Northstar Vale Mátia

Eyes opened to sunlight streaming into their den. Antigone blinked away the tiredness, settling into confusion. He had grown used to the darkness and the comings and going of his parents. He had learned that darkness was not all bad. 

A squeal sounded from his lips. Antigone scrambled his claws at the earth, churning away until he believed that he might actually reach the sunlit place on the ground. The motion of his mother and siblings did not sway him from his goal.

antigone was a robust boy.

his tiny paws scrabbled strongly at the earth. tamar did not stop him, only crept alongside him. she lay a foreleg over the entrance.

"not yet. soon. sooner than you think. soon you will all be ready to learn about the sun."

An obstacle was presented before the boy. He could not make out the shape well enough. He knew only that it prevented his scuttle from progressing. The young pup scooted himself into it, testing the force with his miniscule weight. It did not budge.

Antigone squawked loudly once. The boy turned awkwardly, too uncoordinated for the whirling motions he had attempted. There was mom, he realized with a glassy-eyed look at her face. The details were fuzzy and obscure, but he knew her. He knew her from the smell of her coat to the warmth of her touch. Antigone scooted toward her elbow and waited with a grunt.

her son came closer.

he seemed to wait upon her. she kissed his tiny nose and blew breath over his forehead.

"long ago, your grandfather and his father hunted oryx in the desert. they went long days without water, running and running until their prey simply surrendered and lay down."

tamar grinned. "will you be a hunter, my son?"

The child lifted his head and breathed in the rush of air that fell on him. A squeak sounded from his mouth as he scooted closer to his mother. Her words did not make sense to him. They were sounds from a foreign place, though he understood that there was familiarity in them. A strange sensation in his stomach told him that he did not want to be touched, did not want to feel the pressure of another against him.

Antigone squeaked again and his stubby legs churned until he had placed a small distance between himself and Tamar. From there, the boy turned his sights to her and gazed in awe. He could not appreciate it in his youth, but his mother was beautiful – radiant in her show of love. Perhaps the touch of a loved one was acceptable. Antigone inched toward her, the makings of a hunter clear in his determination.

antigone stalked toward her.

how she laughed to see him. "my father, he brought me a piece of oryx antler." she lowered her muzzle to touch her nose against his own. "i did not know what it was! he told me that when you see them from the side, it looks as though they only have one sharp horn."

her father. her father, giving her to traders for a handful of blue glass from the sea.

tamar's smile jerked and dissolved.

The boy’s eyes closed at the touch of his mother.

Antigone sneezed, small body quaking with the force of it. He blinked heavily and looked up to Tamar’s face. She was speaking to him of something – fathers, gifts, hurts. The red-hooded boy did not understand what she said, only that her expression shifted drastically toward the end. He didn’t know what had done that. He didn’t know if it had been the spray of spittle from his nose and mouth.

Arms pushing him forward, Antigone buried himself in the downy fluff of his mom’s chest fur. The warmth was appreciated. He could not think of much, but Tamar’s expression had lasted in his mind. He fixated on it, trying to understand.

her son snuggled close.

and some part of tamar felt great healing. she knew she must not think of her children as talismans. and yet they had brought such joy and such happiness to her life.

first a kiss brushed antigone, then his mother's tears.

The red-hooded boy did not know why his mother wept. Her kisses found his head and Antigone lifted his snout upward to look at her again, to see if the same saddened expression dwelled on her features. It did not seem as though it had remained, but he felt the splatter of tears on his snout and his tiny pink tongue lapped at them curiously. He found himself pleased with the saltiness of it.

A baby’s mew sounded from his mouth. Antigone blinked heavily, feeling tired. His small limbs had accomplished something – scooting him around the den while his vision improved. It was time for the boy to rest in his mother’s arms. He wondered if she would speak to him again, to tell him more of things he did not understand.

tamar would speak.

"your grandmother's name is ula. ula gave many daughters and sons to —"

tamar no longer believed her father had the right to know her children. and so they would not know his name.

"many daughters. many sons. and ula had many songs."

the young mother began to sing one now.