Life had become complicated in a frantically hopeful way since Saul had diagnosed Grace as pregnant. They were ecstatic to be having pups, but he couldn't escape the worry and fear that passed over Grace's face everytime she thought he wasn't looking. He knew she would be a brilliant mother, but she seemed to doubt herself constantly. In an outburst she yelled at him that she would be a horrible mother as she was rude, cynical and used insults as compliments. Niernan had only shaken his head and lifted his eyes to hers, uttering the fatal phrase that had got him kicked out of his own house; But those are the reasons I fell in love with you. It seemed she hadn't accepted that as valid and had screamed that he was an idiot.
He had wandered around Jordheim for a bit, hoping for one of his fellow Vinattans to entertain him, he had eventually gone on a patrol. His large paws puffing up small dust clouds as his secui body hurtled through the trees. The glint of the lake caught his eye and he pulled his pace, trotting gently over to the waters edge, allowing the cool liquid to play at his toes. He enjoyed the feeling of the clean water on his toes intensely, it felt like that one little part of his body was being cleaned, all worry and tension wiped away. He slowly walked into the water, more and more of his body sinking into the calming lake as he moved forward till eventually he could no longer touch the bottom and had to paddle to keep afloat. He swam out deeper, taking a diagonal line to swim to a part where he would still have to float. He knew that he was now approaching Sangi'lak's side of the neutral grounds and after Shiloh's little experience with one of the Nomads he wasn't sure if he wanted to meet any of them or not. He was pretty sure that if he'd met the guy who threatened an innocent dog girl and his cousin he would have happily unleashed some of his pent up fury on him, but as it was Nier was more than happy to be his peaceful, charming Irish self at that moment in time. He was too busy revelling in the coolness of the cleansing waters.
He took a deep breath and plunged his head under the water, using his strong legs to push him down to the lake bottom for the briefest of moments before he bobbed up to the surface again, taking in a deep breath as his muzzle broke the water. He resolved that he would have to take more dips in the lake as this felt amazing; all the worry about Grace falling out of love with him, about her rejecting their pups, about if their relationship was going to survive this pregnancy or not, were all washed away. His shoulders were finally relaxed and the Frithr necklace around his throat no longer felt constricting or like a noose. He felt amazingly free.
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