OOC: Time skipped to be set like late fall, because I'm impatient & mild TW for discussion of childloss <3

Her breath was sharp when she woke, the air chilled by an early nighttime frost that reminded her of home. She smiled without opening her eyes, and shifted slightly in the warm bed of dried summer grass she'd pawed down for herself the day before. As she did so, something else shifted within her, reacting to the movement she'd made. It was so quick she could barely believe that it had happened, like a small fish darting across an open pond but she had felt it.

They were alive.

Aurelie gasped, drawing more frigid air into her lungs as her eys opened to a magical world filled with frost crystals. They decorated everything in a shimmering blanket of beauty, too perfect to be real. She waited, frozen and breathless, unsure if she believed that it had truly happened, and then it came again, so quick she would have missed it if she hadn't been waiting. The spotted mare sobbed softly, too in awe of the moment to acknowledge it all.

From the moment that she and Zevulun had parted, she had feared that she would fail this child too, if fate even saw fit to grant her another chance. That this one, too, would slip through her hands and be forced to face a world too harsh for their too-small body.

The tiny blip of her unborn moving for the first time was hardly a promise that they would survive, but it was something. Enough of a something for her to hold onto, even as happy tears spilled from her eyes. The painted mare curled her head around without rising to her feet and caressed the side of her belly. "Hi baby," she murmured with a smile, her voice thick with tears. "My baby," she said as she kissed the spot where she'd felt movement, just as the feeling came and went again.

She wanted desperately to find Zevulun, to share the joy of the moment with him, but she had no real idea of where he was. Fall often had him... preoccupied, and he was harder to find than usual. Aurelie did try her best to pretend it didn't bother her to know that he probably spent each night in someone else's arms, but the long nights had been hard to weather alone. Now though, she wasn't alone anymore; she and her baby would be together to face anything the mornings (or evenings) might throw at them.

By the time she rose to face the day, the sun had already begun to rise, and with the return of its warmth, the beautiful frost crystals had begun to melt. They reminded her so much of home in the Cove, that she couldn't resist seeking out the blades of grass still protected by the shade of trees and letting the cold ice melt on her tongue. The sound of approaching hoofsteps had one of her ears swiveling in that direction and she lifted her head to greet whoever it was with a smile and an inclination of her head toward the grass. "Have you ever tasted anything so sweet?"