Never Come Between Us

The eagerness with which the sweet girl tore into the dead hare was very reminiscent of Asla when she was a child. It was uncanny how much her children had taken after her. Perhaps she was simply the stronger influence between herself and their fathers, but she felt as though some part of her personality had been passed onto them both. For that, she was glad. One father was timid while the other had issues with emotion. She wanted badly for both of her children to have the utmost confidence. She wanted them to be strong and proud and oh so smart. She wanted them to be able to handle themselves in any situation, just like their mom.

Satira ate and Aslatiel slid down to lay on her stomach, forelegs on either side of the girl. As the girl filled her belly, Asla straightened a few locks of the girl's silken fur. Tira thanked her, then moved on to asking questions, to which the woman laughed softly. "Yes, this is my tree, and there are so many bones because I've collected them for quite a while. I like bones." Absently, she reached out, rummaged through the pile, and came back with a painted skull. It had been painted long ago and the rain and winter snows had dulled the color upon it, but it was still obviously painted. She held the fox skull upon her raised paw and eyed the paint. It brought no emotion now, but she had painted this skull for her 'dead' brother Azure long ago. Asla tossed the skull away and it clattered back into the pile.

That was when she heard it.

The clattering didn't end. In fact, it got louder. A low hiss of scales across bone brought Aslatiel instantly to her paws. Both paws scooped beneath Satira and the woman literally threw her daughter away from the tree. Just in time, too. A massive snake erupted from the pile, striking out at Aslatiel's backpedaling form. One set of claws extended as she batted reflexively at the snake's face, claws catching on scales. The reptile retracted, but only for a moment. It's big, big body soon slithered out of the pile of bones and into the clearing where the two wolves had just been resting. Asla placed herself between her daughter and the snake. She was ready.

The coiled snake struck again and Asla ran to the left, drawing the snake's attention away from the child. Coming up behind the snake, Asla sank her teeth into one of the coils, her head thrashing back and forth. Blood flowed into her mouth and she spat out a scale or two, but a bite didn't do much damage to a snake. You had to cut off the head. The reptile slithered fast, coiling again as it faced the woman. It was ready to strike once more. Asla squared off with it, hoping that Satira would be smart enough to stay out of its way. She couldn't spare a glance for the girl right now.

"Aslatiel Fatalis"