Price did not think much about romance, but he had felt himself drawn to the doe as if by destiny. The first time he had seen her, he had been struck by the sense that she was his missing half. We belong with each other, a foolish voice in him had whispered, irresistibly, we go together perfectly. He had succumbed.
But surely it was foolishness - things did not work like that. There were many others she would go together with, perfectly. She was perfectly lovely on her own, besides. And so, he supposed, was he, although 'lovely' would not be the word he would've chosen for himself.
Still, it was a strange, wistful dream he had briefly entertained, and now there was the matter of children.
Price had not exactly meant to seek out a blessing. That was also a thought he had briefly entertained, but he had eventually decided it wasn't absolutely necessary. They were not destiny, despite his wistful fancies, their children were not special, and did not require divine approval.
(And if they were destiny - well, their children would already be special, and the Motherfather would take care of that.)
But blessings could be fickle, and one had sought him out, nevertheless - or, at least, that was what he'd garnered from the little green songbird flittering at him.
The songbird had glowing eyes, it was obviously a Legendary. Alright, so lots of animals had been showing up glowing these days, but it was also saying "tweet, tweet," in a way that sounded suspiciously like a kin in the shape of a songbird would say "tweet, tweet," in hopes of getting you believe it was really a songbird."But is it really necessary?" he said.
(Perhaps a part of him was disappointed that the Motherfather would not, Herself, take care of that. So much for destiny.)
The songbird abruptly spun into a spindly little Acha.
"It's people like you that make this such a drag, you know," he said, "we go around doing this for free, the least you could do is play along."
"I'm just saying, it seems like a thing you could not do."
The little Acha drew himself up with dignity.
"Maybe so," he said, "but it is to be, and so it shall."
He didn't really understand that, but he had the sense it wasn't meant to be, anyway. There wasn't a lot in it.
(Then again…if it is to be…)
He stood there patiently as the Acha fussed a bit, and pranced from hoof to hoof.
"And may your babes be always deliciously hale," the Acha sang, "alright, you can go."
"That's it, then?" Price said, doing his best to sound nonchalant and disinterested, "any pearls of wisdom to dispense upon this union?"
"How should I know?" the Acha said, "I'm just here for the kids."
Then he spun into the bird and flew away.
Well.
Price wasn't disappointed, per se. He'd already known it was foolish, after all. And at least their children would be delicious…whatever the heck that was supposed to mean.
END