A/N: Written for the April challenge of the Tamora Pierce Writing Experiment (under Song of the Lioness forums). I hope you enjoy!
"*insert pet name here* is lonely. Watch as it bugs *owner*, not realizing that it's interrupted some sort of romantic moment of the humans."
Close Your Eyes
For countless seasons Little Bear had been fawned over by his humans. Over time he had grown from a little titch of a puppy to a respectable-sized dog, and there had never really been a shortage of people to pat him whenever he demanded it. In his earliest years all four of his favourite humans would cluster around him and simultaneously scratch behind his ears, rub his tummy, stroke his back, and groom his fur. Oh, those were the days!
But things changed.
You couldn't live in Winding Circle without coming to realise that everything has to grow. Rosethorn had once explained to him in a very loud and growly voice that growing was the purpose of Winding Circle (and he'd best stop helping her dig in the garden unless he wanted to end up as a shaggy white rug). With Rosethorn's help, Bear understood growing things.
He knew everything had to change from small to big, so he wasn't too upset when his children grew into bigger children and went gallivanting around the world. After all, Tris and Get-Down-Little-Bear had taken him to places with new smells and treats, and he still got his scratches and affection. The world was exciting, life was exciting, and Bear loved being able to bark at the waves and meet new people.
Glaki was one of the new people that Little Bear met, and the tiny human was probably the thing he loved most of all about travelling. She was smaller than any of his other humans had ever been. At night she would curl up behind him and cuddle up close, and during the day she would happily throw sticks for him to chase. Life was good.
Sweet Glaki came back with Tris and Get-Down-Little-Bear when they returned to Winding Circle, which pleased Bear to no end. When Bear got to the cottage that had been his first real home his tail wouldn't stop twitching with excitement. He couldn't wait to sit in the middle of his four favourite humans and have them tend to him.
Little Bear scrambled around the house and was even game enough to climb the stairs to seek out Daja, Briar, and Sandry. After he had searched every room of the cottage, Bear realised his other humans weren't home. That night, when they were alone, Tris knelt down beside him and buried her face in his scruffy fur. "They're not here, Bear. Soon I won't be either, we're all grown up and can't live here anymore. And- and I know you're our dog and you belong with us, but Glaki needs you," Tris said coarsely as she massaged his ears.
He leaned against Tris for a long while, until she gave him one last hug and slipped off to bed. Bear knew his duty and nudged Briar's (no, Glaki's) door open with his nose and settled himself at the foot of her bed. The next day Little Bear sadly watched Tris disappear down the twisting cobbled path towards a home that would never be his.
Moons waxed and waned, Glaki got tall enough to reach shelves without standing a stool, and Little Bear's bones started to hurt sometimes. Bear knew the hurting was part of getting older and he wasn't generally one to complain, but he did wish the humans would find another dog to help run the household. How was he meant to greet guests properly when it took so long to get off the ground? The only benefit was an improved relationship with Get-Down-Little-Bear, who now took the time to pat Bear on the head whenever he came over.
One Spring a new human came to live at the little old cottage. Little Bear gave his biggest welcoming bark and awkwardly trotted over to the boy, only to be sneezed at! The first sneeze was shortly followed by more sneezes. In fact, the boy never seemed to stop sneezing, especially when Little Bear was around. Two days later Lark and Rosethorn looked at him regretfully and had Glaki give him a big scratch.
And things changed. Again.
Get-Down-Little-Bear took Little Bear to a new house on a new street, but it didn't have new people in it. He could smell the best smells in the world- a mixture of green things, hard-shiny stuff, and rainstorms. Three of his favourite humans came out of the house to greet him and Bear's tail immediately started thumping on the ground in happiness.
"Come on old man, let's get you inside," said Briar.
Get-Down-Little-Bear frowned, "you've always had quite a way with words."
"I meant the dog."
That night Little Bear's four favourite humans clustered around him and simultaneously scratched behind his ears, rubbed his tummy, stroked his back, and groomed his fur. He happily squirmed beneath their tickly fingers and tried to lick their faces. Bear felt like the luckiest dog in the world, but when lights went out at night he was left alone in the sitting room. None of his humans asked him to come to their rooms to sleep, and that made Bear sad.
He waited patiently for one of them to realise their error, but when being patient didn't work he made his own way to Briar's room. He had almost always slept in Brair's room when he was younger, if not it had been Sandry's, and she didn't live here. Little Bear sniffed under the door, checking for the smell of green things, and gave a gentle yip.
The door didn't open, so Bear yipped again.
And again.
And again.
The door opened that time, and Little Bear rushed in with his tail wagging proudly. He chose to sit on Brair's rug until the boy decided where he wanted Bear to sleep. Were Briar's feet cold? Did he want Little Bear to lay on them? Did he want to cuddle instead, like Glaki sometimes insisted on? Another curious thing that Little Bear wanted to know was where has Briar's fur gone? Indeed, Little Bear's boy had lost his fur, and there was a furless girl in his bed, too. Little Bear wondered if it was contagious, though he hoped not.
"Briar, your dog is staring at us," said Furless.
Little Bear tilted his head to one side and watched Briar give Furless a kiss. "No he's not," he told the girl.
"But he is! He's staring," Furless said in an agitated, squeaky voice. Bear grew excited at the squeaky voice, squeaky voices meant play time! Even though it was late at night and Little Bear was tired, he would never say no to play time.
Briar distracted Furless with more kisses and pushed her onto the bed. Little Bear stood up on all fours, and was so happy his entire rear end wiggled, not just his tail. Wrestling! It had been such a long time since anyone had wrestled with him like his boy used to do. Bear let out an energetic yip and leapt onto the bed.
Furless shrieked and Briar said a word that would make Rosethorn pinch his ear. "I'm going home and I won't be coming back to this house until you get rid of that mutt," Furless said grouchily. She rolled out from under Briar and found her discarded bits of fur on the ground. Whew, what a relief, the fur loss wasn't permanent!
Briar groaned and within moments he'd fixed half of his fur, too. Little Bear pouted, did this mean they weren't going to play anymore? He tentatively rested his muzzle on Briar's knee.
. . . .
"Little Bear?" Tris called, shaking the dog's bowl so his food would make noise. She walked around the house trying to find him, but the dog was nowhere to be found. She bit her lip, knowing that the giant dog never failed to come when breakfast was offered. "Little Bear!" She called again, growing worried, "Bear?"
He's in here, come and get him if you want, Briar told her through their magical bond.
Tris let out the breath she didn't even realise she had been holding and walked to Briar's room, food bowl in hand. She had definitely heard a girl in her brother's room the night before, but perhaps the chit had some job to get to early in the morning. Even so, Tris prepared herself to see evidence of debauchery when she opened Briar's door.
Instead, she saw Brair's arm slung around Little Bear as the two lay together on the bed. She couldn't help but laugh at the sight, as Little Bear made quite the contrast to Briar's usual companions. "Is this the warm body you've been looking for throughout the past year?" she asked.
Briar launched his pillow at his sister, but then his arm returned to it's position around Little Bear. Coppercurls could mock him all she liked. He might never admit it, but last night had been Briar's most peaceful sleep in a long time .