Epilogue

Rane

There was a massive weight on Rane’s chest, and it came from the incredibly tiny, delicate little female laying sweetly in his hands. Small enough to fit between them. So sweet and calm. Sleeping so nicely, like she hadn’t just been screaming for the better part of half a mark. She made quite a lot of very shrill noise for something so tiny.

And despite that, despite how frantic and panicked he’d been when she’d been inconsolable, he could do nothing but stare in awe at this adorable little creature. Something so fragile and perfect and incredible.

That was his daughter.

“Is she down?”

He looked up, smiling as his mate quietly crept into the room. She had some mashed, soft fruit in a bottle for their daughter to suck on. Unlike human young, she didn’t feed directly from Sandy. She could, of course. Sandy still made milk, even if a Telfay female wouldn’t, but their daughter had been uninterested. Sandy had gone to see if they could tempt her into calmness with a treat instead.

Whatever had upset her tonight, she was well over it now. She had some tear tracks staining her brown baby feathers, and she was still a little poofy from being all riled up, but that honestly just made her even cuter.

“She drifted off shortly after you left,” Rane said, smiling as Sandy put her arm around him, taking her turn to smile dreamily at their precious daughter.

“Little stinker,” she teased. “You’re going to turn me as gray as your grandmother.”

Rane smiled. She wasn’t even capable of understanding words yet, and already Sandy was treating her with the same playful demeanor she had when she talked about her grandmother. She insisted on just calling her grandmother, even to their daughter, because, as she said, she might as well have been my mother anyway. She’s her grandmother too. She was also their daughter’s namesake.

Alexandra Tollman III by human naming conventions.

But by telfay naming conventions, her name was Alexandra el Alexandra el Alexandra.

The media called them the strangest people in the world for giving their daughter such a name. Unlike humans, it wasn’t common for the telfay to name their young after themselves, and the fact that their little one carried on her great-grandmother’s name was odd to most of the planet. Sandy said it was just her doing her best to live up to their status as a weird celebrity couple. He had no idea what that meant.

But he found it adorable.

They called her Allie.

And she was Rane’s entire world. He was never more glad that his own father was back in his life as he was nowadays. Though they hadn’t spoken in years, Traff was an eager source of advice and assistance. He and his mate, Uvia, had been the ones to help Sandy and Allie settle in after they came home from the birthing center. Traff was the one who showed Rane how to care for his daughter. And his half-brothers were taking turns fighting over holding her.

Surrounded by them and their love and support, Rane almost forgot what it was like, all those years living under his mother’s reign.

But he never really forgot. And some part of him was terrified that he wouldn’t be able to care for her. That he would repeat the same crimes of his mother, and his daughter would suffer for it. Even when Sandy told him that it was a foolish fear – because she would beat him senseless if he ever tried such a thing – it was still a persistent anxiety in his mind.

A fear that was fed a little more every time she was crying uncontrollably. No matter what Sandy or Traff or Uvia said about younglings just being like that, there was still a deep pit of certainty in his gut that was absolutely convinced he was doing something wrong.

But then she would fall asleep in his hands, resting against his chest, like she was doing now. And his mate, colorful and beautiful, would rest her head on his bicep as she stroked down her poofy baby feathers, making her smooth again, and those fears were nonexistent again.

Because Rane would never hurt this perfect little creature. Allie el Sandy el Lexi would grow up only knowing the love of her foremothers. And judging by her cry and stubbornness, she would be just as fierce and powerful as her namesakes.

And there was no greater victory than that.