At some point she'd herded the children back to their den, Aditya vaguely nearby, and Catori feeling as cold as her lover. She had tried to keep their nighttime routine, soft sounds breaking from her maw every once in awhile when she could no longer help it. Everything felt stiff and wrong. Grayday wasn't with her anymore. He was somewhere she couldn't go - with a woman who wasn't her, and Catori felt alone. She felt hollow. She had arranged her babies all together, pressing her snout to the soft bodies of @Kasatka then @River then @Eventide - touching their soft silky fur and breathing in their sweet rich scents.

"I love you so." Catori offered, her eyes almost hazel over with her grief. She wasn't meant to be a widow. She hadn't even had a year with him - but their lifetime felt so long, so many things had happened, and now she had to remember what living without him was like. She'd done it before - and now with her children she would have to learn to do it again.