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Tighnari hadn’t dreamed since he was but a small child, those far off fantastical dreams long forgotten when he grew up. Though to be honest, he wasn’t sure what it meant to grow up here in the land of Sumeru. Maybe it started when he first entered the Akademiya? It was so long ago that now he couldn’t quite pin the exact moment.
In the first place, one couldn’t always remember dreams. You could definitely train yourself to by having a journal and writing down all that you had dreamed about but for the people of Sumeru, to dream was seen as a sign of not being logical… educated enough and this was naturally Sumeru, the nation of great wisdom. Who would ever want to admit to dreaming when it came with the stigma that you weren’t logical or smart enough?
But then, right after the sages were taken down for essentially jailing their very own archon, Greater Lord Kusanali revealed the sins of four of the leading sages and those before them. It stunned and shocked the people and even more so when their archon said she would be shutting down the Akasha Terminal for good. “There can be no trust in a device that was used to deceive the people for five hundred years, use them in cruel experiments and use it to make it seem like their archon was okay when actually being held captive. I will be shutting down the Akasha System forever.”
It was right after she completely shut it down that whispering started to spread that people were dreaming again. At first Tighnari was doubtful, taking it to be wild rumors from people who might have eaten a funny mushroom or something and yet soon even his own Forest Watchers and Rangers would talk about their dreams during breakfast with one another.
Some made absolutely no sense, insane even while others were softer, nicer. There were even some who had dreams that could ‘predict’ the future. While nightmares weren’t exactly plentiful, you could always tell when someone might have woken up too early and looked a little drained, shaken even.
While it was not his particular style to get bent out of shape about something so harmless, Tighnari had to admit that he was a little miffed at not receiving a dream. Even Collei, now completely cured of her Elezar which doubled her energy and vitality, was dreaming nearly every night. Everyone around him was having dreams while it seemed that the ability to even dream had been stolen from him!
Again, he was loath to admit such petty and silly thoughts but he too wished to dream again as he did as a child. Tighnari sighed and grumbled a bit as he finished up his last log for the day. The Withering Zones were now nearly gone thanks to the amazing efforts of the band of heroes who helped their archon to heal Irminsul. He should have been happy but the foul feelings bled into what should have been a joyful victory for the Forest Watcher.
As if to compound the awful feelings further, his mate, Lumine, was currently in the desert to help with the plans Cyno, Setaria and Rahman were trying to put into motion so that things could go as smoothly as possible to help start rebuilding the lives of the desert people. Setaria was determined to start teaching there now that she’d gotten full permission from Kusanali herself. It was a praiseworthy goal that would no doubt grow rapidly with the right people she brought in to help her. It was something good and yet he really would have liked to talk to Lumine at this time. Just to vent his frustrations.
He growled and buried his face into his arms, tail bristled in irritation at the fact that his bed would be cold tonight.
Couldn’t win with anything right now, could he?
Tighnari grunted and stood from his desk to get ready for bed. The new treehouse he built for Lumine and himself felt bigger tonight. Emptier. Fuck these depressing feelings, dammit! Changing into his pajamas for the night, he slipped under to cool covers and nestled down into the sheets while using the pillows to surround him to make up for the bed feeling empty.
The drain from his emotional and mental state had him falling off to sleep within minutes.
“Papa!”
Tighnari was jolted awake at the yell right into his poor ears, the combination of that and four separate bodies diving into him had the half fox turning on his side to see four pairs of eyes looking up at him, full of excitement and mischief. Completely discombobulated, at first he was trying to figure out who they were until he suddenly did know them. Two sets of twins… no, they were quadruplets. He had no idea where the correction had come from, but truly at first glance they looked like two sets of twins.
One ‘set’ had familiar blond hair with pale green highlights in their hair, ears and tails. They had his eyes too. The other ‘set’ took completely after their mother’s coloration, a pale blond reflected in their ears and tails with their eyes a warm gold. They watched him, waiting for his reaction. He did not know them but his heart, his heart knew them. Tighnari smiled and rested back against his pillow. “Good morning. I’m very certain I told you something about inside voices, yes?”
