Hushed Willows someone still loves you

As dusk approached, the children were asleep, and Lily nearly there. Taking care of duties earlier in the day had exhausted her beyond reason. Leadership was no walk in the park, and adding children on top of it made it that much more difficult. Her eyelids were drooping; she yawned intermittently. Something had to be done.

With a furtive army crawl so as not to wake the pups, she wiggled far enough toward the mouth of the den to stick her head out, looking around the dimly-lit clearing. Pssst—hey, @Khali? Are you around? she called softly, scanning the area.

God, she hoped he was. She needed an actual adult conversation, something to respond to besides wordless babbles and screaming. The babbles were okay, she supposed, but the screaming could stop any day now, and she would be glad of it.