"...went dead. So - Eythan gave his magic. Dad's...

Aure's words blurred into a strange ringing in her ears. The old hyena blinked and dropped her eyes, so as not to seem angry while she struggled to make sense of what she was hearing. And she wasn't angry; just-... Well, a lot of other things.

Confused. Why would the gull, who they'd barely known, need a gemstone given at his location?

Why Eythan-? Did the hybrid have some ulterior motive; had he convinced Aure-...?

Why hadn't he spoken to her about it, first..? This wasn't--necessary, but she felt hurt nonetheless.

Finally a clear thought came through--a response to this last, as she stood there, eyeing the ground, brow furrowed: He doesn't have to consult me. He's the Bone King; his decisions are his own. If she'd had the presence of mind, she might have felt a little pride but on the other hand, she didn't imagine that this had been the strong decision of a king. An accident, maybe; a sudden, impulsive choice.

Shit.

The silence stretched on, for a long moment, as Giggle struggled to free herself from her own web of thoughts (and, as usual, darker things lurked around the edges--things she contorted a wrinkled muzzle at, things she shied from and hated). The practical side of her was pointing out that they'd need to prepare for another young one to raise; and this wasn't the best time, but so be it. The motherly side of her was already growing vaguely, distantly excited for a new young one in the family. The suspicious side was worrying about Eythan. The responsible side, wondering how the hell Aure and Eythan could possibly raise a child (and wasn't that a little weird..? They were brothers, mostly; there seemed something... fundamentally strange, about that).

At length, Giggle finally realized that Aure would still be awaiting a response from her. She glanced up, a little apologetic, and took a breath.

"That's... a lot to take in," she offered, at last; and in the interests of moving it all along without seeming to be disapproving: "Got any plans? On raising a kid, I mean."

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She watched Aure for a moment, concealing her emotions as best she could. Her expression remained neutral.

She was hurt; she couldn't deny that, but this wasn't about her.

Giggle forced a dip of her head, a warm expression. And she loved her son; it wasn't faked, it was just... it was hard. Why Eythan? Why not tell me? she wondered, but didn't say. She also wondered what Aure'd meant; he'd said he'd placed the stone by Vincenzo's cairn, but it was near Aza'zel's, now-?

Suddenly, the suspicion--of Eythan, of his possible motives; of her wondering if Aure had been misled... became overwhelming. Exhausting. She turned away, looking wearily over the bone pit. Never mind it all now.

Giggle forced her voice, as she'd done her expression; calm, thoughtful, hiding the tiredness, the unhappiness in it. Of course Eythan'd fucking do that. And say that. And then she told herself, Stop being bitter. He's been good so far.

Aside from killing his father, you mean-?

Her mind haunted her.

She did her best to ignore it.

"Well, you'll need someone to teach them, Aure. You can do that, I suppose. The kid'll be your responsibility. You know I'll help, though."

We've got too many young. Not enough protection.

"Someone will need to watch them, teach them to hunt. I'm happy to babysit."

What will it look like? Why'd Aure fuck up his bloodline by merging with a quarter fucking cat?

"It can be exhausting--you were a good kid, but not all of 'em are as calm as you were."

Is Eythan trying to groom this one to take Aure's place-? Control it-

"A surprise, eh? Suddenly, a kid you didn't expect."

Shut up. This isn't helping.

"Is anyone watching over the stone?"

This, at last, silenced her own thoughts, and she turned back to face her son, expression drained but friendly, hiding her rampant, chaotic thoughts.

She was family. She was mom. She'd damn well act like it--even when it felt, sometimes, like everything was shattering around her.

Or was all that in her head..?

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Her expression tightened, a little, a frown creasing her features.

"I meant really watching over it, Aure. The actions we take to protect and so on are our responsibility. The dead can only guide us." It was a soft rebuke, but it was reproach and of that there could be no doubt.

"Anyway, what of the bones-?" she asked, glancing back at the pit. Her own purpose here had to be set aside, for now; this wasn't the time to speak of it. Not anymore. "What did you want me to ask them?"

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Ahh, so despite his phrasing, he'd meant her own prior words.

The hyena gave a gentle snort. "My question? Now? No, not now. Not now," she repeated, for in her mind, grim talk of Mother's fungus and grasping Hives should not be brought into the moment. Not after the news of new life in the Bonebound. Bad luck, that would be.

She shook her head.

"Show me the stone, let me see it. It's strange; I feel like you should plan. Like we should plan. But there's nothing to plan, really, is there? It's as you say; take it by ear. We have to."

She stepped over to give her son a brief, reassuring nudge, her muzzle behind his ear, but... it was troubling. She acted confident, sure, but in the back of her mind things had fallen into disarray.

And disarray was, for the hyena, a terrible thing. Twists of words and foul memories tangled, snaring her thoughts, so her mind wandered--and it wasn't a pleasant place to be. But she hid that, for now--and as she always did; and at least now she could do that much.

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Her thoughts were still wandering, but she nodded, a little, nonetheless.

"We could," she agreed, mildly, if only because her mind was half-absent. She rallied, though--she tried to offer something more constructive than that. "It would do us good. Serek has strong potential, and Skeena, too--as a seer, her, I think--but training would do them both good, especially to defend themselves." She'd been lax in teaching them that; but they hadn't come to her, really, and regardless, her magic wasn't that of combat and battle. "I haven't seen Vinea; he might be back in his stone, somewhere, or wandering." He was a strange and independent creature, and she never really knew, with him. "Kerberos is strong. He could train our members, too. Don't overlook him," she advised. He was one, in her mind, of their best members: fiercely loyal, immensely powerful, and good-hearted beneath it all. She thanked the bones again that she'd gotten to him early. He could have been a monster without the proper guidance. (Not that she took credit--but she didn't want to know what might have been.)

"But learning new viewpoints, even for fighting, might be good. I'm up for it whenever you are, Bone King."

But her words came with little emotion, almost half-hollow with other thought. She had a lot on her mind--and it showed.

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