Arrow Lake a scorching desert, a shining, gleaming spiral with no beginning and no end [ birth ]

once upon a time ...in a different lifetime and would circumstances have been different than they were now, blodreina knows, she could've given praimfaya up. she would've. drageda would've needed a heda and after watching everything that antumbra had gone through with having a family when the heda were not meant to have any family at all ...it would've been a kindness. a mercy. she doesn't tell ingram this. what she would've done didn't matter anymore. blodreina was not the same woman she'd been — and that wasn't just the still wacky hormones talking. she sees the change in herself and she doesn't hate it because part of that blodreina had died with heda and morphed with impending motherhood.

in a way, blodreina feels like a relic of an empire that's not even ruin but a memory. a memory that lives on in her. if verx's fading scent from the pack lands, noted by blodreina — but ultimately went unpursued by this inevitable moment as it had drawn nearer for her — meant anything then she was the last of born kru. the others had long since abandoned them ...and she feels alone ( and yes, she has aure, but there was a lot of her culture that the pale slyph didn't know and it wasn't the same thing ). still, blodreina is conflicted, feeling like she's stolen her daughter's birthright from her a bit on the opposite side of being glad; and to someone who'd once put much stock in geda traditions this bothers her despite that she didn't have to follow those traditions.

she could make new traditions. they could make new traditions.

thank you. she murmurs to ingram, tucking those thoughts away. a small, tired smile spreads across her lips. still, i can't help but look at her and see a commander. a wanheda. ...sort of a combination of wanlida and heda. she speaks fondly, reaching down to run her muzzle over the girl's back once, letting out a soft laugh as she feels the deep breaths tell-tale to slumber. she fell asleep.