It had been a long and painful walk home from the Brook, yet she had not been able to complete the journey before trying to track down Farrow first. There was no sign of him and the night had dragged on long before the wounded Greyflood had limped home to the Cove, eager at least to be reunited with her wife and children. She'd still been covered in the Rike's blood and her own, her ivory chin stained dark with the dried brown of her own carnage.

Now that a few days had passed, she was willing to do a little more than collapse into Talisa's embrace and finally rest. Even that had only been after she had checked once more on Avaneira. Now things had changed again, and Morrigan would do better this time, seeking out Talisa first, both for her comfort and to tell her what had changed. Quietly she chuffed for her wife, still happy to have her and the younger children, and Nymeria here in the Brook even if was only for a few days.

Nymeria would likely linger longer, but Morrigan expected @Talisa to return to the Brook any day now to help Aquila get the place back in order. Beyond annoyance with herself for becoming unreasonably emotional lately, she hadn't yet noted the slight rounded to her belly, or how different she was beginning to feel beneath her battering from the war. The signs were still early... but to an experienced nursemaid like her wife?

She looked cleaner today at least, having washed in the sea salt of the ocean on her stiffened walk to the Cove, but her wounds were still obviously fresh and she waited for Talisa to reach her. It might have been easier to remained behind the borders, but Morrigan wanted some time to feel truly alone with her wife.

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To be quite plain, the woman was terrified the second she wasn't within arms reach of her children. After losing Tormund and then the monster coming for Vermeda, she couldn't help but imagine that there were large claws coming to pick each one of them up one by one. Cassandra had done well to try and push Talisa back into her faith when it was shaken but it still continued to dwindle. Her hope and spirits had been crushed dramatically by the hardships that she had had to endure in the last couple months alone. She hated those that she didn't know because she didn't want to hate them, but she couldn't be so sure who to trust anymore.

So it took her a little while to truly drive herself away from her girls. Knowing that she should feel confident in them being safe inside Caladan Cove with so many surrounding them and yet, she had believed Tormund had been safe, too. It took her a long -- too long -- time to finally see @Morrigan and push herself towards her wife's figure. Brows furrowed for a split second as she realized that not only did she adorn new scars and wounds that were still fresh, but either Morrigan was eating way too much out of stress or... that other guy had knocked her up. The one she'd been seeing -- not quite making it out that Farrow happened to be the other guy.

So she cleared her throat as she approached and aiming to touch her nose to her wife's left cheek. Needing that contact to know she was still alive and within reach.

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Morrigan had more experience than Talisa did being separated from their children, she supposed, so what must have seemed like a necessary distance to Morrigan for being allowed to process her own feelings, must have felt like a lifetime of distance for the other traumatized mother. She begins to suspect as much when Talisa does not show immediately, but ultimately her brunette form shows itself and Morrigan breathes a sigh of relief.

Morrigan saw a moment of an odd look but brushed it off as @Talisa assessing her new wounds rather than anything strange before she settled down onto growing gut, still oblivious herself. She leaned into Talisa's touch and breathed, "My love," before just taking a moment to be together. "I've still found no sign of him... Are you alright?" It was clear Morrigan was speaking of Farrow, but she found it difficult to say his name still right now.

She'd only just begun to get truly close to him after all. And now he had vanished. She knew what Talisa was feeling could only be tenfold.

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For once, the lioness remained relatively silent in the air of her wife. Mourning what felt like her entire life and all the losses that she had sustained in the last month or two. Nothing felt the same anymore and what was worse, she didn't feel like the same woman. Continually second-guessing her belief in Maua and of herself, not understanding any of the hard situations that had been handed to her time and time again. Obviously she regretted none of the decisions that she had made nor the family that she had created but she couldn't help but worry. Not... really? Just a lot has changed and.. I don't know what to do. There had never been any doubt in her life so big before that she didn't know all of what to do but she knew she couldn't deny the inkling she had when she pressed herself against @Morrigan's side. She knew but the weight of her world seemed to choke her into not saying anything yet.

