The Spirit Mother

Once her reunion with her brother had, for the most part, been finished – oh, they were nowhere near done catching up yet – the shimmering white young woman turned to face their mother, breathless with the joy that still raced through her heart and swelled her chest fit to bursting. Her eyes devoured the familiar features but found something that she didn’t quite remember.

She’d seen the timidity in her mother’s manner of moving as the pale tan and creamy-white female had ghosted close to her father’s crimson haunches when they’d arrived at the meeting. Her mother had always been gentle and sweet, but by the time Aurielle and Aramis had been born, Solveiga had grown past her original self and been surer of herself.

That was gone, now. Maybe it would be recaptured in time and healing of the heart and soul. Especially with her mate and children their to bolster her back to her old strength again.

Aurielle showed no sign that she’d noticed the cracks in her mother’s shell, instead bounding forward and pressing against her small, dainty frame, choosing not to be quite as… ebullient as she’s been in greeting Aramis. A brother could take that kind of rough love. Between her mother and herself there’d been a gentler affection, even before this whole ordeal had struck.

“M’ma…” Joy and yearning ached in her voice as she tucked her chin over her mother’s shoulders and clung for several heartbeats. It was so tempting to weep like a pup and curl at her mother’s feet and just soak up her presence again. And behind her, that banner of a tail waved in heavy swishes through the air. She had definitely changed since the last time her mother had set eyes on her. A full mane and tail now grew where there had only been light hints of unusualness before.

As well as that, scars that were well and truly healed marked one shoulder - definitely new to her mother, though the fight with the tiger by Amos' side had definitely been covered during her address to the pack - and no doubt she still had a few remaining marks from sparring. All kinds of things to raise a mother's hair on end.