Author's Note: I would like to apologize to my readers for how cluttered and illegible, but I'm going to do my best to keep it more like this or hopefully better. And thanks to OnTheSpectrum, you helped inspire me to keep writing, your words of encouragement really mean a lot.

Chapter 8: Compassion

The young sneasel awoke once again clutched in his mothers arms. She was still sleeping herself. Shard was quite the sneasel herself. Glorious pink fur symbolic of the shiny variant of their species, long magnificent claws of a brilliant ivory color, and her eyes were a soft silver color. Just like Blade's eyes. Shard awoke slowly "Oh, you're already awake dear, would you like to go to the river sweetie?"

"Yes ma'am." Blade nodded happily at her. They wasted no time in getting up and heading to the river near their current den. Even as a child Blade loved the way water sparkled in sunlight. It was always mesmerizing to him. Shard watched him from just a short distance behind him with a content smile on her rather beautiful face. She loved her son more than anything in the world. But her smile faded as she heard her mates voice behind her

"You can't always protect that little wretch Shard. Sooner or later, you won't be there, and in that time someone will kill him."

"Well, then I suppose he's lucky I'm his mother and none of the other female's in the pack. They'd obviously do the deed themselves for you. A mother's love is normally unconditional. But they are so blinded by their love and adoration for you, that they would gladly kill even their own children."

"But not you my dear" Cleave tilted her head to look at him.

"That's why you chose me as your partner isn't it? You realized their blind loyalty is only because of your strength. And because their could be someone stronger, you made sure to have someone unshakable in their love for you…. Perhaps you made the wrong choice, because I no longer believe I love you as I once did."

"Because of your little mistake?"

"Because of our son, who you'd clearly rather died than be with us." She smacked his claw away.

"Come now Shard, we can always have another, this one simply isn't good enough for either of us."

"Not for you maybe! But he's perfect just the way he is." Cleave's expression grew dark and agitated as he stood and turned to leave.

"Face the truth, Shard one day, once you are gone, he will die. And there isn't anything you can do to change that. Why can't you see, I wanted him dead because losing him will only hurt more the longer it takes. I didn't want you to suffer from the heartache of losing a son you grew attached to."

"Lie to yourself and them all you want Cleave, but I know you better than them. I fell in love with you. The real you, I saw how you manipulated your enemies and allies into helping you. So believe me I know why you want him dead. You'd rather wipe clean the slate and dispose of the thing that brings you shame!" Cleave simply walked away. Shard turned back to look at Blade, the boy was standing in the shallower part of the river enjoying the feeling of the water against him. Shard stood and strolled to the river lowering herself into the water beside her son. They smiled at each other and Shard tossed water onto Blade and laughed. Blade laughed and retaliated in kind tossing water at his mother. Moments like this made the younger sneasel happy. Pure joy, no pain, no fear, all were gone from his mind. Few and far between were these memories. Between constantly moving from place to place and Shard having to leave to hunt, Blade had many more painful memories than good ones. He was lucky to have such a kind and caring mother. Even when his father threatened her she still protected him.

Blade always admired his mother, she was strong and compassionate. She always cared about him, even when she should have probably worried more about herself. Her strength of will was stronger than anyone else's. With will alone she likely could have taken over the pack, but despite him being a bastard she loved Cleave.

After an hour or so they got out of the water. Shard's face was adorned with a much more longing and sorrowful expression. "Mama, why does papa hate me?" The young boy asked sadly.

"Your father doesn't hate you honey, he's just...stressed. He wasn't always like this. He was actually quite nice until..." Shard cut her sentence short. She didn't blame Blade for how Cleave was.

"Until I was born?" Blade sounded close to tears.

Shard decided she wasn't going to lie to him anymore "Yes, when you were born." Tears welled up in Blade's eyes as realization dawned on Shard. She hugged her son close "No...it isn't your fault Blade, I was wrong your father has always been this way. I just thought he actually loved me." 'But I was just a young girl who fell in love, and he used that as a tool' "Don't worry Blade, I'll protect you from everything I possibly can, I promise."

Blade hugged her tight. "I love you mama."

Shard kissed the top of his head "I love you too sweetie."