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He loved the small balls of pelt that were his new siblings. He loved the soft, mewling sounds they made and their sweet scent of milk. Pandemic loved everything about his sisters. They were so small, with their fat baby faces and their round bodies. It was uncommon for the boy to abandon the ruins located in the heart of Salsola’s wealthy lands. He would spend most of his time with his family, new and old. The warmth in his heart kept him in a blissful mindset, and lesser responsibilities were postponed with a bare minimum of guilt.

But now they were asleep, and he feared that he was getting too much on his mother’s nerves. Shadows were stretching longer as he paced about the area, grey eyes dully washing over crumbling stone walls and overgrown thorns. He thought of Salvia, but had not seen her today. While he worked to improve, he was not currently a good tracker, and more oft than not the effort tracking down his sister wasn’t worth it, as she was usually the one to find him, eventually.

Dark fingers tugged some at the messy, dark locks falling into his eyes. Perhaps he should try to ask his sister if she wanted to cut it off with the new knife she had acquired.

--

Pupils dilated as they focused on the pale blonde woman, whose presence had arrived uncomfortably swift. The unease would be visible in clouded eyes, but it was well known that the young male heavily preferred the closest family above everything and everyone. Tlantli was family too, though in the young male’s mind, it had always been a shallow mention without much value. She wasn’t close to him in blood, and her bloodied eyes always sought to grant him bad dreams.

But never had the female treated him poorly, and since the boy had taken so long to note her presence, it was much too late to adjust his route and pretend he’d failed to notice her. Perhaps fortune was smiling. Pan’s mind travelled to the child’s title that still hovered—invisible—above his dark head. It was slightly humiliating to remain a child while his litter sibling was climbing the ranks of adulthood. His thoughts on this subject would have been scotched with anger had it not been for the simple fact that he would give Salvia the world, was it only his.

”I greet you, Tlantli” the boy warily replied, stepping forth to offer each pale cheek a shallow kiss. He didn’t feel confident in the company of the mature woman.

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Her accented words easily crept under his skin, and eyes graced with the subtle tones with the moon mirrored his thoughts about her words. Why wasn’t he as qualified as Salvia? Pan hadn’t done anything wrong, though was wary of thinking of the reasons why his litter sibling had moved into adulthood without him. It hadn’t been Salvia’s choice to leave him behind. Ebony limbs moved slightly, and he rolled his weight backwards to lean against crumbling rock. Almost. Why.

I am a man,” he corrected. What mattered was his own opinion about himself, and he knew that they could not see him as a child any longer. He was taller than many of the grown Family members already. Time would lift him to Larkspur’s size and height, but he was well on his way. The teen’s solid arms crossed in front of his chest; locking his stance and hiding away some of the uncomfortable air he so easily gave off in the shaman’s presence. One would have expected Pandemic to be well accustomed to their magic and power, but he didn’t like what he couldn’t see.

All he had seen was their wild eyes, and it unsettled him. Earthly matters made much more sense. He wished he could say the same for Salvia, but there was a witch within her too.