ladies night

"How could he not come?" Theory egged on her on. Seeing the sparkle in Poem's eyes hardened her sorrow. There wasn't time to be sad when Poem was so, so happy. Theory carefully wrapped up in her sadness and buried it deep in the recesses of her heart and did her best to forget where she'd left it. Even as she did, Theo knew it would call to her later tonight when she was alone. Then she would return to the spot in the privacy of her own den, unearth the pain, and dissect it completely. With any luck she could obliterate it, but more likely she would cry until she was empty and then hide it away in the same spot. She already knew that she would return to this spot often, digging the hole a little deeper each time until it became a ragged scar. This pain would mark her like a natural disaster; like the volcano had ravaged Boreas.

But tonight she would bury the pain for the first time. "I bet he's on his way right now," Theory teased, pressing her cheek against Poem's and tickling her sister's ear with her nose. "Is there going to be another litter on the ground in spring? Hm, hm, hm?" Just jokes between sisters, but there was a strangeness to it now - it could happen. Theory barely felt equipped to be a sister to her youngest crop of siblings, how could she ever be a good aunt? Somehow that sounded (and felt) much more difficult than being a leader.