“Come, sweet,” Oswin crooned gently to her large-boned colt. He walked with careful steps, but they grew more assured by the day. He was ready, she felt, to learn how to climb down and back up the Peak. They’d finally leave the top of the world where she’d brought him into it beneath the stars and learn the rest of the world day by day. Perhaps it was too early to lead him down the Peak’s mountainside, but Oswin had absolute confidence in her son. In her older age she found herself more patient and, admittedly, living with Maziel for seven years had taken away any subconscious biases against raising a defected child. The world was against him from the start and that made Oswin love him all the more.

She had forgotten how much she adored her children. It had been so long since something so purely good had been brought into her life. Becoming Prime Minister and fighting for justice fulfilled her drive, but her son fed her heart, her soul.

He often walked with his big, pink muzzle tapping her flank, sometimes her shoulder. He let his mother be his eyes as his big, fuzzy ears flicked this way and that and his nostrils flared, testing the air around him. It was fascinating to watch how he adapted and learned about the world without his sight. Oswin had to keep herself quiet if he strayed from her, like when he was drawing near a stone he might trip on or a bush he might crash through. She knew he needed to learn to navigate those things without his mother telling him they were there, but it was hard not to whinny with warning.

Although she suspected he would be so large once he was fully grown that there wouldn’t be many things which could stand in his path.

“Did we do it Mama?” His sweet little voice asked as Oswin picked up into a trot, and he followed. She pulled her gait up with a smile, then turned her neck so she could fondly ruffle his fuzzy, red forelock.

“Yes, my sweet, we did. How did you know?” Her voice was curiously light, she had an idea what his answer should be, but waited to hear if he had caught on.

“We started to trot!” He said. “You said don’t go fast when you go down the mountain.”

“That’s right,” Oswin murmured, and fondly tapped her muzzle to his spotted cheek. “Now, come. We made it down with a good time, you should meet your father sooner rather than later.”

“Dad?” Echoed Oswald with a slightly timid query. “In the… Lagoon?”

“Yes, that’s right. Your father is Tyr, the Lagoon General.” Oswin said as they walked from the Peak down the length of Crossing Isle to get to the Lagoon.

“Oh.” Said Oswald, and fell quiet.

Oswin glanced back at him, then looked forward again. While he thought through whatever he was thinking through she pushed them into a trot, wanting to cover as much ground as quickly as possible. Soon she would show him the rest of Crossing Isle, but Oswin had an agenda today.

She had never introduced Klara to Koray or Maia to Ernesto. She would not do the same to Oswald, even if she worried his sire would see him as less than for not having his sight. Oswin was prepared to have words that she wouldn't want Oswald to learn if that were the case.

She pulled up the pace when she could tell he was growing fatigued and decided to stick to the shore rather than move inland. She was worried about him traveling the inland bog of the Lagoon where the mud could sometimes suck down your leg if you weren’t exactly careful where you stepped. As they neared the Lagoon’s beach, Oswin took note of a dark figure down the way who looked distinctly familiar. She pulled to a slow halt and Oswald obediently did too, stepping up until they were shoulder to shoulder.

“Are we there?” He asked, turning his head so he could point his ears at her.

“Sort of.” She said, frowning. The more she watched the mare - Jaws, Rade’s daughter - the more it became very apparent something was wrong. She bent her neck and tapped Oswald’s shoulder, pushing him so he stumbled a step or two to the side. “Come, I’m going to put you somewhere inland.”

“Is there trouble?” He asked, his voice growing small and worried.

“I don’t know yet, that’s what I’m going to find out.” Oswin replied and found a spot among the bushes she could tuck him away. As he lowered to his knees and flopped his hind on the ground, Oswin reached to tap his cheek with a smile. “Be good. Stay quiet. I’ll come back soon.”

“M’kay mama.” He agreed, though she could tell he was nervous.

Oswin turned back around and traveled down the shoreline with quickened steps. “Jaws?” She called quietly behind the mare, glancing as she stumbled down the slope of a sandy dune and came closer. “Is everything okay? Is it- Is it your father?”

She remembered the conversation she and the young mare had had in the shadow of the Peak.

oswin & oswald
this is as brave as I know how to be.
I know it’s gonna hurt you, but please… be a little proud of me.