Welcome to Gaia! ::

Deep breath. Deep breath. This was your mother, this is exciting news, you can do this Kaia!

Oh, who was she kidding? This had a 50/50 chance of either going wonderfully or absolutely horribly. Yes, her mother had always wanted to be a grandmother from her side of the family but never like this.

It was ironic that she was now being faced with a new challenge that she never expected to happen. She had never thought in a million years when she was younger that she would want a family. No, they were too noisy, too much work, and far too messy for her to take along with her on her travels.

Yet with each year passing and with her growing older Kaia couldn’t deny an ache was deep within her every time she saw a new happy family. She had begun tutoring the younglings that filled up the mountain and recounted them with stories of her grand adventures across Kawani and beyond from her youth. She grew to appreciate the little things that they did and that they were truly sponges that thrived on knowledge, much like her at that age. It had started as a simple question to her What would a foal with me and Tut look like? That little question quickly grew into a fantasy of little white-coated foals with his same dark-colored eyes running around and going with them on their travels. It grew and grew until she couldn’t deny it any longer: She wanted foals.

Alas, her wishes had been dashed long ago.

It had been known for years now that Kaia was practically infertile. Her womb had been considered a hostile environment after countless miscarriages and her getting deadly sick with each one. She and her mate Tut had finally resigned themselves to being childless. After all, there weren’t foals that just dropped out of the sky or just left abandoned often in their quiet isolated mountain home. Everyone they knew generally was a solid family unit who loved and wanted each batch of foals that were born each spring. Kaia had accepted that she was going to be an aunt and babysitter most likely for the rest of her life. She was happy with that. After all, she had her beloved mate, her mother, and now her new in-laws whom she adored. Life was good.

But life always finds a way to flip you on your head as soon as you’re comfortable.

Kaia had been extremely surprised when one of her work clients frantically showed up to her doorstep carrying a small disheveled-looking foal on his back. Her four wings were wildly frayed as if someone had been too rough with them, she was extremely skinny, and her breathing was labored. Kaia was in shock. Where did this foal come from, and who had treated her so poorly?

Her client had explained that this foal had come from a breeding gone wrong between his father and an unknown mare. The mare in question had seemingly passed in childbirth and his father was not fit to care for himself let alone any foals in question. He explained how he had retrieved the foal from his father and was now on the hunt to find a new home for the small foal since he himself was in no position to care for a child.

Kaia was naturally taken aback by the wild claims. Yes, she had heard stories from her client before about his kin and how horrible they could be. She had encountered many a dark-natured individual in her years traveling. From the great Kalona war to the pure shifter who attacked her when she herself was a foal. There was no amount of evil in the world and those who were unfit to be parents but for the result of one of those couplings to come literally knocking on her door?

She found it hard to believe.

Kaia spent a good amount of time inquiring about more details from her client. Who was the mother? How did he know she had passed? What happened to the other foals from this union? Would his father be coming to retrieve his offspring through force?

It took hours but finally, Kaia was finished with her inquisition of the poor stallion and was content with the answers he had provided.

With a heavy sigh, she slowly eased the foal from her client’s back onto a soft bed made of grass and feathers. The tiny brown foal shifted before making a small whinny of protest before finally settling in with a smile. Almost as if she knew that she was finally home, finally in a safe space.

That smile was all it took to melt Kaia’s stone heart. This was her daughter, she was a mother. Damn anyone who tried to say otherwise.

Though she would have some explaining to do with her mate later on. But, given that he too was once adopted she suspected he would accept the foal with open arms just as she had.

It had been a few months since that day. Tut had in fact accepted the foal with no hesitation and treated her just as if she was his own. They were ecstatic new parents and were enjoying the new adventure of having a small family to take care of. They had decided to give her a name that reminded them of the flowers that seemed to grow wherever she frequented: Magnolia. She was a healthy, bouncing, wonderfully eccentric child who had a fascination with insects that Kaia encouraged. After all, she was much the same at her age when it came to ancient cultures and archaeology.

There was however one person who had not had a chance to meet and approve of the new addition to their family. A very important person in Kaia’s life: Her mother.

Kaia was an equal mix of excited and nervous as her loyal hawk companion came back and reported that her mother had returned from her secondary home in the frozen north and had been seen nearby. She explained to Magnolia that she had a special member of her family that she wanted her to meet but they would have to make their first mother-daughter journey alone to go visit her. She did not want to push her into a situation that she was not comfortable with and gave her the choice if she wanted to meet her harpy grandmother or not. Magnolia, being the curious child that she was imminently jumped at the opportunity. Her mind raced a mile a minute as they packed their supplies and said their farewells to Tut and the rest of their family before departing.

Did her grandmother look like her other harpy grandmother at home? Was she different? Did she have a feather butt like her mom did? Was she gonna preen her like her grandmother did at home? Did she have a beak? Did she EAT bugs? What if she did eat bugs, what would she do? How would she protect her collection!?

All of these questions and more swirled in Magolia’s head and was what she rapid-fired asked her mother on their journey together. To which, Kaia laughed and shook off saying she’ll just have to see for herself when they arrived but she could confirm her mother did in fact not enjoy consuming insects at the very least.

Finally, after nearly a week of travel, they had made it to the small lake that Kaia’s mother and her mother’s mate called their home.

Deep breath. Deep breath. This was your mother, this is exciting news, you can do this Kaia!

“KAIA!” Was screamed out by a familiar, accent-heavy voice in the distance as a flash of blue started to rapidly bee-line their way towards the pair. There wasn’t a question about who that voice belonged to: Anya Frostfeather. Kaia’s mother.

There was no turning back now, she was in her mother’s sights and would not be let free for at least the next few days as she would be berated with love and affection by the normally aggressive harpy. It was time to finally have her child meet her mother.

Gods be kind.