a new world hangs outside the window
beautiful and strange
it must be I've fallen awake
I must be

The new mother was kind, despite her obvious distaste for being disturbed. Wasp couldn't blame her. But it was too late - she'd pushed herself in, and now she stood, stony faced per usual but crawling awkwardly within her own skin. There was nothing as foreign to Wasp as maternal intimacy. Not that she was deprived of it herself - on the contrary, Wasp knew nothing but love and adoration from her late dam. But it was a trait that was seemingly not passed down to her. Watching Vihar dote over her newborn made her feel strangely unnerved inside. She fought the inklings which told her to turn and bolt.

"Sorry again." The dark mare managed to croak out, her words more sincere than she felt she could honestly convey in the moment. Two brown ears flicked forward when she posed a bit of small talk in her direction, and Wasp tried to offer a smile at her attempt to be kind. Her question, however, was confusing. Wasp's amber eyes settled on the foal as she tried to summon up the right words to respond. "Rougaru?" She asked with the flick her dark tail. But before she could confirm nor deny her connection to the silver-bay stallion, Solomon - of all horses - emerged from the brush.

Wasp met him with a cold and hardened gaze, her ears lacing back against her poll and she even dared to take a step toward the mother and child, instinct telling her to protect them. But luckily that was as far as she got before Solomon spoke, revealing the familial connection between them. Twice now, Wasp was overcome with embarrassment, a shame she wished she could run away from, but instead, she merely stiffened, staring down her nose with a prickly expression as she watched Solomon greet his kin.

When Solomon introduced them more formally, Wasp's expression softened albeit briefly. She bobbed her head to Vihar before turning back to the stallion. She had questions for him but now wasn't the time. "Vala." Wasp repeated out loud with a simper of a smile on her lips. She liked the name.

"I wish you both good health." She offered next, to the filly and her mother, before shifting her weight anxiously over all fours in preparation to leave. She cast Solomon another hardened glare - if he wished to address anything with her, she knew he would follow. And then she set out down the path into the brush in which she came.

W A S P