Change in Life

Chapter 24. A Parent's Duty

Exhausted, but not willing to rest...

Hungry, yet not wanting to eat...

All these things the mother to be would be feeling during her time developing young. However, thanks to the relentless effort put in by Blake to help Jade took all those grievances and inflicted them upon himself. Jade's life had only changed to the extent of growing large. Which she did quite happily, if not a bit touchy. Hunting slacked off only a little and sleeping patterns remained constant, only interrupted when a bout of queasiness made her head to the outside for a few moments.

Her mate was the one showing the strain, and it wasn't even time for the real work yet. Since the news, he never stopped thinking of her and got her whatever he thought she wanted as well as needed, whether it was asked for or not. The initial buzz of being a father faded gradually after a few days the compassionate routine had formed part of his own nightly chores.

While Jade slept, he continued on for sometimes hours during the day. Filling food stashes was one of his main priorities. He risked nothing when it came to her well-being. If he happened to get injured - like the really bad habit that he seemed to carry like a curse - she would still have a readily supply food until he got better. The only thing he couldn't do was bring the river to her. If he had the ability to perform such feats though, he would have.

The joy of becoming a father evaporated before him as he learnt the harshness of just maintaining the upkeep as best as possible. He knew that in time the sleep sacrificed and food gifted to his mate would be worth it for the gleeful cheers of his children.

Children... or cubs? He thought blankly before coming to terms.

After all this time, he still needed to rewire some dormant connections in his head. Even more so with his lack of sleep shading what should be simple thought processes.

Right now, all the aches burning his paws and the indignation from Jade's mood swings was hell. Yet even if this road took him through the wastelands of the underworld, or even the shimmering plains of the spiritual world, he would complete his duties as a father and give more than he could deliver.

Just two weeks to go, he thought distantly to himself as he sat on some yielding snow among the untamed grasslands of the deer in the morning sun, still pondering whether he should make a kill for her.

Deer. The only thing he hadn't hunted for his love, yet the one thing she wanted every time he saw her. She subtly craved it to a point of obsession without having actually said anything. Each meal he brought was accompanied by a drawn out fed-up sigh before she ate, before she eventually ventured off aimlessly to try and sate her own cravings somehow. He tried to make her happy through this trying period. Both of their focuses were on the upcoming young. Little time, if any, was given to their relationship. Yet, he tried all the same to please her with meaty gifts and dilated compassion.

Her frustrations tried to rub off on the tired fox. Tried to break him through all of his thankless sacrifices. He could feel a slow heavy pendulum swaying back and forth in his head as the weeks plowed on. The seconds ticking down slower and slower to the due date. Monotony pushed it in one direction and stress pushed it in the other with soft donking thuds. Over and over, threatening to swing loose if he couldn't keep his head straight. Donk... donk...

Donk...

Each night he felt the weight swinging. He stayed strong though and looked to the face of that clock and thought of the family he would have at its chime.

It didn't seem that long, but time sped up as if it too were eager for the arrival of his kin. The hunting got easier and the snows softened as spring approached. The grasslands before him were dotted with dark patches of rotten grass shared with fresh young shoots of green. These were picked cleanly from the ground as the deer traversed the open land methodically.