They looked so adorable, some snuggling into him, no doubt to soak in their father’s warmth. They gave a collective apology while one spoke. “Mama says it's your turn to watch us today.”
“I see that.”
“Can we go with you on the patrol today so that when you get done we can go play in the river?” Another asked.
“We’ll see.” he responded but he had a feeling he would give in. He felt so overwhelmingly full in that moment as he began to check their ears. It was something his mother often did when he was young, teaching him that the health of his ears were very important. Tighnari chuckled when his mischievous little sons began to duck away from his hands, attempting to escape from the ear check. He’d done the same thing so instead of scolding them, he simply tugged the little gremlins gently by their tails back within reach.
They squeaked in protest, but he judged by the lack of urgency to truly escape, it was more of a game they played with one another. They settled down once Tighnari had finished the ear check and snuggled back into him. He studied them, Lumine having left her mark fully on their boys. As for how he knew her to be their mother… well, who else could it possibly have been? He would pick no other.
Though he couldn’t help but feel a little sad. Somehow he was hoping that his own coloration would have been a bit more dominant in the gene department but that sadness didn’t last. Tighnari’s ears caught the sounds of tiny whimpers and wiggles from behind him. Making sure his sons wouldn’t tumble into his sleeping spot, he got up slowly and approached the crib. The sight of his boys, the knowledge that they were his sons, had overwhelmed him. What lay in the crib made Tighnari’s heart implode.
In that crib was the tiniest baby of his kind that he’d ever seen.
Her ears were standing up on their own, so she was definitely old enough and since Lumine had left her in his care, his tiny daughter must be being weaned off her milk, moving on to more solid foods now though he suspected he might find a few bottles in the cooler box just in case.
His daughter, the youngest and the smallest, had taken on his coloration entirely while retaining a few features from her mother. The shape of her nose and eyes, most definitely from Lumine but everything else came from him. When she opened her eyes to stare into his own, it almost felt like he was looking into a mirror.
Tighnari felt his whole soul tremble as reached down to scoop her up into his arms. He felt like crying when he looked from his sons and then to his little girl. She waved her arm about until she latched on to his pajama shirt, tugging at it a little. She might as well have been tugging at his heartstrings.
“Oh! She’s awake!" They watched as their father turned to them and they put on their best begging faces "Can we please go on patrol with you, Papa?”
As if Tighnari could deny them. “As long as you stay close beside me and don't wander off, we'll stop by the river for that swim you wanted once we finish the patrol.”
The four immediately bolted to their room leaving Tighnari to quickly get ready for the day along with his daughter. While they had been bought a little too big, the plan had obviously been to allow her time to grow into her clothes so they didn’t have to be on the search for new clothes constantly.
He looked for something to keep her to his chest when she wiggled into his sash. Small and light enough to be held by the sash and belt alone, she flopped her ears against his chest to hear the comfort of his heartbeat. He did his best to not dissolve into tears but great archons she was making this so hard for him. He reached in to gently do an ear check on her as well. Far more fussy than the boys, she obviously didn't like it when her ears were bothered. She grumbled in protest and snuggled further into the sash to hide. Tighnari gave the little bump a small pat of apology, feeling her little tail wiggle in response.
The boys were waiting when he left his room, dressed perfectly for a patrol though he helped straighten out some bushy tails that had gotten a bit ruffled when putting on their clothes. Another was doing his best to hold up a collection basket which Tighnari decided would be best for him to take because his son looked about ready to topple over. They set out immediately afterward.
The other forest watchers and rangers were doing their patrols, Collei helping to coordinate everything while she seemingly had given him the easiest patrol route for the day. As if she knew beforehand that he would be having his kits along. Proud for how smoothly she was taking charge of everything, the family of foxes set out. At first they had stayed close to their father but slowly the boys spread out and started to help clear the path of any branches that they could pick up while Tighnari checked the lamps.
