Qeya River [b] love of mine

in the swell of darkness, sparrow had been there. 

he'd been there for the sweet, sugary, lovesick moments between his mothers that sent a warmth to the cradle he floated in. he'd been there for the stress, the fear, the anger and wrath of violence that left him clinging to the small body he shared a space with. he'd been there for the exhaustion and adrenaline that fueled a journey running from the nightmares he might never know.   

and when his mother began the relentless pangs of contractions, he'd been there for that too. 

he felt as muscles contracted and released, as nature took it's course to guide him away from the only familiarity he had ever known and out to a world he did not want to be in. this space was cold, chilled, and he let loose distressed cries of upset as the warmth of a tongue swept over him. 

even as he is pulled close to the comfort of his mother's heartbeat, he is restless at the quickening of it. there was discomfort, tension, love, and eventually reassurance swirling in the air around him — and he could taste them all. 

it was only as the tiny body he'd once clung to is placed beside him that the boy's cries wane. what was once incomplete was now whole again, and he settled to nurse alongside what would one day be known as his sister. 

for now he knew her only as an extension of himself, and as he gorged himself to a milk-drunk slumber, sparrow was untroubled.