A call lifted up the red-rock cliff of the Peak and caused Oswin to lift her head from where she was grazing at the bit of yellowed autumn grass still leftover. Oswald was near, just a few feet away and lying flat out on his side as he peacefully slept. She did not need the visitor to announce themselves again - nor did she need to see or smell them - to know exactly who it was. Briefly she found herself annoyed he’d come to her in the Fall (it was exactly the last time she’d been weak to his charm and charisma) but told herself for Oswald she would come face-to-face with his sire.

Only for Oswald, though. Not because there were times when she was cold and aching and lonely at night, she remembered his large, warm body packed tight with battle-built muscle. Oswin would never tell anyone, of course. It was better for her to stay away from the Lagoon for now, especially with questions already rising after Oswald’s birth.

Yet, she should have known to go back at least once more to try and introduce son to father. Was she lagging because she wasn’t ready to share Oswald with his other parent? (Which was quite selfish of her, if so.) Was she worried a hardened General may look at a blind child and see them as weak? (Which she was prepared to fight against, and hoped he wouldn’t be so small-minded.)

“My sweet,” she murmured to her growing boy - their growing boy - and leaned her pink nose down to brush her lips over his roan-grey neck and up into his half-grown dark red mane. She tugged a few strands just enough to rouse him.

“Mama?” His sleepy voice was caught in a big yawn as his sightless, milky eyes blinked open. He lifted his head up (bits of grass and dirt caught on the side of his face that’d been resting on the ground) and snorted, shaking his head as though trying to clear the cobwebs of sleep from it.

“Your father has come to meet you.”

Oswald went rigid, his square head lifting and his ears twitching as he flared his nostrils and started drinking in the nearby smells.

“No, no, he’s down the path a ways. I’m going to go talk with him first. When we’re ready, I’ll call you.” Her son had taken the path up and down the Peak with her every day since his birth, she trusted him to navigate it alone now.

She smiled and bumped his cheek affectionately. “You’ve nothing to be nervous about.” She hoped she was right.

Turning, Oswin called out with a cry that’d carry downwind to him, then made for the narrow dirt path descending from the Peak’s summit. She stepped carefully, but with a confidence that let her take the path more quickly than others might. As soon as she saw him she pulled her gait up, going from a bouncing trot to a walk and then a stop altogether, just out of his reach. She wanted to put her nose against his, tuck up against his body… but she couldn’t trust herself to do so.

“I suppose I won’t need three guesses to know why you’ve come.” She said in greeting.

oswin & oswald
this is as brave as I know how to be.
I know it’s gonna hurt you, but please… be a little proud of me.