Change in Life

Chapter 36. Sweet Tidings

Jade opened her eyes lazily with a slight flutter in her chest and the snoozing body next to her. Not having to share him anymore made her cheeks tightened blissfully with guilty pleasure as she pushed her back into his belly without prying eyes. The fresh smell of newly toiled earth and fine bedding hugged her, as well as the curling legs of her love around her. Shadows of tree roots from the lush oak that protruded the ceiling pierced through the earth above them and coiled back into the walls like a chandelier darkened and warped by time. It was the best sleep she had in a while, adding to the wonderfully growing list of nice sleeps. The dreams of having him back, at last, seeped away with each nosy breath from him, as they were not needed. She lay there in peaceful content, nonchalantly pushing away the sandman, and failing. Much to her joy. As Blake softly clenched his legs around her chest, yawning silently before burying his sleeping muzzle in her scruff, Jade couldn't help but nap for a few moments more, feeling his hot breaths through her fur.

Their steady heart beats filled the new den with a new life and the starting of new memories. The delicate shrill of passing starlings outside gave song to the beaconing twilight, the dwindling evening sun grinning away its final warmth with them before planning its own slumber. Zephyrs rustled the thick branches of redwoods, oaks, and birches around them, returning a fullness to the woods that the fires took away a couple of months before. All was calm. All was grand.

Peace.

No matter how long she wanted the many moments they had like this to last, the dulling wan glow of the setting sun casting pencil-line shadows along the side wall of the new dens curved tunnel peeked her interests. Raising her head to smile gratefully at his sleeping form, long since cleaned of singed fur and healed of burns, she admired him dearly for all he was worth to her. She was extremely lucky to have him. If she hadn't found him, she would have died a long time ago, and many more times after that. Now that autumn had arrived, Jade felt especially happy. This was the season in which that magical event happened. It had been one year since they had first laid eyes on each other, one year since she completed the spiritual bond and returned him to the earth in Mother Natures eternal mission to create equilibrium. So much had happened to them during that time that it didn't even feel like it had been a year.

Rolling slowly out of her body well, radiating enticing warmth after a long and comfortable rest, Jade tiptoed out of the main chamber, eyeing a seconded smaller one with longing glee. Although her new home didn't have the memories of the old one, yet it made up for it with comfort. After "evicting" the rabbits that previously lived here, Blake had lined the floor with a thick layer of fresh autumn grass after a lot of work to get it right first. It was soft and warm, not brittle and dry as it was in their old home. The chamber was also slightly bigger. In fact, they now had two chambers joined together, one slightly smaller than the other one.

The second chamber wasn't there when they first settled in. It only appeared as the nights of summer were ending. When Jade had woken early and gone out in the new lands untouched by the wildfires far on the other side of the river, supposedly leaving Blake to sleep, he had sprung up and dug furiously in the back of the den. When Jade had returned in the dawn, having not heard from him during her hours creating scavenging trials, she couldn't help but shed an overjoyed tear. The reason he gave for this extra chamber was for her use only. It was big enough for her, and a litter of cubs. Having learned he could raise a cub shown in Beryl, his hopes were high for the next spring.

Stepping out into the wavering beams of lowering sunlight through the thick leaves of the oak overhead, Jade stretched out her legs and arched her back. In the autumns soothing breath, her fur bristled easily, having also been groomed clean to within an inch after settling. Jade and her mate had found this place in two nights of searching after the summer fires. To find anything still viable after what they had all experienced was a miracle in itself.