Lari had always loved being a mother. The pregnancy – birthing part had never been fun to her, but taking care of cubs and teaching them about the world, well, she'd always loved that. When there was nothing more to teach her cubs, she would let them free but for now they were still young and they still needed her. Which was why she had taken her two daughters away from the den, towards the ocean. The two boys could stay with their father – perhaps allow for some manly bonding time, though Lari knew Rai would probably be panicked at the idea of spending time with his cubs.
Still, a little anxiety was good for him. Keep that ancient heart of his beating, Lari thought, fondly. She loved teasing her mate, but she did care for him.
“Mother?” A quiet voice interrupted her thoughts. “Talu's hiding under the sand again.”
Lari snapped herself from her thoughts and glanced downwards. Ma'e stood there, staring back up at her mother with serious young eyes. Out of her two daughters, Ma'e was the quietest. Talu, while skittish, talked quite readily with most people while Ma'e preferred to listened and think.
Lari rarely knew what her youngest was thinking.
Glancing away from Ma'e, she spotted Talu – her golden girl – hiding beneath the beach sand. The skittish, slightly terrified look had disappeared from her eyes though, and Lari was loathed to disturb her.
“Let her play for a while, darling,” Lari encouraged Ma'e, and saw the girl nod, but cast her sister another baffled look. Lari smiled. Her daughters really were like the sun the and the moon when compared to one another, she thought fondly. Ma'e would likely get along well with Ili'ella, Lari realised. Her daughter from her previous mate, while not serious, had grown more so over the years having taken care of her own offspring.
“Mother,” Ma'e interrupted her mother's thoughts again. “May I go into the water?” She shifted on her feet, casting glances towards the ocean eagerly, a spark of something passionate behind the serious eyes.
“Of course, darling,” Lari agreed readily, seeing no harm in it. “I'll join you.”
Ma'e nodded but didn't wait for her mother, sprinting down the sand and into the surf without a moment's hesitation. For one so small, she should logically have been afraid of the water, but Ma'e had never held such fears. It was like she was born with water running through her veins instead of blood.
“Muuuum, where are you going?” Talu called out from her hiding place beneath the sand, keeping slightly anxious eyes on the figure of her mother who was moving further away.
“Into the water, my dear,” Lari hurried to reassure, but paused, standing between the beach and the ocean, between her two daughters. Talu's anxiety had come back and Lari didn't want to worry her further. Talu was terrified of the ocean, though she loved the sand and would never join the pair in the water. “I might just sit and bask in the sun a while first,” she excused herself, giving a reason for her sitting between the two.
She kept her focus on Ma'e, making sure none of the waves disrupted the cub's play. She could easily be swept out to sea and that would break Lari's heart, so she was always anxious when her little one was in the water.
“Muuuum,” Talu called again, wiggling along the beach towards her mother, trying to dislodge as little sand from her back as possible and stay as submerged as she could.
Lari glanced away, looking amused at the pile of sand wiggling towards her. “What is it, love?” She asked, nuzzling the lock of fur atop Talu's head once she'd reached her side.
“Nothing!” Talu said, shooting her mother a smile as she buried herself close to her mother but still within the sand. She just didn't want to be too far from Lari.
A shriek made Lari's smile slip away quickly and she shot to her feet, turning towards Ma'e. Sure enough, her daughter was scrambling towards the shore desperately as a wave tried to drag her out. It had lifted her straight off her paws and she could find no purchase in the water – she was floating and the tide was dragging her out.
“Mother!” Ma'e yowled, her eyes wide and terrified. Lari launched herself into the water, barrelling through the waves to reach her youngest. She grabbed her by the scruff of her neck and thanked whatever stars were watching over them that she was still able to reach the sand. The tide was strong, but Lari was a strong swimmer despite her age and she pushed herself with her paws along the base of the ocean, keeping a firm grip on her daughter.
Talu stood, shaking like a leaf in a thunderstorm, on the shore. “Ma'e! Mum!” She bellowed as Lari reached the shallows. She went to run towards them but, Lari shook her head and hurried both her daughters away from the waves. She dropped Ma'e carefully to the sand and curled herself around her instantly, trying to soothe some of her fear. Talu buried herself between her mother and sister, trying to seek comfort and give comfort at the same time.
Ma'e's eyes were wide and she coughed, trying to rid her lungs of water that had sloshed into her mouth in her panicked scrambles.
“Are you okay, Ma'e?” Talu whispered to her sister, peering anxiously at her when Ma'e continued to shiver and cough without a word, curled against Lari.
“Fine,” Ma'e coughed, and hunkered closer to their mother. Why had the ocean betrayed her like that? How could it be so cruel? She couldn't believe something so beautiful, so kind to her, had turned into such a foul enemy in such short moments. “What did I do wrong, Mum?” Ma'e whispered, slipping into the childish 'mum' instead of her usual 'mother'. Seeing her mother's confused look, Ma'e expanded. “What did I do wrong to make the ocean angry at me?” Her ears were plastered to her head, feeling weak for the question but needing to know.
“Oh darling!” Lari gasped and nuzzled her daughter lovingly, trying to soothe away that vulnerable look. “You did nothing wrong. Nothing! The ocean merely...wanted to take you away with it. It wanted you near it always but we can't have that, can we?” Lari asked, forcing a gentle smile, trying to stem down her own shakes. Not from the cold, but fear. She had come so close to loosing Ma'e.
Lari had already lost so many cubs – her first litter was scattered and lost to her and here she was, nearly losing her own cub from right under her nose! She wanted to cry but she held back, cuddling her daughters close.
“Neither of you are to come to the beach alone,” Lari said fiercely and abruptly. “You take your father or myself with you at all times.”
Talu looked heartbroken – for she never went in the water, but she always loved to sprawl upon the sand. Seeing her mother's serious look, she nodded, sombrely and stared down at her paws.
Ma'e stared at her mother as if unable to comprehend her words.
“Promise me, Ma'e!” Lari said roughly. “Promise me you won't come here alone.”
Ma'e shook her head, tears springing to her eyes, but she whispered, “I promise” to her mother anyway.
The ocean had betrayed her once, but the pull to swim was still there, still lurking just beneath the surface. She cast a glance over her shoulder at the now calming ocean. Had it really merely wanted her to go with it? Maybe the ocean was lonely, and needed someone – maybe it thought she was that someone.
Ma'e shivered.
The ocean had wanted her so much, it had tried to kill her. Was that what want was? The desire to possess something so much that it was all, or death? Ma'e curled closer to her mother, turning her back on the ocean and determinedly not looking back despite that desperate tug beneath her heart as the ocean called to her.
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