Parenting Is Never Easy...

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Ethos sat in the hollow that served as a personal office, a large map was pinned up on the wall and he was busy studying it, making notes with a charred stick on a separate piece of paper. He had been delivered dozens of different reports from Guardians out in the field and he was compiling them down into one report about recent sightings and movements of the Pure Ones. Already with just a few notes read he was noticing that their was weird movements for the Pure Ones, a number of them seemed to be leaving areas they had been inhabiting. Were they preparing for something bigger? If this trend continued he might go and request Prue to return to the Tree. She might be able to give them more insight to what the Pure Ones might be doing.

In the meantime, he had his mind divided on another manner, just a little over two weeks ago his mate, Verae, had laid an egg. It had been so unexpected, the two had been mates for barely a year and they weren't expecting to have any children so soon. Ethos had been busy taking care of his mate, going out and personally hunting food for her. Now, sure, he could just go and retrieve meals for her from the cook like they normally did anyways, but there was something very intimate about feeding her food he had caught all on his own. As a result, he had been neglecting his other duties, and now he was spending much of his time trying to catch back up. Some nights even saw him awake until the sun was high in the sky, still reading through reports from the Guardians and Parliament.

Ethos had actually not really given much thought to the fact that he would be a father soon, the fact that he had a child growing in that egg hadn't quite hit him yet. Right now it still felt like when he was watching as his mum and da took care of his siblings egg. He new something important was growing in that white orb, but it wasn't really connecting in his mind that thing was his own child. Of course, part of this probably came from his life as a kraal. They were taught early on not to develop an attachment to the unhatched children, since often in times of famine the eggs would have to be smashed in order to prevent another mouth from joining the group. While none of his own siblings had been smashed, he had known several owls who had to loose their unhatched siblings. Here at the tree, food was always available and it was practically unthinkable to smash an egg. Verae was a product of that environment and she was by far one of the most loving and caring owls he had ever met in his life, something that had made him attracted to her.

[Everest]

Sye woke up at sunset and let out a big yawn. He looked around to see Everest gathering some things up. "What ya doing there Everest?". Flinching a bit at the expecting sound of his room-mate's voice, he turned around and chirped "Well i'm going out to talk to the queen and i'm taking my bag here, i plan on gathering somethings for my nest". Sye stepped down from his perch "Why are you going off to the queen?" he asked, intrigued by his friends hastily pace. Everest gave him a look "I need to ask her a few questions". Sye decided he would leave it at that, he didn't want his friend to think he was too nosy. "Well alright, i'm off to talk to the king, i'll fly with you if you like?". Everest was pleased that his friend upon arrival at the tree wasn't in one of his cranky moods. "Okay" he said "Let's go"

Sye had said goodbye to his friend and was now landing on the perch outside Ethos's office. He puffed up a bit and walked in "Reporting for action sir" he said with a little too much 'haughtiness' in his voice. 'Oops, that'll make me sound like a fool' he thought worriedly 'oh well'. He looked at Ethos, he was in deep thought so, he stood there and waited until he was ready to speak to him.

[Deleted]

Ethos didn't immediately address Sye, instead finishing one last note before turning to look at the Barn Owl. Ethos probably looked strange to the owl, his golden eyes were lined by red dye that trailed off in the corners. He never could resist the urge to paint his feathers, a tradition that was the most well-known thing about kraals. Despite his new position, he found it hard to forget some of the traditions from his childhood. To try and cut it down, he at least didn't paint his whole body, instead sticking mostly just to his face.

As much as Ethos had argued against her, Verae had insisted that he get an assistant of some sort to help him, especially now that his attention was divided between his role as the king and his role as a mate and father. Sye had been chosen to assist him, mostly in just a few menial jobs. "You are early, did you even get anything to eat?" he asked the owl, eyeing him slightly. He didn't like having to ask for help, but he would have to tolerate this owl to keep his mate happy.

(batt199 this rp is about Ethos and Verae when they have their first child, so unless you can add something important to that, I would stay out.)

[Everest]

Sye hadn't thought about eating, he was in such a hurry to get this night over with that he didn't even think about it. He still didn't feel hungry. Figuring it's best not to lie to the King he simply replied with "No sir". Knowing how his Ryb didn't like excuses he figured the King would think rude of it, so he gave him the truth. Then he realized what else Ethos had said 'early?' he pondered in his head'I thought i was late, thank Glaux!'. He had not made many facial movements at all. He just looked straight. Not moving his head, eyes, or even blinking. He was trying his best not to get on Ethos's nerves, But he could already tell this owl didn't seem to want him here.

