Author's Note: Well, firstly... this isn't exactly what I wanted. It's okay, it gets the point across but... I wanted something a lot more emotional, I guess. Anyhow, what I had on repeat while writing this was Das Rheingold (The Rhine Gold) Vorspiel - Prelude, by Wagner. It's beautiful, you should take a listen sometime. The inspiration was the end scene of the movie The New World. The scene is a montage of sorts with that same theme playing and it's just absolutely beautiful, I recommend that movie. Enjoy!


She is swinging high, her legs have curled under the swing and her head is thrown back. Her mane is glorious, and her father is proud of the distinctive colors. There is gold woven into strands of coal, thick and full of curl. It's a beautiful pelt.

When he tries to braid her hair before school she laughs. "Daddy," she says, "No daddy, you start from the top, the very top. In and out, over, three strands. Oh daddy... I'll get momma to do it." He watches her slip from his grasp and the very tips of her curls dance out of his large hands. He does not object to her running away, it isn't often she sits still long enough so that he can run his fingers through her hair, he gets his chance every morning. Until she decides mother would do a better job, of course.

She is dropping low, her legs kick out and her bare feet are caressed by the blades of moist grass. When she dips her chin low to watch the grass below, he catches a glint of her gaze. Gilded with copper and sapphire, two rare jewels, a gift from her mother just barely touched by her father.

When she comes home from school she is huffing and puffing and her cheeks burn bright. Her mother smiles. "You have been running again. My wild girl, you've never been one for taking things slowly." Those gemstone eyes are brighter than ever today, as is always the case in the week of the full moon. The girl tilts her head and stares up at her mother without a word. She is silent still when she presses her small form against her mother's leg and hip. "I wish you'd hunt with us. I wish you could feel the moon in your bones too."

The momentum of the swing is soon lost and eventually the girl is stagnantly sitting, watching the large window of their home. Her father is leaning against the window, occasionally glancing towards her, but mostly watching the sleeping form of her mother. Her mother rests against the chest of her father, with her long legs stretched out along the window sill.

She slips inside like a ghost, but she knows father has smelled her before she even touched the door knob. With delicate steps she makes way to the window and there she pauses beside her parents. She kisses her mother's brow, then she rests her head upon her father's shoulder. It is then that her mother stirs.

"June," says father. "June of the moon. Are you ready for tonight? You must rest, like your dear mother. Rest for tonight."

She is feeling a slight drain in her energy. Her body is already preparing for the hunt, it wants to save her energy. She kisses mother again, kisses father's arm and then departs for her long nap before the hunt.

"I never thought something so beautiful could come from me," he admits when his daughter is gone.

"That's because she's mainly me," murmurs Virginia and with an almost inaudible giggle she closes her eyes again. She can't see Wolf's smile, but she can tell it's set wide upon his face.