I don't care if you're an adult, you'll always be my baby

Laying on the plush furs he had piled into a modest bed for himself within his den, he had his head laying across one foreleg while his other paw lightly brushed across the surface of the fur just for the sake of having something to fiddle with as he continued to lay sleepless in his bed. A good, deep sleep was a foreign concept to him at this point, though it had gotten slightly easier since he moved further away from the falls. The roaring of the falls had been replaced with the softer, gentle trickle of the stream and that was usually enough to lull him into a fitful sleep most nights. Last night had been a particularly rough one with dreams constantly pulling him back awake just as he was beginning to drift back to sleep. The only solace he had was that the herbs in the garden had all but gone dormant for the winter so his only real task today was a patrol sometime later in the day so for now he could rest and try to get a couple more hours of sleep in before then.

However, a nearby call from his mother interrupted that plan, making him lift his emerald gaze up toward the dimmed sunlight outside. Despite his exhaustion he couldn't deny his mother so he lifted himself to his paws and after a quick shake to smooth out his fur he stepped outside to greet her. He found her a short distance away in her distinctive cloak and he gave her a smile as he walked over to her, pressing his nose to her cheek affectionately. He realized in that moment that he now matched her in height, the thought catching him off guard a bit. He remembered a time when she had seemed impossibly tall and now he could easily look her in the eye. "Hi, Mom," he said as he sat back on his haunches beside her, giving her a curious look. "Did you need something?"

"Dorian Kedieo"