On the third day of Astrid's mortal life, she is already a squirming she-devil. Crying, crying, crying, wriggling and begging for milk with ears that cannot hear the volume of such voice, but surely it is booming. Likened more to a bear cub than wolf, but still wolf all the same, her attempts at howls a mere screeching yowl that tapers out when her mouth finds mother's breast.
She is simple, but needy; she clings to her siblings with tiny claws that hitch on pink skin, and slowly, she learns to identify them. She knows not what their names are, only their bodies, but she is eager to learn.
After the first night, Taktuq sent Gunnar off to seek out Turneric to come and check on the children. He was a healer, after all… but when he nosed over each one, they each squirmed away with a clean bill of health and the young man’s sheepish reassurance that screaming is simply what babies do.
He kindly returned with moss balls to use as earplugs.
They helped muffle the sound, but today, Astrid raised her voice like a hellion, and Taktuq lay with weary head on the ground, eager for when the child latched and fell quiet for her meal…
Or not.
With a sigh and gentle paws, Taktuq draws her daughter near to help her find the food she craves. Hush, dear Astrid,
she whisper-begs to her daughter, and wonders if her mother was this loud when she was a child. What Taktuq doesn’t know is that if she would have been able to ask Nanook, her mother would have given a barking laugh to say oh yes, she screamed for her own mother Scarlett — much like Astrid screamed for Taktuq today.
Not knowing what more to do, she hummed a song she had heard her cousin sing along the open way. Still now, and hear my singing, sleep through the night, my darling, we have a tiny daughter,
she tries to kiss squirming Astrid’s head between her song, we have a tiny daughter,
though already she was growing! thanks be to God who sent her.
Were he to know that Taktuq had been noisy in her youth. He'd have chuckled and told her "Darling you never had a chance. Because he was to a loud child. Had driven his parents to distraction.
Instead he ran a paw along Astrid's small back as she cried. He was lucky in this regard to be of advanced age. He still had hearing, but not as good as say Taktuq or Tauris.
He would wait until Taktuq was done singing to offer her a break should she want one, or he could just stay and support her while their child was noisy.
Ujurak too had grown to learn his voice. He, however, was far more content with it. With his coos and trills he cried for his siblings moreso than his mother. Raising his voice when he recognized their absence. If one had rolled away or was gently removed for examination, he unleashed loud whimpers. Settling once all was right and his wayward sibling was returned to him.
He was significantly less wriggly than his sister, being more akin to a lump of stone. Taking her incessant crawling, shoving, and climbing stoically. This is how he learned his siblings. Embracing each clash to learn of their scent. Their touch.
As Astrid released another barrage of tiny paws, he stirred as his mother shifted. Another familiar scent returned to the den. The scent of his father was becoming more familiar. Even the man's touch, albeit it was far less so. The air stirred as the adults moved. Was all well? Would one of them be taken again? A confused whine escaped him.
Deaf, blind but touch and taste. Each sibling felt different. One was wiggly and her vibrations were loud. Another quiet and stoic, not that he knew those words yet. But he could feel the up and down as he breathed. Amd the other quiet too, but in a different way. He shifted towards the one whose vibrations were quieter and distressed. Curling near him. Trying to seek out his fur with nose and paw.