Bridges can be mended

Plague shifted and fidgeted while he waited for his mother to appear until eventually the sound of paw steps moving toward him alerted him to her arrival and he lifted his emerald gaze to see her monochromatic form moving through the trees of the grove. The last time he had even gotten a glimpse of her was at Ashen's festival, but even then it had only been in passing. Had she been at his wedding to Void? He wasn't certain. His attention had been too wrapped up in his husband to look. Seeing her now, it made emotion twist in his stomach. He expected to feel some kind of resentment for her absence while he was trying and at times failing to figure out the path for his life, but he didn't. He only felt a sadness that it had taken him this long to try and reach out and a hope that they could find a way to mend things between them.

"Mom," he replied softly at her greeting, his pale ears flicking slightly at the shine of tears brimming in her amethyst eyes. The reason behind their distance from one another was a mystery, but in that moment he didn't really care to know. Even if she was trying to hold back her tears or hide them, it didn't matter. It still shattered his heart to see her like this and there was little to no hesitation as he moved toward her to comfort her. With a little bit of a frown on his lips he got up and moved to where she was sitting and settling directly in front of her, quietly wrapping his forelegs around her shoulders to pull her into an embrace.

Tears of his own pricked at his eyes as his cheek rested on the top of her head, squeezing her a little tighter as a feeling of guilt twisted in his stomach. "I'm sorry," he told her quietly, squeezing her a little tighter. "I should have come to see you sooner... I'm sorry it's been so long." He held her like that for a long moment before he eventually lifted his head to look down at her again, but he didn't fully release her just yet. He was usually a pretty good judge of other's emotions and reading their expressions and something told him that his mother needed this. "I don't know what got us to this point, but... If it's all the same with you... I'd love for it to be in the past. I miss you."

Plague | Viridis | Procella