Stavanger Bay the girl the size of a gumdrop

Most nights, Qilaq finds herself sleeping outside the den. The puppies wiggle too much and cry too much and and simply… too much.  It isn’t that she doesn’t love them, for the concept is something she struggles to grasp, but she knows the attention of her parents (she’s often reminding herself they aren’t her real parents) has lessened because of them but they don’t entirely shut them her out. Her home is still in the den, next to them, even if she finds herself out in the open and quiet roar of the ocean that masks—for the most part—the cries from the den. 

It is early when she wakes, the sky only illuminating for the day ahead, and spends most of the morning on the coast. High tide is starting to go back out, leaving the treasures behind for her to find. For some time, she collects a pile of large and broken shells and smooth rocks she finds, despite not being able to carry all of her finds back. So, as best as she can, she picks up as many shells and rocks as she can and—unbeknownst to her—a crab attached to the fur of her tail swinging back and forth while clinging for dear life.

With the sun high in the sky, her nose wrinkles and she spits out her things on the ground. Her head lifts, searching the opening of their new den. “Amama,” she’s come to call @Doe since after their time together some weeks ago. Her head turns away as she feels the weight of the grab attached to her now that she’s stilled the appendage but only stares in confusion.

Doe poked her head out of the den almost as soon as Qilaq called. The sharp-eared mother had heard her approach and judged by the lightness of the steps that it'd been her daughter's little paws that drew near. Her eyes went at once to what preoccupied the girl, and Doe couldn't help the sharp chuff of mirth that escaped her at the sight.

"You've got a wayfarer," she pointed out, though she did not expect the poor little dunce to understand. Doe came out and attempted to snatch the crab away from the girl's tail, not wanting it to catch skin and hurt her.

Her eyes went then to the pretty objects that Qilaq had brought, brightening as they did. Immediately, she ducked down and snuffled over them, examining them with her nose and tongue. They were a little slobbery, but the moisture helped bring out the brilliant colors in some of the rocks and shells.

"These are much prettier than your friend," said Doe, tail wagging enthusiastically. "Do you want help moving them inside?"

They would have to be placed up on a ledge to prevent the puppies from getting them, but Doe would afford them their place of honor.

As soon as Qilaq hears her mother’s voice, she spins her head around and her tail wags happily behind her, wishing to greet the woman properly. However, Doe comes around to her rear end and she moves around to face her, somewhere the crab either falling off or being removed by her mother, and is lost upon the girl. When she’s able, she moves forward to lovingly lick the underside of her chin but takes a step back when it is apparent her collection must be inspected.

“Yeah,” she says eagerly with a grin, flashing her teeth. She pushes her nose through them excitedly as she divided up the few objects. “Th-think I had more?” she questions, lifting her head in confusion and then glances over her shoulder to the way she came. She must have dropped them between the sandy beaches and here and she shrugs her shoulders, picking up some of the shells and waits for further instructions.

Just tagging to let you guys know we're talking about you. No response is necessary, necessarily.

Doe scoops up a mouthful of the pretty rocks and shells, careful not to break her daughter's findings or her teeth as she carries them to a low shelf within the Stone Den. It won't keep the pups away for long, but Doe hopes that, by the time they can reach it, they will not be so prone to eating whatever fell in front of their faces.

It'd been a good thing when she first began to introduce them to the semi-solid food she drew up from her belly, but it was not good when they began to chew on her precious fawnskin rug. There were now several small holes in it, but Doe didn't let it bother her too much. She had the sheepskin one as well, now, and the entitled mother assumed that there would be plenty more where that came from.

"We can go find the rest when Papa gets back," said Doe, eager to run off with Qilaq to do fun things. She loved her babies, but they just didn't do much. "Or sooner, if we can find someone to keep them warm for a while."

Lifting the sheepskin off the fat, sleepy bundles of @Julep, @Isengrim, @Whiskey, and no-name, Doe climbed back in to continue her shift of warming-duty. When she was sure she was not crushing any of them, she looked back to Qilaq, tilting her head. "Do you want to try it?" she asked, curious but not prompting. She was not sure how Qilaq felt about her wiggly new siblings, but if the girl wanted to interact with them, Doe felt that it should be encouraged.

The idea they can get more of their things later sends her lips spreading, shells poking through the smile on her face. Her tail wiggles back and forth and she steps carelessly around the puppies balled together on the floor while she follows suit of her mother. She tries to mimic the place setting of her own shells to match that of Doe’s and then steps back to observe her addition to the den.
 
Temporarily lost in her admiration, she turns to find her mother already settled around her siblings. Do you want to try it? she’s asked and Qilaq stares for a long moment, blinking a few times as she rescans the puppies as if they have an answer for her. Her head tilts a little as she takes an awkward and slow seat to the ground. “Try what?”

She was too cute, sometimes. As of yet, Doe still appreciated this daughter much more than her other children. She had been there longer, and she did a lot more - and she was much more well-behaved.

"Try to warm them," she said patiently, wondering if she'd ever been so clueless as a child. Of course not, answered her sensible voice, you are not an imbecile. Luckily, she remembered not to speak these words aloud. "You just lie around them, and make sure none of them are too cold," she explained, moving to nudge each pup in turn a bit closer to her belly.

“Oh,” is all she says at first, grey eyes dropping down to look at the puppies. She’d been around them since their birth but her interaction has been limited for one reason or another. Her interest in them hasn’t been too involved but to be fair, they didn’t really do anything. Even now, all they do is wiggle and eat and wiggle some more.
 
At first, the girl does not move. The fear of getting too close settles in and she flicks her gaze upward to her mother for encouragement but eventually she scoots herself a little closer. The position seems awkward, directly across from the mother, and she doesn’t exactly know where she needs to put her legs in order to lay back down. Qilaq turns a half circle so that her head is pointing the same way as her mother and she lowers her rump to the ground and readjusts her front, placing her paws around them.
 
There’s a sudden, weak squeak muffled beneath one of her paws as she settles down around the puppies.

Something in Doe bristles at the tiny squawk, and the small, faint grinding sound that comes with it. Her eyes flick over the four and fall on the smallest, darkest of the bunch. Hind's grandaughter.

"Oh," she breathed, nudging Qilaq's paw and extracting the still, tiny form of her daughter from underneath. A profound sorrow grips her, threatens to bring tears into her eyes, tries to stop her throat - but Doe pushes all that back, gaze leaping to her oldest child. "This one is sick," she blurts, trying to fix this, to hide it from the delicate child. "We... we have to be gentle with them - they are very small, and they break so easily..."

The pup is clearly dead, at least to the mother's eyes. She takes the limp body and tucks it behind her, moving to arrange the remaining three in safe, secure positions. "We have to be careful with them," she repeats, head spinning a little bit as she holds back these emotions. Looking at Qilaq's dark, pretty face seems to ease these feelings. She was never meant to live. Neither of them, Doe thinks, releasing the tension in her body breath by breath. It is enough that Qilaq has survived, against all odds. One miracle girl is enough.