten to cramp. When that happen she carefully managed to stretch her body and prevent it, but all of it narrowed down to her being quite near exhaustion. Blue-green eyes searched and found the two little baskets nearby. Her children. Hers and Caelen's.
She shifted closer and nudged one of them, the sweat that had foamed on her drying slowly in the early morning. She could see the both of them more clearly now--only two, but what did that matter? Two was great. Two was wonderful. Two meant they could be closer to one another than three could. Two meant that everything was at least marginally easier.
She glanced up, curious and wondering if Mashki had goe to fetch Caelen. She would not be leaving these two anytime soon, not with maternal and personal instincts forcing her to remain. She wanted to rest, but that could be acquired later. Not here and not at this moment.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2007 5:49 pm
What in the hell was going on in there…
Caelen’s legs were trembling from the effort it took not to go tearing down the hill and into where Az had been for several hours now. She had probably been cursing him in any language she knew and hating him for the pain. But that was fine so long as she didn’t have any troubles. Some mares couldn’t give birth properly. Was she too young? His mind continued to race and the worries continued to build up.
The air had changed subtly in the past half an hour or so. Perhaps it was his imagination but two more.. Beings had popped up from nowhere. Several minutes passed before Caelen was able to realize what it was and why he could pick up on them from so far away. His babies! Two of them. Oh blessed be the saints on this day! His mind was racing and finally he allowed his legs to begin moving.
His gait was rather ambling and jerky because the shaking hadn’t stopped yet. Indeed, the happiness of knowing that all three of his loves were alive… Blessed be everything. The urge to jig was on him, but he needed to get there and be completely sure of everything. Why wasn’t Mashki coming to him?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2007 6:00 pm
"Will you be alright here, Azariel?" Came the soft voice as something touched her neck gently. Had it been anyone or anything else, Azariel would have lashed out blindly, but she knew who it was and so allowed her near. Mashki.
She raised her head, tilting the tired head to look and hear her more clearly, listening silently as her human repeated the question. A single, weary nod. If Mashki wanted to go find Caelen...that was alright with her.
A gentle pat on the neck was offered by the young woman and a soft smile, "You did well, Azariel," She praised softly, "Both of them looked healthy before they were put into their baskets. There should be nothing to worry about." A soft sigh, "Though I doubt your prince will be doing anything but worrying until I find him." The faintest chucle graced both of their lips.
"I'll go get him, shall I?" And the young indian woman vanished into the trees to fetch the new--and almost certainly proud--father.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2007 6:29 pm
Caelen wanted to know if she was alright. He wouldn’t be able to live with himself if she had been too young to have babies safely. As much as it hurt he’d rather lose the young ones then his mate. That would always be his choice. Always.
His knees were shaking and he kept coming closer and closer to where Azariel and the two-legger, Mashki, had disappeared behind a line of trees. He hadn’t allowed himself to see the exact location of the birthing.
Finally, he had reached the line of trees and nothing could happen until Mashki found him. The damned light was gone and he was now a mix of black as midnight and green. How in the hell did one get found with that… Okay, now he was just fussing for the sake of fussing. Taking a deep breathe and slowly managing to get his breathing and trembling knees under control, Caelen prayed it wouldn’t be much longer.
His heart and life was out somewhere in those trees, and no matter how fluffy and useless that sounded.. He needed to be reassured before becoming over-blown and proud.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2007 6:40 pm
Mashki didn't run, that would attract too much attention, even from someone as used to the forest as herself. Still, she had to get to the stallion soon and get him back to her charge. It was likely that one or the other would have a fit if seperated much longer. While that thought was amusing--it would also attract needless attention.
....Was she always going to have to deal with overdramatic horses?
'Least it wouldn't be boring.
A flash of green, a shade unlike that of the others that surrounded the area and she knew she was close. "Caelen," The name was loud enough for the other to hear, but just barely. Hopefully, he wouldn't be too startled by her arrival; she stepped out of the tree line and motioned for him to follow, "Come on, but be careful. Azariel is tired enough that she'll snap if startled badly."
With another look she vanished into the bush, making sure he was able to follow her.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2007 7:03 pm
Caelen heard the footsteps a good while before the two-legger got to him, but there was a reason why the steps weren’t hurried and it took more of the Irishman’s small amount of patience to simply sit back and wait for her to come to him. Why did he have to be so overly attached to one mare? He used to be a confirmed bachelor, ye ken?
