The happiness that Siobhan found herself surrounded by now was not perfect - fractured as it was by the pain that had shaped the past year - but it was better than she had ever hoped to feel again. The press of her family around her had done much to soothe the broken parts of her heart, but even that was not enough to chase away the nightmares that plagued her. They had vowed to steal this child from her, and images of the silver-haired man and woman emerging from the sea plagued her thoughts at every moment.

Siobhan had taken to avoiding the shore altogether, although the interior of the Ridge was not her preferred location. She missed the days that she had spent on the narrow strip of shore, where the sun warmed her back and the seagrass shushed underfoot, but she had to protect Zvaid above all else. He was her priority, and she would not allow the monsters that had nearly ended her life to harm his.

Shouting drew her to the beach, although she was careful to stow Zvaid with his older sisters and to bid them hide and hide well. She was afraid that Nyimara had come to demand what had never been hers to begin with, but such was not the case.

What greeted her eyes was the strangest thing that Siobhan had ever witnessed in her life. A creature fled in the distance, their silver form bobbing away in the swells of the ocean. In their wake lay a mare nearly broken by some sort of altercation, her shoulders glistening with crimson blood, and a newborn child only half-free from their birth sac. Confusion etched lines into Siobhan's brow and she stepped hesitantly free of the dark recess of the jungle. Without thinking, the red mare moves closer to them, dipping her head to catch the faint words expressed by the fallen mare. She seemed half-delirious, but her command was a sound one and Siobhan turned quickly to the foal on the ground. The moment is so reminiscent of the day that she had adopted Aislinn that she cannot help but compare them, and hopes fervently that this mare - whoever she is - is not about to die.

Working quickly, Siobhan removed the birth sac that surrounded the filly and murmured gently to her as she fussed. "There we go little one," she offered a worried smile as she began to clean her, humming gently in encouragement. She stepped back slightly, aiming to give the pretty filly some room and to check on the mare that lay disoriented on the ground. "Pretty little leanbh, how about-"

As she turned, an approaching infant caught her eye and for one heartrending moment, she thought it was her own son. Thankfully, it is not her Zvaid come out of hiding but yet another newborn. This one was a colt, his body still damp with what Siobhan can only guess is his own recent birth from the knobbiness of his knees. No adults could be seen in the open beach behind him, and her heart went out to him at the sight of the fear and anguish on his face. Ducking quickly back to the girl, she finishes her sentence gently, attempting to coax her upward and off of the cool sand. She felt exposed out here, as though her nightmare was due to wash ashore any moment. "How about we try out those limbs."

With an ear and an eye to her original charges, she steps toward him, her own head lowered in supplication. "Easy now lad, you're safe now. Come, have a drink while we sort out this mess, hm?" She shifted to open her side to him, and did her best to encourage him close, even going so far as to brush his haunch gently if he sets to nursing. "It's okay lad, I've got you." As much as she hated to believe it, it seemed as though he, too, would be joining the ranks of lost children for now. She could only hope that his mother was still alive somewhere down the beach, and that she would soon come to fetch him.

The prone mare speaks again, pulling Siobhan's attention away from the needy newborns and she allows a sigh of relief to escape her. The woman's injuries had not seemed life-threatening, but Siobhan was no healer and the way the mare had collapsed had left her worried. She lowers her blazed face closer to the mare and nods. "She seems okay… What- what happened here?"

Siobhan's gaze flicks across Char's body, noting that there is no evidence that she has carried either of these children to term. If she was not their mother, however, who was? And why had they left them?