Falls

He tried not to hover but hovering was all that he wanted to do. She was independent and he understood that, did his best to accommodate it, even when being apart from her felt like a physical pain in his chest. The bond between himself and Ashteroth was still nascent, not yet hardened by time, still seemingly prone to tearing if he moved too fast or did too much.

But she carried within her a lifeline he had never believed himself worthy of having. A child of their own, a baby that would grow to look at him as its baba... no matter how unprepared he still felt for the role.

As her pregnancy progressed, so did the shortening of her temper. He felt underfoot and unwanted, a burden rather than a reprieve. She sought him out less, allowed him near less, was less tolerant of him. And so he fretted alone, growing thin from stress and worry while she grew round and swollen as the pregnancy made her miserable. Every time that she disappeared for prolonged periods, he couldn't help the fissure of panic that this was the moment, that now was the time.

He had only ever been present for two births in his life - not including his own - and so he was hardly practiced in midwifery, but at least if he were present he would know. Could possibly intervene if she began to bleed or the child could not rise or she grew too weak from blood loss or needed water or needed comfort or even if she simply needed a punching bag to punish for the condition she was now in. If he could do anything for her, he desperately wanted to be close enough to do it.

But he lacked the courage to even ask.

When Ashteroth disappeared for an hour, he told himself not to worry. That her duties as the Codebreaker did not cease simply because she was carrying a child. But by the time that hour stretched to two, and then to three, sweat had gathered and lathered on his flanks and at his elbow. Ultimately it was the innocuous glance around from another Peak mare - likely not even in relation to Ashteroth's absence although his fevered mind said it was - that justified his decision to try to pursue her.

If it wasn't labor, she could yell at him for it later.

The too-slender Akhal-Teke threaded his way down the mountain and onto the Crossing, hedging his way away from the Commons and venturing further into the Falls. He was no master tracker and was not even particularly certain which way she had gone, but he was anxious and therefore relentless, criss-crossing the Falls until at last he found a faint thread of her scent. A few false starts later and he had managed to make his way close enough to hear her call, and the stress throbbing in his body led to an immediate, near-frantic answer on his part.

He raced toward where he'd heard the sound, only to skid to a halt when he spotted her. Another call leaves his lips and he turns toward her, his gaze frantically slipping over her body, and then the child's, and then... the child's? His brow furrowed as he took in the double sets of gangly limbs, uncertain of how to process the fact that there were two of them.

"Are you okay? Are they okay? Are you still bleeding? Did your milk come in? The -" the questions rolled so rapidly off his tongue there was likely no space for her to answer but they quelled as he got close enough to truly take her in. Knowing about birth and having witnessed two births did not adequately prepare him for the roller coaster of emotions that came from seeing Ashteroth sweaty and disheveled and still tender. But it was the tang of blood that drew his gaze to the filly - a girl! - and his frown deepened as he dropped his head to her level, eyes raking across her body. He wanted to do nothing more than bury himself against all of them, to explore the tiny marvels that were children, their children! But he knew Ash would not allow such familiarity.

Muttering a soft turkish curse under his breath, Gecko's gaze flicked up to Ash but was already skimming through the greenery, searching for yarrow. "What happened to her?" Unable to deal with his own emotions, let alone to voice them, he defaulted to strictly business.