Moonspear some plans were made and rice was thrown

@Amekaze

Life upon the mountain was not the quietude the druid had been expecting. In a small way, it was a welcome lesson and Olive felt a weird level of certainty in the consistency of her upheavals. The only thing she could depend on was the fact that she couldn’t depend on anything. The willingness of Olive to surrender herself to the will of the forces of the universe, to be bent and wrought by their will, astonished even her.  

She was now a woman driven by the gods. 

Between her bouts of prayer and devotionals, the druid found her thoughts settling upon Sirius — her child, lost to the wolves of Teaghlaigh. He felt so far, and it felt so strange not to hear his voice or know his divine uniqueness — and so often the mother would stare up at the boy’s namesake constellation and would know, in her heart, that he was safe. Olive felt it profoundly and was sure that the wolf once called Isley did not disappoint her… and in a month’s time Olive would return to meet her firstborn and learn of all the things she had missed and teach him all the lessons  that had been left unfulfiled; the lessons that Olive knew were a mother's duty to teach to her son. 

But until that happened, Olive would continue to do as she did then: to lay upon the gentle slope of the nestled valley, not necessarily sleeping, but not necessarily awakened — just simply being.

In a determined effort to maintain her peace and quiet, she had effectively receded into the territory away from most else. She only preferred to turn away from lengthy company and not be involved in the bustle of pack happenings as much as she could afford to. If not roving near her den's domain in a small circuit she'd adopted to keep busy, she rested so much instead with little option otherwise. However he did not want to coop herself up prematurely, so would still do her part to avoid lengthy stays in the actual den itself.. Although it did make her feel better to stay around it and know that everything she would need to concern herself with soon was neatly in order. This assumed all stayed well enough to her standards, and hopefully, this would get over with soon.

With this present freedom, instead of relaxing like earlier, she grappled with a bothersome urge to just move that this instinctive restlessness helped to inspire all too well. With Charon still out on patrol, and their beasts sure to be within his grasp maintaining their own, she had less to keep her immediately tethered right now. She threaded quietly over the mountainscape towards the gentle valley.. slowly, mindful, and attentive of every pawstep and nearby facet--from sight to sound and all else. It was this that led her to scenting Olive in the first place, and since she was not far away, she approached in a similar silence.

She had spent pieces of time with the rest of their small family constellation so far, and begun to understand them better on an individual level, although it was far from any depth. Olive, the silvered mother, remained most enigmatic even still.

Not that she intended to remain for long, and had only drawn her posture to half its normal height and tasteful poise so far, she waved her tail smoothly in a curious but wordless greeting.

The silence of the mountainside was deafening, yet, the utter lack of sound also soothed her. The ground felt strong and powerful beneath her and she luxuriated in its energies, bathed in the spring sunshine — it seemed the face had a inclination towards mountains and felt most hale when supported by the vibrations of tectonic activity. She gave a small whuff of her charcoal nose in beatitude, her breath running against the earth and puffing up a small cloud of dust.

When gentle footsteps heralded the arrival of another, the reclining woman lifted her head. She glimpsed the form of Amekaze, the dark queen of Moonspear — Olive’s own pack, now. Involuntarily, the druid’s greyscale banner swept across the ground, back and forth; she was happy to see her. The two mothers had not afforded themselves much time together, though Olive had scented the queen upon her family on more than one occasion. Olive was eager to know her; the woman who accepted their family and, essentially, saved her children’s lives.

But as Olive’s mossy gaze continued down Amekaze’s relaxed frame, she couldn’t help but noticed how the shelf's bulged out just so. Pushing herself up onto her elbows, Olive sniffed the air and clearly noted the other woman’s spiced scent. A wide smile broke out upon Olive's pointed features and, quickly, she pulled herself into a standing position. She was beautiful. “Amekaze” the lamb breathed with a dip of her maw. “You—“ her voice trailed off, overcome with the power of the other woman’s fecundity. Since experiencing it herself, Olive considered pregnancy to be the pinnacle of the feminine existence. Having her litter and watching them grow was nothing short of magnificent, but there was something magical about the intimate experience of having them grow within. Such magic stood in front of her then!

“I did not know.” and she truly hadn’t until then, when she and the queen were in their solitude —the woman carried herself well. “I must do better at fraternizing with my comrades,” Olive chirped, trying to pin the blame of her unknowingness on her own relative preoccupation with…family matters. Olive shook her head with a grin and a chuckle, trying to draw herself up and compose herself, as not everyone was as open to her ephemeral and stelliferous mien as Dakarai had been. 

