I stood in the center of the cave, dragging the back of my hand across my damp forehead.
"Phew..."
The sound echoed through the now-hollow space. Finally. The furs were rolled and lashed tight, the pots were scrubbed and bundled, and the 'ash-chemist' and her siblings were finally tucked in their baskets.
It had taken the better part of the day to erase the evidence of the cubs' riot and pack our entire lives into manageable loads in the troller.
I looked toward the entrance. The vibrant, neon green of the afternoon had deepened into a rich, bruised purple. The sun was dipping below the horizon, painting the sky in streaks of burnt orange and soft rose.
Night was here, and the forest was shifting into its nocturnal chorus. The bird chirping s had died down, and now I could hear crickets and soon, I'd probably hear howls.
"We missed our cue," I sighed, dropping onto a lone roll of bedding. "There's no way we're walking with three cubs in the dark."
