trans_9 | I need you to get back up. [open]

She really wished Stacy would have given her more of a warning, before filling her head full of memories she wasn't sure she was prepared for. She had to excuse herself from a council meeting, apologizing profusely in half-panicked signing.

Kinase was dead. She remembered that now. He wouldn't be waiting in the pods for her when this was all over, he wouldn't kiss her cheek or remind her that she was overreacting (even when she was sure she wasn't). She wouldn't hear his laugh, or roll her eyes when he wore some gaudy, bright-pink shirt, claiming to be the height of Draenic fashion. He had been an idiot who had, somehow, agreed to marry her - first as a joke, then seriously, as someone who loved her. It figured that a man who'd survived the Cataclysm of Azeroth, and the Exodus from Draenor would somehow be unable to survive the Ohm's rampant destruction of everything.

But now he was gone, and she remained. If she'd been able to, Nehaalista would've screamed her frustrations. Her hooves found her pointed to the sensoriums, and she conjured up the home on Azuremyst they'd built and then subsequently hid in when Vaals was born.

Vaals, her little, little Vaals. Vaals was safe. He had to be. He was little and sweet, and she refused to believe that his big eyes, soft hair, and even, gentle voice was taken from her, too. Nehaalista's hooves tore up the half-finished pathway to the house and she threw the door open. Her little boy played on a blanket before several lighting crystals, safe and sound thanks to the illusion of the sensoriums, and somewhere floating in a pile of mucus down in the pod caverns if she were lucky.

Nehaalista picked the little boy up, who protested slightly, and sank into Kinase's chair. She buried her face into Vaals' light-colored hair and breathed shallowly. Why couldn't anything have simple and clean resolutions?

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Nehaalista didn't answer for a moment, looking at Kang from over the top of the tiny Draenei's head. Vaals was put back down on his blanket, and toddled towards his toys on wary little legs.

[Hello, Kang.] She shifted uncomfortably in her seat and didn't turn her eyes from the little boy who was now talking to the crystalline blocks like they were dear friends, [This is Vaals. Did you know I had a son? I didn't. Not until a few minutes ago. A husband, too.] The translation necklace made the sentence should more cheerful than it should have. Nehaalista wiped at her cheeks with the heel of her hand, and wondered if she looked as bewildered as she felt.

Kang was silent for a moment, unsure of what to say as he watched the little boy play. He knew exactly what it felt like to miss a mate and children, and he couldn't even imagine how much harder it must be on Nehaa to have that knowledge just shoved on her in a matter of seconds. He hesitated only slightly before moving over and pulling her into a hug, "Don't give up hope that they're okay. Dont ever give up hope, no matter how hard it gets, how long you end up waiting."

She kept her face in Kang's shoulder, her shoulders jerking with silent sobs. Nehaalista shook her head as he tried to console her, pulling back and signing rapidly, almost too fast for the necklace to follow along in its cheerful tone.

[He has died. The Ohm killed him.] She tried very had to think about Kinase's face when he officially proposed (though he'd flubbed it), and not to think of that look of unimaginable pain when he'd been killed. Her heart felt like someone was squeezing it in their fist. [Vaals is all I have left; if he was even saved.]

"...I'm sorry. I didn't... I didn't mean to make you feel worse," Kang said quietly. "But you still have hope for your son."

[You couldn't have known,] Nehaalista picked at the arm of Kinase's chair. Vaals continued to talk to his toys, stacking them up with more care than one would normally afford someone so young.

She sniffed once, as she pulled away and looked up at him. Draenei eyes weren't very good at looking red-rimmed, considering their blue blood. [I didn't even know... I had thought that he had... he was...] She had hoped Kinase was safe somewhere in the pods. She straightened her shoulders and looked at Vaals, [You're right; I have hope for Vaals. Surely the Daligig were able to recover him.]

She just needed to be sure. There had to be some way Stacy could tell her.

"And when he wakes up, when all of our children are awake, they can play together," Kang smiled, trying to give her something happy to hold on to. When, not if.

When, not if, was a nice thought. Even if there was the slimmest chance she had lost both of them, if she just kept thinking When, not If, until Vaals really did come tumbling out of his pod, looking for her, then maybe it would all work out. [That would be nice, wouldn't it?]

Vaals picked up his block and shuffled over to Kang and Nehaalista, his tail swishing back and forth. "Don't cry, Mama."

Kang nodded, taking Nehaa's hand in his and giving it a squeeze. "We'll have to make sure to take lots of pictures."

He glanced down at Vaals and knelt to be more on his level, "How old are you?"

"A million," Vaals answered cheekily with a big, big smile. His fangs were little, but there none the less. He handed Nehaalista the block and then barreled his way into her lap, to which his mother complied to readily.

[Vaals, be respectful.]

"Yes, Mama." Vaals' miniature barbels curled briefly and straightened out with the gentle chastisement. "I'm four. But Mama says it's not important to count, because we'll live for a long, long time. Huh, Mama?"

[That's right.] Nehaalista signed slowly, finding it hard to be somewhat untruthful to even a simulation of her child. [We age very slowly, so someday we might even be as old as the Venerable Prophet.]

"You're not too much older than mine, then," Kang smiled. "My name's Kang. I'm a friend of your mama's."

Vaals held his block out to Kang very formally. "It's nice to meet you." Behind him, Nehaalista shook her head slightly. What a bright child she had. She was lucky. "Did you know my mama is a mighty Exarch? Everyone says she's going to be, so that must mean she is."

"You too, Vaals. I didn't know that; what does an Exarch do?" Kang accepted the block, giving Nehaa an amused look. He liked the boy already.

"Evvvery thing." Vaals enthused with a little kick of his hooves. "They tell people what to do, and they lead people, and they're amaaazing." He paused for a moment, "But Papa says that Mama's always bossed him around, which I think is funny because she doesn't talk. Do you, Mama?"

[No, I do not.]

"See? So I don't know how she bosses anyone, unless she makes scary faces at them, but my mama wouldn't do that. Because she's pretty."

Kang laughed, "It sounds like all mamas are the same. She doesn't need to be able to talk to 'boss people around', or make scary faces. She just needs to get out her mace. People listen then."

"Her mace is scary," Vaals agreed and flicked his tail against his mother's leg. She ruffled his hair in reply and he giggled.

Nehaalista bounced him on her knee and hugged Vaals, who, in his best attempt to be masculine, pushed at his mother's arms. "But, mama...!"

She pressed her finger to Vaals' nose and smiled at Kang. Vaals gave up and went limp in her arms, throwing his little legs over the arm of the chair.

I need you to get back up. [open]

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