Stone Circle Love, mom

Like the children, he tossed and turned as he slept, dreaming of a herd of white bison that had crowded around him, racing in circles. They pushed at him with their great, shaggy skulls and buffeted him with their powerful hindquarters. The circle closed in on him, and he could the pressure of the nearing animals squeeze the breath out of him. No doubt some deep, distant memory of the birth process that some part of his brain still remembered. 

He awoke with a startled gasp, splaying his legs before him as he lurched into a half upright position. Eyes widened, he gazed around, blinking as his vision cleared. The bison were nowhere to be seen; it had all just been a dream. He shook lightly as he caught his breath, grateful now for the release of pressure that had made him wheeze while he slept. 

His ear flicked when he thought he heard a small cry in the distance. He turned his head, thinking he'd imagined it, but rose to his feet when he heard Tauris' frustrated voice in the distance. Uttering a beligerent and surprised boof! Skáld meandered closer, ears flicking to and fro. 

He'd haunted Tauris' footsteps, remaining just beyond reach so he might not be cornered into a confrontation with Figment. It was exhausting, tracking a packmate while also avoiding another, especially when the two spent so much time together. He remained within earshot of a howl so if he was needed, he could be summoned- but kept himself out of sight. He slept in the open in short spurts, so he could move his position when necessary. Ever vigilant, he'd become exhausted, and the tiredness had begun to give him nightmares. 

He growled lightly when Tauris' voice rose again, but the moment Figment came into his line of vision as a dark spot on the horizon, he stopped to lurk. He watched the man wait, pace, respond to the sounds he heard that were out of Skáld's earshot. Softer, reassuring sounds he would have wished he could hear- the first notes of a mother's voice and the quiet mewling of newborn children. 

Figment disappeared from sight. Skáld waited for him to call out if there was an emergency- but there was only silence. A new family had been made, and as always, it was just beyond Skáld's reach.