[dotw] mother and motherless

The little ones were small, so very small that she could crush them underpaw easily. One swipe of her jaws and they would be gone from this domain. Birds were not friends, Lula reminded herself as she stood frozen in place. But these were... young. New. Only just hatched. They didn't even have feathers yet, the fuzzy exterior they sported before their first molt sticking up in every direction as they stayed tucked beside the log.

No feathers, so she didn't need to snap them up or squish them down, right? At least, that's what she told herself.

There was one with feathers, though. She saw the flash of movent to her left as the grouse stepped into the clearing cautiously. The chicks began to peep softly for their mother who made a quick bee-line to where she had told them to stay put.

It was as if something stabbed Lula in the chest.

A being who had brought these creatures into the world standing by their offspring, returning to them, protecting them, teaching them how to grow and forage and live. She was transfixed as her heart ached with feelings not quite known to her, and she was transfixed as the mother gathered her chicks to her side and ducked into the tall grasses surrounding them.

A mother bird and her chicks. A mother and her children.

Why was she met with longing of such intensity? Was that envy, of birds of all creatures? She wasn't even certain she had a mother out there, or a healthy relationship with them at that, so why did she yearn for her mom so suddenly?

She blinked, the grouse long gone, and forced her limbs to move once more, uncertainty still swirling in her chest.

was originally going to have lula stumble upon a spruce grouse strutting about in display, but i wasn't too happy with that direction and my brain took an immediate left turn into the ditch of light angst!

every solo lula piece is going to be so blue your eyes are going to hurt looking at her folder mark my words <3333

+3 Bones for Lula

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