Broken Antler Fen jadebite

when ibis had gone into seclusion, teya had become consumed with jealousy.
eventually, the day of their birth, she too had isolated herself far from the auspex. with no way of knowing what truly went on within the den, it was instinct that forced her legs to race away. there she stayed, racked with guilt, for she should be among those who greeted the youngest. but instead teya kicked stones into a creek and at last, dropped into the shadow of towering elms.
there the young raven tried to untangle her horrid feeling, thinking of how calm @Wraen was always, and wishing to emulate this even in her stringent moments.
a breath. another. the taste of salt.

Contrary to Teya Wraen had come to a point in life, where she was very comfortable of who she was, and did not envy anyone, what had been denied to her. She had observed Ibis preparing for the newborns and helped, where it was necessary, eventually leaving the young mother in peace to do that one, very important job, where no one could help her. There was not much trepidation for her, when it took place, for she had witnessed those precious, important moments take place every season. She knew that for the next two months newborns would be in the sole care of their mother and that meant there was little us of her until that moment.

She was walking in quiet contemplation along the creek, when she noticed Teya's hunched form and smelled tears. Curious as to, what had caused this, the elder walked over to the girl, reached out to touch her gently on her shoulder and then settled down next to her, observing in silence, ready to listen, when and if the girl wished to speak.

I am so sorry that it took so long to reply to this!

no worries whatsoever!

as if bidden by her silent thoughts, wraen appeared. she said nothing, and so teya did not feel pressed for an explanation. and while there might have been an embarrassing vulnerability in weeping before someone, she sniffled her way through the sensation all the same.
teya bumped her crown softly against the other's shoulder.
"i jealous of ibis," she whispered, drawing a shaky inhale. "not ibis — that she will be mother. that she will be ah, not here." she did not know how to explain. ibis had always been a mother, but this would be the first time that teya would witness the auspex' devotion to new pups, the isolation, and the idea that someone else had done for ibis what the little raven could not.

Frankly speaking, Wraen did not quite understand, what Teya was implying, because she remembered clearly that not too long ago the small Raven had told her that she did not wish to have any children at all. Why would she be jealous of Ibis being away? She sighed and sought for the right question to ask, in order to find out more. 

"Care to elaborate?" she eventually settled for the simplest query. "What do you mean by "not being here"?" 

a sniffle. an inhale. teya stared out in front of them both. the grass gently waved and she could smell the good crystalline fragrance of the fen. 
"i love her, wraen," the little raven said softly, with a touch of the old toxic shyness. "she is mother now. she has baby again. i not enough. she is gone."

Of all the things Wraen expected to hear, this revelation had not been among them. She side-glanced at the little Raven curiously, as if wondering, if she had understood everything correctly. "Oh... that does complicate stuff..." she remarked, searching for the right words to soothe the other's troubled heart.

"Have you spoken to her about it? Does she know?" she asked, first thinking "Ibis is into men" and then realizing that she did not know her niece that well at all.

teya thought of the way that ibis had glowed beneath the moon, had shimmered in grief, had glinted in pregnancy.
but the violet had never said the words she now said to wraen.
and so she shook her head. "no. she not know." and how could she say those things? teary eyes glancing to the other now, silently seeking the wisdom that wraen had always sought to impart.

"That complicates things," Wraen remarked, falling silent again, wondering, whether Teya was in for an advice or she did not want to have any help at all, just be listened to. This last thought, however, offered her the next logical thing to ask: "Do you want to do anything about it?"

teya rolled her shoulders. "i want —" a chuckle, a long sigh. "i want you tell me what to do," she said, only halfway joking, but it was more meant to pull her from a reverie. 
air pulled through her lungs and then dispelled in a sigh. "i not say anything. let it be." she could not force the nature of the world.
ibis had responded to her once.
why could it not be again?

"Teya, I cannot make decisions for you," Wraen pointed out kindly. As much as she enjoyed the honour of being asked for an advice and would never say "no" to issuing such, she sensed that this was not a situation that she could get involved in or solve for either of these two people.

"But... I, from what I have learned during my life, if you have loved once, you will love again. It may come in a different form and shape and may not be evident at a first glance or even a second or third..." she chuckled, thinking about the long courtship of Eljay and Maia. 

"If it is Ibis you like, don't give up on her and be her friend first. She has gone through a lot during this past year and needs all the support she gets. On the other hand - do not put all your eggs in the single nest. Don't shower her in kindness, if you demand something in return. That line of thinking will lead to disappointment. 

At the same time - keep your options open and see, what else is out there in the world," she finished.

as always, wraen gave a solid sort of advice. to love without strings and to be open to more of it from others. she wondered, again, why she did not feel the same way toward bridget, why it had not become the obsessive sort of desperate love. she and the cardinal had been through a good deal as one, but she did not feel the same sort of dismissal from the fairy-woman.
perhaps there, something to explore.
rather rejuvenated, teya wiped the lingering wetness from her cheeks. "thank you, wraen. now i catch you fish." she would not think of anything else; her grin was defiant and broad, eyes filled with a great warmth for the woman.
teya still planned to bring the same to ibis, but now she would — she did not know.