Among the greats

Just turning a year old, Aris and her siblings were basically still at the age where the adults were supposed to be invincible, all knowing beings who would always make everything better. Who were supposed to be unbreakable, unbeatable, and perfect. So as her father spoke, and then walked away, her first thought was not to comfort him, because he was supposed to be comforting them. For a moment her brain short circuited and she just sat there, staring blankly in shock - her gorge rose, thinking that the charred meat smell she'd been so interested in a moment ago was the meat of her mother, her big brother - before her mind kicked back in and she slammed that thought down and made herself take a deep breath through her nose, dragging the charred scent of death and cooked meat in. No. No. Her mother had always been there for them, always. She and Zee may not have always understood one another or seen eye to eye, but Zee was... is, always there for them. She knew her mother's scent as well as she knew her own, and she would swear on a thousand million of her ancestors' graves that this was not her mother. Oh, admittedly she knew Azure so little that she probably couldn't recognize his scent if he had pissed on a rock moments before she walked up, but Zee she could not ever, ever mistake. This was not her, and so it wasn't Azure either. It wasn't them so... why would her father be saying it was?

No, her first thought was definitely not to comfort her father, who had claimed her mother was dead and then walked away like their feelings wouldn't matter. No. It was rage, and it was betrayal, and it was pain, and like any animal who has been injured her first thought was to lash out. It was reflex to lash out at the one who caused the pain, regardless of who it was, even though it was her father who she loved and whom she thought loved her... maybe especially because she felt betrayed by the pain he was causing. Her ears falling flat to her skull, her spines rising high in agitation, she whirled to face where he'd gone. Digging a hole like he cared more about disposing of the bodies than about his children. Gossamer's voice rang out beside her, her denial echoing that stuck in Ari's own throat and loosening them. "It's not Mom!" she agreed, her own voice rising in anger. She was shocked to find her whole body shaking, trembling. She was never afraid. She wasn't afraid. Why was she shaking?

Tansy, crouched next to her in an attempt to make herself smaller, couldn't help but pipe up. "Where - where... Where is Zee's bird? Why didn't he come back?" Her voice was small and uncertain next to Gossamer's and Ari's own voices, but Ari could hear her just fine. If anyone would have noticed the toucan come back, it would be Tansy, who was obsessed with the bird but held back from eating it because it was Zee's mother's. And she was right, wasn't she? Even if he couldn't talk, if something was wrong, wouldn't he have come back? How had neither her father nor Tamsyn realized that? They had to have, so why the deception?

Ari advanced several trembling, stiff legged steps toward her father and Asla, Asla who was just helping him like the fucking hole even mattered. Why were the adults just walking away from them? Abandoning them like they didn't matter? "This is bullshit. You're lying! Why would you lie? Why would you fucking lie to us? Our mother is out there somewhere, not... not that meat!"

Rage made the scene swim before her eyes, made her miss Gossamer's retreat though if she'd seen she'd have been too far gone in anger and hurt to follow. Her instinct to pain wasn't to be flee, but to fight, and pain was ripping at her chest like her own claws.