Adora was almost certain that she imagined the disappointment in Mika, because surely Mika didn't think about the Eagle Cub like a baby. Surely Adora was just...influenced by the tail end of spring and her capabilities to make life but having not. She wasn't ready anyway but...the eagle cub had been like a little taste of a family life. One where she could dote upon Mika and have the cub follow while she foraged.
Yes, she decided, that was far too cozy of a life than what she deserved right now.
But there was still Mika. There would always still be Mika in one way or another. Something Adora had come to realize with a mixture of anxieties that sprang up from realizing you did not want to lose someone.
Mama came to pick him up. Thanked us for babysitting and gave me the fish. It was a lie, a story, something to soothe herself and be lost in whimsy with her treasured one. It was nice, though, wasn't it? Or was it only Adora who imagined what a life with a little eagle bear cub to their duo might have been like?