March 11, 2021, 12:16 PM
All things were transient, fleeting.
That didn't mean they were never to return. Mou had gone and come back several times. Maegi herself had been drawn elsewhere, only to return to her natal home.
But more often, the leaving was permanent. She had noticed a scarcity here as of late. The alpha female was distant, and a few faces she'd seen out and about had entirely disappeared. It did not change her day-to-day life—she kept to herself usually, anyway—but it did bring a sense of loneliness as her pregnancy progressed.
She strolled, ghostlike, through the island forest, looking for company. The first time she had carried children, and birthed Nirgali and Ninazu only to lose them to the earth, she had been surrounded by her Blackfeather wolves. The second, it had been Mou and her against the world in Onyx Hollow, the home they had built for themselves.
Now? The sights were familiar, but the sense of community had been lost. Mou remained, as did Aiolos, that woman Wylla, and some others. But besides her mate, she rarely encountered a soul here.
And what of her children? They would have to be each other's friends, for they would have none their age on the island.
Maegi sat with a small, breathless sigh as her womb tightened and a stirring rose up within. Only a flutter—but it might as well have been an earthquake to the wraith, whose lips rounded with wonder at the strange, uncomfortable but amazing feeling.
That didn't mean they were never to return. Mou had gone and come back several times. Maegi herself had been drawn elsewhere, only to return to her natal home.
But more often, the leaving was permanent. She had noticed a scarcity here as of late. The alpha female was distant, and a few faces she'd seen out and about had entirely disappeared. It did not change her day-to-day life—she kept to herself usually, anyway—but it did bring a sense of loneliness as her pregnancy progressed.
She strolled, ghostlike, through the island forest, looking for company. The first time she had carried children, and birthed Nirgali and Ninazu only to lose them to the earth, she had been surrounded by her Blackfeather wolves. The second, it had been Mou and her against the world in Onyx Hollow, the home they had built for themselves.
Now? The sights were familiar, but the sense of community had been lost. Mou remained, as did Aiolos, that woman Wylla, and some others. But besides her mate, she rarely encountered a soul here.
And what of her children? They would have to be each other's friends, for they would have none their age on the island.
Maegi sat with a small, breathless sigh as her womb tightened and a stirring rose up within. Only a flutter—but it might as well have been an earthquake to the wraith, whose lips rounded with wonder at the strange, uncomfortable but amazing feeling.