Would his behavior always be so erratic when the name “Azariel” was involved?
All signs point towards.. Yes.
The last few seconds before the pale-ish two-legger emerged had his heart racing. When she peaked out at him and said to follow along, or at least that’s what he was going to assume she said, his ears were too busy panicking to pay a lot of attention. His first steps were a bit bumbling as he fussed over his mare and the desire to be with her and to touch his babies for a moment. Would the lids be on already?
Caelen picked up a quick pace only long enough to get behind Mashki. Taking her shirt and tugging it lightly, it was his way of thanking her for coming for him and taking care of Az.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2007 7:12 pm
A tug on her tunic made her pause and she glanced back at hte green stallion. Seeing his distress--who wouldn't be under great stress when the one they cared for most was away from them and having their children?--she managed a smile, "They're fine, if you're wondering," She answered softly, hoping he could understand well enough, "Azariel is tired but that's completely normal and the children looked absolutely healthy when I put them in their baskets."
She picked up her pace slightly, allowing for less stealth in favor of greater safety in the long run. Once the new family was together, the only stress left would be getting the baskets home. Sadly, none of them had thought of such things before this had occured.
"Soon, soon..." She mumbled, ducking under a stray branch, "Just remember not to agitate her and everything'll be fine..." It was more to herself than the green male near her, but she wasn't taking any chances.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2007 7:29 pm
His green eyes looked up at hers with a pleading aire before she spoke to him. The words helped to soothe him for the time being and he’d be able to go the rest of the way knowing that his little ones were alive and that Az would probably berate him for the pain she had to go through. He’d love every second of it. The words themselves were hard to understand. Certain ones made no sense but all-in-all what he got was that he had babies.. More than one.. And they were wokay.. His mate was probably just a bit tired and cranky.
His hooves crunched a bit more noisily on the sticks and dead plants that were on the ground, but that wouldn’t scare Az most likely. He had realized not too long ago that the babies would have to be moved. He’d have Mashki put the basket on her back along with herself and he’d walk one home.. Then repeat that process…
“Not… agitate?” He’d best just be silent then.. Sometimes even when he meant to make her happy Caelen would accidentally upset her. Yes, he’d just nuzzle her and let her know that he loved her.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2007 7:40 pm
Black ears flicked, acting for all the world as if she wasn't exhausted, merely...curious? Ha. She wasn't much of that at the moment.
She could hear whoever it was coming closer to her--two someones and both with familiar scents. Thank god. If she'd had to become what her instincts had first demanded at the time--Yow. That would have hurt both her and whoever was coming. Lovely though, wasn't it?
She raised her head, standing over the little ones protectively despite the obvious presence of who was coming toward her--she had conceded that much to her instincts without too much defiance. Damn, she just wanted to sleep. Was that too much to ask? A glance down at her feet made her sigh softly. Yeah, it was. And it was worth it too.
Caelen... she groaned inwardly, Get your green butt over here and let me go home! I'm tired and sore and dammit if I wanted to be fussed over for a bit!--Not that she'd ever say that outloud.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2007 7:55 pm
His own ears were pricked forward with keen interest, it’d be a only another moment before he was sure of how his family was doing.
The slight movements inside the enclosure made him positive that Azariel was safe. From the looks of where they were it’d be comfortable for several hours of sleep before picking up and going back to their home. It’d probably take all day fussing over Az and going slowly to get the two or three? Babies homes.
Finally they had arrived. His head peaked in before the rest of his body moved into where she was standing. What was the etiquette for this? Did he check on Az or their babies first? His mate won out. Moving carefully and slowly, Caelen stood in front of her then took a step closer, letting his nose and neck rub against hers lovingly.
“Ye did so good lass… I don’ even need ter ask ye. I knew ye had it in ye.” His neck pressed against hers for several moments before leaning down to sniff at both baskets carefully… They were beautiful.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2007 8:05 pm
Azariel watched him silently, her blue-green eyes havig caught sight of him before he'd come into the small clearing. Was she supposed to be pleased or bemused over the fact he came to her first instead of the children? Did it matter a wink? Not at the moment.
"I'm glad you think so," She answered softly, weariness etched into her voice, a weariness she futily tried to throttle down. She didn't want to appear like some exhausted completely worn-out creature who couldn't take care of herself or her body enough to handle something such as this.
