The relationship between Warsaw and Vita Nova was a rocky path with steep sides. The wrong step would send you tumbling down to your death, but since their last big conversation, Warsaw has been slowly walking up that path with eyes wide open. He was careful to chose his words and he did all that he could to keep stress away from his lead mare. He took back his regular lead duties by patrolling the borders and keeping what was left of his herd safe. He tries to take the boys to play sometimes, but even though she was tired, Vita Nova still wanted their company. Still, Warsaw tries to ware them out.

It hurt him every time he saw his Queen and what was happening to her. Sometimes she would say crazy things that didn't make sense. Every day she looked worse and he feared he might lose her forever once their foal decided it was time to make its appearance. She wouldn't have the strength to finish the job. He might not just lose her, but their child as well. The stress was tearing him up inside and proving to be a big distraction with his war plans. He didn't dare leave the island to discuss plans with anyone for fear that he would miss something back home.

It all happened so fast.

He finds the twins by themselves and he knows something was wrong. "Where is your mother?" He asks in a demanding tone, but none of the boys could give a straight answer. A call of his name sends his head swinging in the direction of his yearling daughter Neferyt. She comes to him with haste and tugs on his tail before racing off in the direction she just came from. His heart sinks as he races after her, not needing to know why. He had a bad feeling why she was so frantic to get him. Ironclad races after his father with long strides. The yearling colt was quick for his age, but not yet fast enough to reach the scene before Warsaw did.

The world spins out of control around him as he runs. Warsaw sees nothing, but the mass of mare that hugs the ground. His Vita Nova. He wasn't even sure if he was breathing as he reaches her. He doesn't even take a glance at Neon and his children who stand nearby. He just goes to her. "Come back to me." He whispers to her as his body lowers onto the forest floor beside her. He tucks his warm body close to her, his neck draping over her own. She felt so cold. His grip squeezes around her with his tail slapping the ground and occasionally hitting across her rear end. For the first time in his life, he hoped to be the light that brought her out of the darkness.

---

Claymore listens to her mother, but watches wearily as her older sister races in the opposite direction. She was nervous to be without Neferyt, but she stuck close to the mother wherever she went. She didn't understand the scene unfolding before her eyes with a mare laying on the ground and a newborn foal struggling for life. She just sticks as close to her mother as she could, even having to watch herself from falling every now again from her mother's movements.

---

She squirmed, but the intensity of her birth proved a lot for her newborn filly. Thankfully, her mother came to her rescue and provided the opening she needed to breathe. The young foal proves to be a fighter by kicking off the rest of the sack and moving wildly to free herself from her mother's gunk. This was when a stranger arrives and starts to clean her off. The extra stimulation lights a fire in the filly that causes her urge to stand. The first time she stands, her legs give out on her, but she gets the hang of it after a few tries. Her little nose instinctively go to her fallen mother's under side, but unable to reach anything, her nose brings her elsewhere. She finds the scent of milk leading to this other mare that cleaned her off so she pushes past the their filly hiding under Neon and begins to get her first fill of milk. Brunhild eats hungrily like her tiny stomach had been starved for days.