Wraith continued to pout despite her mother's reassurances that she wouldn't have to leave. She didn't believe her. Her mother had left before, so Wraith didn't know what she would do this time or next. How was she supposed to trust her mom if she had left her in the first place? Wraith looked away when Aeron said she loved her, believing this, but not wanting to. She didn't really love her; if she did, she would have stayed there with Lucy and Nat and daddy and they could have been a big happy family. She didn't mind having an even bigger family with Talitha, Valkyrie, Vermilion, and Priest, but she still knew that Aeron was her real mommy even if Valkyrie and Talitha were better at it. The whole mess confused Wraith to no end and she secretly hoped that Valkyrie was actually her mom because then at least Val would never leave her.
Wraith didn't understand why her mother had left her and she wanted to know now, not later. She wanted it nownownownowNOW! She wished Aeron would stop thinking she was dumb and couldn't understand her reasons. She knew they were probably wrong, but at least it would help.
When Aeron held out a teddy, Wraith tried to pout and ignore it, but it was so hard! Wraith loved toys and this soft thingy looked so squishy! Wraith took a step closer and sniffed at the toy, wondering what the thing was. It looked funny and she wasn't sure what it was supposed to be, but the way her mother held it made her think it was full of feathers or moss. Wraith pushed herself up onto her hind legs and grabbed it with her front paws. She carefully set it on the ground and plopped herself beside it to look at it. She nuzzled it and then took it in her mouth and yanked it closer to her so that she had it between her paths. She plopped her head on top of it and looked up at her mother.
"Lucy is okay mommmy," she said at last. "But why won't you tell me now why'd ya leave?" She frowned and then added: "I'm smart! I can get it."
image courtesy of Erik Yeoh@Flickr; edits by iku; table code by the Mentors!
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