Barrow Fields love 'em and leave 'em

he left. 

truthfully, portia was a bit surprised to see him turn tail and flee so quickly, perhaps the idea of mother was just a turn off for him-- it seemed cradle-robbers did have better luck with children than with adults. her lips were still raised in his direction, fur still bristling, until he was a far enough distance off and sequoia had whined softly.

the petite piebald fisa turned abruptly to her as she nudged her shoulder, but her expression was no longer angry-- it was now relieved. adrenaline was slowly being replaced with fear, as portia was far more flight than she was fight, but she kept herself together for her two children. 

"oh, i'm so sorry, hun," she apologized quickly, pressing her nose to her daughters scruff before taking her weak foreleg to pull her close into a wolfish embrace, "i'm so sorry to barge in." she knew for a fact she would have been livid had her mother walked in on a conversation she was having with a boy, but that was no boy. it was a man, and whether or not sequoia could tell the difference was mute-- because portia could, and she didn't like his intentions one bit. 

her gaze flitted to dacio, who had backed her up. she released her grip on her daughter and looked between the two. they had grown so big-- and today displayed a lot of maturity and rationality in how they handled her anger spoke numbers. around now, dalia and sirio had been taught about the birds and the bees. portia would soon teach them about it too. her gaze settled upon sequoia, hardening so she understood what she was about to say was important. she needed to understand this. "men will tell you anything they think you want to hear because they think you owe them something. you owe them nothing, you only give them what you want to give them. that man was taking advantage of how old you are," she told her sternly. then her expression and tone softened, and portia released a gently sigh. "one day you'll understand this better, i promise," she began again, "you can use it to your advantage, too, once you understand. but you need to be careful around strangers, listen to what they say to you. don't take their flattery at face value." portia's mother had never told her any of this. just that she was here to be at the bedside, hand and foot, waiting on every man. it was her job. portia had scoffed, and then learned this the hard way.

she prayed her daughters would never have to learn the hard way. 

"you are both very mature-- thank you for listening to me, sequoia, and for having my back, dacio," she told them both, august gaze flitting between the two, "at the end of the week i will explain to you why i did what i did-- to opalia as well. you are all still young, but you're old enough to be able to know."