"What if C'rhisi had come home?"
"What if Mahvashi's parents had lived?"
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Spoiler
"Push, cousin, push! Â I can see the ears, just push."
The mother bore down, ears laid flat on her head and tail lashing behind her. Â There was soft singing, humming, thrumming, the gentle beat of feet against the earth. Â C'rhisi knelt to receive the cub as it finally came, squalling, from it's dam. Â Her brow was streaked with blood, mis-matched green eyes bright in the candle light of the small hut.
"It's a little girl, cousin, a strong young huntress." Â She cut the cord and cleaned the baby, singing a soft song of protection that wrapped around the young spirit to lightly chain it to the tiny body before handing it over to the exhausted mother. Â The word was sent out to the waiting Nunh, who paced before the hut, worry plastered across his features and sweat dripping from the ends of his hair. Â He sent out a joyous ululation and thrust his sword into the sky and the twilight was filled with celebration.
A small, still part of the jali's heart contracted as she began to gather her things, but she smiled and sang and made all the noises she was expected to make. Â And if the candles showed some other tableaux in her eyes, some distant Jewel of a city where she had once been surrounded by friends, it was just a flash, just a glimpse, then gone, buried by duty.
"Push, cousin, push! Â I can see the ears, just push."
The mother bore down, ears laid flat on her head and tail lashing behind her. Â There was soft singing, humming, thrumming, the gentle beat of feet against the earth. Â C'rhisi knelt to receive the cub as it finally came, squalling, from it's dam. Â Her brow was streaked with blood, mis-matched green eyes bright in the candle light of the small hut.
"It's a little girl, cousin, a strong young huntress." Â She cut the cord and cleaned the baby, singing a soft song of protection that wrapped around the young spirit to lightly chain it to the tiny body before handing it over to the exhausted mother. Â The word was sent out to the waiting Nunh, who paced before the hut, worry plastered across his features and sweat dripping from the ends of his hair. Â He sent out a joyous ululation and thrust his sword into the sky and the twilight was filled with celebration.
A small, still part of the jali's heart contracted as she began to gather her things, but she smiled and sang and made all the noises she was expected to make. Â And if the candles showed some other tableaux in her eyes, some distant Jewel of a city where she had once been surrounded by friends, it was just a flash, just a glimpse, then gone, buried by duty.
"What if Mahvashi's parents had lived?"
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Spoiler
The house was set high in the trees and filled with laughter. Â She was teaching climbing and tumbling, and her littlest had decided to play a new game where she would climb as high as she dared then leap into the emptiness of air, spinning like a ball only to land in a gigantic pile of leaves.
Vashi's laughter filled the autumn air and summoned her mate homeward, the sound of their small brood of troublemaking children as much a part of the village life as the smell of baking bread and the sound of the butcher's knife cutting meat for the communal evening meal.
The house was set high in the trees and filled with laughter. Â She was teaching climbing and tumbling, and her littlest had decided to play a new game where she would climb as high as she dared then leap into the emptiness of air, spinning like a ball only to land in a gigantic pile of leaves.
Vashi's laughter filled the autumn air and summoned her mate homeward, the sound of their small brood of troublemaking children as much a part of the village life as the smell of baking bread and the sound of the butcher's knife cutting meat for the communal evening meal.
