Survivors: A Pair of Drabbles by Himring  

Aunt and Nephew

Haleth with her nephew Haldan.

Haleth is still getting used to the fact of her survival. When she and Caranthir have finished barking at each other, as they do, she crosses the camp to find her orphaned nephew. Haldan immediately crawls into her lap, as soon as she sits down, like a much younger child. She shares the honeycomb with him that Caranthir brought with the rest of the supplies from his keep somewhere farther north, a small piece for herself, the larger for him. He needs feeding up, after all that. She finds herself swallowing tears down with the sweetness, although Haldan doesn’t see.