Noctisardor Bypass i don't praise your god

backdated to june 23. first adult-understood words!

MAMA! witch shrieked, waking herself— and likely others— from sleep. her life thus far was happy, every need met, and so the child truly had nothing to fear. but perhaps praimfaya's disappearance had affected her subconsciously, this idea that a Mother could disappear and abandon her children. in time, she would forget praimfaya completely, and she would know @Skaigona and @Worripa to be her siblings as deeply as she knew @Druid was her flesh and blood... but while it was so fresh, the missing she-wolf had brought to witch her first nightmares.

she stood and stretched, then leapt to clamber onto @Sequoia's body to ensure that she was still there and wouldn't disappear into dream-mist. hiii, mama!

She woke to the sound of Witch's tiny voice shouting her name. Or rather, a very dear rendition of her name. Praimfaya had not returned, even days later, and Sequoia now thought that she would not. Skaigona and Worripa were her new charges, and when they were old enough to understand, she would let them know what had happened. She would keep no truths from them, but she would still treat them as her own, just as Wildfire had done with her (although Sequoia had been older and the choice had been hers).

Shhh, she said, checking on the others to make sure they were still sleeping soundly. What woke you? she asked in a whisper.

the pale child collapsed into her mother from above, limbs splayed out over the sides of the she-wolf. witch nuzzled into her neck, just below the ear, and exhaled with a small sigh. mother was here. mother was real. mama... go she whispered with a small whine, struggling to explain the dream with her freshly-budding but limited vocabulary.

she clambered up and over sequoia's head, then— clumsily— to reach the den's floor once more. this time, she sat in front of the she-wolf to look into her eyes. mama... NO go. this was important! no go, the little witch stressed.

my reading comprehension is garbage and i just realized where witch is.

Sequoia lowered her head so Witch could more easily get down, then raised it just enough so she was eye-level with her clearly distressed daughter. Go? she asked, probing further to try and find out what was happening in that little noggin of hers. Not go, but no go. Ah, well, Sequoia had done enough of these talks with kids to have an idea of what was going on. She was a therapist, after all. She hadn't needed to use those skills since she'd returned up north, but it looked like these kids were going to need it. It dawned on her that Praimfaya's kids would likely need a lot of talking, too.

Witch, honey, I'm not going anywhere. I'm right here. You had a bad dream. It's like a story you see in your sleep, but it's not real, see? Sequoia booped Witch's nose with her own to show that she was flesh and blood, real as the air they both breathed and the ground they sat on.