Emberwood i don't know how to love anything without sinking my teeth into it

In which Lotte tells Mallaidh more than she ever wanted to know about her parents’ sex lives.

The moment Mallaidh breaks through the fog, Lotte makes contact — and in the dream realm, her touch is warm and solid. Fastidiously, she licks and nibbles at the girl’s pelage like a mother lioness fussing over her cub. “I am kidding, pikku savua,” she assures the girl, even though she is a little miffed that the pretty name they’d chosen was hidden away for so long. “Your second name was chosen for a woman named Furiosa — your father’s first Póilín. Truly, I did not understand all of Teaghlaigh’s ranks — Furiosa’s job was to be a varjojohtaja. A shadow leader. I think the rank was silly because your father was so magnificent — and most magnificent when he was being bossy,” she laughed, winking conspiratorially. “Still, it was important to him to him, this secrecy.”

She fell silent for a moment, then continued. “I have my own secrets. Maybe the four of you all inherited that from both sides — the need for secrecy and the masks. In any case, Furiosa was your father’s most loyal wolf, and she was killed before her sun should have gone down. Before anyone knew of your father and me — we were meeting secretly, you see; we could not keep our paws off each other — Furiosa told me she believed I should be a queen. If it was up to her, she said, she would give me a crown that I might bear children worthy of it.” She smiled at her girl, so tall and strong. “And I did,” she intoned softly. “I made you. I picked your second name because you are worthy of a crown — if that is what you want — and because I hoped you would be loyal and fierce like Furiosa was. By simply existing, you are everything I wanted you to be — so why are your paws so shaky? What do you fear?”