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"Your family didn't deserve any of this," Morrigan finally said as she tried to work through the cacophony of emotions rattling through her. "You certainly don't deserve this... but if we survive we will be stronger for it." A sad truth, but true all the same. Morrigan knew her Valour kin were struggling with their faith right now, feeling betrayed or abandoned to some degree by their deity. "This is what I was trying to protect you from... It feels almost pointless now, all that time away from you and the kids." The dark queen's head looked out over her territory as she leaned more heavily into @Talisa, knowing that it had served its purpose in offering shelter, but had it been enough?

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Even if she hadn't quite been able to put her finger on it quite yet, there was a darkness that had begun to stir in her. Just the smallest sliver of rage that simmered at her core as she could see the darkness that had crept its way into Vermeda and lingered in its roots now. Blood -- Nymeria's blood -- soaked into their home all because a male wanted power and possession. It didn't sit well with her and she understood why @Morrigan kept her distance but regardless if she was here or there, the outcome might've still been the same. In this moment she struggled to find the right words to explain her doubtful feelings. Her drop in faith, the feeling that she was a disappointment... she didn't know how to voice them and so, left them unsaid. Choosing to take a breath and give a half-forced smile. You'll have to send my congratulations to Bronn, she remembered the white knight that Morrigan had seemed so taken with in one of the last few encounters that they had gotten to have in private. Of course, all the while unaware that not only did she not realize that she was pregnant but that it wasn't even Bronn's at all.

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The turn in the conversation had Morrigan rather slowly moving her head to look back at @Talisa, trying to connect the conversation they'd just been having with anything to with Bronn. "I don't understand. I haven't seen Bronn since shortly after the flood swept through the Mire months ago." He was safe, at least, and Morrigan did not necessarily fear for the soldier's safety, but his absence was a wound she had not expected to linger on today. Not on top of everything else, Farrow's being missing now included. Her expression was clearly one of confusion and obliviousness as she met her wife's gaze, wondering if she was missing something here.

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That confusion seemed to double back on her as they broke apart their embrace and stared at each other. Both attempting to match their puzzle pieces together but falling short with every jab. Apparently she hadn't seen Bronn in quite some time which... meant that it couldn't be his but then who else would've gotten her pregnant? It was quite clear to the Valour that she was pregnant (she knew the signs better than anyone) but something told her that @Morrigan didn't even have a piece of the puzzle at all. So who is the father, then? Talisa asked with a tilt of her head as her pulled up a single paw to point at her belly. I know a pregnant belly when I see one. So was Morrigan trying to hide it from her? That she had finally gotten herself pregnant and was giving Talisa EVEN MORE children to fawn over?

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So who is the father, then? Morrigan blinked. And blinked again before her gaze slowly dropped down to her belly, feeling the pit of the stomach in question sink at the same moment. "Oh," she finally said before lifting an ivory paw to lay it across her stomach, realizing she'd been carrying precious cargo when the Rike woman had dropped on her from above, and every day since. "It would have to be Farrow... though it wasn't the intention." An odd, sort of dreamy look had overtaken the Greyflood woman for the moment before she finally looked to @Talisa once more, meeting her beloved lilac eyes, "If it had been, you would have been included." There was already a nervousness stirring in Morrigan's heart at what this meant, but for now she clung to her shock, pushing the fear away for later. She only wished to be happy in this moment, and she hoped her wife could be the same. At least as much as they could be considering what had been lost.

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The words that were spoken could have popped the strongest balloon and still not have compared to the bubble that exploded inside of her chest. While she was slowly growing more and more ecstatic on the prospect that her beautiful wife was glowing and pregnant (it was so obvious), a part of her felt pain at the idea that Farrow wasn't here to embrace this moment (twice over). That he wasn't here to share in this moment with both of them but she had to hold onto faith that he was at least comfortable out there somewhere. She had always told him that she would never bind him to her and Talisa would hold onto that promise from so long ago. Well then. She admitted as she grinned, attempting to sue her body to push Morrigan back from whence she came. Let's get you somewhere warm and we can lay down and get comfortable. A place where I can feel you up in the most G-rated way possible for the babies and you can tell me what's going on. And don't you miss a damn single thing, missy. Talisa wanted to just hear @Morrigan talk about anything and everything, while she enjoyed waiting for any sign of baby.

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