She sat near the hearth, hands around a warm bowl of herbal broth Matriarch Yelara had sent earlier. The flames danced softly, casting shifting shadows across the room.
Kael entered quietly, sensing her mood instantly. For all his wild instincts, his awareness of Charlisa was sharper than any beast-sense he possessed.
He sat beside her.
Not too close.
Not far.
Just enough for her to lean if she needed.
"You're thinking about it again," he said gently.
Charlisa stared at the fire. "I know I shouldn't. The elders keep saying nature has its timing… but I can't stop thinking I failed. That my body didn't answer."
Kael's ears angled downward in worry.
"Charlisa… you didn't fail anything."
She didn't answer.
Kael hesitated, then rose to his feet.
"I'll call Yelara."
Charlisa blinked. "I don't need—"
"You deserve answers," he said simply.
And he stepped out.
---
Kael Speaks With the Matriarch
Matriarch Yelara was sitting outside her dwelling, repairing a winter cloak. She didn't look up as Kael approached—she didn't need to.
"You're walking with too much tension," she said. "Tell me."
Kael exhaled. "She's hurting again. I want to tell her it's not her fault, but she's drowning inside her own mind."
Yelara's hands stilled.
"Then bring her to me."
Kael frowned.
"I fear she'll think I'm asking you to comfort her because I don't believe I can."
Yelara chuckled, dry and knowing.
"You're a good partner, Kael. But there are truths she needs to hear from someone who has lived longer than the last ice age."
Then she added, with a small smile,
"And from someone who isn't you."
Kael sighed. "Fine. But… Yelara? When you speak with her… tell her about our kind's lifespan. She doesn't fully know."
Yelara raised a brow. "You didn't tell her yet?"
Kael scratched his neck. "I… may have assumed she'd never need that information so soon."
Yelara snorted. "Young males."
"I am eighty-two," Kael protested.
"Yes," she laughed. "Practically a toddler."
--
Charlisa didn't stand when Yelara entered; the Matriarch waved away the gesture anyway.
"Child," Yelara said softly. "Kael tells me you're holding sorrow again."
Charlisa lowered her gaze. "I know next autumn will come. But… I keep thinking I missed something precious."
Yelara sat beside her, cloak rustling.
"You think your time is running away?"
Charlisa swallowed. "Yes."
Yelara looked into the fire as though its flames were old memories.
"Charlisa… you're human-born. So you measure life in a human way. Quick years. Small windows. Fast endings."
She touched Charlisa's shoulder gently.
"But Kael… he is beastborn. Our kind lives long. Seven hundred years, if we care for our bodies and don't leap off cliffs to impress someone."
Charlisa blinked. "Seven hundred?! Kael said nothing!"
"Oh, he wouldn't," Yelara said dryly. "He probably thought you'd run away or think he'd seen too many winters to be interesting."
Chapter almost laughed.
"And fertility?" she asked hesitantly. "What about that?"
Yelara's eyes softened.
"For a beastwoman, the fertile years are from sixty to one hundred and fifty."
Charlisa felt her breath catch.
"That long?"
"That long. And Kael is just in his eighties. He is… what you might call a spirited young adult. Strong, but not even in the prime fathering age yet."
Charlisa stared at her hands, a strange mix of shock and relief loosening her tension.
"So I didn't miss the chance?"
Yelara shook her head.
"No, child. You didn't miss anything. You didn't even reach the beginning yet."
Charlisa's eyes stung—not with grief this time, but with something warm and steady.
"When we encourage autumn conception," Yelara continued, "it isn't because time is short. It's because nature is gentlest then. But if this season didn't choose you… another will. And you have centuries before a door closes."
Charlisa let out a long breath she didn't know she'd been holding.
"Kael was afraid to tell me," she murmured.
Yelara chuckled. "Kael is afraid of three things: disappointing you, my cooking when I am angry, and losing his tail in a snow trap again. This is natural."
Charlisa finally laughed—really laughed.
---
Kael Rejoins Them
He stood at the doorway, hesitant, tail low.
"Did… everything go okay?" he asked carefully.
Charlisa got up, walked to him, and took his hand.
"You're eighty-two," she said, eyebrows raised.
Kael winced. "Yelara told you everything, didn't she."
Charlisa nodded.
"You're basically a baby."
Yelara burst out laughing. Kael groaned.
"We're leaving," he muttered.
But Charlisa squeezed his hand, smiling up at him for the first time in days—light, open, hopeful.
And Kael's heart settled.