Kintsugi

Time. They needed time. Ikigai expected that Deimos had already told Manea so as to keep others from bothering them. It would also excuse Iki from her shifts in the infirmary. If he didn't tell her, then she wouldn't know. Iki surely wasn't telling her. The ebony marked fae hadn't left the den since their return from the mountainside. She laid in bed, barely said a word and barely ate. It was as though a chapter of her life had ended when she'd lost their pups.

Deimos was a godsend. The amaranthine man was the only thing keeping Ikigai tethered in this world. She hadn't been pregnant for long, but Iki had loved the little beings inside of her more than her own life. If Deimos hadn't been here to help her and make her care for herself, the woman would have just faded away to dust. She slept, ate very little and only when her mate brought her food, and slept some more. Ikigai was just going through the motions while she was submerged in a pit of sorrow.

The sleeping woman took a deep breath as she stirred. As consciousness filtered in, Ikigai felt the soft strokes of her mates large paw down her back. She nestled into him with a little waking groan, her limbs and toes stretching until her body quivered. Iki took another deep breath and pulled back just enough so that she could look her mate in the face with tired, sad eyes. "Is it morning?" Time was all the same these days. Iki had no idea when it was day or night and the cover over the doorway made it even more difficult.

"Deimos & Ikigai"