Wolf RPG

eshamun had kept watch over the pair some days into giana's trials, but had turned her attention to other things. she trusted the shieldmaiden to hold her task firm, and on some level, she expected the same from the sickly but strong wolfess she had admitted into her ranks. a cursory exploration of the nearby cedar wood revealed to the ekar-aji that both females had been about, and she moved across the borders back into the malkaria territory.

thus near the shrine, eshamun tilted back her delicate crown and called for @Ragna and @Giana Ferretti, summoning them to glean the shieldmaiden's assessment and give her verdict.

After their hunt, Ragna saw no need to visit the newcomer Giana. She continued observing the woman's progress, noting the new additions to the cache each evening. She felt more confident in Giana's abilities, though always she doubted, for one day (and that day might come soon) the woman's limp would be too great an obstacle for her to surmount.

Eshamun called, and Ragna was swift to answer. She had been bathing in the river, and water streamed from her as she took up a swift trot to the Shrine. Ekar-aji, she greeted softly, bowing her head in deference to her leader.

After her hunt with the Shieldmaiden, Giana knew it was only a matter of time before Eshamun called to her again and gave her the go ahead - and hopefully more information about the pack - or came at her with fangs and banishing her. While the rust marked woman was confident in herself and all she'd done, that didn't mean she hadn't made some other fault, proved to be untrustworthy in any way. 

And, if things went well, she would be asking the alpha what her rules with pups were: It couldn't hurt to ask, right? The worst she could do was say no - even if she didn't permit bastard pups, maybe Giana could go find herself a mate before her next heat (which, if her instincts were correct, should be soon). It would probably be her last chance - any older, and Gia wasn't entirely sure she could handle raising pups. 

When the leaders howl rent the air for the Ferretti, the ivory woman was swift in answering, trotting in her direction and abandoning the rabbit she'd been stalking. Luckily, she'd already caught one, and it was grasped in her jaws as she came into view of the milk-smelling woman. It'd long been a wonder of where her pups were, but Giana refused to ask - either way, she was sure bringing food was bound to be good. Seeing she was the last to arrive, she was silent in placing the hare at Eshamuns paws and backing away with her head bowed.

eshamun had settled upon her haunches, tail curled 'round her small red paws, and watched with a quiet expression as first ragna arrived, and then giana, her jaws holding prey. and it was to the ekar-aji that it was brought, and eshamun was pleased. "molech has looked upon you with favor, giana ferretti. there is a place for you here." to the shieldmaiden she looked then. "thank you, ragna."

giana commanded her attention again. "what is it you wish to know about the malkaria? i shall answer your questions now."

When she came, Giana brought with her an offering for the Ekar-aji. Ragna looked on this favorably, but said and did nothing. Ragna was not called upon to pass any judgement either way, nor even to report what she had seen. This suited her. Giana was accepted into the fold, and Eshamun thanked her, Ragna. The shieldmaiden nodded, and might have excused herself if not for her own curiosity about the Malkaria. She knew much, but not everything about her new people, and always thirsted for more. Perhaps if she remained she could learn more.

Both of Giana's superiors looked pleased with her gift - thank god she hadn't eaten it like she'd been tempted to - and before Eshamun even got far into her welcome the ivory Ferretti was hooked. Who was Molech? Pride welled up in her throat suddenly - she was thrilled to have pleased not only the pack but whoever it was Eshamun spoke of. Her offer to answer questions was followed with a rush of them. Her tail wagged unintentionally behind her, and her stormy eyes were set on the Ekar-aji, alight with  a curiousity she hadn't felt in a very long time. 

                  "Who is Molech? What is expected of me other than hunting and protection? I'd love to know whatever you will tell me, Eshamun, about my new home. I came here with a set question: are you leaders who allow pups that aren't your own?"

eshamun's lips curled in a small smile. "molech is our god. molech is neither male nor female, and takes the form of an eight-armed creature. the god smiles upon us, brings forth the sun and the rain, and we in turn please molech with our actions, words, and deeds." she looked to ragna then, pleased that the shieldmaiden remained. "we are a place of holiness and also an encampment where women dominate and men are the caretakers of the children born."

