Kieva, the BloodMother

Make it out of here, my love
Falling into the stars above
I know you're tired
You've had enough
Keep breathing, breathing, breathing
~Jesse Clegg, Shekhinah: Breathing

"Tell us another story!" the puppies around her squealed.

"You should be going to bed." Kieva smiled despite herself. "Just one more, okay?"

"We promise to sleep after that!" Rhafal said solemnly.

"Alright, then." Kieva felt tired, very tired, but she searched her memories for a story left untold.

"When wolves fall asleep, we are transported to a realm of dreams. We run and we hunt and we howl, and we are cut off from the material world momentarily." The puppies had fallen silent, listening with rapt attention.

"But sometimes, wolves feel a different sort of tired. A type of tired that doesn't leave even after a long nap. Then, we are called."

"Called by what?" Rhian gushed quietly.

"No living wolf knows. But there are stories and legends, and many have guessed as to what calls us. Some say it's a three headed dog, howling in the night to call us to his realm. Some say it's Fenrir, but we know for a fact that is wrong. Fenrir is the Lord of Life, he does not harbour the dead."

Kieva leaned down to the puppies, her voice going soft. "My mother told me, a long time ago, that it's the Moon." The three turned their little heads to the mouth of the cave, where the moon's silver light bathed the entrance. "She told me that the moon calls to us, and brings us home. Every wolf has a home in the physical world, but we all have a true home, a soul home, and the moon calls us to return."

"When do we go home?" Ripley asked. Her son was the spitting image of her, and he had her curious, cautious look in his eyes.

"When it is our time." Kieva let out a large yawn.

Usually, the puppies would demand answers, asking a hundred questions, but now they fell silent. Rhian tottered out to sit and stare at the moon, and soon the other boys followed. Kieva followed them after a moment. The moon was full tonight, and beautifully bright. It seemed to pulse in the air, like a living thing

Later, the puppies were asleep, and Kieva was curled protectively around them. She heard a whisper, feather-light on the breeze, and she got up and warily walked to the mouth of their cave. The other pupsitters had returned a while ago, their assigned puppies in tow, but now the whole cave, the whole world, was silent.

As she stepped into the moonlight, Kieva found herself transfixed by the moon. It was even larger than before, and much brighter. She felt her exhaustion melt away, her muscles returning to their old strength, and she felt immeasurably powerful under the moon's gaze.

She howled, long and low.

The moon howled with her.