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Post by tarriedsea on Jan 1, 2020 14:57:18 GMT -6
Rearrange the Stars
Whitaker x Renata x Othala
"With every heartbeat I have left,
I'll defend your every breath.
I promise I'll do better."
after Chapter 8
The Aerie
night
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Post by tarriedsea on Jan 1, 2020 15:35:58 GMT -6
 The rustle of a cool breeze wafted over his nose and ears, a chilly contrast to the warm body beside him, and he grunted without opening his eyes. He wrinkled his nose. With the season in full bloom, autumn's nights brought a cold to the Aerie that Whit dreaded every year. While he loved fall's cooler air during the day, it was difficult to remain warm while housed in stone caves overnight. And every year, he had mostly slept alone in the brunt of autumn & winter with only wool blankets to cover his shivering hide.
Except now.
A wide yawn escaped his lips and he finally opened his eyes. Cool blue moonlight spilled over Othala's sleeping body. A snore rumbled from her throat, and Whit chuckled. Carefully, he extracted his wing from where it had laid over her growing barrel. He watched her breaths rise and fall for a moment. Earlier she had seemed uncomfortable, shifting and shuffling in place while she slept, but now she was still.
Whit hated leaving her. With his recent promotion, he was in demand daily- and he wondered if it was worth it, to leave his love alone now more than ever when she carried his child. But the rank would provide his family with protection, and he had no choice but to accept any opportunity that would benefit them. All three of them.
He stood slowly and nudged Muir, where the falcon slept on a perch. The bird blinked and shook his head. "Come on old boy," Whit whispered. Muir clicked his beak and shuddered before silently soaring out of the cave. Whit gathered his supplies and weapons and brought them outside, where he could dress without waking Othala.
Cold moonlight shone on the silver buckles as he tightened them. In the shadows, other bodies moved with the changing of shifts. It still felt strange to be the one responsible for the squadron- Whit struggled daily with the possibility that one mistake on his part could cost someone their life- but he couldn't appear compromised in any capacity when Pel trusted him so much.
After stretching his legs and wings, Whit took off with a few great beats of his wings. The cold air sliced at his face and legs, and the image of Othala still resting warm in their cave flashed through his mind. Muir zipped past him in wide circles dangling a mouse from his talons.
Whit landed on a rock face where a lineup of young, tired faces stared back at him in the starlight. These new recruits were still being assessed for competency in the squadron. With a few short orders, Whit assigned them to various posts across the Aerie for the next few hours. He watched them fly away. None of them were particularly impressive but adding sheer numbers to the Sentinels wasn't a terrible option.
Alone, he shuddered. It would be many hours before dawn broke and the cold curled around his bare knees. Best way to keep warm was movement.
He took off again, scouting the Aerie's patrolled perimeter to ensure every other shift change had passed duties. The starlit bodies nodded at him as he flew overhead. A few passed him in the air. Everything was running smoothly. The clear night watched them with a smattering of stars.
All was quiet. |
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Post by ebbarie on Jan 5, 2020 10:19:32 GMT -6
 Othala;Vagabonds | Flock Medic
I don't wanna hurt you, it's not my nature.
I'll give you everything I have
I'll teach you everything I knowFor quiet some time now the days had started to feel longer and longer. Usually her days had passed in a flash, with her work keeping her busy. But now, while she was only working a few hours at a time, and only doing rather easy work, she had way too much free time in which she fell into a state of almost tormenting brooding.
Time and time again she practically cursed her decision to take it easy in the last weeks of the pregnancy, even tho she knew that it had been the right one. Back in Talori she would have been expected to stay home completely, so it definitely could have been worse.
And while she on, the one hand, longed for the day the pregnancy would be over, and for her body to return to a normal, and better manageable state again, she was on the other hand more than relieved over each day without the overwhelming responsibility that this foal meant for them.
It was a quandary, that wouldn't exist for much longer for was already a little over the calculated term.
Every little movement of the foal, each slight ache in her abdomen was enough to make her panic for a moment. A false alarm again and again.
And she knew that this situation was almost as stressful for Whit as it was for her. He had been almost touchingly solicitous over the course of the last weeks, so at least her fear of him leaving had slowly died down.
Before she moved back to the little home she shared with Whitaker in the afternoon, she went to see Renata for a quick check up. It had become sort of a daily ritual for her. Seeing her mentor and friend always helped her to calm down for a while.
As most days before, the experienced medic could only give her a vague estimation. It didn't seemed like the birth would start anytime soon, however this could change in an instant.
Whitaker was asleep when she entered the cave, and so she tried to be as quiet as possible. He had only a few hours left until his next night shift and definitely still some sleep to catch up with. Since his promotion he worked harder than ever, to prove himself in the eyes of the primary and the squadron he was leading now.
Most days she would roll around for quiet a while without finding any rest, today however she quickly fell into an uneasy sleep. She didn't even noticed how Whitaker left for work, unlike usually.
Chaotic dreams kept her in their grip until the early morning. She was woken by a stabbing pain that made it impossible to do or think about something for a moment. With a pained gasp she curled up in the bed, waiting for the ache to fade away. Panic flooded her mind, and the certainty that this wasn't a false alarm.
Once she was able to, she struggled to get to her feet. It was pointless to hope that Whit would be back soon, his shift wouldn't end until in a few hours, so she stumbled across the cave tunnels towards the treatment rooms and to Renata.
The mare hadn't the nerve to politely knock at her door and instead rushed into the older medics room. It was way too early for her shift but she would apologize later for the early disturbance.
"Rena, wake up!" she called maybe a tad too loud. "It's starting"
WC: 587 | Post 1 |
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Post by moonlightwalk on Jan 22, 2020 3:16:11 GMT -6
Renata | Flock Sergeant
A blessing as it was, Renata sometimes questioned why the water goddess had saddled her with this gift that sometimes felt more than a burden. Times like this when she laid awake at night, feeling one thing or another she could not place. When she did find sleep it was to find dreams that unsettled her, but she couldn't quite remember. She had to gain more control perhaps which could give her piece of mind. Perhaps it were her own troubled feelings and worries that meddled with the blessing inside of her and she just had to reel it all back in. She could do that, she had done that for years. It would require practise forever and for now she was just tired, stirring in her bed for some reason for another she could not place.
It was not a surprise for her when a familiar medic barged into her room. Well it was in a way as she jerked up, trying to snap her dozy mind into attention to try and understand the situation. Yet it wasn't in the way it felt like a belated realisation. It was time, it was happening. Adrenaline kicked in as she hurried onto her hooves, thoughts already racing over what she needed. "Othala," she said calmly, grabbing a towel or two. "Lay down, dear. Breath."
Othala knew the drill no doubt, had helped deliver the fair share of foal herself, but she knew logical thought could escape even the most experienced mare when under the strain of labor. There was a big difference between helping deliver a baby and actually delivering a baby. They had to see how long it'd be now. "Tell me when a contraction hits," she instructed, starting to count as soon as Othala's face scrunched up in pain.
Post 1 | 300 words
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