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Description
She is quiet at the six of them make the trek down the mountain to Respite's Hollow, listening to the excited chatter of her small brood and the answers their Pa and older sibling give them. Babylon doesn't miss Deborah's silence, or the way she tries to keep the three of them beneath her despite them outgrowing her shadow weeks ago. Days ago.

They are so small and new and fresh to the world. She wants just another sleepy morning where it's only her family up by the falls with the occasional visitor she could vet and watch over. It's not that she particularly distrust her packmates-- even the new voices she's heard singing with the pack. It's just that... that she wants them to herself. For just a little while longer.

When the family arrives the pups burst into the communal den eager to explore, to meet everyone on their own terms, to grasp a bit of independence she doesn't want to deny them.

Deborah sits at the mouth of the cavern and sighs through her nose. Her Anam Cara leans against her and wraps his long tail around her hips. "They'll be fine," Babylon assures in a smiling voice that's barely audible over the stream of greetings and excited chatter unfolding before her.

"They're my babies." She responds, casting a wistful gaze over her shoulder to their now adult child. It all feels like yesterday. Meeting Babylon by a creek before either of them ever found Mhor, finding Foxwood in the hills, holding the helpless newborns in a den where they would only ever know how much they were loved.

Deborah exhales a shaky breath, steeling herself against the knowledge that now that the pups are unbound from their nursery den she cannot keep them safe from the whole world any longer. "Time is so fast now." Her eyes are misty, already foreseeing their first real injuries, their first broken hearts, a hundred ways the world will try to test and push them down.

And she'll be there for them through it all. She leans against Babylon's shoulder. They both will.

Her throat is tight, repeating his reassurance. "They'll be fine."

-----

Welcome home to the Hollow bebbies. Deborah is perhaps having those 'dropping the kids off for their first day of school' feelings but is being very brave about it imo.

I had really wanted to get this finished on their juvie milestone but I just wasn't strong enough. 😪

ft.

Description
She is quiet at the six of them make the trek down the mountain to Respite's Hollow, listening to the excited chatter of her small brood and the answers their Pa and older sibling give them. Babylon doesn't miss Deborah's silence, or the way she tries to keep the three of them beneath her despite them outgrowing her shadow weeks ago. Days ago.

They are so small and new and fresh to the world. She wants just another sleepy morning where it's only her family up by the falls with the occasional visitor she could vet and watch over. It's not that she particularly distrust her packmates-- even the new voices she's heard singing with the pack. It's just that... that she wants them to herself. For just a little while longer.

When the family arrives the pups burst into the communal den eager to explore, to meet everyone on their own terms, to grasp a bit of independence she doesn't want to deny them.

Deborah sits at the mouth of the cavern and sighs through her nose. Her Anam Cara leans against her and wraps his long tail around her hips. "They'll be fine," Babylon assures in a smiling voice that's barely audible over the stream of greetings and excited chatter unfolding before her.

"They're my babies." She responds, casting a wistful gaze over her shoulder to their now adult child. It all feels like yesterday. Meeting Babylon by a creek before either of them ever found Mhor, finding Foxwood in the hills, holding the helpless newborns in a den where they would only ever know how much they were loved.

Deborah exhales a shaky breath, steeling herself against the knowledge that now that the pups are unbound from their nursery den she cannot keep them safe from the whole world any longer. "Time is so fast now." Her eyes are misty, already foreseeing their first real injuries, their first broken hearts, a hundred ways the world will try to test and push them down.

And she'll be there for them through it all. She leans against Babylon's shoulder. They both will.

Her throat is tight, repeating his reassurance. "They'll be fine."

-----

Welcome home to the Hollow bebbies. Deborah is perhaps having those 'dropping the kids off for their first day of school' feelings but is being very brave about it imo.

I had really wanted to get this finished on their juvie milestone but I just wasn't strong enough. 😪

ft.