FINTAIL

𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍

"THORN!"

The mother longsnout wailed for her offspring amid the debris, her two fishermen's claws slashing through the ground madly. The earthquake had mottled her beautiful scaly face with grime and blood, yet its reckoning did far more damage from within. Aye, it is said that a parent knows no fear until the pieces of their story cave in on itself. It is one thing to watch the love of your life perish before your very eyes. But to witness the home you've built fall apart, and lose sight of the kin you've sworn to protect, all one knows is fear.

And, for Auliza, a sheer minute without seeing Thorn's frail body was a torture like no other.

"THORN!"

The longsnout faltered over a few lumps of torn rock and wood, probing a different space for her hatchling. I observed from a distance, astonished and saddened at her desperation for love. She'd search the ends of the earth for her children if Fate willed it; I felt that promise burn like fire even now. If only Fate's kindness were as cordial as hers. Maybe then, a saurian's suffering wouldn't be so heart-wrenching to the soul.

"Oh no... Oh n-no..."

Auliza's tears were falling now, spilling over her snout and blanketing her senses in salt. But then she looked skyward, and I suddenly felt her thoughts echoing in my head.

Don't take him from me, I heard her beg. Please, not him. I can't lose another.

I looked to the grounds that I stood over, inspecting the limp body of a longsnout beneath me. Then to my claws. Then back at her. I felt Auliza's pain growing and growing, swelling like a fresh bruise filling with molten blood. It hurt me more than I wished it... and that scared me, too. Nothing's more powerful, more honorable, more painful than a mother's love. And nothing in nature can attain to that.

P-Please...

My hollow eyes pondered upon the sobbing female for a second longer, tail swaying from side to side in thought. Aye, his heartbeat was slowing. His injuries were terrible. But Fate didn't appear to intervene my decision this time. And beyond that burden was my dear spirit, which churned and boiled at the prospect of Auliza's love. Her sacrifice. Her courage.

I took a step away from Thorn's body. She couldn't bear another loss... I'll spare her today. And so I thought back: Okay.

Her claws finally came across flesh. Thorn! Gasping, Auliza dug in, dragging out the bloodied longsnout by the tail, and started licking his face furiously. Thorn groaned back to life, blindly rubbing his mother's under-chin in response.

"D-Did I die?"

"No, my little hatchling," Auliza sobbed happily, nuzzling him as one last tear rolled down her cheek. "You're okay."

"Mother!"

Auliza's head raised to a purple shape lumbering across the rubble. "Ripple! Oh—!" she drifted from Thorn's side to embrace the trembling female that greeted her, nuzzling every which way to tell herself that she was okay.

"T-The ground was shaking, the water got h-hot—"

"Shh..." Auliza licked Ripple across the snout. "You're here, you're safe. You're..." She suddenly drew away, recognizing a metallic-rich scent growing on her daughter's face. "Your snout—" Auliza licked the blood from it, ignoring Ripple's hoots of pain. "A-Are you hurt anywhere else?"

"No," Ripple drew away. "I just fell."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

Auliza dashed another lick to her skull, then sighed. "Alright."

"We're going to be o-okay, right? Mother?"