Bramblepoint dry eyes, it's no surprise

-Very different,- He supplied, with a somewhat vague expression. It was difficult to explain- having never seen such a thing, but the tales told to him made him believe firmly that should the fair folk exist, he would never want for one of them to get a hold of his children, and have them return, changed.

Towhee Jr begged for him to continue, and he drew in a breath, trying to keep his expression serious despite h9ow good it felt to have a youngster listening to his stories so excitedly. 

-One day, my Great-Godmother went down to the brook to drink, and to get cleaned up at the end of a long day. They had hunted, but had caught nothing, so everyone was exhausted, hungry, and on edge. The children had been tucked away in the den to sleep for the night, and she left her mate in charge of making sure that they went to sleep. She wasn't down at the brook for very long before she began to hear voices in the woods- but not just voices...

She could hear the voices of her children. Laughing, talking, playing- scaring off the fish in the brook that my Great-Godmother had hoped to catch so that her family could at least have breakfast. Now, she couldn't see them, but she could hear all three of them galavanting about in the brush so she took to hollering at them-

STRAWBERRY!!! BUCK!!! STURGEON!!!!- While he did not cry the names out, he certainly put the effort into making it look as though he was shouting at the top of his lungs. -YOU GET YOUR LITTLE WHIPPY TAILS BACK INTO THE DEN THIS INSTANT! IF I GET HOME AND YOU'RE NOT TO BED, I'M GOING TO GIVE YOU EACH A PROPER SPANKING!! NOW YOU GIT HOME AND GIT TO BED!-

He paused. 

-And the voices stopped. There was silence. Figuring they had listened to her, she took one more look in the brook- of course, the fish had all swam away at the sound of her screaming- and then turned to start back up the hill, but stumbled. Not really over anything, just...It was like something had tripped her. But her paw was fine, and there was no stick in the way, so she figured she was just tired and cranky, and went back home up the hill.-

-She was still fuming when she got home, to find her husband asleep at the mouth of the den. She woke him up and gave him a talking-to as well, for having let the kids out, but he was completely shocked at what she was saying- and insisted that the kids were all inside, and fast asleep and when she went inside...They were. All snuggled up, snoring away, like they'd been sleeping for hours.-

He was still for a moment, before he continued. 

-The next morning, she noticed it. ---The lump.---