In truth, he had been the only one.  

In a watchful silence tracing the scars on her sterling features, the Alpha saw the realization come. For one, she tipped her snout for a short, quick nod. It was nothing short of obvious lately; these newborns were swiftly approaching. Past experience might have finally left her with an intimate type of knowledge on what to expect, but this still felt like it was happening so quickly, and dragging on so viciously all at once. "Well, I did not exactly tell," she chuffed back to Olive, and shifted her shoulders then the rest of her weight followed before she sat, and tucked her haunches beneath. Should she be stationary long enough, she may as well.

She had not made a point of herself, nor her gravid state, in their borderland meeting, although it had buzzed obnoxiously beneath her every decision. However, it had been much earlier on back then and never would she be overly or unnecessarily public with sensitive information of the sort.. not quite to brand new faces. Even her family, besides her speckled mate, had barely known before then.

Now, more than eager to see them born to this world safely, she could not be gifted any such discretion. Olive could better understand her reservations on them, as a whole--while possibly coming to understand a piece of her side of it too, especially now that she had seen the pack and what she was dealing with here. "Do not worry. Neither has it left me the most sociably lately," she shook her head and sighed softly, having considerably let her family carry more responsibility on her behalf in the last few weeks. "Since it should be, ah, soon.." It couldn't be much longer, though her tail continued a slow sway. All of her impatience aside: "How has the mountain been for you?" she asked, curious, per her custom. Secondhand she knew this and that, through Dakarai and her family's reports that trickled back to her, but as for Olive herself..?  

The smile upon Olive’s maw would not abate, and the woman channeled her excess energy into the gentle whap whap whap if her tail upon the sunsoaked earth. “Oh,” Olive’s gentle, wavering voice came in earnest. “This is so wonderful.” Not a single thought was spared for Moonspear’s resource consumption, or how her young family had been lucky be be accepted into a pack with little ones on the way, no — Olive’s brain didn’t work that way. Instead she was dazzled by their newness and innocence. Babies were nothing but a blessing, no matter what kind of seism they wrought; as was the case for her own children, but also the ones that stirred within the alphess. 

Amekaze asked after her wellbeing, and Olive waited a moment before mindfully responding. “It has been an adjustment,” it was an incredible understatement. The loss of Sirius and the loss of her mateship was overwhelming and constantly threatened to pull her under.  Her newfound dedication to the gods of old had helped stymie her sadness, but the underlying soreness was ever persistent. But, if she had to suffer, at least it was with a group whose lands kept them safe and who did not wish death upon her family. Olive notched up an eyebrow at her own thoughts. “But you maintain a wonderful home.” The mother dipped her sweet maw to demonstrate her sincerity. “We are all so thankful to be here.”

Again, Olive’s attention turned to the topic she could not ignore. “My own will wean soon, but if you need a wet nurse, or even just a baby sitter — I am only a call away.” Her offer came sincerely — motherhood was full of tiring and there were many times she wished to have help from others, but she trusted her own babies with no one other than Dakarai. If the Amekaze needed any help, the queen had nothing to fear from the petite, pale druid. “Your family grows. You are so very lucky.” 

Olive's delight towards her condition and the promise of upcoming newborns was something that would always feel a touch foreign to her, but it was admittedly a relief to see. She liked to know that the pack would take an interest in them, when the time was right for it, and she hoped to see it translate to an easy upbringing for her next brood. Spring had sprung and saw fit that she bear them.

Wonderful was probably not her first choice of phrasing for the anticipation she had gathering thickly now as she closed in on their birthdate, although there was no denying her satisfaction with the progression of her family on the mountainside; that, more likely, was what was wonderful to her.

But the gratitude poured, feeling very genuine to her, and she swept her snout in a short nod. "I am not surprised," she agreed with how tumultuous it could have been for them, strangers, looking to find the delicate balance within the claim of her family--rough, harsh on more than just their edges in many cases. She knew it could not be easy. Lesser wolves wouldn't even withstand. "It has been very good to me," this she did agree with, Moonspear was wonderful and undoubtedly, one of her strongest ascensions yet. "Although timing is never my strongest of suits, I worried my lot would not make it easy for yours because of it. With the older girls almost to their adult rankings, and new pups coming somewhat suddenly.." gently her ears fanned out, it didn't need said; Olive had seen it firsthand. Maybe they were all extra tense about it, and about to undergo quite a shift to dial them up in preparation.

