Chapter Text
“Get off my tail, Bush!” Said umbra scrambled to his feet and dodged his sister’s deadly claws by a hair. Tumbling head over heels, Bush snapped his head up to meet Skunk’s piercing gaze. Her yellow eyes burned into his as she growled, baring tiny, serrated teeth that merely prick flesh—common for newborns and soon to be replaced with canines twice the size. Skunk flattened her large black ears and stalked towards her ‘prey.’ “How many times must I tell you…” Bush was practically shaking in the corner as his sister drew near. She sneered at the stench of fear reeking from him. “My tail is not a stick, bird-brain!”
He frantically nodded his head, wanting nothing more than to escape Skunk’s wrath. With another growl as a warning, Skunk strolled back to her spot in the burrow and plopped down—it was bad enough she couldn’t leave the burrow till another six years; now she must be Bush’s plaything for eternity—hopefully some rest would clear her mind.
A dense form nudged her hindleg while remaining out of sight. Skunk scrunched her eyes and to the best of her ability ignored the nuisance. Bush was many things, and two of those were being clumsy and annoying. Another nudge. “Skunk, I’m sorry, okay? Please don’t be mad.”
A low growl rumbled in her throat, but she caught it just in time. Another nudge, only harder. “It was just an accident! I was trying to pounce like father does.” Silence followed his words. His voice came again on a more sincere note, “do you think he is okay?”
“What?” Skunk frowned at her brother, sitting dangerously close to her tail. Yellow eyes met one another as Bush shifted his olive-green feet nervously.
“Father hasn’t been himself lately… ever since Burr… died.” The reasons to the unfortunate death were left unsaid; both Skunk and Bush knew what grief the pack had endured from this loss—they were only a year old during the accident.
A lump was caught in Skunk’s throat and her eyes waivered. “I…I’m sure he’s fine.” Her ears perked and she unconsciously wrapped her wire-like tail around Bush. “He’s a strong Alpha, and like him, we must also be strong.” Bush slowly nodded with his eyes glued to the ground—ironic he was staring at the name of his father.
“Right…” There was a hesitancy in the young male’s voice, “but what if it’s okay to show weakness?”
Skunk bristled her mane of black quills—a genetic trait Bush evidently lacked—that traced her head, down her back, and to the tip of her tail. “Are you blind?! Alphas are ALWAYS strong; NEVER must they show weakness!” Bush flinched at her words till challenging her with narrowed eyes.
“Like how you showed such bravery when mother or Cliff reprimanded you? Or like the time you thought that small spider was going to attack you? Or—”
“Say ONE more word and it WILL be your LAST.” That was enough to stop Bush mid-sentence. Skunk sighed and flopped down, resting her scaly white head on black feet, “Just drop it, okay? Ground is fine. End of discussion.”
Footsteps sound outside the burrow and a large reddish-brown umbra dipped her head in with glowing yellow eyes greeting the two youngsters. “Manes should not be fighting with each other,” was her reprimand, “you can save that aggression for hunting much later.”
Bush and Skunk drooped their heads in shame with an incoherent mumble. “Sorry, Cliff.” The adult of the three stood over them for a few seconds before padding further into the burrow and cutting in between the two.
“So…” She caught the manes’ attention and continued, “Hoof, Turtle, and Walnut were not awoken by your obnoxious growling?”
Skunk shook her head. “No, they’re in the back and—”
“Fast asleep just like you left them!” Bush chirped in. Skunk glared at her brother but said nothing; it was better not to express her annoyance when a certain umbra was supervising them. In speaking of Cliff, she began to proceed to the back where her manes lied.
“If you need anything, you know where to find me.” With that, the two siblings were left alone again. Skunk flicked her tail at Bush.
“Ow!” Bush winced at Skunk’s treatment and glared again, “what was THAT for?!”
Skunk rolled her eyes and scoffed, “Stepping on my tail earlier, being an annoying brother, the list goes on...”
Bush licked away the soreness and padded off in Cliff’s direction, mumbling to himself, “All I wanted was a brother… can’t even find prey crazy as her.”
“I heard that!”
Bush’s eyes shined with comedic mischief. “Good!” He took off as a green blur, racing to the safety of Cliff’s side.
Skunk growled with raised quills but remains seated; Bush will get what’s coming in due time. The shadows closed in around her and she glanced behind in hopes to see who might be blocking sunlight from entering the burrow. A large, lean figure stood at the entrance, the sun’s rays obscuring the stranger’s identity. However, the scent and voice betrayed the shadowed presence.
“How are my two manes enjoying their day?”
“Mother!” Skunk raced to her mother’s warmth and nuzzled her low chest, black and white scales rubbing yellow. She gazed up and met fiery orange eyes staring down at her; there was an undescribed passion and love within those irises, a desire only she and Bush could fulfill. “Did you hunt today? Maybe catch a belua? I know you can take one down in a matter of seconds!”
“No, no, and definitely not. I told you and Bush before, remember our saying? Beluas are beasts and umbras are shadows…”
“Shadows must join to slay beast and foe,” Skunk answered nonchalantly, the same rhyme stuck in her head.
The yellow-scaled adult gave a nod and pressed on, “but be weary of beasts for they are untamed…”
“And may lead to death if not properly maimed. Yeah, yeah, I know!” the young umbra flopped down on her hunches. “I don’t see why you need to listen to that saying. You are so strong, brave, and fierce! Nothing can stop you during hunts!”
A soft rumble, like laughter, escaped the mother’s mouth. “You’d be surprised, Skunk.” She looked around quizzically. “Where is your brother?”
“Hiding with a bunch of manes in the back.” Skunk leaned in to whisper, “he thinks I’m still plotting his demise once he steps away from Cliff.”
Her mother frowned at this news. “And you don’t think you were too harsh on him?”
Skunk huffed, “Me, harsh? Mother, he’s the one knocking me into dirt piles and trampling my tail. I’m surprised I am still alive to begin with!”
Soil, her mother’s chosen name, tensed while staring into her mane’s eyes for a while longer, her slitted pupils searching for something. Obviously failing to find such mysteries, Skunk’s mother relaxed and offered warmth. “There is someone I’d like you to meet.”
The mane perked her black ears and eagerly swished a white tail, “Really? Who?”
Soil smiled before glancing over her back to the entrance, “Come on in, Tree Claw.”