Hideaway Strath You talk like a man and taste like the sun

@Kynareth Deagon @Alduin @Atka
backdated to a week after birth

The first few days after having the puppies had been foggy; she had been tired and healing but had managed to keep the children fed and warm. Guilt still ate away at her over the loss of their daughter. She felt like it was her fault—like she had done something to cause it. There were times when she could have been more careful, and she had chosen to act as though other lives weren't depending on her to keep them safe and protected. With the guilt came the suffocating need to ensure nothing happened to their three sons that still lived. Right now, they seemed to thrive; they grew bigger and more mobile every day. It both delighted and terrified her. She wanted them to grow big and strong, but she also knew that her days of controlling everything about their environment were numbered. Soon she would have to let them discover the world on their own and hope they were strong enough to survive. 

These thoughts filtered constantly through her mind as she watched her three children sleep. They were piled between her front legs, fat and warm as they snoozed. Simmik rested her head on her leg, protectively sheltering them from the opening of the den; she was picky about who she let near and in the days following the birth only Ky and the healers had been allowed to see the pups. 

Her gaze watched the entrance to the den where the sun cast warm light onto the dirt floor. Her husband had not been here when she woke from her nap, and she wondered where he was and waited for his return. She liked when he was here; she liked their little family and how content she felt when it was just the five of them. She soaked up as much of these moments as she could—soon the children would be curious and rambunctious, and she would have to share them with the pack. But not now, now things were quiet and controlled and she enjoyed it while she could.