Nevertheless, she now knew enough about herself when it came to ushering her young into a stable life, and knew roughly about how it would go--that she would be most interested in her young when they were less immediately needy, although she would tend to them all the same. The notion of Olive carrying some of that weight had a definite appeal, but with it came a strangeness about it; she was possessive about her little ones last year.. her firsts, four vibrant daughters, and largely without other wolves around experienced in whelp-rearing. Maybe that could wane sooner this go, with this to help. "Good to know," she noted softly, beneath a gentle smirk. "Last year, we had very few sitters unfortunately." Ame shook her head. Especially after Floki was lost, and mainly it had whittled down to her, Charon, and Pyx after Aesop left them too.  "They will only be my second. I do.. prefer knowing firsthand this time, though. I do feel lucky with all of this in mind.." she humbly mused, having enjoyed her relative stability since the last litter had been born. Naturally, she liked it this way.

late post is late  :C

Olive appreciated that the enciente queen was not shy of a conversation; she was a wolf of many words and often felt burdensome around those who were not. But Amekaze shared her thoughts and the pale mother drank them in eagerly, wholly interested in Amekaze’s own experience of family. The dark fae’s life with upon the mountain sounded sweet and simple — like a fairytale. 

Surely it was anything but, Olive had always been quite the romantic

”More children is never a bad thing,” she tittered, knowing those words were incredibly idealistic and, when framed against the horrible realities of their world, were not really true. Babes were innocent, and the world needed more innocence — it was what wolves grew into that was the bad thing. Olive addressed Amekaze’s mention of the few caretakers for last year’s brood. Perhaps that’s why the trio was so scrappy.​”This year, that will not be the case.” Olive was here and while her contributions were not the most valuable where hunting and defending was concerned, she would aim to contribute as much as she was able to, in the areas that she could. ”I hear Pyx is very skilled in botany and the healing arts…” The druid did not want to over step any boundaries here. ”I will ensure that her stores are full with raspberry leaf. It just grows wild in the summertime.”

Once more, while she may beg to differ just a bit, it was certainly not her place to fuss about the notion of how she felt about too many kids--not with this mountain about to be practically teeming with her offspring, whether she'd always intended this outcome for herself or not. But with or without her fully agreeing, it seemed to work well for her; she had everything she could need, and then some, as Olive affirmed that this year would not be quite like last for her litter. Of this, she had no doubts, but it would just take time for her to see to it all, and know what exactly that would mean for her, the puppies, and the wolves of the Spear.

As for Pyx, she held the agouti female in high regard. Her words were forthcoming, and she knew even she could not say enough. "She is," Ame nodded, all while hoping the two would have a chance to meet soon. Pyx had a lot to give. "I am sure she will appreciate another helping to stock," even if summertime offered them no shortages for now. Her tail flickered with a contented rhythm. "I have tried to encouraged Korei to take an interest in some plant gathering matters, too," But of course, these things were not things she would force upon her, and let her take it at her own pace if she did wish to develop any potential interest. This had begun first with a way for her to enjoy Pyx's company, but Ame would gladly let it become more.

Hmmm, Olive murmured at Amekaze’s demure adulation of the woman Pyx. Yes, this was someone the druid would have to meet, if not to share naturalist trade secrets, then to make a new friend. The opportunity for new relationships abounded upon this mountain, from the Alphess who reclined in front of her (she was less steely than their first introduction at the borders), and the prophetic Pyx and young Korei. Her own children were growing and learning to speak their minds, which transitioned them from young mewling things to cubs with distinct opinions and personalities — and with that, relationships could now bloom. The future was, indeed, bright. “Oh, yes?” was her reply to the mention of Korei’s interests. “Your children have many varieties of talents!”

Olive sighed. “I wish mine would, but I fear they will not.” This was particularly true if the fiery, combative Aries. Though Cassiopeia often stirred up trouble, she did not seem to take pleasure from fighting — it was simply a by product of her youthful exuberance and unfettered childishness; this, there was nothing wrong with. However, Aries — there was something different there. The mother did not want to make any assumptions about her beloved progeny just yet, not when his personality was so nascent and so new. Perhaps this is something he would grow out of.

“They are young, though.” Olive said wryly, looking up at the expectant mother with a knowing smile.  The two mothers spoke for a little while longer before they parted, the enciente mother leaving back to her birthing den and Olive making he way back towards the home she shared with her children and her estranged lover.