teya had become quite anxious following the attempted attack of the owl. she fussed over ponyboy, kept
@Boris closer and closer, and hardly allowed
@Bronte from her sight. their forays were few, and marked by teya's increasingly more neurotic eye upon the heavens.
"oh, @Bronco," she whispered in a tizzy one night.
"maybe we find another den. safer. what if another owl or bird comes again?" her eyes were tight, pained at the very idea.
It pained him to think about, but he’d been too far away to help when the bird had attacked. Not far, but still too far. Fortunately, aside from some minor wounds, their three children had all survived, even Ponyboy who had fared the worst- and now had a cropped ear, like his father.
He didn’t want his children to bear acts like him. He wanted them to be soft, perfect- resplendent, like their mother.
Her concerns were shared. He carried guilt still, so her request was not something he would deny. He nodded. ”There’ve always been hawks and owls here, they like the altitude I think.” He admitted with a sigh. Frankly, he wasn’t sure anywhere on the Caldera was safe- knowing its history.
Within one week, they’d fended off a cougar, had tolerated a grizzly as it passed through, and he’d seen an owl perch on a tree as he healed from his wounds. It was a haven for predators.
”They’ll soon be too big to be prey,” He reassured her. ”But we can absolutely find a new den now. I can start looking this evening.”
teya could think of little else but that tiny bleeding ear, the screams of her terrified children. she had been so very tired, and now she had almost lost ponyboy.
birds would always be about, but the pups would grow, and this she clung to tightly.
bronco's immediate validation of her needs sent tears springing to her exhausted eyes. in many ways, teya still did not understand what it meant to be valued. "thank you. i love you," she sighed out, sitting down hard and covering her face with a paw.
Tears welled, and he felt a twang in his heart, knowing how frightened she must have been, to see the owl making a grab for their children. She still dreaded it- and while it would not be a rational fear in a matter of weeks, they both knew that this fear would be with them forever. The children would outgrow the grasp of an owl, but there would always be the threat of teeth and claws out there- even from their own kind.
He knew hardship well enough to know they should be grateful their children were spared. He sat down beside her, and gently nibbled at the top of her head, hoping she might lift it. ”I love you too.” He said. ”And we love our kids- all of them. We’re gonna be alright.” He reassured her, hoping somehow he could make some truth out of his words.
just a lil cameo!
It was not hard to keep Boris close. He saw that day every time he closed his eyes, and when he opened his eyes, he watched the sky. No longer in wonder, but filled with that same dread that washed in waves from mama’s anxious face. He stuck close to her now — closer, even, than before.
Papa’s voice had stirred him, but rather than waking, he kept a paw over his eyes. Enough so the light still seeped in and he could see the den floor, but not enough for anyone else to see he was peeping unless the got real close. Boris stayed quiet and listened to his parents talk to each other in hushed voices and words he grasped more and more as the days eased by.
Words like,
I love you too.
We love our kids.
We’re gonna be alright.
all of them.
the burning of the loss in her chest seemed to consume her fear; sorana's face raced through her mind and she fell against bronco in wordless collapse, surrendering in that moment so many of the things that had weighed her arms down.
her sobs were not loud, and she fought for them not to even be shaped as sobs, only sharp slow breaths muffled by his thick fur. almost losing ponyboy had weakened the dam, and now it broke.
For both of them, welcoming a new family together would have a profound effect on the families they already had- but it did not mean they would be loved less or forgotten. For all the sour looks, abrupt chirps and resentment he faced from Sorana, he held no grudge against her for rioting against her mother's new lover. He didn't expect for Killdeer to embrace Teya fully as a stepmother, either- but for each of the parents, their first children would forever be special and loved.
He exhaled when she leaned against him, breathing heavily into his fur. He thought he knew the fear she felt, though it was different for him, having not witnessed the owl attack. She would always remember how it had looked, to see their son pinned beneath its talons, wings flapping, giving her only an intermittent view of their son's panicked face. He wished he could erase the memory from her mind, but knew that his clipped ear would likely always serve as a reminder.
All he could do, then, was hold her so she might know how strongly he would hold on to all of their family, too.
1k for u <3
her life had not always been struggle, but that had marked so many of her months, days, years, that teya sometimes did not know where one began and the other ended.
a greenweave seed inside her, a tendriling of warm new energy as bronco held her, as the saltwater sailed along her face and she felt the shame melting away, growing renewed in the expulsion of her grief, the vulnerability of her trembling shoulders, the way she clung to bronco and allowed him to hold her.
in the wet scouring, at last, serenity.
and when teya had finished, her voice thinned to nothing, it was with a clear expression she looked to her mate, in gratitude and love, and in a new mien: awareness that this was what she deserved, the unconditionality of his regard toward her.