It was about the time that she saw him with his birth-son that she realized that she could invest far more in the stallion than what came from mothering that boy. He was achingly yearning for good, as though there had been so much more bad than even his face had held when they were back in the wildlands. Such a depth of feeling, such a depth of yearning - a woman like Berit could thrive nurturing it.
She tells Vulcan to help Carbon, Vulcan being unusually well behaved and doing so without even a flick of his heel or hesitation. It makes her wonder if she shouldn’t have him swim the strait between the islands more often - but never was she one to look a gift horse in the mouth, so to speak. She steps between father and son because it is swiftest to her point, to his father’s point, but she regrets distancing Cain all the same. She knows he feels the loss of his still living son, that she had only begun to abate that fear by coming… she touches his shoulder gently to acknowledge him and then curls around to nudge Carbon to where he’d best be served.
Carbon takes to it easily, with a little help from his adopted brother, though it took a moment for him to get his bearings in the starvation-delirium. She warns him off shoving at her too hard while suckling, but it is entirely preemptive and she sighs contentedly as he fed his famished self. Vulcan does not seem altogether sure what to make of Carbon taking his space, but he chooses to eyeball Akello instead of dwell on something his mother had dictated would be so. Don’t linger on what can’t be changed, right? The young boy admired the taller one, though he was bemused by the outlandish coloring all horses seemed to have on this chain of islands. The home his mother had described had always been described where only nuances of scent and color could determine one horse from another.
How could that be when each horse here seemed utterly and entirely different?
Berit rested her cheek against the broad side of their protector, relaxed and a little relieved not to have been bagged so fully any longer - Vulcan so eager for the morning and then too distracted by the world to be interested later in the day, she often went to sleep aching for the morning to come. Perhaps it was fate that her growing boy would be out-sustained by her production, she contemplates as she feels the latch of his lips loosen from the teat-of-choice. When she looks back, he is bloated and barely manages to catch his breath as he coughs from the sudden onslaught of air and milk combined.
She does not stop Akello from hurrying toward her new son, finding only affection for the brotherly concern, but she turns to touch where she can in reassurance. Carbon’s considering eyes make her smile, nostrils flared as she reaches for his nose, exchanging a breath before he collapses. She tosses her head, removing the forelock from her eyes, and checks on him as Cain gasped beside her and Carbon yawn’s their fears into silence. "Quite dramatic, little one, but well warranted, I think," she teases lightheartedly as he curls about himself and falls almost immediately into sleep.
Her tail flicks, swatting the staring Vulcan as he admired Akello. He almost squeals in boyish irritation, only it is cut short noticing his littler ‘brother’ laid down and curled tight for the evening. He wants to argue, his eyes say. He looks at Akello longingly. "I will never be able to repay you fully for what you'e done for me and him, but my promise stands. The desert is your home as long as you and your son want it. I will defend you both till my dying breath." Cain commits, distracting Berit from her son’s reluctance to bed down so early when such interesting folks were about. She shakes her head,
"You owe nothing to repay. I am happy to do this, and happier still that we will have a safe place to rest and Vulcan to grow up. I am a lady of no mean size, but I cannot keep lions and wolves at bay. We have a home, you have your boy, and it is all for the sake of one another. You can want nothing more from a herd than that." Akello took that time to add, "If you need anything, let me know." She smiles broadly, nodding with ease now that things seemed settled between them all. His next comment draws her attention back to a still-up Vulcan, though Vulcan is enamored of the young stallion and too distracted to notice her attention returned. "I can show you some pretty cool stuff around the desert whenever you're ready." Quiet as ever, Vulcan nodded eagerly, though his eyes did finally catch the determined ones of his mother well enough to lay down beside Carbon with his head laid comfortably over his haunch.
"Akello, if it would not trouble you, I will send him to you in the morning while I tend the little one here. I’d like some time to get to know him and to better attend him. Vulcan is a good boy, but he has needs that I cannot manage while I get your brother well..." She feels unusually comfortable requesting it, considering Vulcan’s awe and the obvious manners the elder son seemed to have. "You may send him back to me if he needs a good nip or if you are called away on other business. He has an uncanny way of finding me wherever he wanders off to."