She watched him as he looked at the baskets, wondering for a moment if he cared at there were only two. She had been surprised--almost relieved--to discover such. Three children were quite well-known to be more difficult than two.
A sigh escaped her as she had the sudden temptation to lie down--which was quickly over-ridden by both stubbornness and instinct. Instinct certainly wanted to rear it's head today, didn't it?
"It's over," She said finally, lowering her head a bit, too tired to keep it up for long, "At least...this part is over. I'm glad about that." Oh, boy, was she glad she wouldn't have to deal with being huge and bloated and hungry and absolutely feeling blech any longer.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2007 8:13 pm
Caelen moved back from inspecting the babies to nuzzle at her neck happily. He had two beautiful little baskets and while he hadn’t seen into the basket to know the appearances or genders it really didn’t matter to him. Both were alive and happy.
“Ye did gloriously.” Okay, so maybe he really didn’t know if she had done good or bad, but the fact was that she HAD done it and more pitiful mares had tries to get out of child birth and rearing. His body shifted to be shoulder to shoulder with her with his neck overtop of hers.
That positions was their usual for sleeping. Some days after a bigger fight he’d have to wait til she fell asleep to wrap over her, or he’d be too stubborn to go to her so neither would really sleep. Co-dependence was either scary or wonderous.
“Well lass, it seems ter me we have a good chance ‘o not bein’ run too ragged by our wee ones.” Just two, honestly he wanted to jump for joy. Any more than that would probably turn her against little ones.
“It’s jest beginnin’ lass but from here on out I’ll be at yer side.” This part of the cycle of life took a lot of comfort in your mate to want them with you. Now to get some sleep, “Alright lass. No arguing’ ternight. It’s warm enough here we’ll jest sleep til morning an’ then figure out how ter move the babes home.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2007 8:27 pm
Azariel accepted his affections with as much of a return as one could muster after such activity and didn't object to his wrapping over her own neck. She'd moved past that enough, and itwasn't like she could avoid him for long. Sometimes, that wasn't too encouraging.
Having to depend on someone else was still new to her, though barely and she still wasn't entirely comfortable with this new development of co-dependence in their relationship. It was a rather trying thing at some points.
A resigned sigh, "I don't know about that," She grumbled softly, eye-half lidded, "Just because there's only two, doesn't mean they won't have gotten enough spunk and high-strung attitudes for five of them." Good lord, who's bright idea had it been to combine both of their tempers into little beings?
She nudged under his head with as much dissendence as she could muster--a bit of a nudge, hardly anything worth the effort expended, "You were by my side before it," She mumbled, "Granted, you were a bit late in coming--" A faint sound that could have been a chuckle, "--But you still came, didn't you? That's more than I can say for most of my family." How happy could she be? None of the children contained anything like her mother's looks. Anything there could be written off easily. It was wonderful. She wasn't sure how she would have dealt with a child in the shape of her mother.
"How can you be tired?" She asked, determinednot to sleep for just a minute longer. Just a few moments, "All you had to do was wait," She wasn't trying to be insulting, but who could blame her for wanting to talk a bit more? If only a little?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2007 6:37 am
Caelen continued to rub up against her and since she couldn’t see his face she couldn’t see that his eyes were trained on his babies. The scent of them was soft, but at the same time strong enough to put him at ease. Both of those were likely be interesting little buggers.
Az was warm and soft and the stress of the past few hours had caught up to him, but now that his muscles and mind weren’t clenched up or racing a mile a minute just talking wasn’t nearly as stressful.
“Ye’ve a point there lass… but we kin jest hope that they don’t have as much as we’ve got?” They were both young and overly active, others usually found him to be offensive with how much he moved around. She kept him on his toes so it worked out in his opinion.
Ahhh yes, that infamous fight. It had been nearly 8 months ago or so when they had had that rather volatile yelling match. Both of them had been in a rather cranky mood for it, and now thinking back on it Caelen almost wanted to shudder. He couldn’t imagine coming and taking these two babies away from their mother. No way - no how. “They’re both so beautiful lass… Although I’m thinking I may have ter be partial ter the one that carries yer looks so obviously.” Not that either would get more love or affection from him, he just didn’t want to be vain and love on his own looks.
“I was stressing’ the whole time.. But now that I’m here with ye I’m much more content than I was.” Very much content, if she wanted to stay up and talk for awhile he’d be happy to oblige. They’d have to start talking names soon afterall…
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
