"He'll be back,"
Her tone was confident, but reassuring. Her features softened, though, when she saw something in the child's eyes that she would have recognized from a reflection she'd seen on her own face when she'd been young. These girls had been abandoned or lost once before- and perhaps now she feared the same thing might happen again.
A notion Ameline knew all too well.
She alone knew the promises that had been made when she had accepted the Bearclaw name. Now, she thought, might be the time to let the girls in on that promise as well. Athalia did not look as though she would easily be reassured- so perhaps she deserved something better than reassurance- the truth.
"Y'know...Both Anthelin an' me, our parent'th left too, when we wuh juth't kidth." She confessed. "An' the oneth that took uth in aftuh? They left too." She was still furious with Prophet, and beyond disappointed in Avicus regardless of the fact that her disappearance had not been by choice. "Anthuh knowth how it feelth to be abandoned...He wouldn't do that to you. Nor would I."
thanks for starting a thread and tagging me in it! I was away for a bit but I was super happy to get to this once I got back :)
She could recognize the signs of anxiety. Her words would be of little use, not until they had been proven to be true- and likely, it would take more than one return to reassure her that not everyone left for good when they went away. She kept it in the back of her mind to ask Ancelin to do more short day trips, so that the girl might adjust.
The chewing, sucking, however- was not something she was able to tolerate, not when she saw the movement in Athalia's jaw. She pushed the bone toward the girl, her gaze gentle but firm.
"Chew thith, inthtead," She said, hoping that chewing on something other than her own dewclaw might suffice.
She looked up, and sighed, breathing in the cool air which she wished would warm, soon.
"They go, every year." She said.
"Firtht the little birdth, then the duckth, then the geethe. They come back in Thpring." She remembered how difficult and empty her first winter had seemed, in the wake of being left behind to fend for herself. She had been taken in by the time the cold winds came, but she still felt a pang of loss accentuated by just how quiet, lonely and cold the winter was.
"You like the birdth?" She asked, then.
Birds were friends? Ameline didn't necessarily see it the same way- birds could be eaten, if they could be caught- but she supposed the little songbirds, the ones most capable of being friends, she guessed- were too difficult to catch, and she assumed that Athalia liked the sounds that they made. She smiled. "They thing, too," She said. Some better than others, of course- she would take the warbling of a sparrow over the raucous calls of a raven anyday.
The girl wanted explanations, so Ameline settled down to explain. "Birdth don't have thick fur, like we do. Winter'th too cold for thome of 'em. The oneth that eat bugth leave 'cause there'th no bugth in wintuh." At least, as far as she could figure. "Thome of 'em live on water, tho they have to fly Thouth to find water that ithn't frothen." That could explain the ducks and geese, at least.
"Anthuhlin, he goeth out to hunt, or to talk to the othuh packth in the area. We want thith to be our home, tho...We gotta make friendth, with our neighbourth. That'th what he'th doin...An' he'th good at it," She said, lest the girl worry.
sure thing!
She smiled as Athalia seemed to warm to the explanation, and she sighed as the girl moved to tuck herself against her chest.
"Eckthactly," She said, giving the girl a light squeeze. She chewed away on her bone, which seemed to prove a welcome distraction from the fear that someone she loved might not come back.
Ameline knew he would- only death would keep him away, and her man was a survivor.
As for the young one in her arms, she would be held as long as she was comfortable, and Ameline would savour the girl's youth and dependence for some time. She wouldn't raise Athalia and Amneris to be cruel and distant, to bicker and fight- they would have a different upbringing. She would be held and loved, and reassured when it was needed- and perhaps most importantly of all, promises would be kept.