What I Wouldn't Do

The seemingly unbreakable facade of his had slipped away as soon as he saw her again, the boy's seriousness faltering as emotion flowed from the very core of his being. Their were few beings who could elicit such warmth and such feeling from Epiphron, but her children were certainly among those few, and even now she felt her lips quivering as he embraced her. "A mother does not cease to be a mother as soon as her children are of age," she told him sternly, shaking her head. It mattered not whether they had been old enough to leave, or if they hadn't been. Her job was still to look out for them, for the rest of her days -- just as Cairo had looked out for her. A sharp pain radiated through her chest at the thought of her deceased father. She had still been young at his passing, far too young. "I will be your mother for life, whether you like it or not." And a poor what she had been lately, though she was slowly remedying that by making sure all of her children were well and safe wherever life might take them.


And her children, too, were facing a similar predicament; though Maverick was likely not dead, simply gone. Was it his absence that had affected Caeto so deeply? She listened acutely as he spoke of a woman named Cataleya, though he brushed off the injuries with a grin, and her own worries would fade at his nonchalance about his wounds.



His next was a curious one. Apparently he had seen someone that bore similar markings to him and his siblings, though with black fur. "I don't know..." she began, mulling over the mental image for a long moment. "To be honest, it sounds like one of your father's children," Epiphron said finally, huffing softly. "I didn't want to tell any of you, but your father had children with another woman. It was an accident, or so he says, but it happened nonetheless." Where that woman was, she had no idea; nor did she care about ever meeting those children, but they were Caeto's half-siblings whether she liked it or not. "If you know where he is now, you might want to ask him. He's partially family, after all." A shrug was given as she leaned forward to nudge Caeto's shoulder lightly.


"But what of you, my son?" the inquiry came gently, curiosity shining in her sapphire stare. "You smell of a pack. Where have you made your home?" So much of the affairs of Alacritia and its packs had been avoided for so long, and slowly she was beginning to wonder what all had changed during her absence.