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It had been three weeks since Gamma woke up.

Since then, she'd learned about the deaths of her packmates and the love of her life through the blood on the ground in her old paddock and word of the land with Blue's help. She mourned them all, despite how Hawk treated her, and was still in the process of mourning Foxtrot when she realized that she hardly felt anything inside of her for the first two weeks of nesting, whereas she knew by her instincts she would feel heavy with young. But the fact that she still had felt something gave her hope, and hope was all she had after learning about the death of her mate. She was glad that there were no more overseers on the island, otherwise she would've probably torn them all apart for killing Foxtrot.

She'd also learned about what had caused the spontaneous evacuation of overseers from the island; Blue retold that event quite vividly, making sure that no detail, no matter how painstakingly small, was missed. She admired the gray raptor for how brave she was in the face of danger, and how little she cared for others' opinions of her. She was a fine alpha indeed; Gamma had a feeling that her and Foxtrot would've gotten along famously. The beige raptor recounted her own tale to the other female, garnering quite the fair bit of sympathy for herself, and while that's not what she was trying to do, she certainly appreciated Blue's comfort and words of encouragement that things would get better.

The two of them, as the beta and alpha's mate respectively, came to an agreement that the pack hierarchy was moot, considering that there were two of them, so they decided to abolish that and treat each other as equals. They both ate at the same time, slept at the same time, had the same responsibilities, and definitely treated each other with respect.

Gamma had also made up with the Queen of the island herself, both of them meeting on the edge of their respective territories after a relaxing hunt. The beige raptor apologized profusely, but, true to Blue's word, she was very understanding and patient, and, thankfully, didn't chase Gamma this time. Like the gray raptor, Rexy was also very much like an alpha, but instead of leading just a pack of raptors, she led the entire ecosystem of the island, keeping everything in check, making sure that the carnos didn't kill off too many prey animals, making sure the prey's breeding didn't get too out of hand, and keeping the balance of everything in perfect harmony. It sounded like a difficult job, and Gamma held a different kind of respect for the Queen after hearing how it not only hardly phased her, but how she enjoyed her duties. After that, whenever the two encountered each other on hunts, they would always give each other a friendly nod of acknowledgement.

She had to admit, though, she missed her old life quite a bit; she was thankful to see that, upon arriving at their paddock, nothing had taken up residence in her absence, so she and Blue quickly moved base there, since it was closer to where the prey often resided, not to mention the rivers that flowed through the middle of the island granting them access to clean water pretty much whenever they pleased. Still, it wasn't the same as before, when Foxtrot and Hawk would exchange banter, and Indy would curl up on a rock by himself, and how she herself often jogged around to make sure that she remained the fastest raptor.

Looking back on things, she wished that the future had turned out differently; Indy had just begun to change, and it wasn't fair that that was taken away from him. She felt bad that she wasn't able to help him, or Foxtrot for that matter. She even felt bad for Hawk, who slipped back so far that he was beyond saving before they even realized what was happening. There were so many things that she now understood that she didn't before, and she wished that she knew them so that she might've been able to save her pack.

Then again, what she had with Blue would've never occurred had none of this happened; if they'd all survived, Blue would be forced to the bottom of the pack to take her place, and Hawk would most likely target her… Oh, who was she kidding? The spunk in that female alone would've gotten Hawk replaced within the second. But still, she would be a part of the system, a system that, as shown by past events, didn't work. She enjoyed their sisterly relationship, a bond that, if things had played out differently, the two of them wouldn't have.

She also wasn't sure if her egg would've survived.

She figured out some time ago that what those overseers did to her when she was strapped down had robbed her of most of her young. She was a bit slow to piece it together over the week she knew she should've become heavy, and for a few days she thought that all her eggs were lost. However, by sheer chance, one was able to survive, and she laid it nearly a week ago in a nest she'd built on the ledge she and Foxtrot used to sit on. It was her miracle hatchling, the thing that shouldn't have survived but did anyways, and she swore up and down that she would treat her hatchling like royalty, because it meant the world to her. With Foxtrot and the rest of her pack gone, her single child was all she had to remember her old life by.

And as she stared into the sunset with all this in mind, she smiled softly as she realized that she'd lived a full life already.

She was taken out of her thoughts by the sound of something cracking.

Her eyes snapped to the egg nestled into her side, seeing a large crack in its otherwise perfectly smooth surface. She gasped as she realized that her child was starting to hatch, everything else going away as she leaned down and gave a soft chitter of encouragement to her hatchling. A cute-sounding chirp came from the egg as more cracks appeared, the hatchling struggling a little to get out. Gamma gave a soft growl, another sign of her support as the small raptor slowly broke out of its organic prison. It took a few minutes, all of which Gamma spent encouraging her youngling with gentle growls and chitters while her child slowly broke free. When it did, Gamma gasped at the beautiful sight.

It had bright green scales just like Foxtrot did, along with Gamma's beige scales on its underbelly. It didn't have any feathers at such a young age, but she knew that her child would grow them out eventually. Black stripes ran across its back and peripheral limbs, a combination of Gamma and Foxtrot's patterning. What caught her attention most were its eyes; one was a dazzling yellow, just like her mates, while one was a vivid sky blue like her own. She noted that, like herself and Blue, this hatchling was rather slender, giving away its gender immediately.

It was a beautiful baby girl.

She looked around at her surroundings, taking in everything the world had to offer, before her eyes finally landed on Gamma. She let out an inquisitive chitter, making Gamma's heart flutter as she responded with a motherly croon as she leaned down to clean her hatchling for the first time. As she did, she thought of a name for her child, seeing that she reminded her so much of her father.

"My little Foxtrot…" she cooed.

The hatchling seemed to immediately take a liking to her new name, giving a happy chirp as she got closer to her mother, letting out a soft croon that was unmistakable in its meaning:

"Mommy…"

Gamma's heart swelled as she smiled and nuzzled her child, Foxtrot cooing as she did the same, mother and daughter sharing that first intimate embrace, marking the beginning of a new chapter in Gamma's life.

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