Dear Diary,

I spend a lot of time navel gazing, especially here when I'm taking to myself. I spend some of that time talking about my kids, and I spend a lot of my time and energy trying to be a good mom for them. I'm not gonna say 'way more than I should', because... Because my own mom set the bar way too fuckin' high, I guess. She literally worked herself to death making sure I'd have enough to get my feet under me. I probably wouldn't have, at least not before all that ran out, but that's on me, not her.

So I spend a shit ton of my time and energy trying to make sure that all my girls have a safe and secure home. Like, more than just 'four walls and a roof', but nice clothes, good food, and a sense that none of that will be snatched away at a moment's notice. What with five of my kids being literal orphaned refugees and the other two having died once each, that bit has been both challenging and maybe the most important part of my momming. I do my best to make sure that they're learning and growing up to be everything that it's in their power to be. I mean, everything they want to be. Everything that, in the best of all worlds, they are. I even try to make sure that they're having fun, whether that's by playing along with them or by giving them safe spaces to play together or do their own thing.

What with all that 'paying attention to their environment', 'paying attention to their growth', and 'paying attention to their health and well being', I... I don't really know if I've done the best job of 'paying attention to who they are'. I mean, yeah, I've got a solid idea of who each of them is as a person, and maybe an idea of where they'd like to go with their personal journeys. So maybe 'who they are' isn't quite right. It's probably more accurate to say 'how much they've grown'. I'm not just talking about physical size, either, although the fact that Menace's default size seems to be bigger than Daya at this point still startles me when I see them next to each other.

So at sunset yesterday, after an absolutely successful birthday bash for Maze hosted by Grandmother's Village, the kids were having one last splash around in the river when the lifeguards downstream screamed out, "WATER PANTHER!"

I didn't think. I just leapt to his side and shouted, "where?"

He pointed to the center of the broad river and said, "it went under!"

I dove, slapping The Dress on as I did. Not to put too fine a point on it, but it's got a lot less drag than my Academy uniform. A quick scan showed me something heading upstream. Chasing its surprisingly fast ass, I Co-Located to the shallows where the kids were playing and, not giving a shit about who saw me, started yanking kids out of the water with my tentacles. I wanted with all my being to prioritize my kids, but there were dozens of kids in the water, and even as I pulled kids as fast as I safely could, Alex and Lindsey each scooped up two of the littler kids and charged out of the water with them. Lindsey had Daya and one of the local kids, Alex had David and another one.

Part of me just wanted to smash the fuckin' thing, but it escaped the one tentacle I got around it, spinning and shredding its way free of my grasp.

Saffron shouted "Tabitha!" A quick glance showed her holding her hands out, Siobhan standing nearby. I started yeeting kids at her, trusting her to catch them and Siobhan to fix any minor mishaps caused by deceleration trauma.

Then Alex and Lindsey short circuited my fuckin' brain by diving back into the fuckin' river, grabbing the first little kids they saw and charging back out.

I Co-Located another of me to the opposite side of the broad stretch of river the kids had been playing in, diving underwater and trying to spot the fuckin' Water Panther before I got to the kids. I kept trying to spot Ria, Maze, and Isnomi, but for the life of me couldn't lay eyes on any of them. "RIA! MAZE! MENACE!" I wasn't sure if they'd gotten out, or Maze was doing her aquatic hiding thing, or Ria had pulled some Fae bullshit, or Menace was... fuckin' being her most Menacing.

Then all three of me spotted Ria. Right in the middle of the river, right in the fuckin' Water Panther's path. Steam rising around her, standing almost like she'd planted her feet in the water, her little extending staff out and braced with both hands, the tip pointed right at the incoming monster. I lashed out with a tentacle, trying to snag the fuckin' beast, but it juked at the last second, leaving me with another shredded tentacle for my efforts. It dove, twisted, and charged her from below the water's surface.

Right before it got to her, it stopped moving. It writhed, almost like something had grabbed it, but I knew I fuckin' hadn't. I grabbed at it again, and it slipped out of my grasp. No shredded tentacles this time, but I couldn't get my tentacles within about two feet of it; they just slipped off, like tryna grab a fuckin' ice cube.

Then it bobbed to the surface, surrounded by a cloud of vapor and, inside that vapor, a fuckin' column of ice at least a foot wider than it was around, not to mention at least a foot longer than it was from nose to tail. What with the thing being at least six feet long and a solid foot across at its widest points, that made for a big fuckin' hunk of ice. I blinked, continuing to evacuate the last few kids in the water, as Ria prodded that miniature river bound iceberg around herself until it was upstream of her. The whole time she didn't move her feet, which left her more than a little twisted up. I collapsed all of me into one of me right next to my little Sidhe girl, dropping into the water next to her, my arms going around her, pulling her to me.

