Moonspear you could turn my sorrow into song

I love you too, Meerkat crooned, echoing, forever.

Now his focus shifted from the past to the future as he swore to find a new den for them. He used Sialuk’s word and Meerkat’s eyes flicked appreciatively to his face. In her mind’s eye, she pictured the place where she and Bronco had once lived on this mountain. Was it still intact? She wondered.

I think you mean later today, she said lightly, pointing her snout at the eastern horizon beginning to glow.

They ought to go back to bed and get some sleep, a thought which made her bite back a yawn. But she really did want to see the sunrise. Meerkat had a feeling the daylight would wash away these brilliant colors still wavering like specters overhead. She would miss them but it was kind of poetic, letting go of their dead and their past to look toward a brighter future.

Speaking of which, Njord caught her eye and then trailed his gaze pointedly downward. She followed his eyes and shifted her forelegs out of the way to show him. There was a very small swell, made more evident by the thinning hair around where her bosom was filling out in preparation to feed pups.

I don’t think, Meerkat said, I know.

There wasn’t much to feel—they wouldn’t quicken for some time yet—but she nevertheless grasped his nearer paw and guided it to her belly. Somewhere deep down inside her core, tiny hearts took their first beats. Njord wouldn’t be able to sense them but she could, in some indescribable way.