"go forth and bring children into the world for molech's service, yes, but in order to keep molech from turning the wicked eye upon us, we select one child to be given back to the god. no litter is exempt. this year i returned all four of my children to molech." eshamun fought the catch of her voice, forcing herself onward: "thus know that while there are not restrictions here, i will select from among your children, and any others born this year, to be given up to the god."

When Giana began to list her questions, Ragna settled, sphinx-like, to listen. Giana didn't ask anything Ragna didn't already know the answer to, though Ragna was surprised to hear Giana was already thinking of children. The shieldmaiden remained impassive through Eshamun's explanation, her expression betraying no great emotion. Yet she was curious to hear how Giana would feel about the illidu-dam, the sacrifice of newborns to the hungry god Molech. Was the woman so desperate to bear children that she would allow the sacrifice of one? Perhaps she would flee, thus making Ragna the only outsider to have been welcomed into the fold. She thought of this with a savage glee, for though she would welcome Giana, a part of her still jealously guarded the red wolves of the Malkaria.

A GOD, she said? For a brief moment, Giana wondered if she'd heard right - but then Eshamun goes more into detail, and the Ferretti listens with growing fervor. She's never been one to believe in a deity, or worship, but the more her new leader tells her, the more entranced she is by The Malkaria. Women rule - that might just be the settling fact that fully allows her to accept Molech. 

She even tells Giana that she can have all the puppies she wants - but there is a catch. One of them could be taken from her, sacrificed, and the ivory female was silent for a long moment afterwards, stormy eyes locked onto her paws as thoughts ran through her head. Would she raise them first, grow attached? Would they be ripped from her heart and killed before her eyes, or would it be plucked from her nest as a newborn, lucky enough never to know the love and affection of a mother - never given the chance to latch on?

Finally, her eyes flicker back up, meeting first Ragna's eyes and then the Ekar-aji's.  Her heart went out to the woman she knew, internally, was probably writhing inside at the very thought of her dead children - but she was strong for letting it happen to secure her packs safety. 

                  "Will you take it from me at birth, or after I've already grown attached? Will it hurt? .... Will Molech watch after them, a-after?"

eshamun glanced between the two of them as her words settled into the air, the gravity of them weighted by her own lingering grief. she was not unaware of the rapture upon giana's face, nor the hesitance that suddenly entered the other's features, mingled with a seeming sympathy. the ekar-aji held herself fast and answered with a quiet calm she did not feel.

"at birth the child will be taken. i did not even place mine to suck once," she murmured, and felt the barely scarred wound of stolen motherhood rip open again, scored by grief's claws. "it will be painless, swift. if a pup is chosen from your litter, it shall not suffer, but go back to molech as soon as it enters this world. fear not, giana," eshamun whispered, leaning close to nudge the other's shoulder.

The children sacrificed to Molech were the lucky ones. They felt no pain, no loss, no suffering. They died before they even knew that they had lived. Wherever they went afterwards, their purity would ensure that they would exist in favor and comfort. Thus had Ragna come to terms with the illidu-dam. Were she the mother- and never would she be a mother- it might have hurt more. Eshamun's milk thick scent was a reminder of what was not there, what could have been. There could have been laughter and joy in these times, instead they were silent, sacred days.

Ragna watched as reverence dawned on Giana and wondered what had been the single aspect that cemented Giana's loyalty to the god. For Ragna it had been the kurgarru. Was it the free-breeding? Was it the benevolence of Molech or their judgement? She wondered but did not ask, a mere witness to the conversion.

Pain was settled heavily in the air - Eshamun revealed why she smelled of milk but wasn't tending to babes herself.... And Giana felt her heart go out to the leader. She'd given all of her children to Molech - surely Giana could give one if thats what it came to? Eshamun reassured her that there would be no attachment, no time to bond, and moreover it would be painless for the little one. At her touch, Giana gave a half smile and nodded. 
 