Okay, that's what I tried to do. My feet hit something solid, and the only reason I didn't go ass over teakettle were The Dress' Smith-made boots. I tried to pull Ria to me, but mostly wound up pulling myself to her, because while I had good traction, her feet were covered to the ankles by a block of crystal clear ice; I could just make out the dirt frozen into the bottom of it.

"Ria... are you okay?"

"Yes, Mama. I'm fine."

"You realize I'm kinda pissed at you for not getting out of the water, right?"

She shrugged. "I was safer than the other children, and this way it didn't go after them."

I stood there, mouth hanging open, for a solid five count before I spluttered out, "I don't want you getting eaten!"

She just shrugged. "I was perfectly safe. I knew Maze wouldn't let it get to me. Even if she couldn't stop it, I knew Isnomi would stop it."

I closed my eyes, counted to ten, took a deep breath, and opened them. "Where are your sisters?"

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Right then I felt a suspiciously small hand grab the back of my left boot. "Mama! You din't thee me!"

I reached carefully around with one tentacle, picked up my Menace by the waist, and pulled her around in front of me. "Menace. Dragons are not safe playmates. Even little ones like this."

I motioned to the ice-coated Dragon, which had begun twitching inside its icy prison. This close up, the Water Panther's Draconic heritage was clear. Its basic frame did look pretty panther-like. Long, lean, four legs ending in claws that, by general shape, would look right on a big cat or an alligator, at least at a distance. The ice made it a little hard to make out, but it had what looked like wings furled around its back. A few moments later I confirmed that as it flexed them in an attempt to break free. Fortunately for it, other than shifting itself a little, it didn't seem to damage the ice.

I slid a Mana Blade out of one wrist, a long thin lance, and stepped toward the thing.

"Mama, No!" I turned to where Menace dangled. "Ith fowa Maith!"

I blinked. "This is not a stray kitten, Menace."

"Whyth id kidden thaped then?"

I just stood there, staring at her, emotions kind of whipping back and forth. One moment furious at this thing that threatened my babies, the next more than a little furious with those same babies, who'd decided it was clearly a fun playmate. "I... You..." I latched onto what she'd said first. "What do you mean 'it's for Maze'?"

"Ith hew pwethend! Fom me and Wia!"

I took another deep breath. "Where is Maze?"

At that point my little pony girl stuck her head up from beside the big chunk of ice containing the Water Panther, steam rising off of her. "Hi, Papa," she said kinda sheepishly. "Can I..."

"NO! You cannot..." I saw her smile, which hadn't dimmed since we arrived at the Village, slip. "Fuck. Look, Maze, girls, it's not a safe pet."

"Neither are our Steeds, Mama." Ria's simple statement lacked any of the snark I'd have laced it with. Shit, I'm pretty sure she was the only one of my girls who could and would deliver that line like that.

A moment later Saffron stood next to me on the pillar of ice Ria and I shared. "What's going on, girls?"

My hand shot up, and all three girls closed their open mouths. "Ria and Menace have decided they want to give Maze a pet for her birthday."

Saffron just stared at the three of them. "You can't be seri..." Then she looked at me, then back at the girls. "Of course you're serious. What are you going to feed it?"

"Bear?" Ria replied. "That's what we've been feeding the Steeds, mostly."

I had to ask. "Mostly?"

"I think they've taken to using the grain we put down for them as bait for rodents."

I facepalmed, dropping my Mana Blade to do it. "How are you going to get it to beha..." I cut myself off as Menace wriggled free of my tentacle and flying squirrelled down to stand atop the Water Panther's icy prison.

She stared down at it, and little ripples spread out across the river's surface as she growled. It closed its eyes, and managed to close its mouth as well. "Id be vewwy hayve now, Mama." When I shot her all the side eye, she smirked at me and said, "Id know beddah now."

I slumped, but my Kitten came to my rescue. "This is an aquatic creature, girls. It might be able to move about a bit on the shore, but it clearly can't stay in a stable like the Steeds. I won't have you forcing it to live in constant pain or discomfort just to amuse you."

All three of them slumped at that. I felt awful, because the last thing I wanted was to make my girls sad. Especially my Mazikeen on her birthday. Then Menace's head popped up. "TIKIBADA!" Before I could say anything, as her sisters looked at her, confused, she said, "Conwad!"

