Moonspear a golden crown

@Dirge BABY DADDY

 

They were old enough now, she supposed, for him to properly meet them. The whole of the pack soon would, and they were weaned; they were also beginning to speak. The words she spoke to them were perhaps unconventional; her stories had to do with Moonspear, and monsters she would protect them from, and that someday, they would protect the mountain from too—like their father, and their aunts and their uncles. They had little to do with love and affection, though she spoke of Dirge in such a manner. Father, she would coo, you will meet him soon enough...

When the sun began to fall that day, and after they devoured regurgitated meat, Hydra gazed at them. They lazily romped, still full, but her harrying teeth had spurred them into motion. Go for the ankles, she guided no one in particular; ankles was a word she would need to speak more for them to understand that, but she figured, why not? They could hear her, now, and speak too. Not very well yet, but most of what they said was intelligible. 

As the sky bled its many colors, she peered to @Lyra and @Alya in the treeline, and then she called a low song to her mate that lacked any urgency. The voices of her babes joined in—@Vega, @Atlas, @Osiris, and @Antares chipped in, and when her call died she looked to them again, her sharp blue eyes softening in the slightest as they sang on. Father is coming, she informed, and drifted over to the most tousled looking cub—Osiris, at this point—and groomed him. @Lyra and @Alya closed in to assist, and in no time they had wrangled each of the cubs and made them look dashing enough. It would all be for naught, but she was as diligent about their furs as she was her own. The savage queen always looked as well as she could fight; looks could ever be deceiving.

He hadn't been far away when her call rose over the din of the evening.

It was with hushed, gentle steps that he forfeited his roaming to turn back towards her whelping den. He wondered just what it was that she would summon him for, though the reality of it was that it could have been anything. A fetch quest, a conversation, even some sort of toussling that she thought him better suited for than another. He didn't question it or assume anything—there was truly no telling what would catch her fancy from day to day.

But when he pulled her familiar resting ground into view, there was certainly something else going on altogether. His curiosity piqued, he only observed at a distance for several moments. His gaze lingered over her from his cover, only then to spy a wriggling form cross into view from under her shadow. The children. They had grown since the last time he had caught so much of a long glimpse of them, much more active, full of life. Not deaf or blind or dumb to the world, but aware. And in the wake of such a wriggling youth followed one of her sisters—he did not discern which, but felt a bolt of jealousy cross him darkly.

When some sort of order had been brought, he decided it was time to abandon his observation and come forward. Every step picked away at whatever dark thoughts lingered, whatever reservations and disappointments he may have held onto. It was difficult to maintain a certain stoicism when abruptly he was met by their children, ever eager for the change to their routine as much as he was. His features softened considerably into a smile to see them, to hear them, and if he had been able to hold onto a lack of expression then the sure wave of his tail would have betrayed him without a second thought.

A certain hesitation existed here, however, and in spite of the pawing, whining, and grasping at him he could not help but level his gaze with Hydra. She had been keen for a spell to drive him away like any other, but did not seek to make a scene here. Or so he presumed. Nor her sisters, for better or for worse, though they may as well have faded into the background; he cared not that they were there in those few moments.

Time ticks immeasurable onward.

With the crowning of each day, Atlas grew. Physically and mentally. They all did. This is nothing new, but their lives started to get interesting a week ago. Hydra would let them roam around outside. Not far, mind you, but far enough to placate imagination. There was a whole world outside of that diminutive den, one he feels he's seen before. The sky — infinite and blue — did not surprise. Nor did the slopes upon which they were born, craggy and deadly.

Nothing about their shared world came as a shock to Atlas. However, the sensations and emotions of first gazing upon the comely face of his mother — really getting a good look at her — is something he'll never forget. How her gaze — as blue as the sky — alights upon him and his siblings. Atlas is still young so he cannot always prescribe what he sees in her gaze. All he knows is that he feels complete; not at all out of place on this mountain, let alone this world. He belongs here, alongside Vega, Osiris, and Antares. On this peak that dares to pierce the heavens. With his mother and her doppelgangers. That feeling of belonging is something Atlas highly regards; it is a balance he wants dearly to keep and enact.

And for the first time in his life, his mother presents something that could threaten that balance. Threaten or enforce, judging by the softness in which she expresses father. It is only when their howls die down does father arrive.