He couldn’t help but feel quite proud of their work, knowing they would make excellent forest watchers in the future if they ever wanted to take that path.
Every so often, one would come up with a mushroom, which was edible thankfully, to drop into the collecting basket while two others brought arms full of Zaytun peaches for their little sister, they explained. “Mama says it’s time for her to start eating normal food and we have to be good examples and not be so picky in front of her.” Tighnari smiled at the obvious ploy that he and Lumine had used to get the four to try new foods no doubt, but to them it was just about being the best big brothers they could be.
They’d finished up the patrol route by midday just as the basket was starting to get heavy of all the goodies they’d found along the way. Tighnari picked out the shallowest portion of the river his boys could play, just deep enough if they wanted to go under the clear water but shallow enough that he had enough time to react if something happened.
They set their clothes to the side and began to splash about it. It was only then Tighnari realized he probably should have gotten them an extra change of underwear. He sighed and started up a fire and grabbed one of the many cooking pots that were scattered about in the wild, left by some adventurer or an Eremite group, either way, it proved useful in the situation. Cleaning it off in the river, he started to heat it up in the fire while pulling out a bowl, probably the main reason why the basket might have been a little bit heavy at the start, to crush the peaches.
His daughter finally poked her head out from the comfort of his sash to crawl into his lap and watch him work. As though she knew that this was definitely for her.
The pan was now hot enough since he could see little wisps of smoke rise up from the pan, Tighnari started to place the mushrooms into the pan, turning them often so that they only got crispy at the edges. Ears twitching as his sons splashed about in the river, giggling as they played whatever game was amusing them.
His daughter whined and reached out to her snack, bringing his attention back to her once he rotated the mushrooms once again. He sprinkled a little sunsettia juice into the mix before reaching into the basket to pull out the spoon. Tighnari got a little bit and held it out for her. She chomped down and pulled away, the eating utensil completely cleaned.
Laughing when she pouted for more, he happily complied with her demands while checking on the mushrooms. Perfectly cooked, he turned to call the boys in but found them already already running, soaked, to sit by the fire to warm up while the food got passed out. Tighnari frowned a bit because they had been so distracted earlier, how could they know the food was ready to eat?
And another thing.
These were his children, he was sure of that. So why was it that no matter how hard Tighnari tried to recall, how was it that he could not recall a single name? They called him Papa, so surely he would have named his own children… right?
“Mama!” The four waved and he turned to see Lumine walking toward him with a glowing smile that made his heart skip a beat. A little thicker in certain areas, but she did give him five kits.
“Tighnari.” she called out in greeting. He opened his mouth to say something but found his voice seemed to be stuck in his throat. The edges of his vision turned fuzzy even.
“Tighnari?”
“Tighnari!”
Once again, he was jolted awake, eyes opening wide to see Lumine staring down at him, her brow furrowed in concern as she cupped his cheek. He sat up while Lumine leaned back. It all finally came rushing back to him before he fell asleep. “I thought you were in the desert?” He asked in confusion.
“I was but I managed to finish up the last of the commissions early so I came back because I wanted to see you.” she flushed a little but leaned in close again. “When I came home you were grumbling under the covers, I thought you might have been having a nightmare so I tried to wake you up.”
“A nightmare??” He turned to see no crib and the pieces finally fell into place. He’d been dreaming. His heart clenched a little. He’d been wanting to dream so badly and he finally had his first dream since childhood and Tighnari was already unhappy with it.
He didn’t want it to be a dream.
“Tighnari? Was it about-”
“No, it wasn’t a nightmare,” he sighed and hid his face behind his hands, ears drooping low. He looked, eyeing her once over. “Though… it’s definitely something we can get started on right now.”
“Huh? What do you-” she squeaked when he suddenly yanked her into bed with him. Curling around her, Tighnari told her about his very first dream in a long time… and hoped she would agree to make it their reality at some point.