Dragoncrest Cliffs The bombs are falling

Rosalyn said she’d never lived away from the sea. Meerkat wondered about her age, though she didn’t know if it might be considered rude to ask. Just looking at her, she knew Rosalyn had lived many years. She was certainly older than the oldest wolf she personally knew, her mother.

There’s something very… Meerkat pressed her tongue thoughtfully against her teeth. I don’t want to say calming, necessarily, though it can be. But the rhythm of it, it feels almost… familiar? It was kind of like the heartbeat of an old friend, though she didn’t say that part out loud, fearing it sounded a little too hokey.

Rosalyn’s least favorite aspect was unfortunately not unique to the seaside. Meerkat couldn’t offer her empathy, since she’d never had children to lose, though her thoughts wandered to Towhee again and she shared, I’ve seen what it’s done to my mom, when one of us just… She waved a leg, frowning sympathetically at the aged Ruby.

Speaking of children, it made her wonder how Rosalyn felt about Njord and herself breeding in the spring. It did not feel like the appropriate moment to bring it up, if she should touch on it at all today. But the conversation had stirred her memories about watching Towhee’s various reactions to her children’s departures over the years, including the many of her own.

I first left home when I was five months old. My mother was so upset. The only reason she let me go was because my older brother went with me. And were going to live with our sister pack nearby. But I knew she hated it, as much as I knew I needed to do it. Since then, she’s come around about her kids leaving, but mostly because she has no other choice. It sounded like Rosalyn would understand that all too well.

It makes me wonder, Meerkat continued after a brief pause, like, when I have kids, should I raise them specifically to leave the nest? Would that save me a lot of heartache? Or is that a totally foolish think to even think…?