With a dramatic sigh Dantalian flopped onto her belly and threw her paws over her face. She'd been feeling so good this morning but now she was just so tired. Her lip quivered in frustration. She was getting sick again, wasn't she? This was for the birds! She never got to do fun things like Asmodeus! Sometimes seeing him run around made her really mad and she'd think about throwing rocks at him. Of course she never did. It wasn't nice and it wasn't his fault he wasn't sick and miserable. Sometimes she just wished he would get sick. Just once, not all the time like her and dad. Her reasoning was that if he was sick then they could just be together and he wouldn't be tempted to jump up and run off when he got bored.

She huffed into the dirt and pressed her paws into her closed eyes. This sucked butt. At least she'd had the morning to play and do stuff. Her and daddy had made things which had been a nice change of pace. And she didn't quite feel bad yet, just tired, so there was still time to do things, maybe, if she tried hard. Dantalian rolled her head to the side and stared sideways up at the sky. She wanted to get up and do things but the dirt was just so comfy. Maybe she'd just lay here for a bit longer...

Riva had been spending a lot of time building her herb plot. She often came home tired, with dirt on her cheeks. But no matter how much she wished to sleep, she always had time for her little ones. To tickle Danta’s tummy, or toss Deus into the air. Very soon, her larger boy would not fit on her tummy, and she would not have the strength to toss him. It filled her both with delight and sadness to think how they were growing.

At least Danta showed signs of being as tiny as Riva, perhaps she would even be more so. It meant her little one still fit in her healers pack, and could travel the pack and explore that way. Even when she was feeling tired or sick. She often made little ‘candies’ for Danta, mixing up Elderberry, and her dwindling supply of Ginseng Root, with things like honey or liver to flavor them for the tiny girl.

When she returned home, she found Danta snuggled into the dirt, looking up at the evening sky. Riva flopped down beside her, touching her head to that of her childs. “I’ve heard that the ocean is blue, because the color of my eyes and yours, reflect from the water more easily than that of red, orange, and yellow, which gets absorbed into the water. Do you think the sky is blue for the same reason?” she whispered, looking up at the rich blue sky.

Dantalian was still laying in the dirt feeling tired and sorry for herself when her mom came onto the scene. Riva flopped down with her. The simple gesture was enough to sooth some of Dantalian's woe. She sighed sadly and looked up at the sky, trying to decide if what her mother said held true for it too. It made sense. If their eyes were blue and water was blue because of the way they handled light then wouldn't all blue things be that way? Dantalian thought so. "I dunno, but that would make sense. I think all blue things would be like that. Right?"

She rolled over onto her back and squirmed over to her mother so that she was comfortably mashed against Riva's side. Right now she didn't feel good and her mom was very good about making her feel better. She just wanted to feel better! Why couldn't she run around and play like Asmodeus? It wasn't fair!

With a frustrated sigh Dantalian whispered into Riva's fur, "Momma I'm tired again." It made her so mad she could bite something. If sickness had a body she'd bite it on the butt in protest of its foul treatment of her. She just wanted to have fun all the time! What was wrong with that? "Am I always gonna be tired?"

“Very good insight” Riva agreed, tapping her little one on the nose and grinning at the babe. He hoped to infuse an endless curiosity in her children. Of course, their curiosity was equally a source of worry for her. She was always afraid they would get into mischief they couldn’t handle. Being in a pack helped. She knew that all of the wolves that lived here would help her kids if they could. It helped of course, that they were also the children of Pyrrhic. The handsome, recovering man that she had mated with.

Danta curled into her side, and Riva just about gasped in delight. The little babe was so delicate, her spindly, growing body and oversized paws could just about bring tears to Riva’s eyes. She gently maneuvered her paws around the girl, holding her close.

“No little one, you’ve been doing so well. You're getting better, I can tell” she promised. Her stores on immunity boosters were running low, but she would never skimp on her doses with Danta. She just needed to find more. She would have to go hunting for herbs, and soon.

Dantalian was somewhat mollified by her mother's hug and her insistence that she wasn't always going to be sick. It was really hard to believe that when she'd been sick her whole life. Yes, her "whole life" so far consisted of a season and a half, but to her it felt like a lifetime. She had been sick forever and it sucked. Especially since she could watch her always well and energetic brother bounce around the den site. "Are you sure? It doesn't feel like it sometimes."

Now for the thing that had been bothering her. "You know how papa says Abraxas are big and strong?" That was like the cornerstone of every story he told her. How the strong survived and carved out a place for the next generation. Pyrrhic told stories of giants and monsters, and righteous showdowns. It was all very cool, very impressive stuff. And then there was her. Tiny. Sick all the time. "What if I'm no good?"

She let out a soft sigh, kissing her little ones cold little nose and brushing a paw through the fur behind her ears. "I know it dosent feel like it sometimes, but your already better then you were." She promised. Subtley checking the girls temperature with a well placed paw stroke over her forehead then ears. She leaned a little closer to the girl, snuggling into her. Listening to her heartbeat and the sound if her breath in her lungs.

With Danta, she had a lot of practice at making thr gestures seem like cuddling, so not to worry the girl. Would there ever be a time Riva waant concerned about her health? Even when she was finally fully grown and healthy as a horse, Riva felt she would worry.
"You aren't just an Abraxas, sweet flower. Your a Nightingale, too. And we are big, right here." She pressed a paw to the space the girls heart lay. That was the values in which she was raising the kids. To think before they acted, and to act with love. She knew they were raised on the stories of war and honor from their father, and would respect his traditions and family. But she would not let them forget their hearts.