How did it come to this

She had a lot to do, she needed to enlarge her den, insulate it against the cold winter months, puppy proof it - she wouldn’t have the little ones wandering off into the snow and getting lost, that would be a death sentence. She would have a chat with Winter about the bird joining in on patrols as Rhyme had suggested. She would need to eat more, she was finding herself constantly hungry now that she was eating for a family. All she wanted to do was lie down, and take the weight off her belly, she felt like the little ones where pressing down on it, and on her bladder too, for that matter.

She looked at Rhyme instead, trying to banish all these thoughts, and see the sadness in his eyes, the need to get away, at least for a moment, and process everything that had happened. She could see it in him, knew it in the normal independance of his nature. He was one who often pulled away from an embrace, one who needed moments alone. He was a wonderful, sweet person, but his time as a slave had taught him to take it all onto himself. No, I’m good here, thanks” she told him, giving him the space he needed, the time. She had already taken away so much, she couldn’t take anything more.