Hushed Willows bating a whisper from a broken morning

Olive was not alone forever; as a mother, she never was. It was not long before a small, shaking voice made its way through the branches of the willows, as delicate as the silken tendrils themselves. Olive welcomed the company, as she would always welcome her children to her side whenever they wished. The midwife would never turn away the company of babes, especially those she had helped to birth and then to raise up in this world.  They came first and foremost; everything else was simply secondary. 

The woman stopped her meandering and backtracked a step or two, finding the wisp of a girl braced against a tree and moving ever-closer. Olive let a small, happy hum emanate from the pit of her throat as she felt the girl press into her. She immediately folded to allow the girl a closer proximity, but she intuited that something wasn’t quite settled with the girl. There were vicissitudes to Ibis’s energy that Olive wished to smooth, and felt somewhat guilty about being so tied up with Seabreeze to notice before — even if she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.

“Hi Darling,” she purred dotingly. She continued into her explanation of Seabreeze’s state with the confidence of a woman who fully believed in the world she spoke. “Oh, yes, lovely. Mommy will be fine. She’ll always be fine, because she is kind-hearted, and when you are kind-hearted, the gods will always take care of you.” The tiny, grayscale woman gave her daughter a kiss upon the nose. “Do you believe me?” She inquired, knowing very well that the answer might be no.  After all, Ibis had only just returned home, and Olive remained ignorant of her adventures whilst away from her home. She knew nothing of the things the girl had seen, or the evils she had come to know.

Olive remained hopeful, and decided to look forward instead of lingering in the past. With little eyes watching her every move, the mother had to ensure that she was setting the best example that she could. Even if she wanted to lapse into negative thinking or her unawakened tendencies, she could not let herself. There was too much at stake. “It is important to me that you are okay, too — and if you are not okay, my little cherub, then we will work to make it so. Together, as a family… always.” Perhaps such sentiments were not welcome, but Olive had many things to say and wanted to say them before they were not alone anymore.

“I am happy you are are home. We missed you so.”