updated.
part two:
Conjunction
What could the gods have meant in this?
What had she done to be punished with such a burden?
She was so young and healthy, as was their father.
It was an embarrassment. A disgrace.
She had given birth to demons, fused into the same form. Hideous, unhealthy abominations.
They shouldn't have lived through their first week.
She knew she would never find another mate after this, everyone knew it. The gods had put a curse on her, no stag would trust her to carry their offspring, not after seeing what it would result in.
And thus, she did the only thing she could. She became a recluse, moving to the empty edges of the forest, raising her sons in isolation. She was a stern and cold and bitter mother, but she tried hard to keep them alive. Whether it was out of love for them or spite for those that ostracized her, they would never know.
She taught them how to survive.
She warned them of strong predators, how they could kill them if given the chance.
And so they learned to run swiftly.
She warned them of stealthy predators, how they could sneak up on them and subdue them if they are not wary.
And so they learned to listen alertly.
She warned them of the cruelty of others, the things they would do to them if they were seen.
And so they learned to step softly and go unnoticed.
Eventually her fur grew shagged and her breath shallow.
She would spend many nights screaming into the sky.
She raged against her old mate.
She raged against those which derided her.
She raged against the gods that had cheated her.
She raged deep into the night, her shouts were her son's only lullabies.
When they had awoken the one morning, the air was still.
After so many years, the gods had finally taken their mother's voice away, along with her breath.
