Chapter Text
==>Be Survia Maryam
You have never known a longer day than this, and that includes Wriggling Days. And Brooding Days.
You feel good, and right, about most of the matches you’ve witnessed today, though you do worry about the boy grub who went to the set of bodybuilders, and the girl grub who went to an ex-convict and his wife. There’s also a worry you have about one of the sea-dwelling trolls, that perhaps the people who had him may influence him in the wrong direction. But you do not fool yourself that you have any say in who gets what grub, and you also know that the lone jade-blooded troll on the host family committee was most likely easily shouted down by the highbloods while they were making their decisions.
But, since you have a grub to take charge of yourself, this will be your first and last Family Day for quite some time to come. You will be much too busy to tend to the Mother Grub very often, and your little one Kanaya will need all of your attention for the next little while. She’s in your arms now, sleeping again, though she will soon be awake. Awake and wanting your attention. The way she latched on to your face with her eyes was especially endearing. You sit in some human contraption called a ‘rocking chair’ in the mostly empty nursery, cradling your grub in your arms, feeling a strange kinship with her.
You wonder if it is those ‘maternal feelings’ the humans go on about. Those feelings are quite wonderful, for the most part, though they bring with them some worries you’ve never had before. Would she have friends? Would she be happy? Can I care for her as I ought? Would she want to serve the Mother Grub upon adulthood? Although you are supposed to encourage her in that direction, you are not disposed to force the issue.
They were no longer on Alternia. It was different here. Perhaps there would be opportunities for her to do something different, something special. Something all her own.
She felt Kanaya move in her arms. She never made much noise, in fact, she didn’t have to. You are so attuned to the grub’s needs that she very rarely had to wait for anything. As you feed your charge, another nursemaid comes in. “Thank gog today is over,” she says, collapsing into another chair.
You smile over at her. “Yes, but now you must scale up the activity for the next brooding period. Our work never ends.” The work never ends, though there were only 48 new trolls total to add to the population this sweep. Their 12 trolls were a motley group, and for some reason, you think of Karkat, who has gone home with Terrence. You find yourself missing Karkat, and you find yourself thinking of Terrence’s brown eyes.
You wonder how he and Karkat are doing tonight.
Perhaps you should call. The thought makes you a little nervous.
“Yes, but you have a higher level of responsibility, caring for a grub on your own.”
You look down at Kanaya, feeding happily and contentedly in your arms. There are times when she is not so contented but you know her enough by now so that you know how to calm her.
“It’s really not that heavy a burden,” you say softly, stroking the grub’s hair. “Not at all, actually.”
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