Rivaini

By the time she was stretched out on the ground, Rivaini was scarcely aware of anything. Not the unyielding nuisance of a small rock pressing into the jut of her hip, nor the cool breath of wind that blew across the plateau in erratic gusts. The sphere of her awareness had already begun to shrink over the course of the silver bay’s pregnancy, but by now it contained no more than her own body - and not even all of that. Because while one knee bled from a scrape she’d suffered at some point during the course of her climb, and a thin rivulet of sweat stung where it trickled into one sky-blue eye, she recognized nothing beyond the twisting, cramping sensation in her belly. And while the sensation encouraged Rivaini to push with muscles that she hadn’t even known she’d possessed, something within her responded with an equal pull, refusing to part with the life that it’d sheltered.

Since the moment her pregnancy had become clear, the Ridge’s guardian had been afraid, though she had kept this emotion sheltered from those who surrounded her. Now, the fear began to consume her, growing and spiraling into full-fledged terror. And though she knew it was a battle that she couldn’t hope to win, Rivaini warred against her body as it sought to birth the unborn child. The red woman couldn’t have known that in doing so, she was only increasing her own suffering - and yet even if she had, she could not have surrendered easily. It was in Rivaini’s nature to fight that which she couldn’t hope to understand, such as the deep affection she’d felt for her dearest sun and her beloved shadow.

As if answering the unspoken call of her companion’s thoughts, suddenly the warmth and scent of Faolain enveloped the sweat-dampened bay mare. The black ‘Teke was the only thing that could have hoped to penetrate the swirling tangle of emotions and sensations that threatened to overwhelm Rivaini, and the gentle caress of her lips on the larger woman’s skin served to ground her. Leaning gratefully into the contact with a vapid smile, she waited for the briefest of pauses in the contractions to speak. “Knew you wouldn’t miss it,” she half-panted, seeking to return the affectionate greeting by pressing her own lips to Faolain’s cheek - but falling back instead as another contraction struck her. “...love you, Fae.” She offered instead, squeezing her eyes shut and bearing gown with the crest of the next wave.

If there was any fortune to be found, it was that Rivaini’s broad hips and strong body made her an ideal broodmare - even if that was not a purpose she would have ever chosen for herself. Once she began to work with her body instead of against it, the birth was as quick and painless as such things were capable of being. In fact - from the moment she went down until the final push delivered a damp, dark bundle onto the bare earth - the process took only fifteen minutes to complete.

Rivaini harbored strong personal doubts about her ability to tackle motherhood, and if prompted would have claimed to possess no maternal instinct at all. But the lie of the statement would have been revealed now, when she took only the briefest of moments to recover before forcing her weary body back into a stand. Nosing the colt - the evidence of his gender clear enough in both his physical attributes and his scent - to ascertain that he was breathing, the silver bay began to clean the aftermath of his harrowing journey with gentle strokes of her tongue, pausing only once to smile warmly at Faolain and invite her with a tilt of her head to come closer, and meet the boy for herself.

“Hades,” she breathed in welcome and a small amount of wonder.

But as with all magic, this moment was short-lived - broken by the gentle scrape of his teeth on her muzzle as he sought to latch for his first meal. Jerking her head back, Rivaini burst into startled laughter, and looked again to her companion with a shake of her head and a roll of her eyes. “I guess he is his father’s son - a little wolf to his bones,” she declared ruefully.

mare / six / silver bay tobiano / andalusian mix / 15.3hh