let's get this over with

Lark said he was fine- he guessed. Sparrow snorted. "I guess," she repeated after him, a smile on her lips. "It's a little sad when you can't even pinpoint how you feel, huh?"

He returned all of her affections and Sparrow was glad to receive them. She felt like she had gotten closer to Lark in the past year than she had been in her entire life, even if they didn't talk every day.

"I spoke to him about that briefly, but it was awhile back. He wanted to make sure it wasn't weird for him to be taking care of them. Like, we wouldn't feel.. replaced, I guess?"

Sparrow hummed then spoke, "He didn't talk to me about that." She laughed, but it was too dry and humorless. Her smile faltered, "I do feel replaced though. In a way. I feel like- or, I wonder rather, 'Is he trying to make up for his mistakes with us?' Maybe he wants to raise them and maybe they won't all wander off like we did, maybe? Maybe he thinks it's a second chance?"

Sparrow huffed, shaking her coat. She didn't need to be like this now, did she? It wasn't all her dad's fault, "When I was younger, I felt like he was too busy being alpha, so I pulled away. I didn't want to bother him. Mom was gone. I felt like I was always in Starling's shadow- that no one took me seriously. When I left the first time, I just wanted to see the world, see the other packs, but he almost acted like I had slapped him in the face by wanting to go." Sparrow laughed a little, but it was still too dry. It was awkward. She looked at Lark, then away again.

"Somehow that made me want to leave more. I wanted to find something, but even now I don't know what. So I came back and tried my best to settle here, then he just... I don't know, 'I'm glad you're home, and wherever you go, this will always be your home.'" Sparrow did her best dad impression, complete with a furrowed brow.

"He just accepted my traveling suddenly- after I decide to come home. Since then I feel like he doesn't talk to me. He doesn't trust me when I talk to him. Now he has a new litter to look after and- and I wonder if it's some sort of punishment."

Sparrows frown sank further as she spoke, but she tried to brush it off. She was rambling, wasn't she? She always rambled like this when she was nervous.

"I'm just being silly, I think. Sometimes it's hard to tell your brain otherwise sometimes, though."

Sparrow was finally able to bring a small smile to the corners of her lips, but it was sad and wistful. "I remember when all I wanted was more pups in this pack. I always hoped that one day I'd have mine here too."