Alarm bells rang in her head as a youthful voice called out an irritated, albeit confused, greeting. Freya’s ears pressed forward, her breath caught in her throat as she quite literally leaned towards the sound. It was not a voice she knew, it was not one of her own children, thankfully. Though the relief was short lived, as she registered they were not hers, she began to wonder whose they were. To her knowledge, none of the other Saints had young pups.

Could a child have really roamed this far on their own? Had a Saint stolen them from their home? The woman felt sick as the latter was certainly a heavy possibility. Was… Was it Jaxxon? Had he stolen this young boy for some reason? No-No, the child sounded alone, Jaxxon wouldn’t have left such a vulnerable boy out in the open. He may have been a devil, but there was a heart buried within him, this much Freya knew for certain.

Green eyes widened as she noticed the gathering of gray clouds and heard the droplets begin to pour. Oh no. With a gentle urgency, the mother tucked Viola towards the depths of the den, towards her siblings. While it was spring, there was still a chill in the air during storms.

Silently, the healer began to make her way near the youthful calls, ears alert and eyes frantically scanning for a small child. Blue-gray fur gradually flattened as rain drenched her, though it did nothing to deter the worried Nightshade. Eventually, she spotted the boy, but simultaneously she heard another child, a girl. Freya’s head jerked side to side like a doe patrolling a meadow for the safety of her fawns. A boy and a girl. Children. So young and small. Alone in a storm. Why? How?

Hello? she called back through the falling rain, neck craning to lower her head to their eye level. Peeking beneath the low hanging foliage and around the trees as she neared the first child, she soon spotted the second. They were not too far apart, but they clearly seemed untied to each other. Was this truly just a coincidence? Come here, love, a soft call to the auburn girl as she took another step towards the boy. You too, dear, come to me. The rain is quite cold, come home, Freya had not said “my home”, simply home, as she didn’t know how long it would take to return them.

For now, this would be their home, as long as they needed.

Had they been born here, or were they stolen from their worlds just as she had been?