[center][h1]Love[/h1][/center] [hr] Love was a fickle thing. To many it never truly took root within the heart. Still others sought only the basest pleasures from what they thought was love. It was a tool for procreation, to further the species along. For many a moon no one knew what it meant until the first child was born. There had been no grand Mes of Reproduction, it was simply instinct. And so it came to pass, with any love story, there came a fateful meeting. During the dark days when the world had wept ashen tears and the ground rumbled with discontent, a Ur-human woman and a Ur-human man, fell into step side by side as they fled from the danger on all sides. He helped her when she fell. She helped him clean his cuts. Slowly a bond was formed through shared trauma. She watched friends and family pass away. He watched her and guided her through the grief. Eventually the earth stopped shaking, the skies cleared and they were able to find untouched lands. They had walked into this new world holding hands and had left the old behind or so she thought. But he had had a secret all along. He was not of her people but of a different breed entirely. He could not help how he felt for her but never disclosed such information. Whether oblivious or malicious, she never found out. But as love grows, as the world heals, so to does the need to make new life. She became pregnant not long after arriving. With it came a mix of emotions too complex to truly name. It was everything, it was nothing. He helped her throughout. He picked things up for her when she no longer could. He washed her when she felt too ill. He hunted and gathered for her sustenance and the days passed in quiet comfort. Until they didn’t. No one knows what happened. He simply left one day and did not return that night. But something could have happened, surely. And the woman waited and she waited. For she knew he must return. She asked the other men in the village what had happened and they had said they did not know. For the man had been a loner. The days passed still and the woman understood a new side of love- heartbreak. It was during this time, with her emotions in disarray, that water broke. The baby was coming. This was the most difficult thing she had ever gone through. But with the help of elders and a few friends, a baby cried. But an elder screamed, almost dropping the child. The woman was not yet done however, for inside her there had not been one, nor even two babies, but three. There came hushed whispers as the delirious woman took her children to her breast. She felt them first, warm and mewling things, before her eyes were able to focus on them. She had to blink to comprehend what she saw. For they were not normal babes. Instead of small pink ears, there were tufts of fur, like that of an animal. Their skin was both of ur-human and that of a beast. Soft and delicate, in white, brown and grey. Furthermore, they all had small swishing tails. She could hear what the others were saying. [i]Abominations. Miracles.[/i] But the woman- no, the mother found something else entirely. Filling in her broken heart came a new sort of love, one she had never known until that moment. Of protection and joy. A willingness to sacrifice everything. For them. The love of a parent for a child, the purest sort there could be. She shushed them with her voice and they all slept in peace. So it was decided that night by the elders. They would not shun the woman, they would not shun the newborns. If they were abominations, only time would tell. If they were miracles, then they should survive. So the village banded together despite the uncertainty. And time passed [hr] “W-What have you done, Toffee?” Teefee asked in a shaky voice. Toffee barely registered her sister’s voice. It was a muffled noise. Her ears were ringing and there was a twitch in her eye as something hot mingled with the rain as it flowed down her face. Thunder rumbled in the distance but it sounded like some terrible giant stomping his way, closer, closer, clos- Her arm was tugged and Toffee felt her throat restrict as she swung her fist to- She saw her sister’s terrified eyes and stopped a mere finger's length from impacting her face. That lovely, innocent face with huge blue orbs rimmed red. Had she really been about to strike her own sister? Even if she hadn't, the damage was still done with crushing effect. Toffee could see it. The fear. The uncertainty. Teefee was terrified of her. Her innocence was shattered because of a sister who didn’t know when to stop. Toffee reached out to Teefee and the girl flinched, driving home the depths of what Toffee had done. Her hand fell to her side clenching and unclenching. Teefee, for her part, was the one who gradually reached out and cupped Toffee’s face. The touch was reassuring without having to say anything at all. It was only then did Toffee begin to cry. Deep wracking sobs before she fell to her knees and vomited. It all happened so fast before she felt Teefee wrap her arms around Toffee’s now shivering frame. It continued to rain. Mixing with the blood surrounding them. There was so much inside hateful men, it was no wonder it burst forth from their flesh when pierced. For that was how Toffee had killed him. The one who had… who had hurt Teefee. The stone spear was embedded into his very heart. A macabre sight on the shores of the Hillgrass tribe. Perhaps love wasn’t so fickle when it came to protecting those you loved.