[Deleted]

"You need not be so formal, I'm a bleshka kraal for Glaux's sake," Ethos remarked, a little Krakish mixing into his speech. Beside his painted feathers, Ethos was also known for often inadvertently using Krakish words in his speech. Again, another retention of his life in the Norther Kingdom. "And you need not mind me... I've never been good at asking for help, so it's a bit awkward here for me, and that's just another thing added onto my pile which includes those hagsmire-born Pure Ones and the upcoming hatching of my first child. So if I seem off-putting, it's nothing personal," he explained to Sye, trying to ease the owls nerves. While Ethos had experience as a leader while in the kraals, the owls that served under him had always been quite loose and carefree. Ethos was still caught off guard by how differently the owls here treated him, the amount of respect he was being showed was almost unthinkable to the kraals except to the overall leader.

[Everest]

Sye gave him a more relaxed look and let out the air he was holding in to bulge out his chest. He wondered what Ethos would give him for his first assignment. He looked around and saw many papers unorganized. He gave Ethos a quick look "So what shall i do for you?". Sye couldn't help him self but to look at the papers, he didn't want to seem irritated by it and he did well for the most part. One of the hardest things Sye could do was control his habits of keeping clean.


(Sorry it's short)

[Deleted]

"As you can very well tell, I've been swamped. Having to take care of my mate has left me completely backed-up here, so I need you to organize all of this for me. In particular, anything that mentions the Pure Ones, that is the most urgent matter tot he Guardians, all the rest can wait until I have more time to look through them." Ethos told the owl, waving his wing around at the mess in the hollow. "Most of this is just the proceedings of Parliament anyways, and for whatever reason they have felt that both me and Queen Verae should have copies, which is quite necessary if you ask me. After all, it's not like we aren't mates or anything..." Ethos remarked with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. Parliament was one thing that Ethos tended to hate about his position, they rarely agreed on anything and sometimes liked to drag their talons when dealing with issues. Verae was much better at dealing with them and often he had her represent the both of them when meetings were conducted.

[Everest]

(I don't know how to continue so i'm going to skip an hour or so later after the job is done)

Sye was almost done, he was just setting a few papers in the last stack. He was tempted to look at some of the report of the pure ones, but he resisted. He did not want to be caught, and he was afraid he might find out something he doesn't want to know. As soon as he was done he went to the perch outside of the office and waited for Ethos to acknowledge him.

[Deleted]

Ethos returned, clutching a rat in one of his talons, and immediately entered and inspected the office. He had to admit, this Barn Owl had done a fantastic job cleaning up, by far more than what he'd ever get done. "Well, you certainly took to the task, didn't you?" He asked, stepping over to address the owl. "Well with that done, I will have no need for you at the moment, so I suggest you go and get something to eat," Ethos remarked. "As for me, I have a mate I need to go feed," he nodded slightly to the rat he had caught. He had actually flown all the way across the sea just to catch it, he wasn't content to just grab something easy from the island itself. This was for his mate, so he wanted to make sure he got her the best food possible, even if it took an extra effort to do so. Ethos hopped out onto a ledge that led outside and took to the skies, heading to the hollow where his mate sat with their egg.

((For the time being we should wait until Felidae joins us in this thread, so I would refrain from posting anymore.))

[Felidae]

((Sorry it's taken me so long to reply, had some problems xD))

Verae sat in her and Ethos' hollow, hunkering down on top of her newly-laid egg. Her eyes were closed as she happily churred to herself, content with being left to her own thoughts.

The egg had come as a surprise to both her and her mate, being completely unexpected and unprepared for. They'd only just become mates and, with the troubles that always came with a high position, had little time on their talons for children at the moment. Not that she didn't want the egg, she loved it with all her heart already and wouldn't dream of abandoning it, let alone killing it.

Verae's eyes fluttered open as a cold draft wafted around her and she instinctively fluffed out her feathers to warm both herself and the egg. As her thoughts returned to the present, she began to wonder where Ethos was as he had probably been gone a while, most likely meeting with the assistant she had practically forced him to get. The female Snowy was about to get up when her mate landed down at the front of their hollow and she let out a happy churr when she saw he had brought her food.

