[Sarah]

That fall she birthed three healthy pups, and with the help of Shane and Sam they all made it through the winter fat and strong. The mother had wanted to keep up with ‘s’ names. Having two boys and a girl she choose names that she thought fit their personalities. The largest boy was named sabastian, his black and purple fur marked him as a natural magic user. The second boy was named seth, his golden fur was richer that his mothers, and his wings had no brown. The smallest girl was named Sophia, and though she was the smallest she was the obvious leader of the three. The mother had a hard time keeping up with the three and she knew that one moment with her eyes turned away her children would be up to no good.

[Sarah]

The last three years of her life where spent raising her children as best she could. Sabasitan grew into a powerful mage and was taken at a young age to a magic school where he would learn to control his powers. Seth was a sort of reject; he fit into no clans or factions. Instead he stayed with his mother and helped her in whatever way he could. Sophia came to lead a small battalion in the same clan that held sam and shane. The mother was still young, but with her death approaching quickly she learned to accept her fate. And knowing her children would always be protected she felt she would be able to go in peace with the goddess.

[Sarah]

Winter was now upon the forest, the rivers where locked in ice and a soft blanket of snow covered the forest floor. The mother called all of her children to her; she had something important to tell them. She told them of her deal, and that she loved her children more than anything. Her eldest children were outraged, claiming they would rather have died in the winter than see their mother be taken from them. The mother admitted that it was selfish of her to expect the deal would make her the yonyuu she was supposed to be, but that she did not regret her choice. As the news settled on the children they could do little more than cry, and after a while silence fell on the house.

[Sarah]

That night the goddess sent her pixies to retrieve the mother’s soul. When they reached the home of the mother they were shocked to find that the yonyuu was already dead. A magic ward kept the pixies out, but they knew instantly that they had been cheated. The mother’s soul couldn’t be reached if it was still in the house. The pixies could only assume the soul had spirited away to the gods in heaven. The mother was a clever woman and over time had erased all traces of her latest litter, and as much as she could she erased any sort of connection she had with that first litter. Only meeting her children in secret.

[Sarah]

When the mother had told her children of her deal, the five had instantly gone into planning a way to keep their mothers soul free of the goddess. Sebastian knew of spells that could protect a soul and ward away pixies and the like. Sam and shane where able to convince their clan to give up some herbs. Seth then every path to the edge of the forest from the house and with sophia’s help they created a protected path of their mother soul to follow in order to be free of the forest. Now it was up to their mother to do the final things. After more tears and sad goodbyes her children left and now it was up to her. She did as was planned and her soul escaped the forest and rose to be protected by the gods above.

[Sarah]

Having erased her time with any of her children the goddess was not able to go after the ones who prevented her from stealing another soul.  The goddess wasn’t stupid however and knew that pouting over one soul would not help her forest. Soon the young and desperate mother was forgotten by those who didn’t know her. Over time the goddess even forgot her. The mother’s children never forgot, though they didn’t pass on the story to their children. The soothsayer also kept quiet even though she hadn’t been aware of the plane she had seen a soul escape the forest that night. No questions where ever asked and in a sad way it was like the mother had no impact on the forest at all. Except for her two mighty warriors, the great leader, the powerful mage, and the man who would become soothsayer after nattalia. They all went on to have a huge impact on the forest. They united the forest and though they could never break the goddess’ spell they did make the forest a more habitable and civilized place to live. No mothers ever had to watch their children die, and no children ever had to watch the suffering of a dying mother.