Arrow Lake carrying her own sword

anyone who'd be welcomed in the den; pping blodreina for now but i can post with her when/if needed. uh, fast-forwarding this to eye opening b/c i'm impatient and i need to post with her before she goes inactive & she's a bit more interesting when she can interact, lol. tag(s) for reference but no obligation to join! <3

the older praimfaya grew, the more active she became. she became less prone to falling asleep at the drop of a pin — typically while she was nursing and her belly was warm and full of fresh and sweet mother's milk — and gained mobility. blindly army crawling on her belly between blodreina and @Ingram; the two constants in her life. life was content for her, reliable in that she was always warm, always felt the presence of at least one but often both parents, always had plenty of milk and room to grow. there was no one to share with, no one to compete with ( as far as littermates went ); and yet nothing remained the same.

as praimfaya woke that morning, she feels change. an instinctual whisper that nothing would be the same after today. perhaps it was the subtle guidance of a previous commander yet unknown to the wanheda but irregardless, she senses something all the same. sleepily, an eyelid peeps open but closes quickly. she feels blodreina shift and the draw of the wanlida's tongue over her in an impromptu bath. praimfaya squirms and wiggles away with a small huff and then it happens again — her eyelids open, heavy-lidded as if she's fighting sleep despite that she's far from tired.

they close in a slow blink before they open again and she blinks rapidly as she realizes she can process light and shadows. her vision is blurred and far from perfect yet ...but she realizes with a small squeak of surprise that she can see and she turns herself around so she faces blodreina, staring up at the scarred woman — nomon and seda alike with unbridled wonder.

ingram was sleeping contently besides blodreina. unlike in his youth, sleep came easily now to the eyjolfur -- the years had been hard on him, and he had become better at controlling (or drowning, really) the youthful restlessness that had plagued his earlier years. snoring like a dog that had run the iditarod, ingram awoke only because even as heavy a sleeper as he was, he had become conditioned to answering any noise of praimfaya's, even if it was an idle complaint.

his eyes fluttered open blearily, and he snuffed and yawned as he took in his surroundings. blodreina was grooming an uncooperative praimfaya, and praimfaya had just stilled and was looking up at her.. wait, looking?

ingram propped up on his elbows, squinting at his child with a look of disbelief and joy. "reina," he whispered joyously, canting his muzzle towards praimfaya. "her eyes!"

blodreina is incognizant to praimfaya's new development as she continues to bathe her, the wanlida's tongue drawing over praimfaya's head even as the girl ducks it and lets out a grunt of disapproval that goes largely ignored. another huff follows; the unwanted bath is enough to annoy her and break the spell that enraptured her initially. she was over it as the blurred shape of blodreina ignores her protests. praimfaya does her best imperious impression and swings her head towards ingram as he wakes and speaks ( not that tori thinks praim can hear him yet — or well, if she can hear ).

hm? blodreina is broken out of her dutiful and distracted grooming to look questioningly at ingram; but praimfaya, seeing and utilizing her escape route as her father distracts her mother, crawls eagerly towards ingram, hoping that he'd save her from the indignity of bath time, squeaking up at his blurred form curious about her parents now that she could actually see them.

ingram remained rapt, a surge of newfound emotion overcoming him as the little praimfaya wrestled under her mother’s tongue, refusing to be subdued. understandably blodreina had not seen the peek of little praimfaya’s endless blue eyes; the girl was under her muzzle. 

her eyes! ingram reiterated, breathless as the girl blundered towards him with all the grace of a drunken boar. already praimfaya was delightfully strong-willed; ingram’s tail thumped wildly as he gently intercepted praimfaya’s charge with a cheeky lick of his own.

praimfaya uses blodreina's distracted oh! to succeed at wiggling away as her mother — thankfully — forgets all about the bath in the excitement that follows. they're so blue. blodreina gushes to ingram as praimfaya continues on her path towards whom she hopes ( believes ) is her salvation against the dreaded bath time. i wonder if they'll stay blue or if they'll change. praimfaya lets out a small grunt of victory as she reaches ingram; though her victory is celebrated very shortly for she is given a cheeky lick from her father. she's briefly indignant at having been both licked and stalled, but forgets as she becomes more fascinated with how his blurred shape is both similar and different from blodreina's as she blinks up at him with studious curiosity.

ingram too was taken aback by the milky lapis of his daughter's gaze. for as sightless as they appeared, they held another world entire within them -- swirling vortexes of silver and navy, studded only by the very faint outline of a darkened pupil. he thought back to his parents and siblings, and realized that he recalled none of their faces or eye colors.. it elicited a frown that was immediately chased away by the curiosity of his bold daughter.

he laughed lightly, nudging her carefully with a wet nose. "well, only time can tell that," ingram offered demurely, whuffing loudly towards praimfaya as if to encourage her to play. "but i hope she has her mother's eyes." ingram had always believed blodreina's eyes reminded him of an endless plain of ocean fanned by sunlight -- deep and immeasurable, yet bright along the surface.

a small, disgruntled huff leaves praimfaya's lips as she feels the gentle nudging touch of ingram's wet nose. natrona, praimfaya would think if she knew words and though it was incredibly likely that she wouldn't even remember this in a few minutes — let alone for any actual length of time — she considers that ingram might always side with blodreina. of course, bath time isn't quite the torture that praimfaya currently thinks it is and even if it is, she doesn't understand yet that it's a necessary evil. as predicted, she soon forgets about the lick and her fuss over bath-time and lets out a sleepy yawn as blodreina speaks with a soft smile towards ingram, as you said, only time will tell. blodreina murmurs in quiet and contemplative agreement.

it was good praimfaya did not know of natrona yet, for ingram knew just enough of what blodreina had told him, and would have gasped in shock (playfully) to be so cruelly labeled by his own kith and kin! smiling widely, ingram watched as his little girl huffed indignantly; she had all of blodreina's fire, didn't she?

being here, with both blodreina and praimfaya, ingram felt tremendously at peace. as praimfaya uncurled her tongue in the world's tiniest (and cutest, ingram would add) yawn, ingram felt a tiredness overcome him. before he could stop it, he too let loose a wide yawn. "only--- time.." his words were interrupted by a second yawn, and the male settled onto his stomach near praimfaya. "wonder what it is like seeing for the first time.." he of course had no memory of opening his eyes, and doubted it was an occasion many remembered.

talking back and forth, ingram went to sleep that night with his heart full.. and hoped if he had thousands of more days like this, he knew it would never be enough.