[kirain gave up her feeling of not being sufficient. on impulse, lestan leant forward to kiss her forehead. he had always known of her internal struggles, though not quite the depths to which his mate's mind went. it pleased him to see her turn against that sentiment, to offer it now. thoir air falbh e, thoir air falbh e, sang the mayfair softly, holding her eyes with his own. saorlaith was next. his daughter had a confidence that delighted him; she would not suffer any slings nor arrows, no, for she had always seen love in its form. of course his mind did not articulate this quite in words, but he beamed down upon her, radiant as any sun. the beauty of the rise stood all around. zips, she said. lestan did not understand, but he did not question. saorlaith was a child who had always seen far, it appeared. if these zips were precious to her, then may they be preserved indeed. he touched his nose to one eartip, singing out again, thoir air falbh e, thoir air falbh e. faolán's turn. lestan grinned with reassurance as the boy recovered himself, reciting more accurate a sentence, and it occurred to him that he and kirain had done a very good job of instilling warm values within their young. family. the mayfair bumped his muzzle against his son's shoulder. thoir air falbh e, thoir air falbh e. another round! and another, faster and faster for the fun of it, until his voice began to whirl away into laughter.]

kirain gave up her feeling of not being sufficient. on impulse, lestan leant forward to kiss her forehead. he had always known of her internal struggles, though not quite the depths to which his mate's mind went. it pleased him to see her turn against that sentiment, to offer it now. thoir air falbh e, thoir air falbh e, sang the mayfair softly, holding her eyes with his own.
saorlaith was next. his daughter had a confidence that delighted him; she would not suffer any slings nor arrows, no, for she had always seen love in its form. of course his mind did not articulate this quite in words, but he beamed down upon her, radiant as any sun.
the beauty of the rise stood all around. zips, she said.
lestan did not understand, but he did not question. saorlaith was a child who had always seen far, it appeared. if these zips were precious to her, then may they be preserved indeed.
he touched his nose to one eartip, singing out again, thoir air falbh e, thoir air falbh e.
faolán's turn. lestan grinned with reassurance as the boy recovered himself, reciting more accurate a sentence, and it occurred to him that he and kirain had done a very good job of instilling warm values within their young.
family.
the mayfair bumped his muzzle against his son's shoulder. thoir air falbh e, thoir air falbh e.
another round! and another, faster and faster for the fun of it, until his voice began to whirl away into laughter.

Eilidh listened carefully about this ritual, and followed her father and mother through the differently-colored world. A night had never been like this one before, and she looked at it with nothing but wonder. The fog in the air made the land look completely different with the red light, and Eilidh wished she could hold onto the image forever.

She listened to Father as he spoke of how the moon was supposed to take her fears. Her ears pressed back a bit, but she listened and watched as every one of her family goes. Eilidh felt like she did not have anything on her mind as each one went, and she felt the immense pressure to figure it out with each beat of her heart.

Once it was her turn, she blinked a few times while staring at the moon. She did not want to forget it. She did not want to forget.

”I…am afraid I will forget,” she said softly, not sure if this was a right answer. Father chose love, Mother chose being more, Brother chose family, and Sister chose little zips, although Eilidh was not completely sure what that meant. She did not question it though, she was sure it made sense to Sister.

Eilidh looked back and forth, looking back to the moon again. Something was wrong with the way they all did it though…this she knew.

”thoir air falbh e, thoir air falbh e, thoir air falbh e…you must do it in threes,” she said with great confidence, knowing that three was the only way. She took to the language just as she did common, always determined to remember the little details of how to say the words, even if her mouth did not always cooperate. She looked around again to her father, his own voice falling into laughter. Eilidh was too taken with the moon, looking back up to it again, as if she was trying to memorize every detail of the red orb in the sky.

She then uses her paw, tracing a circle into the ground three times, whispering to herself that she was not going to forget with each trace, then looking back to her family. Her mind was determined to remember this too- all of them together in the red mist, and finally a small smile cracked on her maw.