After being dragged away from having a playdate with the second-youngest member of the family by Enzi, Shani was off on her own, looking worried. She hadn't exactly noticed Demeter's strange behavior, and she decided she really should have.. but Demeter had been so happy, it was hardly something that made any alarms go off in her mind. She could feel as guilty as she wanted to later, now she was going to wait for Demeter to come back. She might be accompanied by someone when she showed up or, as Enzi seemed to think was more likely, she might be alone. Whatever the case was, she wanted to talk to Demeter herself. They had talked about love, about cubs.. Demeter had been worried about how to deal with males, had been entertaining the idea of cubs without a mate. She should have seen this coming, but Demeter had never really gone out long or talked much about it again afterward..
So she sat silently, looking out in the direction Enzi had told her Demeter was waiting. She didn't want to go too far out and intrude but she would be here when Demeter came home.
Kafara had chosen to avoid being part of confronting Demeter about her strange behavior, she had been the reason Enzi had gone out to follow after his sister.. in that she had refused to go herself or go with him when he expressed concern. But he had come to find her shortly after he went to get Shani and filled her in. She didn't have much experience with sisters, she had Shiri but Shiri was older and pretty well set by now.. but she felt the need to go and see if she could help with anything, too. Enzi hadn't gone telling everybody yet, just Shani, she knew that. So she went out looking to find her mother-in-law.. and she was exactly where Enzi had said she would be.
"Shani," she called out once she was close enough, coming to a stop barely more than a foot away and looking out in the direction Shani had been looking, "Demeter isn't back yet?"
Shani had stopped being easy to startle shortly after she had become a mother, and it only got better as time went on and the family grew. She looked over to the side when she heard her name and offered Kafara a small smile. She shouldn't have been surprised that she had shown up, Enzi would be too shy and awkward to risk confrontation with his sister again after their conversation before. Of course he would send his mate out on his behalf, and to keep him updated.
"No," she said with a sigh, looking back out to the horizon, "Did Enzi send you out here to see what happened?"
"I suppose he did," Kafara said truthfully, taking a seat beside her mother-in-law, "He's worried about her but I think he's worried he'd make things worse trying to talk to her again. And I think he's a little worried about being proven right." Enzi had grown up quite a bit since the time when they had first met, they both had.. but they both still had their shy and awkward moments. Dealing with Demeter seemed to be one of those things for Enzi, he loved her but her attitude was just opposite his enough that it was harder.
"What do you think?"
"Of course," Shani said, glancing over to Kafara with a slight smile before looking back into the distance. She knew the lot of them well enough, though she was starting to doubt just how much that was. But no, she decided it wasn't worth worrying that much over. Demeter was an adult and could take care of herself, Shani would just be here to hear about it and help her sort anything out that needed sorting out.
"What do I think? About what?" she asked, though realized the answer as suddenly as she asked, "Oh, everything will be OK. Demeter is smart, she can take care of herself, I trust her. But I am her mother, I will always be worried about her. Even if it's taken her the same time to get here as it took the pair of you to get a full grown litter, you'll never be too old for me to worry about."
A mother herself, Kafara could appreciate that. Her boys were big and tough (or tried to act that way) but they'd always be something to fuss over for her, at least for as long as they let her get away with it and she suspected that would be for quite some time. Which was a rather happy thought, at least.
"Do- do you think he'll stick around with her?" she asked suddenly, wondering if they might actually meet this handsome stranger who caught Demeter's eye.
"He's a fool if he doesn't stick with her," Shani said with a frown, "I don't know, I don't like not knowing anything about him or about the whole situation. Enzi is the only one who has done this and we already knew you, we had nothing to worry about." She glanced over with a pleasant smile, reflecting on how nice and easy it had been for everybody to accept Kafara. It would be nice for it to be so easy with everybody else, too.
"Too true," Kafara murmured in agreement, and smiled a bit when she commented on her and Enzi. They had been friends before, though she suspected Shani had known what she was doing when she set them up to be friends. Kafara had long since heard the story, she thought it was adorable- and she was very glad that it had worked out the way it did. With a quiet sigh, she scanned the horizon, not seeing any sign of Demeter out there.
"Do you suppose we missed her?" she asked, "It's been a while."
How long exactly it had been since Enzi had been talking to Demeter she couldn't say, but he had done a fair bit of running around afterward so it seemed reasonable if they were in the right area they would have seen something by now.
Shani's tail waved anxiously behind her as she considered the very same thing. Perhaps Enzi was very wrong and he neither left nor was intending to stay. Perhaps Demeter had come to some compromise and they were doing something else now. Or.. perhaps Demeter had gone home another way.
"We may have," she said thoughtfully, looking around carefully before pushing herself up to her feet.
"Should we go out and see if we can find her? Or to her den?" she asked, mimicking Shani and getting up to her feet. She was eager to help out if she could, both painfully curious (or nosy, however you wanted to look at it) and just worried. Enzi wanted to know, she wanted to know.. and so she had come here. But should she continue to follow around her mother-in-law just to satisfy their curiosity? The more she thought, the more she wondered if maybe it weren't lucky Demeter hadn't happened by with more than just her mother waiting.
"Perhaps I should go back home," she said thoughtfully, "You don't need me, and Demeter certainly doesn't need more eyes on her when you do find her."
"Perhaps," Shani said thoughtfully, looking around once more as she thought about what to do. Demeter might have taken the long way, or snuck past unnoticed by simple chance. The best place to check next was her and Anya's den. She had no problem taking Kafara with her, though, until Kafara voiced her concerns on the subject.
"I'm glad you were here to talk to, Kafara," she said, "But I can walk with you back home, then I'll head around to Demeter and Anya's den and see if she's made her way home. I'll tell Enzi to keep his nose out until I come chat with you two again, though. Maybe he'll argue a bit less with me." And she smiled at Kafara.
"Alright," she agreed after listening intently to what Shani said. She was glad to have been good company and she wasn't wrong to assume she might get less arguement out of Enzi if she were the one to tell him to sit at home and be good. Far from worrying about how he might have respected his mother's wishes more than her own, she was perfectly happy to look at it as him being comfortable expressing himself with her.
"Let's head back then," she said, turning herself around with one last, fleeting look outward and finally leading their way back toward her own den.
Fin.
