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 Posted: Thu Nov 04, 2010 9:07 pm
Littleshield sighed, looking out over the savannah at the edge of the wood. It was dark, of course, and though the stars glittered mutely above, she took little notice of their cold comfort. Her teal gaze was glazed by intense thought, lost as she was in the midst of memory and speculation. For long moments she barely breathed, taken in by a particular memory that her mind had fallen into willingly. Once it had run its course, and passed, she exhaled heavily, as if the reminder of times past weighed on her like a landslide over her ribs. Her hindlegs folded and her front immediately followed as she lay in the dirt to rest from her responsibilities to the pack, alone in her reverie... or so she thought.
There was another wild dog in that part of the wood, and she was particularly close to the she-dog ailing beneath the heavy weight of the past. The two had become fast friends when Littleshield had joined the Peke Na, heavy with pups and out of her mind with relief. Moonbug's devotion to pack and family had struck a chord in Littleshield, and the friendship grew from there. As Moonbug went about her business that evening, scouting the pack's borders, she caught her friend's scent and followed it. Viewing the other dog now through a break in the leaves, Moonbug's brow furrowed in concern before starting forward with a brief, high yip of greeting.
The mottled dog's ears flicked as her subconscious caught the sound of rustling leaves and pawsteps off to her right rear. Her body tensed as she blinked repeatedly to clear her thoughts, her mind whirling in surprise and mild panic that she had been snuck up on. As she registered the yip of greeting, however, she relaxed almost immediately. It was a friend then, and as she turned her now bright, alert gaze toward the source, she discovered it to be a dear friend indeed. Without rising, she spread her lips in a wide tooth-baring smile that only barely reached her sad eyes as she called her greeting, "Moonbug! What a pleasant surprise! How're you?"
She noticed the way Littleshield's smile was no where near as bright as usual, so Moonbug's answering expression was cheerful though heavily laden with concern and a bit of skepticism. She inclined her head as she approached, butting her skull gently against her friend's before collapsing into the dirt beside the female with no further preamble. They were close enough, she saw no need to request permission. Her smile broadened as her tail thumped enthusiastically (and a bit encouragingly) against the ground, "Well enough. The borders are quiet tonight. How boring." She lamented softly, then hesitated as she tried to meet the other dog's teal eyes with her own bright blue ones. She turned the inquiry quietly, "What of you, sister? Your shield looks particularly dull tonight."
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Posted: Thu Nov 04, 2010 9:42 pm
Meeting the she-dog's eyes briefly, Littleshield held her gaze for a few moments before dropping her eyes with a soft breathy chuckle. She did not like being found out, but was too good natured to be angry. Besides, she'd never been able to keep her emotions clear from her face, and was a terrible liar. Instead, she nodded her head slowly and ventured a reply at a halting pace, "I fare... well enough. Strongear has brought many grandpups into my life and for this I am glad." She paused, swallowing hard as she tried to determine how best to go on and explain what she was feeling. At a loss, she mentally flailed as her explanation stalled. She felt shame color her cheeks beneath her fur as she looked to her companion for some sort of reassurance, her expression pleading despite that she could give the need no name.
"You wish that the rest of your family were here to meet them." She offered hesitantly, dipping her chin so that she might meet the other female's reluctant gaze. When her suspicion was confirmed by a brief nod and a glimmer of tears in the teal eyes, Moonbug leaned comfortingly into her friend before reaching out to lick her cheek gently, "There is no shame in missing family, Littleshield, so long as you do not forget those that remain. Your family is here now, the entire Peke Na." She smiled, tail wagging quietly through the dirt behind them, "Your children are your family and we are all your brothers and sisters. You'll make a new family here, just as I'm sure your littermates have done elsewhere. You'll see each other again, someday."
