Ankyra Sound Once you had a hook and ladder up into the headless night

AW, inside the Grotto

Raleska didn't know how many days she had spent down in this dark hole. Miraculously and through the aid of several strangers (and one alleged aokkatti), Raleska was still alive.

Her children were still alive.

She knew some time had passed, enough that she ought to look down on her babies and feel a stirring of immense fondness.. but, she felt nothing for them.

Nothing but fear and guilt.

If she had not nearly died, if she was not still so weak, she would have just left them there. It seemed wrong to do so now, after Stryx's, Surya's, Kaertok's and Sugar Glider's vigilance in keeping them earthside. Still, Raleska wanted little to do with them and only tolerated them because she was unable to leave just yet.

Soon, she might be right enough to travel. Movement was still painful, but no longer unbearable; she could stand for small periods of time and while her balance and vision still seemed compromised, she was ambulatory and restless.

One thing (or several) still troubled Raleska.. Who had been there during the birth..? Who had separated membrane and caul, who had pulled the babes aside and placed them by her breast..? She remembered only snatches, and each time she tried to recall it she was seized with terror -- for surely, surely it could not be possible.