I'm still wakin' up to you

It had only been a week since Marrah and her siblings had begun to leave the den for short periods of time, and recently the big Mmm had begun to leave them for hours at a time. This was one of those times, evening had faded into early night and with it brought a strange whirring sound from outside. Normally the girl waited for her mother to return before going out of the den, because that was the rule, but the sound was so interesting!

Pulling herself out of the den, puppy blue eyes searched excitedly for the source of the sound, but came up with nothing. Nothing other than the fact that the sky was a colour she had never seen before, it was the same colour as the green tops of the trees. Not only that, but the air was moving very quickly, ruffling her fur around and almost pushing her off her feet. She had to get to the bottom of this!

Walking determinedly away from the den, Marrah knew she could find the source of the woosh.

I've been holdin' on for too long

As time passed on Saga was able to spend more and more time outside of the den, trusting that the children would remain safe within the walls she had built while she snuck off to check borders, or fill caches, or eat. Thus, it was with full confidence that she snuck off to hunt, leaving the kids unattended.

She brushed off the first warning sign, as wind battered her coat. That wasn't odd. The second was a lot more telling as the wind died down, creating an eerie silence that made the hairs of her nape stand on end. Bright green eyes took to the sky, noting the sickly hue that had replaced the previous early-night grey.

Her stomach dropped as ice-cold panic shot through her veins. Silvery paws were moving before the wind picked back up, the roar of air drowned out by the coursing of blood against her eardrums. The cubs weren't far, but as she watched the heavens open up and a funnel begin to descend, Saga couldn't help but note that the tornado wasn't far either.

A second tornado touched ground before she could see the children, clearly outside of the den and unaware of the danger they had been placed in. As soon as her eyes fell upon them she tried to yell over the noise, praying to the gods that the cubs would hear her. "Marrah. Den. Now." If she could get her eldest to turn around, surely the others would follow.

From there, whether they heard her command or not, she would continue closing the distance, hovering over them and attempting to prod them all into the den.

Caelyn liked his naps, but his siblings always had different ideas. The agouti boy couldn't let them have all the fun, so he crawled as best as he could on his chubby legs after his siblings. Many noises came frim his small muzzle before he finally joined his brother up on the slope. The wind he was met with prompted a unimpressed grumble from the boy as his baby blues peered out into the outside. Before he knew it, Way took off towards Mar and Ner.

Growling in frustration, he ran after him, the winding almost knocking him down several times in the process. Dirt flew in his face and he paused to contemplate if this was worth it. He couldn't hear Mama yell, Caelyn was too occupied with the ouch in his eyes.

I'm still wakin' up to you

The farther from the den that she got, the louder that the woosh became, and it was doing strange things to the clouds. Not only was the sky a weird colour she had never seen before, but it seemed like the clouds were trying to reach down and touch the ground? Marrah had to get to the bottom of this, and seeing it in the distance steeled her resolve that she had some learning to do.

It was with joy that she was joined by Ner and Way! Wagging her tail at the other small, who she was incorrectly thinking of as a sister - after all, the other smalls were her brothers, so Ner must be her sister. Of course she could come! They had to find out about this woosh cloud that was going to touch the ground, the big Mmm would be so proud of them for learning while she was gone. Nodding in agreement to Way she repeated, ”LOUD!” But as the tornado finally made touchdown, far enough away that it wasn’t going to lift them up anytime in the next five or ten minutes, but close enough that large hail suddenly opened up and started pelting them.

Marrah had not even realized that her other brother was on his way to join them, or the frantic yelling of her mother sprinting towards them. She could only squint her eyes against the grit that was not assaulting her face and pin her ears back to protect them from the icy hail. ”OUCH!” the girl shouted, but didn’t know if anyone heard her over the roar of the big woosh cloud. She decided she didn’t want to know what it was anymore, she didn’t like it.

I've been holdin' on for too long

The skies opened up as hail rained upon them, pelting her coat with hard, painful blocks. She did what she could once she reached the cubs, attempting to step overtop of them and shelter them as much as she could, but there were too many. Too many cubs, too few mouths to lift them all to safety at once. Leaning down, she yelled, "Den. Right now." and made an attempt at physically pushing the cubs with her nose towards the den.

But then Woya was there, lifting Caelyn to safety. Saga could have cried then, as a small bit of relief flooded her system, but there wasn't time for any of that now. Instead, she simply lifted Enera, trusting that her own children would listen, and continued nudging them towards the den.