Hushed Willows No one dies from love

Set 02/25!

Reverie was digging again. It was quite a lot of work, the excavation of a den large enough to accommodate herself and her family, made easier only by the fact that she could not seem to focus on anything else. Instinct had taken hold of her in these final days of her pregnancy. And in some ways she was grateful for that; any excuse to keep from thinking about the future.

Her conversation with @Reina had soothed the worst of her fears, at least: that she would be abandoned by the others too, that they would find her unworthy as a leader, as a mother, as a person. She knew that her brothers would stay by her side. Reina, too, had promised to stay, and it was for Reverie's comfort that Kukutux remained in Hearthwood. She wouldn't be alone. Reverie held to that for her sanity as she lost herself in preparing the space where her children would be born.

Dreams of guilded angels with wings made of sunlight haunted the red’s sleep, almost nightly, and she usually woke with great effort. It had been one of those nights, a restlessness that made her limbs ache.

To remedy, she thought best to move her body. A walk would do her disillusioned heart some good, as well as clear her mind. However, it proved unsuccessful as the very reason she was even on this damn walk came into her view, fervently digging away. Reina released a quick, yet heavy sigh and continue forward.

“Huh! I seem to have lost Reverie. Oh, but I found this little muskrat digging in the dirt instead” Laughing, she went to the Coach’s side and pulled some earth away to make some room. Reverie had no business doing this by herself. Silently, she cursed Boone, his absence was noted—yet again—and filed away for now.

“Why don’t you take a break, Angel? You’ll wear yourself out.”

Reina was greeted with a tired smile and a faint, breathless giggle at her words. A muskrat! Reverie didn't think she looked much like one — hadn't Reina called her something else before? A toad, perhaps. She couldn't quite recall.

In the next instant her attention was swept away by the Middleman's suggestion of a break, the flash of disapproval behind her eyes as she said it. Reverie fell quiet, taken by the urge to defend her husband. But she could not find the words. She hadn't wanted this. She hadn't wanted their pack, their guests, to look at him and see an absent husband, an absent leader, soon to be an absent father. Because of her. If only she hadn't exhausted him with her illness, the way she'd exhausted Lestan...

But she'd been silent too long. Reverie let out a breath and stepped back from her digging. It gives me something to do, She tried to be lighthearted, but it came out flat and wavering. She burst into tears. I'm sorry, I - um, hormones. At least she had a convenient excuse.

“Oh, Rev!” Moving quickly to her side, the red braced herself, shoulder to shoulder with her Coach, a comforting gesture. “It’s alright, I understand. My Mom had been a bit…emotionally charged in the late time of her pregnancy with my siblings. She had bit me, though, so I think I can manage a few tears.” 

She paused, a searching look. Her words were soft. “Is everything alright, Reverie?” 

She blinked her tears away and tried to focus on Reina's words. Reverie was disturbed to hear that the woman's own mother had bitten her! But before she could say as much, the Middleman asked if everything was alright. And it was not. She just didn't know how to say that.

Instead she said, I'm just - scared, that's all. It wasn't necessarily a lie.

I'll be okay, Reverie added softly, leaning her head against Reina's shoulder for a moment. Only a moment. Then she straightened and turned back to her task. I should really get back to digging... She didn't have much time left to finish this, after all. It would be soon now.

She stood there, nodding, accepting the golden woman’s words, though in her heart, she felt there was more. It was not a time to press. 

Reina leaned into the woman’s touch, breathing her in for these moments were fleeting and few in between, drinking in the affection. It was over as quickly as it had come. There were more pressing matters for the Coach to attend to than to her own selfish whims.

Bowing her head, she turned to leave, a whisper of words before trotting off. “You will be okay, Angel. I won’t be far.” 

And, it was true, she wouldn’t be. Unbeknownst to Reverie, Reina would spend restlessness nights walking the perimeters of her Coach’s resting place; her eyes and ears searching, listening, acting as sentry. It was in her training from long ago. She would use it for Reverie; to always be there for her, to protect her.

In whatever way the golden Angel allowed.