Weep Child, I am Here

Despite the fact autumn was supposed to be on the air, it seemed not to touch the thick air of the swamp. It was still warm enough for critters to be out without a care, save for watching their backs so they didn’t get eaten. But even now, as he stood on the edge of a short hill watching the area below the Weepingroot, he could see how easy it would be to run up on one of these swamp rabbits and have a nice meal. After a moment’s hesitation, he readied his muscles and fixed his eyes on a rabbit plump from summer’s foliage.

Within a blink he charged down upon the rabbit, startling it and a few others nearby. The others made their escape but the one he had focused on only got a few feet before his jaws closed around its neck, shaking it until it stopped moving. Silently he thanked his ancestors for the food they had allowed him to catch, and he turned to go eat it beneath the old willow.

He noticed then his mother had been there, and his perked his ears at the sight of her. Recently his sister, Nuka, had pushed him to talk to their mother about the fact he was having a bit of an… issue. Now it seemed like fate had decided it was time for him to come clean, no matter how uncomfortable it was. Steeling himself against his own fears, he padded up to Bask and dipped his head, then dropped the rabbit.

“Hi mum,” he greeted, settling down next to her. “I uh… I was hoping we could talk. Maybe we could share this rabbit while we talk.”

Malik tried to wait for the rabbit to be finished, but his nerves won out. He started spilling everything, “I can’t see them. The Ancestors. I don’t hear them, not even in my dreams. There’s something wrong with me. I’m… I’m not like you or Nuka at all…”

Griffin
331 words
Have fun Bask

Malik was glad to see his mother and feel her against his fur, giving him some comfort with what he had to tell her. It wasn’t an easy thing for him to admit that he had realized that he was different. It was hard enough that he had concealed it this long, when it had seemed so much easier to address that he was not female as they had first thought. It was one thing to be different in that his body did not match physically with who he was mentally; it was another for his newest bombshell.

For all his worry though, it felt more like a weight had been lifted off his chest when it finally came out. It felt as if he had swallowed a rock long ago and just talking had made it come out, leaving it on the ground instead of sitting there. Now he waited as his mother’s face took on a look of concern for her son. It wasn’t an easy thing for her, either, he knew. There was so much to do as a leader that he wondered briefly if this would be the least of her worries today.

Whether it was or not, she still responded. He tipped his head to one side. “What do you mean, mum?” he asked. “I thought everyone in your family was like you. That they could see and talk to the spirits in some way. Like… in dreams and stuff, at least.” This was the first he had heard that his grandparents had not shared this connection. He had always believed it was a family thing, passed from generation to generation as if it were some sort of sacred power given by the Ancestors themselves.

Now his eyes were full of curiosity as he wondered about the life his mother must have lived. Sure, he knew of her parents crossing the mountains and coming to settle in Limberlost Swamp, but he didn’t know too many details.

Griffin
331 words
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