Chevalier came back from a long day out in his study and found Emily's bed empty. He glanced at the clock and saw that it was only 3am. Kyle was away on a two-week long mission and Emily hadn't let Chevalier replace him so her ante-chamber was also empty. He caught her emotions and she was upset and worried, which made the need to find her more pressing. He smelled for her, but her scent was faint, she hadn't been in the ante-chamber in hours.
“Find Emily,” he ordered into the air, and the sound of scrambling feet echoed through the castle.
It was only five minutes before he heard a voice on the wind whisper, “Barn.”
He appeared in the barn seconds later and walked around to Patra's stall. Patra was lying on the clean straw, panting, and Emily was at her side rubbing the mare's tummy. He suddenly understood.
“How is she doing?” he asked from outside the stall.
Emily looked up at him with tired eyes, “It's taking a long time.”
“Is there anything I can do?”
She shook her head and went back to rubbing the mare's belly. Chevalier appeared at her back and began to rub her tight, knotted shoulders.
“Mmmm,” she moaned, and leaned her head forward.
He grinned and continued to rub the knots out of her shoulders, “Kyle will be sad he missed this. He's been waiting to see her foal for 11 months.”
Emily just nodded. She was clearly worried about the time it was taking Patra to deliver.
Patra raised her head and whinnied loudly as her stomach contracted violently, “Come on girl, push,” Emily encouraged.
After a few minutes, the mare laid her head back on the straw, panting heavily and Emily sighed.
The hours passed and the more Emily worried about Patra, the more Chevalier worried about Emily. Her shoulders grew into hard knots and he knew her head was aching from the stress.
The light of dawn filled the barn and the mare had just begun to push again, when Emily stood up, walked to the rear of the horse, and sunk her arm, shoulder deep into the mare.
Chevalier watched, shocked, not exactly sure what Emily was doing until she was using her entire body to pull. She groaned, her teeth grinding as she tried to pull the foal free. She panted and again pulled with all of her strength when she suddenly flew back and landed hard against the ground.
“Gah, slippery bugger!” she screamed, and sunk her hand back into the mare.
Emily was sweating now, her shirt was stained, and her hair was plastered to her head. She pulled again and again and Chevalier considered putting an end to it, but wasn't ready to face her wrath. Emily gave one last scream and pulled two long thin legs out just as Patra gave what Chevalier could only describe as a bellow. A loud, sloshing sound accompanied the rest of the foal emerging and Emily quickly began to clear its mouth.
Patra raised her head and craned her neck to begin licking the foal, which was already fighting to stand. The colt stood up on shaky legs and nuzzled toward his mother and began to nurse. Emily laid back on the straw, trying to catch her breath. She was soaked with sweat and covered in blood, but she was smiling.
Chevalier stood and walked over to her, then looked down and smiled, “It's a boy.”
Emily nodded, completely exhausted.
He reached a hand out to her, “Come on, get some sleep.”
She shook her head, “I can't. I need to keep an eye on him for a while,” she said, and then sat up with considerable effort.
“Can't I get someone to do that?” he asked, even though he already knew the answer.
“No, he's my responsibility.” She sat back against the wall of the stall and watched the colt eat.
He sighed, “I have a meeting.”
“I'm ok, go. When I get done here, I'm just going to shower and go to bed.” She looked down at her clothes.
Chevalier grinned, “Good, you stink.”
She threw a handful of straw at him and he left.
Emily shut her eyes for a moment and relaxed as the colt nursed. She opened them to yell at Chevalier, but noticed the noise had come from Peanut, “Heya, Nut.”
Peanut crawled into her lap and began to purr as she pet him, “Look what we did… we made a colt.” She was smiling.
It was only a few hours later that Emily was finally convinced the horses would be ok. The colt was up walking around on unsteady legs and Patra was standing up eating. She kissed the top of Peanut's head and went inside to take a shower.
She heard odd hisses as she walked past the heku servants and she looked down at her bloodstained shirt. She couldn't blame them for being antsy.
The shower felt incredible and she let it run longer than usual. When she was too tired to stand any longer, she pulled on her t-shirt and laid down on top of the covers of the bed, and fell fast asleep.
Emily was only partially aware when Chevalier came in and moved her under the covers. The warmth was perfect and she snuggled deeper into the bed and fell back asleep as Chevalier joined her under the covers and wrapped his arms around her.
Emily stirred and saw the sun was rising. She jumped up and hurried to put on her jeans.
“Slow down… where are you going?” Chevalier asked, wrapping his arms around her waist.
“I need to go check on the colt,” she said, buttoning her pants and looking around for a clean shirt.
“He'll be ok, Em.” He smelled her neck and gently ran his tongue along the throbbing vein. Emily shivered, but pulled away from him.
“Stop, Chev, I need to go check.” She found the shirt she was looking for and pulled off the nightshirt, but before she could replace it, Chevalier was holding her closely.
He began kissing her neck again.
She pulled away yet again and grinned.
Emily put on the other shirt and headed out the door to check on the colt. The barn was awake and hungry as she entered and walked past the other horses and into Patra's stall. She let the mare and her colt out into the corral and watched as the foal played in the grass, running and bucking. Leaning against the fence watching them was electric, this new life now able to think and feel and play. She smiled as she watched them and Peanut wound himself around her legs.
When the colt began to nurse again, Emily let the buckskin mare and Chevalier's crabby Arabian out into the corral too, where they grazed happily.
Sighing, Emily went back into the barn and loaded a bale of hay onto the back of the ATV and set out. She wanted to get in a decent nap when she was done, she still felt tired from the previous night. The hay seemed heavier today and the nap looked better and better. She finished later than usual and headed back into the castle.
Emily heard hisses in the hallway as she