For one blissful moment, Siobhan could almost forget all the bad that had happened in recent months. The separation, fear, and anxiety could be pushed down below the surface of her delight for a brief interlude. Bjorn and Nyimara could continue living their lives, wherever they were, as long as she had this. The love of her family and the reunification of the two halves of her heart was all that she needed to die a happy mare.
Twin tear trails leaked slow, happy tears as she embraced her two eldest daughters, running her muzzle through their unruly locks one by one. She hasn't forgotten about her twins in the slightest, but her heart needed these few precious moments with Akadi and Roisin. Months of forced separation had left their marks on her soul, as she was sure it had on them as well. No child deserved the sort of ordeal they had been forced to endure, and it would be a long time before Siobhan could find the grace to forgive the culprits. For now though, her head turns from the yearlings back to her lover as he speaks, and her gaze drops down to the two sleepy babies with a smile that curls across her lips.
"Yes," she says after a moment. There is a strange moment where her heart lurches toward the infants, so used to being their sole protector and source of safety that it is second nature to do the very thing that Ailill just offered to do for her. It is a bittersweet moment to surrender that heavy responsibility to instead hoist it upon both of their shoulders, thereby lessening the load. She nods and swallows before turning back to the two yearlings at her side. "Why don't the two of you run ahead and find the best spot for us in the clearing?"
Roisin is reluctant to give up her mother once more, irrationally afraid that Nyimara will raise from the ocean waves once more like some nightmare. There is comfort to be found in the confident way that Siobhan offers it, as though she was certain that nothing bad would happen today. With a frown, the sandy-colored yearling tears herself away from her mother's side and moves to Akadi's once more.
Over the intervening months, Roisin had continued to grow closer to her paling sister. Despite her hesitance at first, Akadi had proved to be the sister she had always wanted. As Aislinn became more and more distant, the two of them had spent more time together - decorating Iscariot and running amok across the Ridge. Siobhan's absence had only drawn them closer. There were some things that Roisin just couldn't talk about with Ailill the same way that she could with her sister, and she always felt bad raging about her mother's absence when she knew the words wounded him.
As much as her head had wanted to blame him, her heart knew it wasn't fair.
Roi's gaze follows her mother's to the two fillies and curiosity blooms in her eyes for the first time as she properly takes them in. They seemed so tiny and breakable as they cuddled up to Ailill, their golden coats glimmering in the late evening sun. Surely she had never been that small, right?
Shaking her head to clear it, Roi turned to do as her mother asked, eager to do what she could to make her happy now that she was back. Gently she prodded Akadi's shoulder before trotting off to search out the softest place for them all to gather. After picking out a prospective place, she turns back to her sister with a worried frown. "Do you think this will be soft enough?" And then in a lower voice, even though Siobhan and Ailill were not even visible in the clearing yet. "They're so small, I don't want them to lay on rocks..."
Saoirse, cuddled up as she is between her sister and father, yawns widely as the mere mention of a nap brings to mind how nice it would be to sleep. Today had been so exciting that she hadn't even had a chance to absorb it all, and she felt as though her tiny hooves wore leaden shoes. Her head popped up as Naenia stumbled, but it was largely so that she could shift to better support her sibling, even as her pale eyes rose to her father as he spoke of a clearing.
What was a clearing?
Siobhan watched Roisin (and Akadi, if she'd gone with) depart for the clearing with a soft smile before ambling toward the trio that waited for her. She affectionately nuzzled Naenia as she settled, but quickly allowed her gaze to rise to Ailill again. She still couldn't get enough of seeing him again, of knowing that he was within touching distance. She couldn't wait for the girls to get some rest so that they could all play together. It had been a learning experience to balance her three daughters before, she could only imagine what having four of them would be like. "I think we'd best get a move on before these two little girls fall asleep standing up."
Her tone is gently playful and she reaches down to caress Saoirse's fluffy mane as well as a way to wake her up. With some care, she begins the slow process of leading the tired toddlers up to the clearing, eager for the first full night's rest she will have been able to enjoy in some months. It occurs to her as they make slow but steady progress toward the clearing that she hasn't spared more than a passing thought for the other Ridge residents. Not that she was particularly close to many of them, Cicek aside, but they would soon need to know of her return... if only to be prepared in case the Inlet royals were to seek vengeance.
The responsible answer would be to find her and tell Faolain and Rivaini. To alert them to the added risk, and yet Siobhan selfishly wants to keep these few moments to herself. To cherish these first blissful moments of having her whole family together without having to worry about the heavy matters of all that had happened and would continue to happen. She knows that the concerns flick across her face, readily visible to her golden lover, but she keeps them to herself for now out of fear of giving the girls nightmares.
They were too young to fear Bjorn, but any child in their right mind had plenty to fear from listening to Nyimara scream harshly after their fleeing forms. She would wait until they were asleep to speak of such things to Ailill.