OOC

Aurelia Euphemia Dalmatia
Set just after this thread, leaving some details loose!

Panic washed over her, mind racing as she spun away from Sølvi and back toward the den area. The bull's vision was hazy, her brain swimming in unprocessed emotions as she attempted to digest the impossible news. She was, in fact, not dying of some plague curse. It was worse, somehow. It was way, way worse.

It was way worse, wasn't it?

The word rattled around in her head.

Pregnant.

What was she supposed to do? Tiberii's heart was in her throat, and she could feel every hastened beat as she wavered back toward the den spaces that she and her pack-mates shared. It was still early morning, and she could only hope that her sisters were nearby. They would know what to do. Certainly. They had to. She couldn't go back to Shiloh, not yet, not until she'd calmed down. He would pry it out of her before she was ready and wind up thrown off a nearby mountaintop for his efforts.

Lia? Her throat was dry, her words ragged, and her mouth bitter with the taste of bile and anxiety. Dal? Tiberii's breath puffed through her cheeks, her face peeking into the dens like some ravenous drug addict seeking a thrill. Phia? One of them would be here, she just knew it.

Did she seem frantic?

She seemed frantic, didn't she?

The bull would slow herself, wavering for a moment on legs that felt suddenly gelatinous. And she would try for a moment to breathe, because every frantic thought only brought with it continued waves of annoying nausea. She could only will herself to calm down so that she could try to think straight.

---

Retirement had its perks.

Aurelia no longer rose quite as early these days, indulgently allowing the sun to crest over the horizon and warm the earth before emerging from her den. Nothing seemed urgent anymore. No impending sense of doom, no pressing matters of leadership; just the steady roll of routine and the pleasure of sleeping in just a little bit longer.

Except something was very, very urgent this morning.

Her eyes snapped open, glowing faintly in the darkness of the den. She, too, had come away from the rebirth of the world marked in some fashion, and now her gaze - piercing enough as it was normally - held the illumination of the stars themselves. It didn't particularly bother her since it wasn't something she could outright see or experience, unlike her sisters.

Speaking of which.

Tiberii's voice, strange and echoing, cut through the early morning hours. Her tone seemed laced with panic, a sound not unfamiliar to Aurelia. Tiberii was not known to be the most emotionally well-regulated of their siblings on the best of days, so this was either something as simple as a stomach cramp or as severe as an amputated limb.

Dalmatia was already on the scene, whispering soft reassurances into the dark woman's ear with practiced care. How easy she always made such things look, Aurelia thought distantly. How easy they were for some, and so difficult for others.

Tiberii? she called out, emerging from the den with a look of concern. At least it wasn't an amputated limb, but something had clearly distressed Tiberii enough to summon all of their siblings to discuss the matter.

What's wrong?

skill: [none]

---

The journey home had been laborious. The distance, compounded by the exertions from the battle and the sheer mental duress of having the fate of her family placed across her shoulders, left her with no reserves to draw from.

After she had hauled herself across the threshold of Frostfang Vale, Euphemia slept for weeks.

It had not only been the physical difficulties that ailed her. The last season had been filled with so much… everything. She had found love, reunited with lost flames, gained notoriety within Dawnbreak as a pillar, survived the death of that long-lost lover, found a rune with her younger brother, and then saved the world in opposition to almost all others who had fought the battle.

It was enough to make someone very, very exhausted.

The rumbles of the landscape, breaking apart and glowing from within, had ceased completely. With this – and somehow the perturbed knowledge that Alaric was no longer a bittersweet threat to her current reality – the maiden calmed. She rested.

That was, until Tiberii summoned her.

Euphemia peeked one eye open, having no idea what time of day it was, and attempted to decide if she should continue sleeping. She needn’t answer every summons that called to her, as most were quite stressful and taxing, and Euphemia deigned not to deal with those right now. Not as Euphemia, not as the Pillar of Wisdom.

However, as a sister, Euphemia would be ever-dedicated.

She joined the sides of her sisters fluttering around the darkened namesake of her Father. Euphemia’s eyebrows knitted with concern, but her heart was stilled by the fact that if something was truly, dreadfully, viscerally wrong… then Tiberii would have been barrelling forward, intent to kill, ready to right whatever wrong had been perpetrated upon her pack.

If Tiberii was seeking out the advice and consult of her sisters, then it at least wasn't life-threatening. Sadly, that was what Euphemia had come to expect from the world, and found her sisters’ mild concern relieving. Euphemia did not add to the cacophony of inquiry, but instead stood close as a silent and perceiving pillar, ready to face whatever hurdle had come their way.

---

OOC

Skill: 

Tiberii rarely asked for help. In fact, she rarely asked for anything at all. Perhaps that was why her sisters amassed so swiftly, lifting from the depths of their dens and slumbers to rally to her call. And as soon as they did, Tiberii felt her heart catch in her throat, an instant sense of regret fluttering through her. Three pairs of familiar eyes rested on her, and there was a soft quiet for a few moments as the sisters took a rare moment to be alone with one another.

It was ... nice ...

There were so many things to say to each of them, so many things Tiberii wanted to say and never did. Dalmatia was getting married. Euphemia was a leader now, and mourning (?) a very aggressive love interest (thanks to Tiberii). Aurelia was likely still processing the loss of her own leadership role and exploring her feelings for Sólúlfur. And yet here Tiberii was, stealing their time for her own problem. She felt guilty, her cheeks hot and her stomach boiling with ready bile as nausea washed over her.

But they were here now, and there was no avoiding it.

Her head was swimming, senses dulled as waves upon waves of annoying hormonal surges pulsed through her bloodstream. Tongue-tied, the bull attempted to process the best way to tell them, or better yet, attempted to process her way out of this. Could she just say 'never mind' and walk away? Would that work? Maybe she could figure out something else to say — maybe she could lie and say the bear was back. Maybe she could just —

— I'm pregnant.

It was not a whisper.

The words left her lips faster than her mind could tell them not to. Instantly, her ears flattened, and she snapped her jaws shut. But the already spoken words echoed horribly in the air around them, as if spoken by a million voices other than her own. And Tiberii would swallow, her fears of inadequacy rising in her belly just as quickly as the bile.

---