She looked up shyly, venturing a quiet smile, "And you, Moonbug. You are my family." Her mood visibly improved though her eyes remained sad. She could not shake the Mpinzani from her mind. She had never found the remnants of the pack, which meant her large family - her parents, littermates and relatives - had been scattered by the four winds to the furthest corners of Africa. Sighing, she looked down at her forepaws, "I do not forget that I have a broad, loving family in the Peke Na, and beautiful children and grandpups wherever I look, but I cannot forget the past either. i cannot forget that which I have lost." Her teal eyes shone with unshed tears as she looked to Moonbug, "I worry what has become of them all, if any of them still live, even."
"Of course, me. Though not by blood, I am pack. We are sisters." Lifting her head proudly, she regarded the dog with a happy sideways glance until Littleshield dropped her gaze to look at her paws. Moonbug knew she would have more to say and so kept silent as she waited. Her own gaze did not leave her packmate, not moving except to breathe as the other spoke. Her expression shifted into a frown, mixed both with impatience and concern. Shaking her head so that her ears flapped noisily against her skull, she then lay it back along Littleshield's brown shoulder with an exaggerated sigh, "Only imagine that they were lucky, as you were, to find a new pack and family. Otherwise you will never cease to worry. If you let these thoughts possess you, sister, you'll forget to live in the now and always worry about the past. It isn't healthy."
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Posted: Thu Nov 04, 2010 9:58 pm
Considering her friend's words, and delighting in as well as drawing comfort from the warmth of their closeness, Littleshield nodded slowly as she gazed again off into the distance. Yes, was it so hard to believe they survived without her? Surely they had lives of their own now, grown as they all had, and were looking at the stars thinking of her as well. Perhaps she had nieces and nephews, and grandnephews and grandnieces even. The possibility she might never know them all was devestating at the same time that it was liberating. Her heart ached, but she was not completely convinced that it only strung from sorrow. Closing her eyes for a breath or two, she leaned her head back against Moonbug's silently, and a bit awkwardly, then exhaled, "I will miss them greatly."
"So miss them." Moonbug lifted her head from beneath her friend's, reaching once more to lick her cheek before smiling gently and pulling on her last reserves of patience (sometimes the blue dog was so childish! but she couldn't help it), "Miss them, but for all our sakes, Littleshield, remember what I said and live and love in the present before it too becomes the past and you've missed your chance." Raising herself to her paws in one, fluid motion, she shook the clinging soil from her blue pelt as she smiled. Her eyes were bright in the darkness, happy and ready to move on to more cheerful endeavors - like climbing trees! Wagging her sleek tail behind her, she dipped her head toward her friend conspiritally, "Now blink away your worried tears, sister. Let us protect our siblings, then I think I might like to meet these grandpups. I don't believe you're old enough by far to be a grandmother yet."
She laughed, brightly, and was glad that she had found a friend here so fast to make her laugh when everything seemed so dark. It had taken some time for her to adjust to living nocturnally as the pack did, and longer still to forget how much she missed the sun. She had learned the moon could be just as bright, and the silver glow that enveloped everything when it was full was so much more soothing than the harsh yellow glare of the sun. Her own legs unfolded beneath her as she stood beside her companion, moving her own head to butt the other she-dog's as her bushy tail wagged through the air behind them. In an exaggerated effort, she blinked her eyes hugely a few times before offering Moonbug a broad smile and laughing again, "Done, and if only it were so. They make me feel the ache in my bones all that more sharply. It's devastating how quickly the years creep up on you, my friend."
Moonbug shook her head and snorted quietly, "They don't sneak up on me." She chuckled, "I have them firmly in my sights, and they will find it very hard indeed to creep up on this wild dog." Her friend's laughter lightened her heart, and she gave the brown pelt of her friend a hearty encouraging lick, pleased at the change of mood, before she dropped into a playbow and gave her tail a mighty wag, "See? I am not so old yet that I can't play games and run circles around the young ones." She turned then, pouncing a few feet into the woods before looking over her shoulder and beckoning with a toss of her pretty head so that the moonmarks on her forehead seemed to bounce in the dark, "Come along, then. Let us go find something to occupy ourselves and keep time at bay." With that the two dogs slipped, giggling, into the shadows beneath the trees.
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