Ouroboros Spine Little gentle hearts

@Ahna @Chinook

Their children grew and it filled Ajei's heart. Part of her wished @Sobeille had been to see her children, but how was the sea queen to know.

On this morning she simply lay still and watched them dream. Paws and noses moving and twitching. Occasionally a sound. Both seemed like they would one day tower over Ajei but that was okay.

Ahna was content, lying beside her twin sister, and her mother. She dreamed, as she often did; her little legs twitched and she squeaked a couple of times.

Soon, though, she woke. Her dream had come to an end. She blinked her baby blue eyes, and looked around. Soft sunlight peeked through the opening of the den. Then, she looked up to her mother's gentle red face. Ahna smiled. "Ah-ah-aana." She tried her best to replicate what she heard her parents say. She didn't know what this word meant yet, but soon enough, she would.

Six weeks had already come to pass. Chinook and her sister had already grown so much, even if the little ones didn't quite notice it themselves. Their ears were up now. They were growing in sharp little teeth. They could see and smell and speak, even if Chinook spoke little. 

Stretching and yawning, she woke with a need to put her growing teeth to use as teething came in. She began pawing and biting at her mother's tail.

A cursory sniff, a small little cuddle one for each girl. Then she bent to the task of slowly herding them outside for some sun. It was always good for them to have sun. She peered outward, eyes glancing upwards for any prey of the sky, then the land. Then she slowly moved to allow the girls to tumble into the sun and the grass. Smell the air. Feel their very existence in the village. Even if it were small now. Perhaps too small.

After a loving cuddle from mom, Ahna, alongside her sister, were herded out of the dimness of the den, and into the warm sunlight. So many smells greeted her little nose! The smell of the fresh, green grass, the mountain air, and the light scent of wildflowers.

She looked up to the big blue sky, where the sun watched over them. “Sun!” She exclaimed, a big smile on her face. 

Then, Ahna invited Chinook to play, with a clumsy bow. Her tail wagged fiercely.

Chinook follows after her mother as she lifts from the ground and moves towards the den opening. Chinook still very much after her mother's tail, jumping up to snap at it. 

She is at once distracted when the light of day touches her face and she jumps back, crinkling her eyes and waving her tail as it warms her cheeks and muzzle. 

Suuunnnn.... She says with a happy rumble after her sister. Then she wriggles herself towards the ground in play now, then "charges" with a frog leap forward towards her sister.

Ajei settled to her haunches. Sweeping her tail over paws and watching with delight. Every so often she'd dart a paw out to tap a daughter and turn her laughing gaze away. Feigning nonchalance.

She enjoyed this. It was light hearted. Sweet. Wholesome.