His sire's coat is a dizzying array of shadow and light, not unlike Vega or Osiris. That alone is encouraging, so much so he is stirred into action, leaving Lyra's side to tentatively address this new character that has entered their lives.

Atlas doesn't strut up to him, all pomp and confidence. His approach is at an angle and guarded; a gradual advance that screams of uncertainty. Mother had spoken of him so fondly and yet, it is difficult to bridge the gap between them. It's possible his other siblings have surpassed him in this but he wouldn't know, far too transfixed by this entity. Even so, Atlas continues at his own pace, eventually coming to trail a quivering nose up and down Dirge's forelimb. Recognition thumps square in his puppy face. Yes...yes! He has smelled this wolf before during his outings. This along with his mother's encouragement was more than enough to supersede any previous apprehensions. He starts weaving in and out from under his dad, rubbing against those well-traveled limbs.

The rational and guarded part of his brain has turned off. Now he's all puppy and so very excited to meet a new face.

Go for the ankles! he exclaims, remembering what Hydra had said. Go for the ankles! It is a rallying cry to his siblings, both inviting and invigorating. Who knows what an ankles is though.

In the time since they've arrived, their days have expanded considerably and young Antares has taken well to his widening horizons. The world beyond the den's confines has his attention, as it should, and there is so much of it to behold. Not only that, all the while, his relationships with his fellows are growing to new depths--he can understand so much more, perceive it in himself and in the others more by the week, and even this is yet a beginning.

There are fundamentals that he has come to grasp, though-some certainties that will always be, like light and dark, mother, and home. He now senses that he has some place here among it all, too.

Anyway, as their howls taper off, despite what Hydra had told them about today already, he doesn't yet fully know the gravity of this situation.. this meeting to come, as an earthen-shaded wolf comes into view and Antares perked his head up tall to watch back. He felt no worry, but a lot of do not know to actually see their father and connect all the dots, finally, for himself. His dark brother went on ahead, and this too, he watched keenly from the comforting shadows of one of his mother-aunts.

But seconds ticked on by, all is well, and curiosity was practically burning him up! He was enlivened by the rush that uncertainty gave him, and finally he could not contain it anymore. He went slinking on after Atlas' route and rallying cry alike, but stayed wider, quieter, circling in half an arc around to peer back upon his brother and the new agouti face. His nose was working in absolute overdrive as he slowly, steadily closed in. 

This was really him, theirs!

He came, wasting no time as ever. Her children reviewed him, wary at first, before Atlas led the charge with a holler that made her heart swell. A rare flash of pride could be seen within her eyes as she looked back to Dirge, pleased with what they had made... what now, she felt was safe for him to be a witness with his own eyes. Her maternal instinct forced caution to be at the forefront of her priority list, and Hydra rose to assist her children with a fiendish grin, closing the distance between them swiftly and moving to nip playfully at the ankle furthest from Atlas and Antares. @Osiris and @Vega dove after her, encouraged by her own involvement—that was the extent of her participation, for now, and she withdrew to circle loosely around them to observe. 

She gestured to each cub and introduced them to him, Atlas, Antares, Vega, and Osiris, Hydra informed softly enough to not interrupt their game but for him to hear. Her own tail waved in the perfect mimicry of her husbands, and her head lifted a measure as she peered at the life they had created. Strong, curious—more than what they were but only a few weeks ago.

She moved to introduce them as the last pup joined the fray of investigation, and he looked upon them gently with interest as she gestured. Two dark, two light, four bundles of wild energy let loose to encircle and weave between his legs, beneath a towering form they had not yet met. His heartstrings were pulled, perhaps needless to say, words sundered away from anything he could have said with meaning.

He let actions speak for him instead, his muzzle sweeping low for a much closer survey. More for them than himself; he was braced for a clumsy assault, for whatever little nipping things that children were wont to do. There was the scraping of blunt milk teeth across his chin—presumably one of them already mistaking that for an ankle—and he felt another make mark at his actual ankle, having followed Hydra's gesture.

An amused puff escaped him as he turned slowly to follow in the wake Osiris blazed around him, only to be cut off by Vega's appearance from beneath him. There was plenty of movement, plenty of excitement, and plenty of wonder written across his face as he marveled at them. There was nary a moment to consider his own upbringing, nor a thought spared to wonder if he had ever been so excited in his life to see another. He simply stayed in the present, his tail still swaying gently, and at last brought his gaze to Hydra with a sure, grateful smile.

The uncertainty left him then. They were his, too.