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sorry for the monster post - i couldn't stop myself! wc: 1002
Skye saw as the brown and cream goat wandered in the room for a minute, then left promptly to where Jack was. She had originally been afraid that the large and temperamental horse would hurt the little goat, but they had taken to each other like a duck to water. They were completely comfortable in each other's presence, and Skye was glad because of it - it would cause less hassle that way. It seemed that Jack liked everyone who he was supposed to like...and didn't like everyone he was supposed to like, too. At first he had extremely disliked Skye, never listening to her and even bucking her off his back, but he had grown to her. Now he tolerated her and let her ride him without tossing her - but he did sometimes act like he didn't like her. That was fine with Skye, who was glad that he wasn't trying to get rid of her like at Dahlia de Mai.
Her thoughts traveled to other places, far, far from there - towards the Halcyon mountains, where she had come into being from her parents. Her parents, who had nurtured her throughout her childhood and taught her how to hunt and eat and do all those things that were vital to life, as well as taught her to do more - set her off on her own journey after those precious, glorious months of growing up. Those months had been good ones, very good ones - full of learning and love and nurturing and reading. Lots of reading and writing, yes...she could remember every detail of the books she read, the books she loved, in those days. She loved Bangle the same way as she loved her precious books - if she had to part with either of them, her heart would be torn in two. She couldn't believe Bangle didn't like books, as they were one of the same in her heart of hearts - but she loved him anyway, oh yes she did. And she would trade a book for Bangle any day.
As she felt Bangle's hands run through her fiery hair, she shivered, and her mind wandered to other things - namely, Sky's recent abortion. It had been messy and bloody, and Skye had come to Sky because of the cries of pain and the panicked voices of Fallen and Shawchert that had come to her ears after a long day of gardening in the garden. It had been messy, yes, and it had ended badly as well. Skye's heart wrenched for the girl who had gone through so much pain only to have to bury her precious puppies. She turned her head away from Bangle for a moment so he wouldn't see her face, contorted in sympathy for the girl - she was pained by Sky's pain. She knew they weren't even her pups, and she hadn't even known them, but maternal instinct kicked in. And Sky had been devastated...so sad. It was just so sad to see those little bodies in a hole in which they didn't belong.
And Shawchert...Shawchert must have been devastated. They hadn't been his pups, no, but she knew and the rest of the pack knew as well that he loved Sky and hated to see her desperate and alone like this. She wondered if they were going to be mates - she had heard from the girl that they were 'dating', which she had read in human romance novels. It was like a mateship, only it wasn't permanent, and could be broken at any time without hurt feelings. Or, at least, mostly not hurt feelings. She thought that they would be a good couple, but she couldn't help but thinking of Orin and her own puppies - what would happen with her? She knew that Shawchert would be there for her, and couldn't help but feel at least a bit sorry for the man - how he must wish he never did that with Orin now.
She turned her mind from that to other matters - she couldn't dwell on the past. What was done was done, and there was nothing that could change it now. She curled herself tighter to Bangle and underneath the sheets - she wasn't wearing clothes, as the house was quite warm with the captured heat of the fire she had recently put up and the combined body heat of the animals, but somehow, impossibly, she still felt a chill go down her spine. Something told her that it may have nothing to do with the cold, but she pressed closer to the man next to her anyway.
She turned back to him and allowed a light smile to rest on her face. She felt her heart beating, but that wasn't the only one - Bangle's beat along with her, two hearts beating together in love for each other. It was a steady rhythm, quite like the beats that she had to keep tune to with music - ba dum, ba dum, in tune with the music that Shawchert so often played for his pack and that signified all that Cercatori d'Arte was. A pack of creation, creation and family and love. She saw her hair reflected in his eyes - or was it his eyes all along, the brilliant orange that illuminated her days and brightened her nights? It represented the fire that now raged within her - a fire that couldn't have been started and couldn't be extinguished without the coy-wolf that was lying next to her in the comfort of her bed. She felt his hand stop to stroke her hair and begin to just rest on her head - she edged closer to the man, treasuring the warmth that he gave off.
"Hi," she whispered - it was a silly thing to say, they had already greeted, but it was a different kind of greeting - a different kind of hello.