The Hawkmother

Chapter One: Another Day

The sun broke over the looming walls of Dawnmarsh, setting the village awash in an orange glow. High in the spacious hollow of an old willow tree, a cat stirred lazily. As he uncurled himself, the head of a disheveled mouse appeared amongst the ginger fur.

"Come on, sleepy. We've got things that need doing today," the mouse said, tapping the cat square on his pink nose.

Groaning, the cat raised one paw and brought it down on the mouse's head, pushing her back down to the floor of the hollow. "Go back to sleep, Nibbles," he grumbled. Nibbles struggled from underneath her brother's paw.

"Jareth!" She chided, tweaking a whisker sharply. Green eyes flashed open and Jareth bared his teeth. The young mousemaid merely laughed, adjusting her tunic as she made her way across the hollow to a large cupboard.

"Must we?" The cat asked, stretching.

"We must. Here, fuzzbutt," she extended a paw to him, and in it was a mushroom and leek pie. Jareth took it from her, eating it slowly. His sister, however, went about scarfing hers.

"Oh, fine," the cat huffed, reaching up to brush crumbs from his whiskers. "What all needs done today, Nibbles?"

"Well, I thought we might restock the cupboards before mother comes home. Old Mrs. Shrew should have more acorn flower ready. And Mr. March just harvested his garden yesterday."

"I hate that Mrs. Shrew," Jareth grumbled, "Remember last time? I had a bump the size of an egg on my nose for days!" He rubbed his nose, indicating that even if she didn't remember, he certainly did.

"For being so much larger than many of our friends and neighbors, you sure are fussy!" Nibbles laughed.

"I'm not fussy. Jus' don't like being bonked on the nose, that's all."

"And I thought that maybe after the market, we could go and visit Sharpwing for tea! Mother said he made some dandelion and clover tea just this week."

The young mouse stood on tiptoes as Jareth lowered his head, allowing his companion to hook her paws underneath her green kerchief and climb up onto his back.

The trip down the tree was not as easy for Jareth and Nibbles as it was for their mother, but the pair made do and could (usually) do so without injury. At the base of their tree, a small hearth was set up, and Jareth stopped long enough to remove the cold ash so that a fire could burn there later.

Dawnmarsh wasn't terribly large, but neither was it small. It was a decent sized community of various creatures, some very small, like Nibbles, and others quite large, like Grawff and Ashlimb. Unlike the larger cities on the Isle, cities that the siblings had only heard of in stories, Dawnmarsh was rather stuck in its ways. There were no fancy contraptions or airships here, oh no. If traveling needed to be done, you had only two options. You had to walk, or you had to plan with Ashlimb, and the big badger would pull you in her cart.

Nibbles and Jareth had never been outside of Dawnmarsh, to the best of their knowledge. Though they knew their mother was not truly their mother, she had raised them well, and neither considered where it was they came from. Since they had never asked, the majestic hawkmother had never told, instead raising them in her nest along with her eggchicks.

The market was set up optimally, almost in the very heart of the village. Great colorful stalls lined the square, each ran by a resident of Dawnmarsh. Outside the village walls, it was said, were dangerous creatures, foul beasts who would harm others as soon as looking at them. As such, Dawnmarsh did not often see traveling merchants.