Will hadn’t expected to become a father. Not in any real or metaphorical sense.
So when he woke to the soft whimpers and squirming sounds coming from the corner of the cabin, it took him longer than it probably should have, as a fully graduated ranger, to register what exactly had transpired overnight.
“Ebony,” he said aloud, blinking at her and the... masses around her.
His sleek black dog, usually so composed and aloof, lay curled in the corner in a nest of pieces of old cloaks, stray fabric, and straw, a makeshift bed that Will had put together for her years ago, which was now surrounded by six damp, squeaky, blinking creatures.
Will stared, sleep-mussed and slack-jawed, at the wriggling litter. One attempted to climb over its sibling and promptly rolled onto its back. Another yawned, a soft little squeak of a sound that made Will’s heart physically lurch.
He knelt beside Ebony, who raised her head as if to say, Well?
“I didn’t even know you were seeing anyone,” he murmured, hand hovering over the small creatures. “You’ve kept this quiet.”
Ebony blinked slowly, then lay her head back down as her master gave her a rewarding scratch behind her ears, the way he knew she liked.
Alyss’s voice floated in through the bedroom door behind him. “You’re talking to her like she’s a person again.”
“She’s a mother,” Will whispered, as if anything louder might startle the puppies. “She’s earned it.”
Alyss stepped inside, arching an eyebrow at the sight. “I go on assignment for three weeks, and you’ve let our dog become a matron.”
“I didn’t let her do anything,” Will said, slightly defensive. “She’s her own woman.”
Will glanced at her, then at the pups, then at Ebony again. His face softened into something almost awestruck. “Look at them.”
Alyss sighed, crouching down beside him and resting her hand on her husband's back. “I am looking.”
He picked one up with ridiculous care, like it might melt if handled too roughly. “They’re so... little.”
The puppy yawned again and licked his thumb.
Alyss watched him with a faint smile, equal parts fondness and exasperation. “You’re going to try to keep all of them, aren’t you?”
Will said nothing. But the sparkle in his eyes betrayed him.
Life in the cabin changed overnight as the puppies quickly gained control of their newly discovered limbs.
They took over every surface they could reach. Ebony tolerated them with noble patience, though Will suspected she longed for her solitary life to resume. He, on the other hand, was completely and utterly enchanted. He fed them, cleaned them, named and renamed them
“That one’s Hobnob. No, wait, Clive. Or maybe Thistle… *a gasp* Alyss, what about Larry? Oh God, that's perfect, he looks just like a--”,
He even let them fall asleep in his lap while he tried to write reports.
Alyss remained skeptical to say the least.
“You can’t seriously be thinking of keeping six dogs,” she said one morning, when Will was on his hands and knees trying to retrieve one pup from beneath the hearth bench.
Will made a vague noise of protest, muffled by the fact that his head was currently under a chair. “They’re not ready to leave yet, they can't exactly be on their own.”
“They’re chewing on your quiver.”
“I can train them,” as he ripped the quiver from the snarling dog's mouth, pursing his lips as he examined the shredded state of it.
“One of them just threw up in your boot.”
He looked over at his boots in the corner and sure enough...
“That could’ve happened to anyone.”
Alyss rolled her eyes but didn’t say more. She wasn’t trying to be cruel, just realistic. Someone had to be after all. And--though she didn’t admit it aloud--she liked the pups, and what's more, she admired the gentleness with which Will handled the pups. The way he cooed at them when he thought no one was listening. The way he let the smallest one fall asleep tucked beneath his chin, curled into the crook of his collar.
That smallest one--still unnamed, still awkward with her movements--was quiet where the others were rowdy. Her fur was soft and dark like smoke, and her eyes… one was deep brown, the other a striking, milky blue. A birth defect, perhaps, or just a strange twist of nature.
“She’s not like the others,” Alyss had said quietly one evening as the pup nestled into Will’s arm.
He looked down at her. “No. She’s not.”
“She’s got spunk, though. I watched her steal a piece of meat from Larry yesterday.”
Will chuckled. “She’s certainly resourceful.”
They sat in silence for a moment. Then Alyss said, gently, “You can’t keep all of them. But maybe you keep one.”
The next morning, he loaded a cart with care, laying down straw and soft cloth, placing each pup gently inside. Alyss stood beside him, arms folded.
“You said you were taking them to the farms.”
“I am,” Will said, straightening.
“But you’re going to the ward first.”
Alyss narrowed her eyes. “Will Treaty, what are you up to?”
He swung up into the driver’s seat and grinned nefariously. “I just .... have an idea.”
The Redmont Ward was quiet when he arrived.
Too quiet, Will thought. Unnaturally quiet for midafternoon. The children must have been in lessons or chores. He parked the cart in the courtyard and hopped down.
A few heads peeked out of windows. A small boy holding a broom stared, wide-eyed.
He just unlatched the cart.
There was a beat of silence.
The puppies exploded out of the cart like a cannon shot of fur and high-pitched yaps. They raced across the courtyard, tails wagging, ears flapping, pouncing on startled children who shrieked with delight. One climbed halfway up the laundry line. Another made a daring venture into the kitchen, chased by a furious cook waving a ladle.
Will leaned against the cart and crossed his arms, utterly satisfied.
Alyss stepped beside him, face blank. Startling her usually observant husband, who hadn't noticed her following him.
“You did this on purpose.”
Will didn’t look at her. “If something like this had happened when I was in the ward, it would’ve been the greatest day of my life.”
She tried to look stern. She failed and ended up smiling. “You’re such a menace.”
He grinned. “But it's such fun.”
“Unfortunately,” she muttered.
Within a week, most of the puppies had found homes.
Two were adopted by local farmers who promised to train them as herders. One was taken by the wardmistress herself--“to teach responsibility,” she claimed, though Will suspected it had more to do with the way the pup had curled up in her lap.
Another had become a permanent fixture in the stables, much to the stablehand’s initial horror and eventual surrender. One had even gone home with Sir Rodney, who declared he needed a companion on patrol and didn’t seem remotely embarrassed about it.
She padded along behind Will as he walked through the trees one morning, her tiny paws soft against the forest floor. He glanced down at her.
“You sticking around, then?”
She looked up at him, mismatched eyes shining, and sneezed.
He crouched to pick her up.
Alyss emerged from the cabin behind him. “Still no takers for her?”
“Nope,” Will said. “Guess we’re stuck with each other.”
Alyss crossed her arms. “What are you going to call her?”
He blinked. “I figured you’d want to name her.”
She thought for a moment, then smiled. “Sable.”
Will repeated it softly. “Sable.” He looked at the pup. “Yeah. That fits.”
