4/28/2025, 2:51 AM
morwenna bowed her head over her daughter, the world shrinking down to the frail, desperate heartbeat pressed against her chest. she tightened her hold until she thought she might crush the little thing, breath hitching against the crown of fa’liya’s head, arms folding her in as if she could shield her from every cruelty that had ever touched the world.
when fa’liya’s tiny paws scrabbled and pressed, needing more, morwenna answered by pulling her tighter still, as if she could stitch the broken pieces back together through sheer force of will. when the whisper came — m’ma — stronger now, a thread of hope wound into it, morwenna choked on a sound that was not a sob but something deeper, something from the ancient place inside her that had never, ever stopped calling for her daughter.
shh, star of my heart,she murmured, voice cracking open around the endearment, too rough, too raw. she curled herself around fa’liya as a lioness might curl around a wounded cub, a shelter of flesh and bone and fury, her nose burying into the girl’s downy ruff to breathe her in.
when fa’liya’s tiny paws scrabbled and pressed, needing more, morwenna answered by pulling her tighter still, as if she could stitch the broken pieces back together through sheer force of will. when the whisper came — m’ma — stronger now, a thread of hope wound into it, morwenna choked on a sound that was not a sob but something deeper, something from the ancient place inside her that had never, ever stopped calling for her daughter.
yes,she whispered back, forehead pressing to the small, trembling brow of her child.
yes, i am here. i am here, little light. never again will i lose you.