Maze looked up at us, hope in her eyes, and I felt Saffron slump. After she took a deep breath, she said, "If your brother Conrad has a way to keep it contained safely, and I mean safely for us, it, and everyone else at the homestead, we can..." She paused. I can't believe I'm about to say this.

I pulled her to me. Not like it's the weirdest pet they've got. Not even sure it's the most dangerous.

It is a Dragon. It is far more dangerous than a Fae Steed.

It's a baby Dragon. Is it more dangerous than seven Fae Steeds?

Eight. I glanced down at her. Ria's original Steed returned to Rich Man's Port, and Tallulah sent it to the Homestead with a Bodyguard. Then she shook her head and turned back to the girls, who'd waited with bated breath while Saffron and I debated silently. "If he has some way to keep it contained safely, you can keep it."

As first the three standing on the chunks of ice in the river with us, then their sisters on shore, then the rest of the kids surrounding them started cheering, I leaned down to Saffron. You wanna babysit this thing, or go talk to Conrad?

I'll go speak with Conrad. Please don't let them catch anything else while I'm gone.

A quick kiss later, she Translocated away. While she was gone, I managed to get a firm grip on the hunks of ice with my tentacles, and dragged them to the far side of the river from the Village. Of course our three conquering Heroines wanted to sit with their new pet while we waited, and of course their sisters wanted to join them. Co-Located back on the Village side of the river, I looked kinda sheepishly at Grandmother. "Thanks for hosting Maze's birthday party. Sorry about all the excitement."

She just smiled up at me and patted my arm. "Do you think the Water Panther would have been elsewhere if you hadn't been here?"

I felt a smile slip onto my face as I looked at her. "I kinda wanna hug you now."

"Oh, no. Not that. Whatever shall I do?" she snarked at me as she held her arms out. I hugged her gently, but she glomped onto me but good. Way stronger than I'd thought she would. "Thank you, Tabitha. And thank your girls for me. They're very brave."

I rolled my eyes, shook my head. "Yeah. Gonna drive me to drink before they're even teenagers."

She looked up and just said, "don't they all?"

By the time Siobhan and I checked out all the local kids and made sure they were none the worse for wear, Saffron returned, landing next to the imprisoned Dragon. I lifted Marie, took Siobhan by the hand, and collapsed back to the far side of the river. "So. What's the verdict?"

"He says he'll have the 'habitat' ready by the time you get it there." I could not hear myself think through the raucous cheering.

"Okay, girls. You head home with Mom and Marie and Siobhan, and I'll have Maze's new pet home some time tomorrow."

"You can't just step her home like you do us?" asked Maze.

"Don't think so. Pretty sure the only reason you captured it was because you used actual ice; if you'd been trying to snag it with magic, it would have slipped free."

"What about Underhill?" asked Ria.

I shook my head. "Same deal." Then I looked around and realized what they were asking. "Don't worry, girls. There won't be any 'unfortunate accidents' on the way home. I won't play those kind of games with you."

Starting with Maze, I wound up with all seven of my girls clinging to me, all of them chorusing. "thank you, Mama."

"When we get home, we're gonna have some talks about emergencies, too. Just so I can sleep at night."

Isnomi looked up at me. "Domowwow?"

I shrugged. "Maybe tomorrow. Maybe not. But soon."

"Ah Tay!"

I received many hugs and kisses, and then they all disappeared, Translocating back to the Homestead, leaving me with the unenviable task of carting their new pet home. Took me all fuckin' night and half of today; I finally rolled in with the mostly thawed Dragon around noon.

I kept my word. No accidents, no damaging their new pet. I figured if we were gonna try and rehabilitate a fuckin' baby Dragon, it was best to start out by not mistreating it. Of course, right about halfway home, out in the middle of nowhere, with no light at all under the overcast sky, I pulled it around to face me as i jogged home.

"Look, I don't know if you understand me or not. No idea how smart you are, how mature you are, when Dragons get language. But you pretty clearly are smart enough not to piss off the Menace. So just in case, let me make something very clear. I love my girls. I love my ladies. I even love the people living with us, and our guests. I love my people. When someone hurts the people I love, I do not let that shit slide. So as long as you're a well behaved little lizard? You'll be safe. As safe as they are. In fact, you'll be exactly as safe as they are. And if any of my loved ones get hurt, and I find out you're to blame in any way?"

I stared at it, and I swear I saw something resembling comprehension in its eyes.

So I smiled real big and whispered, "I will fucking eat you, piece by fuckin' piece."

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