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_____The days were progressively getting longer and warmer and Salem loved every moment of it. Even if it was only in minute doses here and there, the bitter bite of the wind had begun to abate and he found that being outside was much more tolerable than it had been before. Which was where he had been for most of the day, off doing his own thing like his siblings. But now with the sun setting far out on the western horizon, dipping below the familiar skyline of trees he was used to, Salem made his way to the mansion.
_____Some things had come to the forefront of his mind lately and he had burning questions to ask someone. Preferably that someone was one of his mothers and it was Naniko that he sought out first. Being reasonable close to both, he was certainly closer to her than he was to Anu and mostly out of some unspoken bond. He searched the rooms of the house for her, gold-tinted olive eyes coming alight when he found her resting in one of the rooms she commonly frequented. “Hi Mama,” he greeted from the door, tail wagging as he curtailed the distance between them.
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The pups had survived the winter, with the help of her ex-mate and the pack. She wasn't sure what Anu had been up to, but she wasn't keeping track of it any longer. It wasn't any of her business. Naniko had things of her own to do, and today had supposed to have been a day completely devoted to those things. She had been wanting to clean out the herb shack for a while, and now that the snow was clearing she would have been able to get the door open without much of a problem. But things had gotten in the way, distractions.
She stood in a room connected to the kitchen, one of the closets where she kept the broom and dustpan. This closet was the same place that the pups had been born in, where the pack had gathered around to see the newest additions to Crimson Dreams, the very first-born pups of the pack. When she saw Salem approaching she put up her hand and waved, turning toward the open door. "Hey, Salem. I thought I'd clean something tonight...it's been a pretty boring day, and I haven't really gotten anything done like I'd wanted."
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_____The kitchen was a place of good memories and was known for being a rather warm place, as Salem had learnt. It was well cared for, especially by the pack it seemed, or at least in this case his mother seemed to be taking the task of making sure it was always spiffy and neat. Not knowing at better, he supposed her actions were because she was paying attention to detail; he never thought that maybe she was distracting herself from thinking of what had transpired in days past and then some. Careful not to get in her way as she worked, he watched her with keen interest for a moment, oblivious that maybe she would be too busy for him.
_____She had never been before, anyway. “I've been playin’ all day,” he told her with a grin. “Well, not playing so much as exploring. No boring day for me!” Being an adult sounded a little boring to him, anyway. What was so great about being one? They were either busy or doing things that made them busy… but he wasn't so much there to wonder why anyone would be busy as he was to talk to her. But he was considerate. “Um, can I ask you about something?” Salem was old enough to think before acting and therefore thought it better to ask her if he could ask her something than blurt it out. Even if there were a hundred things he could have asked about.
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She did make time for all of them when she could. During her pregnancy and the first few months of their lives Naniko's entire day had revolved around making sure that the children were fed and watched over. She hadn't felt right with leaving them for any length of time, even when Anu had offered to watch them. But as they had grown up a little bit more she had felt more comfortable with going away from the den. And now they were nearly grown up themselves...they'd be going off on their own soon enough, away from her and the pack.
"Did you see anything interesting? Or meet somebody new?" There were strangers wandering all over the place, and she doubted that any of the pups were staying inside Crimson Dreams any longer now that they were bigger. They would, of course, run into others and into new situations. She could only hope that she had taught them the right things. Have good manners, stay out of fights. She motioned for Salem to follow her through the living room and parlor and out to the porch. The porch was pretty dusty and dirty too...she ought to clean it first. "Of course you can. You can ask me anything you want to." She began to sweep in slow long motions, letting the dust fly off the edge of the porch and into the rocks and grass.
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[html] “Not today,” Salem informed her. The day had been pretty bland in all actuality, but that didn't detract from the fun. He was a young boy and therefore still had quite an imagination on hand. Anyone he may or may not have been could have been imaginary, as today they had been. Thus, he didn't share them with his mother, feeling that he was growing into that stage where imaginary friends were just a tad silly. Following her through the house and out to the porch, he stayed out of the way as she swept it in long strokes, only realising then that he had no idea how he would approach the topic that had long been burning at the tip of his tongue.
So for a moment as his face screwed up thoughtfully, he watched the dust she brushed away swirl in the air and fade away through the faint glimmers of the sinking sun. “Well… I wanted to know if it's true,” he stated slowly, still working out the kinks, “true that boys and girls are supposed to only have one mother and one father.” It was stated so innocently that he never would have considered the actual weight of the question and how his mother would take it. “So is it?” he prompted not a second later, drawing his gold-tinted green eyes to her profile. [/html]
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She really enjoyed her time with Salem. He had always been the quiet one, the thoughtful one. She wondered at times if he had recieved a part of his personality from his grandfather, Naniko's father Roman...or maybe from her mother Kaelyn. She didn't know. Or perhaps someone from Conri's side. The girl had barely known her parents before they had left her to Physe and then, a month later, Iskata. So she wasn't sure what they were like.
It was nice to know what all of the pups were up to. Often she would ask one of them for news on the others if she hadn't seen them that day. Normally she saw each of them once or twice a day, sometimes more, sometimes less, and checked up on them if they were staying in the mansion. They were old enough now to practice hunting on their own, but she would always offer them a meal if there was food in the cache down in the basement.
Naniko wasn't sure how to take his question. Children had their curiousities, she sure had when she'd been his age, and she had known that the inquiry would come someday. It wasn't natural for her and Anu to be together, not two females. Nor two males. That wasn't how pups were made, after all, and it wasn't how families continued down their lines. She could only be honest with him--her relationship with Anu had been a choice that she had been certain of at the time, but she hadn't thought about how it would affect the pups and their future relationships.
"Well..." She started a little awkwardly. "It depends on the pup's parents. Your father left before you were born, so without Mama Anu there to help take care of you there would have only been me. It's very hard for a mama wolf to take care of puppies all alone. Most of the time the father stays. But sometimes if the father leaves, then the mother needs more help. I'm very lucky that Anu came to stay with me and help take care of you guys." Naniko stopped sweeping, leaning on the broom handle a little. "But...yes, I suppose. Most of the time, pups have one dad and one mom."
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