Swiftcurrent Creek The Not-So-Great Escape

Exhaustion weighed heavily on her eyelids, and the russet Alphess struggled to keep herself from drifting in and out of sleep. With @Viinturuth restless and keen to give one of his brothers a swift kick in the face, she remained torn between preventing an outburst and leaving them to sort their own hierarchy between them.

She nudged her palest son to her flank, bumping his tiny rear with the tip of her snout and guiding him rather roughly toward a teat - an offering of distraction to prevent the frustration among his litter-mates that she didn't have the energy to deal with. He latched, and the world around them turned quiet. Peace, perfect peace.

Durnehviir drifted into light slumber and when a voice beyond her den roused her, she instinctively curled herself protectively around her baby dragons. She leaned over them, nares hovering over each little body as she counted - one, two, three... where's number four!?

She gathered herself onto her paws, eyes frantically scanning the nest with the worry that she may have accidentally lay atop her darkest child. The tone of another's voice at the mouth of her hollow caused her to bristle with uncertainty, though her hackles promptly flattened with recognition. Of all her pack-mates, the Messeda boy is perhaps the only one she would trust around her babes.

She stepped over her three contained cubs and poked her head outside, ginger ears thrust forward and pale gaze finding the bold Talos tormenting the one who dared block her path. A smirk tugged the corner of her mouth and she stepped into the clearing, tail wagging. "Having fun?"