whenever! <3
@Ibis.
the unending spin that had only just come to a close; the mountain, the fireflies, the journey, her body's change — had kept her from seeking the woman out.
the air had throbbed and curled with a green fertility in brecheliant for a long while. teya was relieved that her first year with such had passed and she had not conceived. she wondered if it was so for the delicate mothwing body she had first loved beneath the moon, and put her nose happily to the rich earth of the fen, seeking the auspex with an eager step.
The fen was quiet.
Lilitu had settled back in without issue, the same with Bridget as far as the auspex could tell. Ibis did not know what they had seen on the mountain and she was unlikely to divulge what she herself had been up to.
The woman had been feeling nauseous more frequently and had spent the morning resting, now roaming in search of something to settle her stomach.
Instead she found the girl. Her chest fluttering.
"ibis." teya, if allowed, sought to kiss the other's chin with familarity and submission; but that was not all of it, and this was why she lingered. closing her eyes a moment, she reopened them and stepped back. "brecheliant empty when you not here." a flash of something just before she covered it with a smile.
"you are doing well?" teya inquired earnestly, a wag of her plume punctuating the question.
The sight of the young girl made Ibis' heart skip a beat; she thought at once of her missing daughter despite knowing that Teya was quite different from the absent Arielle. She did not look upon this girl with the fondness borne of their tryst for that hesitating second, but as some lost piece that was finally found. Then, things clicked back to normal.
A kiss. A lingering presence. The smell of her brought to mind the moonlight and the memory.
Brecheliant empty when you not here.
Teya says. Ibis can't tell if she's playing coy, naturally shy, or merely bashful for the shared space. The last time they had been together — — a bloom of good feelings.
-doing well?
I.. Yes, I am.
Ibis didn't know how to answer, not really. She felt alright aside from some nausea. Some mornings it was particularly bad. And you?
Tenderly Ibis would reach out to offer a soft touch of her nose upon the girl's cheek, or some other careful, shy advancement of reciprocation.
lashes veiling stillwater gaze turned soft; teya leaned into the touch before backing away, sheepish and charmed. she had not forgotten ibis, not in any way. "i good. have found many fish." she had sought these past months to make something better of herself, more skilled and worthy than the shy girl who had only eaten pity for many meals.
she would never be that again.
suddenly; she wanted to ask ibis if she would have children this year, and she wanted — selfishly — to hear that the auspex would forgo this. and yet she felt all but assured her time in that way with the finely made woman had come to an end.
must it?
teya considered bridget, for whom she would give much.
"you, ah, you need ... anything?" teya stumbled, searching ibis' beautiful countenance with a wanting look.
Ibis couldn't quite remember being as physical as Teya. Hearing that she had gone adventuring would be one thing, a bonding thing between them. Ibis was not skilled at hunting or fishing; she had depended on others for all of that. Her parents, her brother, her husband — they were all gone now. Thankfully she had Brecheliant to keep her safe and fed, to protect her children.
The difference made Teya appealing in a new manner. There wasn't anything stereotypically masculine about the waif, yet, Ibis could not help but assign such a preconceived notion to her. It did not fit with the refined and doe-like quality of her young body — not in Ibis' mind, at any rate. She was... impressed.
I... I'm not sure,
Ibis admits as an answer, distracted for a minute by her thoughts. The memory of moonlight. A vague sense of wanting, although at this point Ibis couldn't separate the attraction she felt to Teya and her love and loss of Akavir.
Will you walk with me? Standing too long makes my hips hurt,
the woman asks with a little dip of her head, not quite a shrug but something like a shrink; I... I am going to be a mother, again.
As if her rounded sides weren't enough evidence.
what teya had only taken for a new lushness about ibis become something lastingly difficult, and while she stepped forward at once to offer her rangy shoulder, the girl was contemplative. the man akavir had long been gone from them, and while there was no judgement inside teya for the normalcy of the season, she wondered who it had been.
"you have all brecheliant. we welcome baby," she grinned, though her heart stirred with jealousy and something like sickness. she thought of bridget, of the warm desire between them, and how different it was from the jagged snipe her heart had taken.
they walked, teya allowing the auspex to set their pace. "will you be only mother here this year?" she had suspected lovelorn maia, but did had not meddled in affairs of permission or direct inquiry.
The girl was soft, of course. The warmth of her pronouncement brought a flutter to Ibis' chest she could not ignore. Owing it to the season and her hormones which were in a state of perpetual flux, the woman was quiet. Having the support of the pack was good; it was the support of Akavir that she pined for the most, though. The presence of Lilitu and Arielle, united to help with the rearing of their younger siblings. As always, Ibis had to face these changes alone.
As for Teya's question Ibis shook her head, happy to have something to focus on beyond the scattering of those beloved to her. One of the ravens, Maia, and a man named Eljay who she recruited, asked for permission. I think it will be nice to have more children around.
She had given the go-ahead without consulting the other ravens which, come to think of it, might have been a step beyond what the governance allowed for. Ibis hadn't considered that either.
Lilitu has left to hunt for her sister.
Ibis blurts next, along with a sigh. I know I can do this, be a mother again, but... Without Akavir with me, without my daughter, I am afraid.
Even if all of Brecheliant was there to help in their stead, it wouldn't feel right. If only Akavir were here, she thought.
any lingering green thoughts fled as ibis spoke, voice splintered through with emotion. teya reached instinctively to kiss the exquisite face, all else paling beneath her guilt that she had ever been jealous. in another moment she might have been pleased to know her assumption about maia and eljay had been correct, but it did not matter for now.
"i am here," the little raven whispered to their auspex with no sense of guarding behind it; she meant each word. "for the babies too." teya considered bridget, considered ibis again.
there was no reason she could not love them both.
drawing away, she searched the fearful woman, seeking to lend her silent strength.
Ibis knew she was not alone, she had Wraen, Maia, and of course Teya; the others of Brecheliant too, once she got to know them. Still, when Teya confirmed this, Ibis was glad.
Yes, I must remember I have you.
she says, meaning the collective, but leaning readily upon Teya in the moment. She sighs again, brushing her snout through the fine grain of the girls coat; contented and pacified.
lettuce fade and have another? <3
she raised her own muzzle, tracing her lips along the shell-curve of ibis' ear. "i make you feel better," she offered in a throaty purr. she did not know if such things caused duress to the unborn, but she was not a man. how could they be harmed? it was a question for bridget or for eljay.
ibis would not be pressed; teya meant to remain as long as the beautiful auspex would have her, and in whatever way she might be of service to her own inner idolatry around the woman's body.
Yeah!
Teya's offer was intriguing.
Ibis had relieved her other emotions with the physicality she suggested before, it was how this latest batch of children had found itself brewing inside of her belly.
She was a deeply physical creature; the thought brought to mind the dalliance beneath the moonlight and Ibis soon found herself buzzing with anticipation.
Giving their surroundings a quick once-over for prying eyes, Ibis murmurs in Teya's ear,
—I would like that; come, let me show you my hidden place...
by which she meant the secret den, of course.