The clutch was small and she could not help but be relieved at that small favor. There was no mother or maternal figure to offer advice and she did not want to appear foolish by offering voice to not knowing something -- something that she should have learned before this moment.She did not exactly feel motherly towards the two sacs that she had brought into the world. Attached; curious. That was the reason she found herself circling these unborn kimeti -- that she actively protected them so fiercely when so much as an owlcat strayed too close. (She had commanded the eaglehound at her side to fetch it and found an even hotter satisfaction than usual in how it had sunk teeth into the pest's neck.)
This role she could not name and it required more patience than anything else. The doe had moved back to give the sacs greater room as the time passed. She had yet to decide if she wanted them to see or know her. The more she pondered it the more she came to realize she seemed to have only one chance to make such a decision, one that she may forever regret. She left long enough to snap her teeth around the neck of a muskrat.
The emergence of the elder happened quick and without fanfare. She had barely seen her black stripes painted on an orange doe before it seemed to get it's bearings and take off. It was likely a longer period than she imagined but for some reason it felt immediate to her. A vast contrast to the second sac. It seemed where the doe had broken out that the buck was content to stay within the confines. When the sac did finally break, the shock of red was delivered almost gently to the ground where it seemed not to move.
It was then -- with her heart hammering in her chest -- that she decided this son would know her. If he survived at all. She broke through the brambles that separated them as anxiety and (was it heartbreak) threatened to overtake her. The touch of her nose to the bundle released a brief bout of calm. He was warm.
Her son seemed to grow slow and he was unbothered by it. He seemed unbothered by everything. A boy without knowledge almost. It grated on her that he seemed so lacking in mind and yet she did love him. She couldn't understand it. Refused to consider why beyond the fact he was hers; in a way it was almost like finding Eyes Wander again. There was some treacherous sentimental spark in her heart that even logic and knowledge could not explain.
And it was that she learned two things. She liked having a son that grew and became his own; that journeyed with her and then went off to make a journey of his own. The next time ever she had children -- and she would, eventually -- she'd find a way to make sure they were smart.
