 There was something strange about Delya as of late. A funk had washed over Asteraia’s steward. She loved kids—there was no mistaking that. They were her favorite thing, and she wanted to work with them and play with them and protect her family… and therein lay the rub. Family was something she didn’t seem to have anymore. Not until Alice had her pups would there be an actual place for her within any of these weird little family units. Not like the weird group of four brothers (that, bafflingly, looked nothing alike) wanted anything to do with her. Iblis and Rhae had their actual family, something she would only like to think she was a part of. Fallacy was… Fallacy was a weird gray area, and one she wasn’t really willing to explore for now. No. Delya was alone.
Sure, Riddle was here and there, but he hardly counted. Gavriel had never come back, Dimitri was hardly a brother at all, and hell only knew where Sabriel and Kellin were. Fleetingly she thought of her own mother, one she hadn’t had contact with since… since before. Tarquin was dead. Makism may well have been. Everyone was gone and the family she wanted so badly hadn’t dared materialize. She had the rank and the power and she could do anything she wanted and yet there was no way to get the thing she wanted most. It wasn’t that she was hopeless it was just that she was lost.
Not actually lost. Delya knew her way around these lands better than anyone else in the whole world. The common lands had raised her, just like Alice and Hawthorn had. That was a beautiful thing, to be entirely honest. Everything was beautiful and nothing had hurt in those days. Hell, she’d barely noticed when Tarquin’s heart gave out. Even less of her had noticed when Makism went mad. Sure, a bit of a wrench went into her daily life when Kellin was taken up by some sort of snatcher—that was, of course, that she wasn’t allowed to explore without an adult anymore. Adults were less than fun, especially when they were that weirdo cousin Ace, but whatever. Things were so much easier then.
What pulled her out of her little dreamland was the sound of… someone was crying? Pups were everywhere, some crying and some not, but this was different. A baby was out here, and said baby was not being tended properly. Delya’s woof was soft, clamoring across the crags in search of the tiny sound. Closer and closer until she found the little body sprawled out in the sun, breathing but cold and very, very alone. Off in all directions, there was… there was nothing out here that was going to be… in… in charge of the little ball of fluff. Her heart broke.
Gently, the leggy girl reached down to nose at the tiny body. “Hey, friend… commere, we’re going to be okay.” Licking carefully at the tiny face, the little ears, the fluffy creature that was sprawled out and… wow. Open eyes, but just barely, the steward would venture a guess at a week of age. Alone… why would someone this small be all alone? Whatever negligence there was, this was now hers. A split second decision… right. Hers. “Commere friend… we’re… we’re going to go see Aunt Alice, she’ll take care of us.” She’d take care of them both, as she always did. She was producing milk already, with her pups very soon on the way. Delya tested a gentle nudge and then her teeth at the pup’s scruff. The Russian dancer would carry the orphan to the clockwork angel, as she had this habit of collecting strays. “She takes in strays like you and me.”
Because that was all she’d ever been, and something that this girl would grow up and grow past quickly.
female – 40in – 105lbs – five – jake  |