PERSEPHONE

Physically, Persephone had endured an easy pregnancy. She had not wanted to believe it was so, worried that it might slip away from her at any moment if she dared to relax, but eventually, when she could feel the foal moving around and kicking, she had begun to enjoy it, just a little. She had a good baby that never pained her, strong and safe inside her belly.

But that was just the problem. Once the foal was born, she would no longer be quite so safe.

Emotionally, and mentally, things had been so much more difficult. Persephone fretted internally over the upcoming war daily, all the while doing her best to remain composed and confident in front of the rest of the herd, those who trusted her to protect them. She had barely left Luthien in months, partly because she didn’t like to leave the Forest unguarded for any length of time, and partly because she was concerned about news of her pregnancy travelling to her enemies, once she had begun to show.

If Warsaw or Cullen got whiff of the faintest of weaknesses they could exploit, she was sure they would not hesitate to use her current state to their advantage.

On a cool, late spring night, however, it seemed the worst of her condition would no longer be a problem. It was dusk, and there was moisture in the air. It smelt like rain, and the cool air was invigorating against Persephone’s steadily thinning coat. Normally, she would have been setting out on an evening patrol of the borders before the darkness set in fully, but tonight the pains of labour had driven her into the deeper parts of the Forest, where it was quiet and sheltered.

In the distance she could hear the presence of her herd, the frolicking of the newborn foals from earlier in the season, the quite conversations of the adults brought towards her on the gentle breeze, and the comforting scent of all their smells mixed together on the trees. The labour was painful, but not unbearably so, and eventually, with soft grunts and low groans, a tiny filly hit the soft, leafy ground with a muffled thud.

Persephone lay there for a few minutes, catching her breath and licking the new-born clean until the little girl began to stir and squirm. Persephone got to her feet, her legs a little weak beneath her, but for a moment she forgot about the pain, and all the anxiety that troubled her mind constantly as of late.

For a moment, her mind was only filled with that little girl, and it was a sweet relief. Those first couple hours together, as her daughter struggled to find her feet and stand, and then took her first drink from her mother, were the purest bliss that Persephone had had in a long time.

all of your demons will wither away

mixed, bay varnish roan, 14.3hh