Mother Like No Other

Surreal hadn’t been worried that Regulus wouldn’t understand or accept her demand that he be a respectful member of the male gender. With his upbringing, how could he be anything but? But she glared at him until the solemn nod of understanding and acceptance. His next question brought a soft smile to her maw, her ears tipping back slightly as she answered gently, "Táimid go léir difriúil. D'fhéadfadh do chroí soar ag an radharc ach ní bhíonn ach a, nó b'fhéidir go dtiocfadh leat a fháil duit féin ag smaoineamh faoi di aon am ar leith. Ach beidh tú a bheith fíor in ann a insint do cinnte. Tá a leithéid de rud mar grá ag an gcéad amharc, ach tá sé annamh. Ní raibh mé ag titim i ngrá le do athair láithreach. Thóg sé tamall dom a bhaint amach mo mhothúcháin dó." Her tail curled around her hips as she shifted her weight slightly to one hip.

There was a saying, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder”. Perhaps that was what had happened with her and Falk. When they had first met, she had still been a yearling, recently officially a secondary Beta in training for Valhalla, under her uncle Cormalin. She’d been training and preparing for war with Glaciem. They’d sparred; well, played was more like it, and he’d been dismayed to hear that it was his own father causing her and her pack so much worry. She’d liked him then. That had been the last time she’d seen him before the siege. It was only after her first heat cycle, when her mother was the alpha of Valhalla and she was the Lead beta, that Falk had made a graceful return to her life. Some time during the time he’d been lost, having hit his head during the storm that had swept in during the time Chrysanthe had moved Valhalla to Nephilim Island and subsequently had memories knocked from his head, Surreal had realized that her feelings toward the russet Armada had evolved from friend to more.

That love had only strengthened through all the trials that had come after; the plague, where he had never left her side, no matter what, despite the hallucinations and bloody tears, the spasms and seizures. He had always been there. And then when her mother had fallen in battle and Surreal and her immediate family had retreated to Atlantis Island, where they had stayed until Erani was healed and well enough to make the swim from the island to the mainland. She had never stopped thinking of the russet Armada with the kind, sky blue eyes. That he had never swayed from his affections for her during her absence, and had never turned to another female and given up on her had only served to strengthen the love ever more, which had led to the night that had begun their own chapter in life; Regulus and his sisters. There had been knocks to the relationship; Falk charging off without thinking about Surreal or his own children, and what might happen to them if he were killed or taken. Surreal had been furious. And then to come home at last from being swept away at sea after watching her mother die, however peacefully, to find that Falk once again was thinking instead of his own pain, instead of striving to stay strong for his remaining daughter as she toiled to keep him even remotely healthy. That had infuriated Surreal even more. But that was over, and thus came the second litter. Tornach and Baine.

Surreal had been angry with him. She had been exasperated by him. But she had never stopped loving him. And it hurt all the more deeply to think of the current situation that had driven her from her own den to sleep in Alsander’s den. I love him, so much. And I love my family just as deeply. No matter what I do in this, I will still hurt. But sacrifices must sometimes be made. "Ar mhaith leat a fhios roinnt leideanna do cad a roinnt mná mhaith i fear súirí?" She asked, forcing the thoughts away in preference for teaching her son a bit about wooing a lady from a female point of view.

Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Hear" ---- Think