Ankyra Sound a gunslinger knows pride - that invisible bone that keeps the neck stiff

WOW THIS IS SO LATE. Also what even is this post, this went like 1000 different directions.

’Imagine how it must feel to carry that storm inside of you,’ Illidan said.

Grezig opened her mouth to reply, but she had no idea how to respond to something so sad. She closed it and sighed, studying him as she always seemed to. It was odd. Perhaps he wasn’t exactly like a son to her, but maybe a nephew? A much younger cousin? Certainly some kind of family. She remembered his much smaller self, back when she’d followed him out to the middle of nowhere. The day he’d found his father’s dead body and refused to respond to anything she’d said or done. 

She had cared for him the only way she knew how. She had been loving; she had been tough; she had come close; she had given him his space. Nothing seemed to affect his hard outer shell. He did not want her. It was something that pained her to admit, but she needed to get over it. He had a mother. And it was not her. 

’You found yourself a mate, then?’

“What?” she asked, distracted by her own thoughts. She cleared her throat. “Oh. A mate. No, not exactly. Vaati is not my mate. We agreed not to become a pair. We know almost nothing about each other. That seemed… foolish, much like my spur of the moment decision to have children with him at all. But it is done now. Well…” She glanced down at her pregnant belly. “Almost done. A few more weeks.” She looked up at Illidan again. Then I will have pups to replace you. But no one will ever replace you. Even if you hate me. You are not my son, but you are. Always.

She turned her gaze away from him and towards the ocean, which she still hated. “What about you?” she asked, and then realized that that made no sense in that context. “I mean—do you have any… interests in anyone? Romantically?” Now she was straying into awkward mom territory and wanted to back out quickly like a cat with its head stuck in a tissue box, but she had no idea how to retreat, so she just sat there and said nothing, keeping her face firmly aimed at the ocean. Oh, boy.