Ravensblood Forest everybody’s gone in the cotton and the corn [m]

Tagging for reference ♥

“Maybe I should strive to make every time better than the last, hmm?”

“If that is your goal, rakas, be assured — you are well on your way to achieving it,” Lotte quipped, humming low in her throat as Arturo pressed the wet of his nose lovingly against the heated velveteen of her cheek. “I am so tired,” she admitted softly. “The fire stole my wind from me.” She spoke this with a faint trace of bitterness that flickered briefly in her argent eyes, but it died away as she murmured with cheerful resolve, “I will get better. I am already so much better, thanks to you and our Chusi.” She fell quiet as he spoke of names, conserving her breath, and lifted her head — it felt so heavy! — to nibble affectionately at his cheek and smooth her tongue along the elongated slope of his ear.

Resting her muzzle wearily upon her forepaws, “None in mind,” she answered, “but I have never named children before.” She cocked her head to look quizzically up at her mate. “How did you name your first, Ceannasach? She drew out his title teasingly, tracing over the syllables with a glib tongue. Her ears pressed forward upon her skull as she voiced the request most dear to her: “I wish to name one of them in honor of my kaksonen — but he is already @Dagfinn Ansbjørn III. He is the best of the three. If we have a girl, I wish to make her second name Dagny — ‘new day’.” A gentle smile shaped the nightingale’s mouth, her eyes soft and warm as they gazed upon her gangster. “It is what I want,” she assured him. “If they wish to take Ansbjørn as a third name when they are old enough to decide, they may — but you are their sire, and it is your name that must anchor them.”

Lotte was quiet for a long moment, gathering herself. “Do you have any names in mind, Turo?”