Nesting

I spent the next weeks looking after the eggs. During the day I sat near them playing soft music and singing to them and during the nights I tucked them in the blankets and brought warm stones from the fire to keep them toasty.

I didn't like to go to sleep in the tent with Mother and Nya. It felt empty to me.

"I was just like you," Mother whispered one day as I tucked the eggs around a warm fire stone. "My mother had to drag me away from keeping watch."

"But you had something to be afraid of," I said quietly. I thought about all her brothers, lost to the command of the West.

Mother kissed the top of my head, "One more song, and then come to bed."

Nya was already snoring when I tucked myself in. I fell asleep quickly and did not dream.

I woke up abruptly in the middle of the night. I leaped out of bed and to the nest. Nothing seemed disturbed except for a corner of the blanket. I lifted it and found two little charms.