"You do spoil me, you know," Verae smiled, shifting about on her nest, "I don't need you to bring me food all the time."

[Deleted]

"Please, you deserve only the best, if you are going to be stuck here for weeks on end, I might as well put it the extra effort and make sure you are properly taken care of," Ethos replied to her, entering the hollow and greeting his mate by rubbing beaks with her. "My mum told me when I have a mate that I should treasure her far beyond even myself, it is my responsibility to provide the best possible life for you and for our unhatched one," Ethos told her and started tearing the rat. "Every day we eat from the food provided to use at the Tree, why not indulge yourself a little while you're on leave with our child?"

He cut off a nice chunk and offered it to Verae straight out of his beak, for one of the most intimate things mates could do was feed each other. Much of this was what he had picked up watching his own parents and how they had acted around each other, they had been extremely affectionate with each other, probably due to the fact that, on any given day, they might not know if they would see each other again. As a result, one could say that Ethos was guilt of overdoing it, but it was all well-meaning. Verae was probably the one owl in the entire tree that he truly felt happy to be with and he was always eager to express his love and devotion to her.

Unfortunately, part of the reason he was so affectionate was because he felt that he truly didn't deserve her. She was so perfect... and he was far from that. As much as he knew Verae did love him, he still couldn't shake the fear that she would leave him for a better owl. Even though they had an egg, physical proof of their love and devotion to each other, that fear still chipped at him inside and he was far too ashamed to talk to Verae about it.

[Felidae]

Verae smiled a genuine smile at her mate's concern and affection, happily churring when they rubbed beaks.

"You are the best owl I could ever ask for as a mate, Ethos," she said as he began to tear at the rat, "Don't you dare ever think otherwise."

The Queen took the chunk of meat offered to her from her mate's mouth before happily swallowing it down. When she looked up at the King again, she noticed something different about his expression.

"Ethos? What's wrong?" As much as she wanted to get up off her nest to be closer to her mate, Verae knew she couldn't leave her post of keeping their egg safe and warm. Instead, she settled for reaching out a wing to gently touch Ethos' wing, a small but hopefully comforting gesture.

[Deleted]

"Oh, it's not really anything. I've gotten reports from the other Guardians above the movements of the Pure Ones, and they seem to be retreating their forces out of areas they were inhabiting. No one seems to know what is going on, but there's fear that they plan an invasion of some sort, though we can't say where," Ethos told her. He wasn't exactly lying to her, this was a concern of his and it definitely hung on his mind right now, but not as much as his deeper concerns.

Despite all of her reassurances, Ethos had never been able to overcome his doubt. Ever since he had joined the Guardians he had always felt that all the other owls were just waiting for him to screw up. But in reality, Ethos was the only one in the tree that still cared about his kraal past. He was utterly convinced the other Guardians still didn't accept him, which drove his habits of overworking himself, as evident here by his almost obsessive devotion to Verae. He was so frightened by the thought of loosing her, he was blind to the fact that there was no chance of that happening.

[Felidae]

"Oh... Well, that does sound troubling."

Verae let out a frustrated sigh. As much as she knew she had to keep their unhatched egg safe and warm, she couldn't help but want to get up and take part in council meetings and just get back into the routine of being Queen. She was stressed that Ethos would overwork himself, thus resulting in both of them contained to their hollow. The young Snowy's mind was already racing with thoughts of what the Pure Ones could be planning and she wanted so much to step out of her nest and search through the reports, looking for the one thing that would keep the Tree and her subjects safe.

"I wish I could just get out of this nest and get back to my duties as Queen." Verae sighed, huddling down in her nest.

[Deleted]

"I know, Verae, I know, but we all have our duties and right now, you only have one duty and that is to look after our first offspring," Ethos remarked, stepping into the nest so he could cuddle up with her. "And just think, it will only be for a few more weeks, then you get to have fun chasing after our wild little owlet. You'll wish for these days to return," he said with a laugh and nuzzled her.

"But, if you are so keen to help, I do have more than my fair share of reports to read through, I'm sure I can have some sent to you to read," Ethos suggested to her, a little jokingly. As boring as it was to sit on her nest all day, he was almost certain that reading through status reports from the Guardians was even more of a bore. "Or maybe you would like a book form the library?"