Dawnlark Plains on one side, yesterday, on the other side, tomorrow across the void

At some point she'd herded the children back to their den, Aditya vaguely nearby, and Catori feeling as cold as her lover. She had tried to keep their nighttime routine, soft sounds breaking from her maw every once in awhile when she could no longer help it. Everything felt stiff and wrong. Grayday wasn't with her anymore. He was somewhere she couldn't go - with a woman who wasn't her, and Catori felt alone. She felt hollow. She had arranged her babies all together, pressing her snout to the soft bodies of @Kasatka then @River then @Eventide - touching their soft silky fur and breathing in their sweet rich scents.

"I love you so." Catori offered, her eyes almost hazel over with her grief. She wasn't meant to be a widow. She hadn't even had a year with him - but their lifetime felt so long, so many things had happened, and now she had to remember what living without him was like. She'd done it before - and now with her children she would have to learn to do it again. 

the only thing that made her feel somewhat at home now was her mother.  even her siblings did not help — they were like her, when catori had been filed as like grayday in her mind.

she looked up towards her mother with limpid, sparkling eyes.  looove you, she parroted, burying herself in her mama's bright orange mane.

Something had changed. The den felt even more crowded than before, despite the absence of his father. His father. Eventide was still too young to understand loss, or death, so while he did understand that Grayday was gone, he was still convinced that there would be a return. That's how it normally went, at least; one of the adults would leave, and Kasatka might mope, and Winterbourne might doze off, and Eventide might wander outside of the den, but then the adult would come back, and everyone would reassume position. 

This time, though, Poppa sure was taking a while.

Eventide cuddled up against his mother's neck with his tail wagging slow and steady behind him. I'ov you, he whined, wondering aimlessly about what he could do to lighten the mood.

Love? The young Corten repeated sleepily; he was only half-awake, but his mother's words cut through the haze, followed by the echoing voices of his siblings. River rolled over and flopped his legs out, stretching his muzzle out to lazily lick his mother's fur where he could reach her. I looooove. Love you. He mimicked, stifling a yawn and drawing his paws over his eyes.