Adonis

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I would love for the entrance to face the east, to catch the morning light.

The silverwoman gazed amongst the tangle to treeroots, craning her head to look within. –or, do you prefer the sunset? for the stars? There was nothing different about her, except for the immense roundness that had beset her usually gamine figure.

When Euphemia had said to Adonis, the father of her children, that she had wanted a house strong enough to hold them – it had been a metaphor. Yet, here she was anyway, looking for a new abode that would fit their growing family, as if that is what she had actually meant.

She didn’t think they actually needed a new den. The one they currently inhabited had been hers since she was old enough to cease denning with her parents; she wasn’t certain she wanted to give it up. However, the more the soon-to-be mother thought about it, the more she realized she was not certain of anything.

Would there be two, or three of them? Maybe more – a big litter, like five or six?
Would they be giants, like the many children born of Tiberii?
Should she move her workspace into her den, since she wasn’t to depart for some time?

Perhaps they did indeed need a bigger space.

The maiden pulled back from her investigation of this arboreal dwelling, shaking her head. I don’t know about this one, she assessed with finality. It might get too wet, when it rains. She trotted back to the storyteller’s side, giving the scenery a wide, sweeping glance with a tightened, critical eye. If there was the perfect home for her perfect family...

she would find it.

Do you think if we were atop the apex of a mountain, we could achieve a view of both sunrise and sunset? she questioned, somehow at the same time very serious, in jest, and absentminded.

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Options! Options! Adonis found it exciting and slightly overwhelming to pick out a new den. There were so many positives to each one, how were they to choose?

Carefully Adonis listened to Euphemia, and how thoughtful she was. She considered so much, when Adonis probably would have simply found whatever was available first. Not that he wouldn’t move somewhere better if he found it, but it was somewhat easy for the man to be content.

”Should you wish to sleep beyond the rising hour, would the sun not bother your eyes when it climbs into the sky?” he asked, commenting on the morning sun. Adonis was a creature able to sleep in odd patterns, in fact, where he came from, it was common to sleep for only a few hours a night and then take frequent naps, especially right at sunset.

He looked at the tangle of roots then, tilting his head as he considered her wetness concern. So many things he did not think of! So much he had to learn from Euphemia, and desperately he tried to hold onto every tidbit of information, humming to himself as if the song itself would help him remember all these details. He swept his eyes over the landscape, head leaning with the grade of the earth.

”Yes, perhaps the earth leans too much towards it,” he commented in agreement, though he did enjoy the appearance of this particular den. The greenery was quite pleasing.

Her next question made his nose scrunch a little in continued thought. Why was this so difficult? He shook his head.

”This one would worry for the little ones, being so high above the earth!” he said with ears perked forward, eyes touched with concern. He had come from a valley, in a great crater, so such concerns did not exist. But here? He had to consider so much more!

Thoughts swirled in his head, as he tried to remember places he explored and mapped out in his head. He thought then of a spot, and his eyes light up.

”Come! This one remembers a great tree, growing upon an even greater fallen one, its roots entwined with the old wood as though the two had chosen never to part. It stood upon a hill covered in the greenest earth, with moss covering every rock, and branches reaching toward the heavens! Perhaps our den could rest there? We must see what the world looks like from its height, and where the sun would land upon our eyes” he exclaims, giving Euphemia a nudge. Tail wagged happily, hoping that this spot would be most pleasant. He began to trot in that direction.

”Euphemia, what is most important to you for this den?” he asked curiously, seeing how she had many thoughts and concerns. Part of him was actually nervous…was this den going to be to her liking? Or would there be unknown flaws?