By the time Maziel had healed well enough from the wounds she’d gotten being tossed around in the sea, she was too heavily pregnant to want to travel about Tinuvel looking for Mariael. In truth the mare was probably being overly proactive and could’ve put up with traveling, but after fourteen years of believing she was barren to suddenly swell with foal was nothing short of a miracle. The sea had separated her from her beloved Paradiso, but she knew he lived somewhere, and she hoped they would reunite again. Until then it seemed she was blessed with that which she had always longed for: a child of her very own. A little piece of her, a piece of him, something brought into this world by their unwavering love and care for one another. As much as she wished he could be here and could know this was a possibility, Maziel was grateful to have the foal at all.
So, yes, maybe she was a little bit more cautious than necessary with her pregnancy.
She was grateful to be back in the Bay for this. Maziel had memorized this territory in her youth and knew where her steps needed to be careful and where she could get away with being a little more reckless. It felt so freeing. In the Mainlands she’d been able to eventually learn an area after they settled for some time, but it wasn’t second nature like the Bay seemed. A part of her knew she would need to ask Fell and Kohelet soon if she might be permitted to live in the Bay with her child, perhaps even after she learned of Mariael’s fate, whether it be good or bad.
****
High up in the mountains, tucked into one of the caves where the water from the hot springs ran through the rock walls and warmed the dimly lit enclosure, Maziel brought her first child into the world. Though she would never see it for herself, only smell her daughter’s unique, sweet smell and know her by that, the filly was the prettiest cream and whites, such a dainty thing with big, bright blue eyes and long silvery lashes. Maziel took her time cleaning her, bonding with her, and remaining alone and secluded in the cave with her.
Even long after the filly had eaten and then exhausted lay collapsed back down on the ground to sleep, Maziel had no intention of leaving. The soft warmth and dim light within the cave made it difficult for her to tell how much time had passed, but she felt as though it’d at least nearly been a day. That was fine, of course, she figured as she gently and carefully lowered her body down only after bumping her muzzle along the ground and finding the outline of her daughter, making certain she wouldn’t accidentally lay atop her.
Her filly snorted in offense at having been forced to wake up, then seemed to realize its greatest source of warmth was within reach and wiggled its long-legged, awkwardly new physical form forward until she could tuck her little head against Maziel’s chest. Maziel huffed a warm breath over her filly’s forelock, lipped at it gently, then carefully laid her neck over her daughter’s, tucking her in close.
“Charmeine.” Maziel whispered as her lashes brushed her cheeks, lids heavily closing and exhaustion catching up fast.
****
Maziel didn’t keep them tucked in the cave too much longer after that. When they awoke the hunger in her belly and the stiffness in her muscles made her ache to stand and walk. She left the comfort of the cavern, almost relieved to feel the crisp, cool air outside it as she dropped her muzzle to the ground and began to graze on shoots of new spring grass. Charmeine came poking out quite shortly after her mother left her, deciding she’d rather have the safety of her mother’s closeness than the safety of the warm, enclosed cave she’d been born in. Ideally she’d loved to have kept both, but her mother seemed insistent on wandering further and further down the mountain, grazing idly, or even suckling from a snowmelt-fed stream she came across.
Charmeine became distracted by the overwhelming beginnings of taking in the world for the first time. Everything was so bright and so loud. She spooked often, bumping gently off her dam’s body and then stopping and standing still when she heard her dam’s gentle laughter. “Easy, sweet girl.” Maziel would coo, lovingly babying her daughter and assuring her the world was not a thing to be so terrified of.
Once they’d reached the lower levels of the mountains, in the forests between inland and the shore, Maziel whinnied and listened carefully for any replies. She wasn’t sure where the herd had moved on to, but she knew she wanted to find them before night fell. She had a few hours yet, so hopefully they weren’t too far. Maziel lowered her head and bumped Charmeine’s shoulder with her muzzle, then up her neck, and finally her cheek. “We need to find the herd.” An important lesson for her daughter to learn if she was to survive, especially on Tinuvel.
Maziel lifted her rather dainty, sweet face before she began to move slowly forward. She called out to them with another whinny, looking to find everyone and honestly quite excited to introduce them to her new daughter.
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