Ravensblood Forest yon lanmè nwa

meredith had seen a lotta things—men gutted on decks, guts spilling like eels; storms that split the sky in two; her own blood soaked into sand she couldn’t name. but this? this weren’t nothin’ she’d ever trained for. weren’t in any sailor’s bible, neither.

her eyes were wide as moons, fixed on the squirming, wet thing that had just slithered into the world like a curse. another cry followed, sharp and high, and she flinched like she’d been struck.

fuck, she breathed, barely more than a whisper. fuckin’—fuck.

she crouched low, hovering over the laboring bitch like she might catch a blade at any moment. blood pooled, steam rose. gods, it stank. she didn’t know what part to touch, what part to leave. was it alive? was it supposed to be that color? her throat worked around nothing.

i’m just a fuckin’ girl, she muttered, desperate and trembling. i don’t know what i’m doin’.

but still, her paws moved—clumsy but tryin’. clearing slime from a nose. nosing it close to its dam. coaxin’. hopin’. prayin’, maybe, even if she didn’t know the words.