Life and the world around her continued on to evolve, exist, and push forth with or without her. Even on the days when her body felt tired, all of her senses overstimulated, and she kept to the shadows of the treehouse, Pythia knew she had to try. Curled up beneath warm piles of fur, she waits patiently, dozing on and off. The day goes by and she can tell by the warmth that fades in through the window. As the grows chilly, she hears steps approach into the room. Before the rest of the pups return from dinner or adventure or wherever they were, Pythia lifts her head to call out to her mother.

A quiet noise, a gentle bark to alert Modesty over to where she rests. "Mother, I want to know more," she says, albeit slightly weakly, but with enough confidence that shows she's serious. Whether it was a lesson on religion, on tea, or politics, Pythia would take it.

"speech"

It was uncanny, the way the girl could identify others by the sound of their footsteps, by scent and sound others couldn't detect at the distances she could. Modesty didn't let it unnerve her, perhaps it was just a blessing in another form, though she worried for the clear cost that had been wrought on her daughter. Hers now Jael was gone. Never theirs.

She crossed to the furs and curled around her pale child, only pausing to right a stray tuft of pale fur as she inhaled deeply, making an effort to chase the tension from her muscles, put aside her worries and focus on this moment. She hadn't been sure the girl would make it this far and now she had, well, there were still dangers to her, but Modesty had faith she could hold her own for long enough for one of the others to come to her aid.

"What is it you wish to know dear one? I feel your uncle has Abraxas covered better than I ever could, but I have heard other stories of creation in my travels... I could tell you of the water wagtail, or those that believe we owe creation to the ravens?" Sacrilege really, but an interesting story all the same.

"speech"

It does not take long for her mother to come over and curl around her. The instant warmth and comfort of her mother is a relief and she sighs into Modesty, resting her chin along Modesty's leg as a stray tuft of her fur is righted. At times, she wishes she would stay this small forever. Always able to be comforted and held, but the ache and pains in her body told her otherwise. She would grow to be nearly as large as her brothers.

Nestled against Modesty, Pythia listens to Modesty's words, a faint smile on her lips. "Yes, Uncle Pont is a good teacher," she comments softly, her tongue reaching out to lick at Modesty's leg a few times in an appeasing manner. "I think the story of the ravens would be interesting though I don't know what a water wagtail is," her tone is honest, a little laugh on the edges as she thinks how funny a water wagtail might appear. Cutlass had described ravens before, a lot of birds really because he had a book on them, so she supposed she fancied ravens due their to intelligence.

"speech"

The raven story was a fun one, and a grin pulled at the corner of her lips when Pythia admitted she didn't know what a water wagtail was, "It is another sort of bird, small with a wide, fan-like tail. They eat insects instead of carrion, I'll point it out the next time we hear one." She certainly wouldn't do well to imitate the sound herself. Her lips weren't made for whistling.

"They say that in the beginning, there was one den that housed an old wolf and his daughter, and Raven, who had always been. He flew around in the dark, but he kept bumping into things, it made him quite upset." The plot holes were there, but the stories were old and she supposed the hows and the whys of how these other beings came into being were lost in the telling. "Raven, who was a trickster, changed his shape to that of a young cub, and the old wolf greeted him like a grandson. Raven poked around the den and found a box and the old wolf told him to leave it alone, so he waited until the old wolf and his daughter went hunting. He opened the box, and inside was a smaller box, and inside that one was a smaller box until he opened the smallest box, and inside was light."

How light was kept in a box with no source was as confusing to her as anyone else, but perhaps that was why her divinity seemed so out of reach. "Having found what he had come from, the little cub transformed back into Raven and flew from the den. Seeing the light, Eagle, who had always been, dove to attack Raven. In avoiding the attack, he spilled some of the light that became the stars and the moon, but he flew on. On and on to the easternmost mountain until he could fly no more. When he put the light down, it became the sun, and they say that is why the sun rises in the east." Her head turned considering. It all seemed a little far-fetched, but perhaps it wouldn't be so obvious to one who was young, or one who lived her life in darkness.

"speech"

Snuggled up to her mother, she keeps her chin pressed close for comfort. Ears at full alert as the soothing tones of Modesty fill her. "I suppose they might enjoy water as well," she muses humorously, her own smile lifting the edges of her lips before her mother begins to spin her the tale of the ravens.

Listening intently, she relaxes and allows her eyes to close. An old wolf, his daughter, and the Raven, that had always been. The Raven could not see in the dark.. Like herself? It indeed was frustrating to always bump into things. Such a trivial thing when no one else appeared to have such issues. But instead of finding sight, the Raven found light that turned into the stars, the moon, and then the sun. Ah, the sun that warmed her fur and greeted her dark dreams with shades of grey and white.

There were many a question she wished to ask. "Why did the Eagle not like that the Raven had light?" Was her beginning point. Her chin tilting slightly upward to meet Modesty's.

"speech"

coded by NachoMumma