Mudminnow River and the smell of the ground

clouds rolled thickly over the clearing, the sky a blanched grey. the air thrummed with the tension of clouds unbroken, and a breeze playfully teased the girl below. there was a warmth in the air that had been absent all of the girl's life, a renewed sort of energy within the land as spring begun to claim it's hold on the land. the pup played by the stream, darting a paw in the water after the silver arrows that shot by ever downstream, glinting in the faint light. 

and then, without warning, it began to rain. torrentially did the rain fall, each drop seeking to drum into the earth with greater intensity than the last, to bring life to the greenery that would soon begin to stir. first the girl stood, shocked, but this quickly passed, and she darted through the rain with reckless abandon, delighting in the wild joy of it. a patch of especially appealing mud near the river was spotted, and she leapt toward it, planting her paws and skidding wildly across it. down she went, rolling and rollicking in the mud, until she was covered in the stuff.

Heartha had been out and about when the rain started. She did not find it so joyful, and wished to find cover. She bolted through the rain, her coat getting drenched when she saw the figure of another, out in the rain. Rolling about, playing in the wet weather. Upon closer inspection, she saw it was one of Grayday's children. And she was outside of the territory. She wasn't sure if the young one was allowed, and she didn't want to take any chances. 

"Young one, what are you doing out here?" she called through the rain, forgetting that she had been seeking cover. Although it did humor her to see the young one covering herself in mud as she approached. Though she still was worried about what could happen. One leg almost slipped out from under her in the mud, and she noticed soon they were close to the river.

words interrupted her romping, and she twisted to see another- a woman from their group. she didn't remember her name, only her face, yet this did not concern her. she paused in her wild antics, soaked and completely covered in mud. brow furrowing, she said after a moment, "I'm-I'm playing." 

no, it was more than that- she simply did not know how to explain it. she was delighting in the wild spirit of youth, in the coming of the spring and the cold she had known all her life. she was overcome with happiness that came with new adventure and new beginnings. and, she did not know how far she had come. she approached the woman, the absence of the warmth that came with movement bringing a chill to her fur. "What's your name?" she asked curiously, the rain beginning to taper off steadily, now.

Heartha kept a light smile on at the young one's response. "Come on, let's go find cover. We don't want you getting sick." She urged the pup to follow with a motion of her head, and started to turn. But then the pup asked something that made her pause for a moment. 

"I am Heartha...your name is Dawn, right?" Grayday had mentioned her name when Day first met Heartha and Sylvas at the river. "Want to stand by me for warmth?" Surely Dawn would want some warmth in the cold weather.

Heartha urged for her to follow, and the girl did so without question- now that the rush of wild playing was gone, it really was rather cold all of a sudden. the woman introduced herself as Heartha, and Dawn chirped up shortly after. "I knew that! And there's also S-S...something."  she knew the other male with Heartha to be called something that began with S, though what she did not know. 

"Okay!"  she piped up, moving quickly to stand by the woman's side. it certainly was a little warmer, huddled beside the woman. she would follow wherever Heartha would lead, eager to feel warm again, now. "Are you K-Kieren's Ma? I had a Ma once. But she left cause she was mean." she chatted, glancing up to Heartha with fiery golden optics. 

Heartha suppressed a chuckle at the response she got. Dawn sure was rather energetic, even with her speaking. "Sylvas" she said in response to the young one. She lived to seeing young ones, and helping care for them. Just seeing this one playing kept her happy. She kept moving when Dawn popped a question. 

She thought of Kieran's parents. Sylvas still lived. But Eden, she was gone. "I...no, I'm not his mother. His mother is...she's in a better place." What Dawn said of her mother made her pause. Is that why Day had reacted the way he did when she had asked? She wanted to ask about every detail, why she was mean, why she wasn't around. She held herself back.

a better place? she wondered at what place there might be better, but also- "Why did she go somewhere better without Kieran?" she wondered if her mother, too, was in a better place. is that where mothers went, when they left? surely not- but did all mother's leave? did they simply have their children and then leave to somewhere better? oddly, the thought didn't hurt the way it should. 

"Do all Ma's leave? Why don't they take their kids with them? That's not nice." came her question a moment later. Dawn was growing, in many senses of the word, yet in this region, she was still naive- never truly stopping to question the topic of mothers. she peered at Heartha with question in her glance, brow furrowed in her trademark way that signalled her mind was turning.

Heartha's ears pinned back. This was a talk that perhaps her father should have with her, not a stranger. Heartha would let Day give Dawn the death talk. Till then, she would have to try to explain without mentioning that word. "It's....complicated." That was the best she could put it.

"No, it wasn't like that..." She sighed, stopping for a moment in the rain. "Some mothers might not be ready. And some...they can't do anything but leave. Sometimes they have to leave, whether we want it or not." She wasn't exactly sure if Eden had wanted to leave or not. All she knew was that she fell. She felt one of her eyes get teary, and she was glad it was the eye opposite of Dawn.

she listened in silence for a few beats as Hearth spoke, resolving to ask again about the "it's complicated part". again rose questions to her maw, but only one did she speak- one that had bothered her, time and again, especially when she was already feeling down. 

"Do some Ma's...want to leave? Do they hate their pups? Are they unhappy?"  came her question, subdued. while her feelings toward her mother were vast- from contempt to anger to a gladness that it just Sunny and Da and her, and they could do perfectly fine- at times her mind returned to a question she had not asked Da. Did Ma hate her? was she too loud, or annoying, or a bad pup? the question always caused a little bit of her throat to constrict, for reasons she did not know.

Heartha shook her head immediately, shocked to think Dawn would even have that come to mind. "No, no dear! Sometimes..." She sighed. She had never really met a pup that doubted their mother ever loved them. "Sometimes, they cannot care for you. Sometimes they get scared, and they don't know what to do. I am absolutely sure that your mother would have loved you. So that might have been why she left." Heartha could imagine no mother that would hate their children so. There must have been a reason for it. 

"Let's keep going, get you out of the rain" she quickly said. The subject was being tough on her, putting her in a situation she had never experienced. She never wanted to believe a mother could leave their child out of hate for them.

Heartha was adamant that their mother did, in fact, love them. though Dawn was not exactly convinced, she no longer felt like questioning this topic any further. never the less, Heartha's words eased the tightening in her throat, and for that she was grateful. she merely looked to Heartha in silence as she explained, and offered a small nod when the woman finished.

 at her suggestion, Dawn agreed quickly, picking up her pace, and eager now to leave the topic about mothers behind. she was silent as the pair approached the rest of the group, and sought shelter, contemplating yet no longer speaking.