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Thace had been having trouble sleeping—it had been nearly a rotation now. In an attempt to ease the ache that his mother’s passing had left in his chest, Thace’s father had decided to bring him back to the Blade of Marmora’s main base, to visit with his older sister. His father had hoped that being off their home planet and out of the house would make it a little easier for him to adjust. He was still rather young, having only just celebrated his sixth name day, so it would be a rather large adjustment, but…
His father had thought that being around some cubs his own age would help him, too—like it had the first time he had come to the main base a couple of rotations ago, also to visit his sister.
The only cub who lived on the main base permanently was Thace’s friend, Antok, though. Even if Antok could be… tiring, given his seemingly endless reserves of energy, Thace had still been excited to see his friend. Antok and his foundmother, Evren, had actually been there to greet Thace and his father when they had arrived at the docking bay. Antok had wiggled out of Evren’s grasp to bowl Thace over, and for just a couple of ticks, Thace’s sadness over his mother had disappeared—he was happy to see his friend again after being apart for nearly five rotations. When Evren had suggested a sleepover, Thace’s father had encouraged Thace to go ahead, since he was leaving in the morning and Loren, Thace’s sister, was busy with her training.
Of course, now it was the middle of the night cycle, and Antok was sound asleep—and snoring much louder than a cub his size reasonably should have been. And squeaking too, but all cubs squeaked. Thace knew he still did when he wanted attention. So he could put up with the snoring and squeaking, but when Antok began accidentally kicking him, Thace finally shoved Antok’s shoulder.
Antok snorted and woke up, yawning wide as he sat up. “What’d you do that for?” he asked, sounding a little hurt.
“Sorry,” Thace mumbled. “You kicked me while you were sleeping.”
“Ev says I do that a lot,” Antok said. His ears went alert, standing up straight and shifting forward as his tail thumped against the sheets. He tilted his head to the side, ears twitching as he stared at Thace. However, he still appeared to only be half awake as he began rubbing one of his eyes. When he spoke next, he did so through a yawn. “What were you doing up, anyway? It’s sleep time… Ev said so.”
“Can’t sleep…” was all Thace managed to say. He didn’t want to elaborate, didn’t want to be annoying. Antok was clearly tired, and he didn’t want to bother Evren, who was asleep on the other side of the room—Thace could just barely hear her breathing from here. Instead, he waved Antok off. “Just go back to bed. I’m fine.”
However, upon noticing Thace’s poor attitude, Antok appeared to wake up a little more, and his brow furrowed in concern. “Did you have a nightmare?” he asked. Without waiting for an answer, he rolled out of bed and grabbed Thace by the arm. Even though they were roughly the same size, Antok was much stronger than his size suggested, and Thace stumbled as he tried not to end up falling face first onto the floor of Antok’s room.
“Where are we—” he started, but Antok cut him off.
“To Ev!” Antok said. “She always chases my nightmares away. Now, c’mon!”
Antok dragged Thace around the decorative screen that only served to separate Antok’s section of the room from the rest of it, which was technically his foundmother’s. The screen mostly gave Antok some semblance of privacy if he wanted it, but Thace suspected Antok spent more nights cuddling with his foundmother than he did in his own bed. If only because it was comforting to have someone there.
Evren was lying on her side with her back to them, but given her even breathing, she was already asleep.
“Antok… she’s sleeping,” Thace whispered, not wanting to bother her.
Antok, however, had no such reservations. He snorted, looking over his shoulder at Thace and frowning. “Yeah, so?” And then he let go of Thace’s hand, climbed up onto the bed, and started shaking Evren’s shoulder. “Ev? Eeeeeev?”
Evren let out a soft groan as she rolled over and propped herself up. “What is it, kitling?” she asked patiently, reaching out to lightly ruffle Antok’s headfur, between his ears. “Did you have a nightmare?”
Antok grinned as she ruffled his fur, but quickly shook his head and pointed to Thace. “He says he can’t sleep…” And then, Antok’s ears perked up as an excited expression appeared on his features. “Can we go get Van? He’s the best at chasing away nightmares!”
Evren sighed, tilting her head to the side. “Van is sleeping, kitling… he just got back from that off-base mission, remember?” she asked as she sat up and stretched her arms above her head. Then, she motioned for Thace to join her and Antok up on the bed. Once he had, she reached out to lightly run her fingers over his crest. “Now, what seems to be the problem, Thace?”
“Can’t sleep…” Thace said, using the same excuse as before. He didn’t like having this much attention on him, and he wanted nothing more than to go back to bed—to try and sleep. While he avoided looking Evren directly in the eye, he was hoping she would drop it and shoo them back off to sleep. However, Evren didn’t seem to be buying it any more than Antok had.
Her ears flicked and her brow furrowed in concern as her gaze softened considerably. “This is because of your mama… isn’t it, kitling?” she asked gently.
Thace’s ears perked up, twitching against the sides of his head. He hadn’t expected her to know about his mother’s death—not unless his father had told her, which was a possibility. He also was surprised that she had used the pet name she normally reserved for Antok. Evren had never called him that before. He hesitated for too long, enough that Evren’s expression shifted from soft to sympathetic.
“What happened to his mama?” Antok asked, eyes widening as his ears pinned back.
“His mama joined the stars, kitling…” Evren explained in the same soft tone, as she lightly ran her hand between Antok’s ears. “Like when we visited my uncle in the Hall of the Fallen? Do you remember that?”
Antok nodded. “The place with the plates.”
“That’s right,” Evren said. “Thace’s mama will get a plate soon, once Archivist Vini can make one.”
There was a pause where Antok seemed to think. Thace could tell by the way the tip of Antok’s tail was twitching back and forth incessantly. He was expecting Antok to ask more about the plates, or about when Thace’s mother’s funeral was going to happen, but what Antok said next surprised him.
“Can I share?” Antok asked, tilting his head to the side.
“… share, kitling?” Evren said, ears twitching in confusion.
“You’re my foundmother because my birthmother’s gone,” Antok said, ears standing at attention. “You can be Thace’s foundmother too!”
A soft huff of amusement left Evren as she gave a fond smile. Then, she reached out to ruffle Antok’s headfur. “It doesn’t work like that, kitling… I am your foundmother because you chose me—”
“And I can’t take your mama…” Thace added, shaking his head quickly. What he didn’t say out loud was that even though he liked Evren at lot… she wouldn’t be able to replace his mother. It was still too fresh in his mind for him to even think of replacing her.
“But I said I would share!” Antok insisted. “And my mama is the best!”
Evren leaned down to lightly butt her nose against Antok’s temple, earning a soft chirp in return. Even though she was smiling, Thace noticed the nervous twitch of her ears. Then, she turned her attention back to Thace. “I know that I can’t be your foundmother, Thace… but perhaps I can help you?” she suggested. “You and Antok can stay here with me, if you’d like…”
“Will you purr?” Antok asked, already nudging his way underneath Evren’s arm and getting comfortable at her side. As soon as Thace did the same, Evren did begin purring deep in her chest as she tried to lull them to sleep. Antok fell back asleep after only a few doboshes. Thace still had a hard time, but he eventually drifted off after Evren began lightly stroking his headfur, just like his mother always had.
He even began purring, right before he finally drifted off.