Lost Creek Hollow locus

it had been six days since the birth of mona's son, @Ashlar, and more than half of that time had bene marked by a sorrowful darkness. it had descended the morning following his arrival, and had not abated, wrapping the young mother tightly in a chokehold. silently she tended ashlar, cleaning him, checking to see that he breathed, dutifully bringing him to her breasts — all with an automatic and impartial air.
did she love him? mona believed so, for she recalled how she had felt upon seeing him draw his first breath. but currently she could feel nothing beyond a fathomless emptiness, one that stretched interminably within her.
presently, her vision blurred with tears for the third time that day as she watched her son move groggily between her forepaws, a pain she could not understand nor identify.

The child knew nothing of his mother's tears or of what they meant.  One of the simplest wonders of being a baby was that he could take endlessly, giving nothing, and feel no guilt over it.  When he wanted something he cried until it was delivered or crying became wearisome.  

But there was one thing he provided, and that was closeness.  He did not like to be parted from the large warm and pressed himself towards it regularly, because when it was not there a loneliness entered his forming awareness.  The world was right when she was there, so as he wriggled between her paws, he began seeking a way to press into her however he might.

she missed rowan fiercely, and indra also. they were two feminine presences from which she could have drawn strength, but they were not here. she had been alone for months, and even now she was by herself. a hiccuping sob broke from mona's throat as she parted her forelegs to allow ashlar closer, near her heart.
"i do love you," she told the sightless, deaf babe, to reassure herself as much as he. "i am just so ... sad." and why should she be? what right did she have to be so terribly anguished.

She moved and the boy let out a soft chirrup as he fumbled slowly up to her.  He went entirely based on feel.  It would be a bit of time yet before his ears and eyes opened, allowing new avenues with which to explore the world.

Feel was enough, though.  He reached her and snuggled in, burying his tiny blind face into her chest fur as he rumbled a small and contented sigh.

"ashlar. little ashlar, brave ashlar, beloved ashlar," mona murmured in a sing-song to him, lowering her muzzle above his still-deaf ears that he might perhaps catch the vibrations of her speech. now, then, mona's thoughts turned to her firstborn, a twisted and silent girl who had not moved in her caul. 
mona sobbed again, recalling how when she had gained strength after the birth of her son, she had brought the little body between her forepaws and committed every detail to memory. the finely formed paws, the somber divot in the tiny spine, the too-short muzzle. beautiful all the same. mona had buried her in a budding ring of violets not far from the den.
"angelique," she whispered now in a broken tone, lying her muzzle alongside ashlar's small body. "that is her name. angelique rowan mayfair."

Her vibrations did catch and Ashlar's murring adjusted to match.  The harmony brought him a sense of peace.

He yawned widely and turned, wriggling his way longways against her warm chest.  Nestled here, he gave a quiet chirrup before drifting off into a nap.

gonna fade this <3

the touch of his miniscule self, so trusting, fully dependent upon mona, caused the girl a brief distress. what if she failed somehow in her new duties as mother? but she could not think of that now, would not; her head spun a bit and exhaustion crept to steal the cardinal away as she lay her muzzle alongside ashlar and slept.