There is a give and take to each step of the birth. A rhythm to the way a body worked through birth that was more ancient than any of the words that Sidika could have used to describe it. The fear that the golden mare emanates is equally old, borne of the danger of the process. Sidika is calm and gentle as she guides the golden mare through the process, although she is not given to idle praise or empty promises. She has no room for sugarcoating things when two lives are in her charge. It is hard to tell if the bitter aloe has managed to dampen the pain of the process or not, given that Merwerit would have no experience from which to draw, but she hopes it has taken the worst of the edge off.

When the child is at last born, the sack broken from around her face and her first breaths taken, Sidika finally breathes again and backs off a few steps to give mother and daughter their space. The girl is bright and vocal, bleating her protest at her entry to the world before she has even rearranged her limbs. The pearly mare doesn't even need coaching on cleaning her child, and has the process all but done before Sidika returns to the pair, a bemused smile on her lips.

For some time, even after Mer speaks, Sidika remains silent, letting mother and daughter acquaint themselves with each other. The rest of the filly imprinting on her was so small as to be almost negligible, but such things had happened, and she had no intention of depriving mother from daughter or vice versa. After some time she steps forward, just enough to appraise the slender newborn's wellbeing from it's cradle of sand before delivering one last bit of praise to the new mother.

"Yes," she says in response to Merwerit's observation, noting the depth of feeling in the single syllable she utters to represent Maslakhat. It is to be expected, Sid reminds herself. Mer is young and beautiful, a beautiful representation of their kind. She does not doubt that Maslakhat's eye has wandered to her more often than not, even as fall faded from the land and the heady scent of possibility faded. Such a handsome cetvel deserved a beautiful creature to accompany him, and such a role was not her own.

"She is light. Like you. And him," she says, recalling the beautiful gold undertones in their stallion's coat with some dismay. Accepting Maslakhat's attention had been easy enough before, but after the affection he had showered upon her in the wake of their little panther's birth, Sid now understood why jealousy was often so rampant among their kind. Forcing a smile onto her charcoal lips, she nodded toward the mother. "She should stand. And drink, before I go."

As if she was no more than telling fate what to do, the small girl propped herself upright on her slender limbs after an abortive try, and Sid's smile grew less rigid at the sight. Although her life had not given her much choice in the matter of what she did, she was fairly certain she would become a healer time and time again if only to bear witness to these first moments.

"Good," she offers with a hint of finality, her gaze raising to the figures that were cresting the dune. Her handsome son, bright and excited, skidded to a halt at the top and stared with wide-eyed fascination at the scene below before sidling close to his father as they approached. As they came closer, Sidika circled around to head Ger off, not wanting him to interfere with the newborn's first meeting of her parents.

---

Geçersiz is eager to accompany his father and basks in the sudden shower of his attention with a grin that stretches clear across his cheeks. At Maslakhat's bidding, he grasps the strange contraption in his teeth again and sidle-steps his way to the ocean so that they might toss the vile thing into the waves. Thankfully, the object itself saves Maslakhat from a barrage of questions from the small colt and together the fall still before the rolling ocean.

Geçersiz watches closely as his father demonstrates how to toss it, and very carefully mimics it, although his first toss barely makes it a few inches forward and is immediately swept back towards him in the oncoming wave. With a delighted shriek, he shies away from it, lashing out with both hinds so that it goes flying. He races back towards his father in mock terror before doubling back to do as his father had shown again, this time with much more success.

With the not-snake tossed into the ocean, Geçersiz is quick to take his position at Maslakhat's side with pride, his small head held up with obvious joy as he trotted along. Their moments together had been relatively few, but the small colt cherished each one. As much as he loved his mother, being able to walk alongside his father filled him with a sense of pride and joy that he did not yet have words to explain.

---

Maslakhat's nod is met with a tight-lipped one of Sid's own, and the scarred mare corrals her small colt to the side as they descend. She gives a wide berth to mother and child, not wanting Geçersiz to interfere with the filly's attempts to bond and to stand upright. She wants only to see the child nurse, and then she will be on her way, but Geçersiz is quick to show his displeasure at this turn of events with a small stomp of his hoof. He opens his mouth to protest as well, but Sid drives him back with pinned ears and he obeys with a churlish swipe of his tail. From this distant point, he watches with wide eyes ducked below the protective barrier of his mother's body as the girl figures out her hooves.

Sidika is strangely thankful for her son's defiant behavior, if only because it gives her something else to focus on rather than the affection that Maslakhat showers upon Merwerit. It is as it should be, and yet it disquiets her to see it.