Objectively, Sonorae was entirely aware that she should not be afraid of a helpless newborn filly. That there was nothing on this planet that she could do to physically harm her mother, and yet Rae cannot deny that the reality of her child - no longer an abstract thought but a real, breathing, living thing - fills her with terror so immense that she cannot explain. Her chest feels tight, wrapped with invisible metal bands of self-doubt and anxiety.

Even the thread that pulls her toward the child is only just stronger than the emotions that push her away. Now that she stands within touching distance of the foal, she can feel her own heart thundering loudly in her ears, a drum that not even the desperate whine of her own voice can drown out. Beneath her nose, the filly is restless, grunting in frustration and she attempts to wriggle free of the birth sac. The sounds the child makes are nearly demonic to the frightened new mother's ears, and out of a desire to make them stop above all, she finally lowers her muzzle to do as Monster instructs and begins to peel off the sac that entraps her hindquarters. She doesn't even have time to think of how gross it is. She's far too busy dancing back a step to avoid the girl's wildly flinging legs to think of what the act of peeling her free was like.

As more and more of the girl was revealed, it became more and more obvious that she had little to nothing in common with her mother. Where Sonorae was muted in coloration, flecked with dainty specks of crimson and finished with a few white points, her daughter was golden in coloration, clad in dark limbs. White blanketed her tiny little rump, apart from a few of her father's spots that rested haphazardly over her hips. It was fitting, perhaps, that the child would resemble the parent that wanted her, rather than the one who did not.

The tobiano mare still tries to calm the new mother, her voice a soothing metronome by which Sonorae attempts to quiet her heart. Show her the world is a beautiful place, she says and Rae frowns. Of what she had seen since waking up on the beach on the Crossing, only some of this world was beautiful. And most of the beauty seemed to be a thin veneer over the darkness that pervaded everything else. The few things she still considered beautiful were limited to Rougaru, Monster, and the land itself.

Everything else was just pain laying in wait.

As the fear begins to fade - slow though it may be - Rae becomes aware of the weight of Monster's gaze, and the expectations that come with it. She could not feign ignorance now that she had been given instruction, although how exactly she was supposed to clean or nurse this infant was unclear. Rae stepped tentatively forward to where the filly paddled her forelimbs angrily, already halfway to standing despite her mother's laggy care.

She found if she did not think of it too much, of what her tongue was doing or what it tasted like, she could let her instinct speak loudly enough to guide her actions. The girl, already irritated at the delay and eager to get on with the business of life, did not attempt to help her mother in the slightest. She snorted each time Rae's face intruded into her vision and continued to set about the process of standing with no heed to her mother's interference.

One particularly energetic attempt sends her skidding forward on bent knees, scrambling to regain upward momentum to no avail. The movement carries her very nearly to the outskirts of her mother's clearing and into the lap of the tobiano mare, much to her dam's dismay. The speckled mare follows behind fretfully, stretching her muzzle out awkwardly out to balance against her rump, halting the wild tumble forward.

"Wait, no," the mare offers with some exasperation, the movement having done leagues for dissipating her anxiety. "Come here," she says with a finality she does not yet believe, and guides the newly righted filly towards her belly. Only after the impatient newborn latches on - an alien feeling that nearly sends Rae skittering away from her yet again - does she turn her gaze back to Monster, her brow still pleated in concern. "Stay, please? I-I don't think I'm ready to do this alone."

OOC: Figure we can either end it here or after Monster's next reply <3