He stays beside Vita Nova, an eye trained to her every breath. He did glance at their child once, enough to see that is was a dark filly, but he kept most of his attention on his lead mare. If this was to be her last moment he didn't want to miss anything. He didn't want to miss the last time her belly raised with air or the last of the warmth on her skin. She was growing colder, but something in him said she still had a fighting chance. Vita Nova was a fighter so he knew she could make it if only her mind allowed it. His head rests on her back as his eyes squeeze shut. He prays all this emotional hardship he had put her through these past weeks, months, hadn't damaged her beyond repair.

Every now and again he would whisper 'please don't leave me', in her closest ear. The Inlet beast has never shown much affection to his herd in the presence of another. He has always been a private lover, Vita Nova and himself have always been alone when he showed her affection. Now, he didn't care if Neon was watching. If Neferyt was watching or their newborn who wouldn't know what was going on. There was no time left to hold himself back and regret it later. Warsaw wasn't an affectionate stallion, to begin with. Mares only got his touch when it was time to breed and maybe a few times after his foals were born.

His lead mare was the first to gain affection regularly, at one point anyway. Lately, with all their drama, neither of them have touched much. "I love you." He whispers to his Queen in spite of the looming glance of Neon over them. He could hear the sound of his young daughter's suckling so he knew she was all right. Neon could take this burden for her herd, for her friend she stands beside. Vita Nova stirs at last which causes Warsaw's dark eyes to widen and a gasp to leave his lungs. Those beautiful blue eyes look at him, but he only sees suffering in them. This was not the beautiful Queen he knew.

She asks where their child was to which Neon responds by pushing the foal towards her. Vita Nova stands as best as she could, but Warsaw was right at her side to help. He stands and his legs bend as his strong shoulder bares some of her weight so she could stay upright. Blood was thick in the spring air, but he snorts the thought away and tries to focus on the fact that she was still moving. He could tell her to lie back down, to rest, but that was not the Queen he knew. Vita Nova never did anything he told her unless she wanted to herself and she never, ever, took things lying down.

---

Claymore stays close to Neferyt through the whole thing once she had returned to them. She watches with curiosity as her half-sister nurses from her mother, but she doesn't approach. She might have eventually because watching the other filly eat made her tummy rumble, but movement stops her. She leans closer to her golden-colored sister as Vita Nova rises and her mother brings the other filly towards her.

---

Brunhild continues to nurse until she hears her mother's voice. Her tiny ears of ink perk as her head searches to find the source of the sound. Blue eyes rest on the form of the smokey mare that was now looking at her. The mare she had just been nursing from pushes her nose behind her and causes the little girl's legs to move towards her mother. The filly squeals at first in surprise, but soon her legs move on her own towards Vita Nova. Her tiny muzzle reaches out to the mare she knows to be her mother, but her nose soon brings her underneath to Vita's teats. Her mother's scent was much different from the other mare's and her milk calls to her as if was where she was supposed to be. Brunhild begins to tug at her mother's teat until she finally suckles, drinking in the precious colostrum she needed.