"there is nothing selfish about vanting to be a mother," mahler insisted. he felt it was the greatest undertaking any she-wolf could make, the pilgrimage from maidendom to maternal love, and he would stand beside nyx in this.
but women had their own hierarchy, and if he knew best, mahler would let it alone. yet he could not stand by while mothers were subjected to harm; the next reasonable thing was to legitimize every diasporan child born in the spring as his own. nyx' brood would be no different.

he watched nyx decamp from him with an irritated melancholy chiming its unholy bells, but soon dragged himself away to pursue one task or another.