"Svadilfari," she greeted the young wolf with a smile, his name rolling easily off of her tongue despite how foreign it sounded. Her grandson, though not by blood, greeted her with a bow of his head. Her purple gaze lowered to his foreleg, to the vibrant red markings that identified him as Hex's kin. It made her feel a lot of things, though none she cared to mention. Instead, she gestured to the open space beside her.
"Mar-" he watched the slight arch of her brow and quickly cleared his throat, "Grandmother." Remembering his manners seemed to take a small toll on his general demeanor, evidenced by the hunch in his shoulders as he seated himself next to the seer. It was rare that they shared a quiet moment together. Often, Svadilfari trailed after his mother, and though Marvel could try to see where the pair went, she did not bother to. Invading the privacy of her family for the sake of snooping was beneath her.
He took after her, Katiti'manina, the creature from Irithyll. It wasn't her arrival that had brought change, but the change in the world had certainly brought her arrival. She had been wary at first, especially since the Ethereal had chosen to involve herself with her son. Though they were not bonded by blood, Hex's children were as much her own. Hex's pups had been placed under her charge, and by the time they had started to walk Marvel could not deny that she loved them deeply. It was them, more than anything else, that made her feel at home in the Coven. She had been no Outsider to them, but a mother. "You look troubled," she told Svadilfari before she could get too far lost in her own thoughts, and because he did.
"I am not," he resisted anyways, because he was a stubborn pup if nothing else.
"Do you think me blind?"
A 'tsk', and then, "Everyone knows you see too well."
"My ears work just fine, too," she insisted.
They sat in silence for a few minutes longer as Marvel waited and Svadilfari gathered up the courage to speak what was on his mind. "I think there is something wrong with me," he announced, and then went quiet for a few moments longer to give Marvel time to reassure him that it was not true. She said nothing. "Mother has abilities that she says comes from Irithyll, and if we return there she is certain that I will gain similar ones. But... what if I don't? I don't feel anything now, there's no reason to believe that I will feel anything if we even can return to her home. I think she's going to be disappointed to find out that I am not like her." It was a rare moment of openness for the usually-haughty pup. His words were heavy, and Marvel took her time in forming a response to him.
In the absence of her words, she put her paw around his thin shoulders and pulled him close into an embrace. "I wish I could tell you that there's no sense in worrying over something you cannot control, but you are clearly worrying about it anyways." Her voice was warm, soothing, and silently she hoped that the sound of her voice rather than the words themselves would give him comfort. "Whether you gain those powers or not will not change how much your family loves you."
"But, she..." He stumbled over his words, desperately trying to voice his doubts.
"Loves you," Marvel insisted, because a mother could never hate her children.
"Yes, but she has expectations!" His cheeks were flustered. All the chatter about love and affection was not good for his constitution. "Merikh and I are the most like her! Maybe in looks alone, but I think it means something to her that we take after her."
"As far as I can see, she does not love your siblings any less for taking after your father," Marvel answered with a small frown. Truthfully, she did not know Katiti'manina well enough to gauge how she felt in regards to her family. But, that wasn't what Svadilfari needed to hear. He needed to confide in someone wise, but loving, and that was someone that Marvel could be for him. She released Svadilfari from the embrace and gave him the opportunity to recollect himself.
"Yeah, I mean, I don't think she does either. But that doesn't mean she doesn't see us differently, right?"
"Svad, we will all love you no matter what, and all of us here have... failed in someone else's eyes before many times. I certainly have, more times than I can count. It is a trial we all must face, but I wouldn't try to tackle it too early." She could see that he was still troubled. Her words could only do so much, but Marvel was not known to give up. Though it had taken her some time to realize it, she was a fighter, and her pups and grandpups were all like her in that aspect. The seer rose back up onto her feet and gestured for Svadilfari to follow.
What he needed now was a distraction, something to take his mind off of his worries. He'd clearly been left to idle too long with only his thoughts to keep him company. "I've heard that Praise the Light is on her way home from the Swamplurkers." She cautioned a glance behind her to see that Svadilfari had perked up slightly. She held back a smile. They had nearly grown up together, if anyone else could cheer Svadilfari up, it would be one of the twins. "I imagine it would be a pleasant surprise for her to be met along the way by a friend," Marvel suggested.
By the way it lifted Svadilfari out of his sour mood, it was a good suggestion.
(wc: 984)
