J'y ai fait quelques mondes, quelques endroits
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WC: 758. Set on the fifteenth.
Psych, by any chance you're reading this, PM me plz? Smile The SA gave us permission for Fitz, but since you're not here, they said I could NPC the birth... I'd like to keep him and Finn both as NPCs unless you're not coming back.




   Jacquez Trouillefou let his dark eyes wander, idly watching the deer and the filly playing in the field. The sun was setting, shadows lengthening, but the bonded animals did not seem to care. They had stability here with the herd of horses - Rue was getting bigger now - four months old and lanky as ever. She seemed resilient enough to survive the winter, regardless of the scarce grazing. Heath had tended to the horses well, and whether or not he noticed the big red stag that haunted the pasture, the hart had been kept well-fed and comfortable. He had noticed other scents too, possibly other animals that were being looked after without his knowledge. A self-sustaining homestead was probably the best option for a permanent settlement like this; with the growing number of mothers and children, keeping a safe source of food was only logical.


   The tall man scratched his chest lazily, thin guard hairs raising against the growing cold. This evening reminded him of another. It had not been that long ago when Susquehanna gave birth to his child. The pup would be born in Ani Waya and raised there without him, as he had made very clear when she came to confront him. No one knew who the pup's father was, and unless it looked startlingly similar to him, no one would find out. He had not seen much of Jontae lately either, and perhaps the uppity whelp had figured out that was how he preferred things. He couldn't explain why relatives made him act like such an asshole; perhaps some deep-rooted paranoia that they would betray him later in life, though without any memory of his childhood, he could not justify why this was. It was just the way he was made. A brilliant king and renowned battler, but the worst father possible, and he would never care enough to try to change.


   Tonight, though, he wasn't sure if he could get away with it. A packmate was expecting child, and it could only be his. Finn Fidh, he had such hopes for her, and she had to ruin it all by getting knocked up. Hadn't she been tough like a man, a brawler like him, riddled with scars that she bore with obvious pride? She had never sought him out, ashamed perhaps of her disgusting condition, and it had only been today that she had called for him... a moment of weakness. She wanted someone there beside her as she struggled through the pains of child-labor. Well, the king had no reason to subject himself to such an embarrassing and crass display. Why should he hold this woman's hand while she expelled her innards onto the dirt? It was her choice to keep the pup, after all. He had nothing to do with the process.

   
Finally, another weak cry sounded, an exhausted and last-ditch attempt to get him involved. He rose to his feet, brushing strands of hay from his silken fur, and strode out into the dusky landscape, decided he might as well meet the pup if it survived. His black eyes were without expression, glancing flatly at the panting mother and the single child she clutched in her arms. She was breathing too hard to say anything at first, her steely grey eyes riveted on his indifferent face. "It looks like you... Grey like thunderclouds. That's good, n'est-ce pas?" he voiced, tilting his head as he studied his third child. His first son. He raised an eyebrow, a faint quirk of a smile appearing and vanishing in the same instant. Maybe this one would be like him after all. A royal scion...



   ...but perhaps not. His children were still born through earthly means, not created by a god's hand in an image of perfection. There were none other like him. He huffed a sigh, bored and uncomfortable in the cold twilight. He wanted to get back to the shabby house he had claimed, where Firefly was waiting for him. "I suppose I will see you two around. Ayita and Alaine are other mothers here if you need help with womanly things. You can name him." And with that halfhearted attempt at kindness, the damaged monarch turned on his heel, striding off into the gloom. When the boy was older, when he began to show signs of a personality, then it might interest the king... Jontae and their Aniwayan sibling, too. But as mewling little scraps of fur, no, he would not be bothered. It was a woman's job to raise them.

Table by Sie!
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