A Ballad of Sacrifice

There was no room for gentleness when the world itself was harsh and unforgiving, but there was room for survival, which is all she could offer these children.

As he obeyed and brought the pups to her, she shifted her position, creating a cocoon of warmth around all the pups. Her body shielded them from the cold, her heartbeat a steady rhythm of life. Absinth's sharp emerald eyes narrowed as she observed the newborns. Her mind working, analytical cogs turning, trying to make sense of the peculiar sight before her. Her own pups nestled close, their tiny bodies radiating warmth and familiarity. But these new ones mixing in... they were an enigma. Foreign, yet oddly endearing. Were they little cuckoos who invaded the nest of a hapless mother of another species, or simply pitiful orphans?

She scoffed softly, a sound both incredulous and resigned. “Seen anything like it?” She repeated Aresenn’s words, her voice laced with a mix of wry disbelief and dark amusement. “Aresenn, in these lands, I've seen wolves born with fucking wings, with scales, with eyes that glow in the dark. I’m not about to question anything I see now.”

Her thoughts churned as she looked at them, wondering how they had come to her. Aurelia was surely dead, and that fact would have been laughable… except for the newborns shivering and hungry at her side. She watched as they writhed their way to her teats, their hunger superseding any innate attachment they’d had for their deceased mother now. ”We don't fucking get to choose what the world throws at us. We only get to choose how we respond.” She murmured, half to herself, half to the new babes and Aresenn.

She looked at her brute now, emeralds checking in with his own amber gaze. Wondering what his thoughts were, what his reaction would be to her response. “You’re lucky you weren’t bringing me your own bastards, then it would have been a different story.” She sneered, grinning through the sharp impish slight in her voice.

Then her gaze shifted back to the strange pups, her eyes tracing the outlines of their odd features. It was as if the land itself had shaped these creatures into something new, something adapted to the harshness around them. The world had a way of throwing the unexpected at them, and she had learned long ago to adapt, to survive. This wasn't about sentiment or duty; it was about pity. Maybe compassion from a new mother to a motherless brood, she wasn’t inclined to hammer her reasoning down right this moment.. Absinth's heart had hardened long before, tempered by the brutal reality of her existence. These strange pups were here now, and they were vulnerable. That meant they needed her.

“What happened to Aurelia? Is this temporary?” She said, her voice calm, indifferent. With her own nursing brood, she was certain that was the driving factor of her receiving these newborns now, in the dead of winter. She shifted slightly, making more room for the new pups beside her own as they nursed. Her movements were methodical, driven by an instinct to protect and nurture, even if her heart was not fully invested.

"Sephiran? Did he finally kill her?" She met Aresenn's gaze, her expression hardening with knowing. “I knew he would. I know his type. I warned her to do a better job of killing herself. Or else he would. And now he has, and she’s left her children without a mother.” Dumb bitch. But she was not about to make a habit of insulting the dead more than necessary. “Who knows about this? Caedes must. Kaino? Rhazien?” Sentiment had no place here; survival was the only law she followed. And she would follow it to the bitter end. As a warrior should. She needed to know what the situation was.


wormwood