Stone Circle oel ngati kameie

@Tauris @Figment @Katla :)

If a newborn could have any concept of the existence of the sun then perhaps they would believe the den entrance to be it; to be this incomprehensibly bright object which lit and warmed the world from afar.

The timing of his and his sister's birth meant the sun was at full strength and often reached into the cool darkness of their earthen home. Its heat was different from that of his mother's — it was not as alluring. If only because its intensity was bothersome to the boy's underdeveloped eyes.  But over time, the brightness of the entryway became less and less of something to turn his face away from. It gradually became more tolerable until, on the morning of the eleventh day of his life, it became so tolerable that there was no need for his eyes to hide behind their lids, and they opened.

Initially, it was only the one eye. Swiftlet stirred from his slumber and slowly peered around with that single baby blue, his mouth quirked in such a way that overall his expression appeared stuck between suspicious and sneering. In truth, it was taking his mind several moments longer to wake and he was devoid of any particular thought or feeling. That was until his head turned toward his mother. She might have been amorphous — his eyesight needing to develop still — but he knew instantly and without any doubt that the shape was her.

! ! !

Swiftlet peeped and smacked the ground with his paw. Behind him, his little tail wagged so hard it threatened to propel him forward.

She’d just been staring. In fact, she’d done nothing else since they were born. Every breath, every whimper, every hiccup, every little nudge of nose and shuffle of body. She wanted to experience it all, and if it wasn’t for Fig bringing her food she would have starved rather than part with them. Her children. It still hadn’t settled, that fact. She still felt a well of pride in each moment. This is my son! This is my daughter!

And so, the Nornir was of course there when it happened. Though she didn’t trust her eyes when she saw the color of his blue ones! In rapture and disbelief she fell to her elbows, lip trembling as she folds her paws around his little rump.

“Hi my baby son, it’s me, it’s your mama! Can you see me, sweet boy?”

“FIG!” she shrieks for him at a shrill volume that matches her excitement. “GET IN HERE!!!!”

She didn’t know if he was nearby or off on a hunt. Regardless, he likely heard her.

Something was happening around her. Katla was scrunched up against her brother, her back to the bright sunlight as she tried to get some sleep. 

She didn't know why her brother was squirming so much, he was facing the opposite direction of her, but something about his vibes seemed unusual, and she was even more perturbed when suddenly his tiny stubby tail began to wag furiously, smacking her repeatedly right on the nose. She let out a huff and ruff of protest as she tried to shuffle back out of the strike zone. What was wrong with him?? 

She was further upset by her mother's sudden exclamation, high and sky-splitting. With the excitement of everyone else almost tangible around her Katla decided to let out a wail of her own. Whatever was happening with everyone, it was freaking her out!!

Fig had been sleeping soundly just outside the den, so he missed the excitement up until Tauris's earth-shattering cry of delight. He missed the positive tone at first and sat bolt upright, turning and darting into the den with a hammering heart and panicked eyes.

"What happened? What's wrong??" he said urgently, reaching to nose Katla—who was nearest to him—with tender, but anxious touches, making sure she was alright before he would move onto Swift.

Tauris’ excitement was palpable and if his tail could wag harder it surely did, transferring the battering from his sister’s nose to his mother’s limbs as she scooped them around his backside.

Swiftlet squawked in response to her shrieking for Figment—a series of sharp noises that approximated the ones she made in pitch and length but was far from matching them nonetheless. The tail end of his rendition of Tauris’ summons was cut just a tad short by Katla’s sudden upset. Swift turned to look her.

He knew her too, his ever-present companion, but he was not sympathetic to her distress. It was interrupting his joy. Swift was reaching in her direction to smack at the air in disapproval when his father swept into the den and dropped his nose to Katla.

Figment’s more frequent coming and going did not deny him the pup’s recognition. Swift knew his scent and presence too, even when his father was stationed dutifully outside the den, and married those with his dark shape instantly. Fig, when he finished with Katla and turned to Swift, was greeted heartily by his son’s outstretched limbs pawing excitedly at his face.

“Blue? Blue eyes?” She draws back a baffling haze as Swift paws towards his father. She’s not sure what she expected. There’s no blue in her family, so it must be from Fig’s side.

She reaches for Kat, settling her soft body between two front paws and grooms her face, encouraging her daughter to also open her eyes, and curious now what color her’s might be!

The doting nose of her father was the first to respond to her cries. She could feel his stress as well, but the fact he was there filled her with comfort at least. As a piller in her life by now, knowing he was here already calmed Katla down. She leaned into him just as he moved away to check her brother, and she jerked to catch herself. Her mother came soon to scoop her up and groom her face. 

Now that the initial surprise was over it seemed like the new shift in mood was not a bad one. She could hear Swiftlet and Figment nearby, sounding happy as her mother. Directed to be looking right up at Tauris, the gentle licks causing flashes of light and dark over her closed eyes... until one of her eyelids happened to crack open from the movement. 

An explosion of things sent Katla reeling and she recoiled from her mother with a tiny yelp, her eyes shutting tightly once again. That was crazy!! Wasnt it...? Should she do it again...? Could she do it again?

Hesitantly, Katla lifted the eyelid again...

Once it was confirmed that Katla was whole and well, he turned his head to Swift, only to stop dead when met with the blue of his son's freshly revealed eyes. He blinked in surprise, but a smile soon lifted the corners of his lips.

"Well, hello there," Fig said gently, reaching down to nuzzle his snout into Swift's outstretched arms. He gave a soft laugh to hear Tauris's words. Blue eyes were not common in his family either, but he'd had plenty of younger siblings to teach him a thing or two.

"They're always blue at first," he said as he slipped onto his belly, unaware that Katla was just about to astound them again, "They might change still, later on."

This was all fun and exciting but for Swift the moment of celebration passed almost immediately. He wriggled his way out of the center of things after giving his father an affectionate nom on his wet leather nose, and set about slowly taking in what he could see. 

He watched his paws as he meandered inch by inch, pulling his blurry gaze along the den floor and across the walls when he would stop and lift his head, and from nose to tail of each of his family members. He couldn't make out the details and many edges bled indistinctly into one another, but he was nonetheless fascinated by this new sense even if he couldn't know what to think of it.

But it was a whole lot of something for a little pup. Swift soon after sat — just off to the side — where he simply looked upon his mother, father, and sister. His tail wagged contentedly as his mouth split in a yawn.

This time when Katla graces her mother with one blue eye she is only silent, tears gathering quickly at the corners of her own and with the gentlest of touches she kisses the side of one full, brown cheek.

“Hi, my darling,” she whispers to her, “it’s your momma. Do you know how loved you are?”

These baby blues must be childhood’s eyes; an expression of the magical elysium that belongs to only children, and she carefully brings her little daughter to be beside her brother, to see them both and capture this feeling. Her tail wags fiercely and she pecks the side of Fig’s face with overwhelming pride at their creation; Fig was right, they are perfect.

She looks at their children, separate and strong and with more power over them than any spirit or god. A time ago her immediate inclination might have been to transfer all her wishes onto them, like a re-do at life, to fix her mistakes, and smooth out the edges...

No, she wants them to be only themselves. One day they will make a silly joke, or clever observation, and she will know then that they are no longer her children but her young people-

But they will always be her babies.