Changes in the Tide

Motif was worried sick about shai. He hadn't stopped coughing and no matter what she did he wouldn't seem to retain any warmth. He had refused the morsel of food she had offered him, which only added to her fears. Anything he had eaten pier to this he had thrown right back up again. He was waiting away before her eyes and in the dead of winter too. She was so afraid for him, and didn't know how to help him. She found herself keeping to the den with him, venturing out only for the shortest times. At first, she had kept Vail away from him in fear of her catching his illness, but when it became clear that no one else was catching it she began instead to encourage their little one to cuddle up beside him. Perhaps she hoped that the live and support of the family he had created would help him find his strength.

She felt him nuzzle into her and she tucked her head over his own, trying to warm him with her own heat. "Oh shai" she whispered softly, her attempts to make the words sound loving rather then afraid fell miserably short.