A Silver Ray Of Hope

They were almost there. Her heart hammered with readiness and fatigue. If her big son was going to issue protocol on her, she wasn’t likely to argue. Mother Night, she was tired. And her shoulder ached. But all that was forgotten at the sight of a silvery form bounding toward them. And that voice. She’d know it anywhere. “Zuriel!” She wanted to lunge forward and grab her daughter in a wolf hug, but her twinging shoulder, and Regulus’ gruff held her back to a limping fast walk. Nonetheless, she was at her daughter in no time, bathing her face with frantic licks and kisses. Falks scent was all over her daughter, so that meant he was alive and still around. Her tail was wagging hard, a feeling she wasn’t sure before now that she’d ever have again.

“Oh little one, you’ve grown so much!” Her eyes blurred as she looked over Zuriels form. She was thin, but she was well. Then her eyes lifted, searching behind her daughter, hoping Falk and Faite would be next to arrive. They didn’t come. She nuzzled Zuriel’s shoulder, then heeded Regulus’ silent insistence that they make their way to the shade of the treeline. As she limped forward, she looked at Zuriel. ”Can you fill me in? What all has happened?” Regulus, it seemed, was for the moment more focused on getting them all out of the open, though she had little doubt that he’d be giving his own greetings to Zuriel once he was sure she’d settled to rest.

So she continued on until the coolness of the shade stretched over her back, then she settled with a sigh in the sparse grass. Her eyes drank in the sight of her daughter as she waited to hear what all she had missed.