Sincerely, Shrikesong
(3/6)
The day has come.
The pups exited the den for the first time. It was a mixture of excitement and fear. They didn't go far, just played outside. I sat close by at all times, trying to split my attention on them evenly. Eventually I realized I hadn't seen Wren in a while.
Or Canary.
I called Robin back to the den and ran off to search for the other two, but it didn't take me long to find Canary, holding her brother by the neck like a wolf carrying a deer carcass. He was still alive, barely, but I'd gotten there too late and he closed his eyes for good moments after I got there.
Part of me wanted to leave Canary there. To drag her far from the den as food for some wandering scavenger.
But she is still my child.
And I cannot bear to lose another.
Tell me what to do, Littlehare. Canary won't be satisfied until she is an only child, but Robin is hotheaded, and I hardly think she'll be one to sit down and take her sister's sadistic behavior.
One of them will kill the other, or both will die trying.
~~~~
I have held off hunting as long as I could, but I can wait no longer. The pups and I are starving and soon they'll be at eachother's throats.
I have never asked anything of the ancestors until now. Watch over my pups, keep them from killing each other.
Please.
~~~~
My pleas must not have reached the Forever Grounds, Littlehare.
I returned to the den with a pair of rabbits, only to find Robin eating her sister's body. Canary's neck had been snapped. Her face still held the wide-eyed stare of an animal that knows it is about to take its final breath.
She didn't have to explain. The scratches on her back said that Canary had attacked her while her back was turned, a fatal mistake that Robin could not leave unpunished. Even still, the survivor in her would not allow good food to go to waste. She was hungry, and Canary was dead, so she made the most of it.
It was sickening, to say the least, but somehow, it was also a relief. I myself had feared I would wake in the middle of the night with Canary trying her hardest to claw my throat open. She was no threat at her size.
But she would grow up eventually, and her sadistic, violent tendencies might have grown with her.
Perhaps the ancestors heard my plea after all. This might have been a mercy in disguise, making a tough decision so I didn't have to.
I do hope that Canary finds a peace of mind in the Forever Grounds, and that her brothers can find some way to forgive her.
Still, my little Robin is on her own now. I will protect her with my life.
Keep my pups safe, Littlehare,
Shrikesong
~CL1