                         "I trust you, and Molech - when I bear children, I will not fight this."

Falling silent for a moment, the woman thought more on this god they faced - neither he or she, benevolent, the one who gives them what they needed to survive. 

If all this was true, was it Molech who took her from the Ferretti's? Was it Molech who had led her away from Rosings, into the paws of her torture? Did he have some reason for this, or was it a punishment? Perhaps it was a lesson - Molech could have been the reason behind her awful past few months, her brush with death - but WHY? Surely if she was out of his favor, the eight armed god wouldn't have led her all the way here to join his loyal followers. Maybe he'd sought to save her, gain another loyalist in the process?

                                                                               "Was it Molech, then, that took my family from me, drove me to my attackers? Is Molech the reason I suffered so before finding The Malkaria? Why?"

eshamun was unsure how giana would respond, but she had not expected the grim wolfess' answer. molech. had the eight-armed one wounded this woman before bringing her unto the copse? the ekar-aji did not know; such things were beyond her, but perhaps arunik'ra could glean the answer for her. with a glance toward ragna, who still remained nearby, eshamun refocused herself upon giana. "molech tests us. my sister is our res drunak, our high priestess. it will be to her you must speak. but i would not put it beyond the god to seek to mold you before leading you here. know that if molech had a hand in your life, the god's blessings are not far behind." 

her viridian eyes gleamed affectionately. "i am pleased that molech has brought you unto the malkari, giana."

As the moment stretched from inquisitive to intimate, Ragna began to grow uncomfortable. When Giana began to ask her whys, Ragna slipped away entirely. She did not need to hear of the woman's private suffering. There was a degree of trust required to speak of hardships and suffering, and Ragna did not want that trust yet. With a polite nod to each woman, the shieldmaiden padded quietly away, disappearing into the underbrush.

Ragna departed as things went more in depth to her own life - perhaps she didn't care to know, or was simply not comfortable knowing - but Giana barely noticed - her stormy eyes were on Eshamun as she spoke of a high priestess. Though she couldn't say exactly why Molech had done these things, it she said it might've been to mold her for this day, and that blessings were not far behind.... Molech HAD led her here, to a place where women ruled and she was encouraged to have babies - without a mate! Giana could think of no better place for her - even if there was a chance her baby could be taken. 

                            "I will seek out the priestess, then, at another time. I'm glad Molech brought me here too - it seems too perfect to be true, yet here I am."

A rare smile blessed her features - and not one of her half assed smirks. This was a full on smile, one that lit up her face and brightened her eyes - Molech stripped the Ferretti's from her for a reason, she just knew it. They were not her destiny - The Malkaria was. She would give a pup to Molech willingly - if their leader could give up an entire litter, Giana could give up one. It would save others for the loss and show her thanks to Molech - for bringing her here, allowing her this life, and for taking the toxicity from her life.

                                                                    "When I have pups, I will give one to Molech. It's the least I could do for being accepted here - and its nothing compared to your own sacrifice." 

quietly ragna took her leave; eshamun only wondered a moment before her attentions returned to giana. the other was hushed, even reverent beneath the name of a god she had only just come to know, and at this budding fealty eshamun rejoiced. it was the mark of a true malkaria wolf to give of themself so quickly and so openly -- eshamun was soothed by this show and felt that giana would make a pleasant and strong addition to their pack.

"yes. see arunik'ra. and giana; molech shall bless you for this. i know it to be true." eshamun smiled then, silencing herself in case the slim wolfess wished to ask anything else of her.

There was no more of the hesitance Giana had been faced with her first week here - Eshamun seemed as happy as Giana was with her loyalty and newest devotion. The praise bestowed on her, however, brought a beaming smile to her face. 

                   "Thank you, Eshamun - you and yours gave me a life again, a purpose. I will not let you down."

These wolves had gained her love and her loyalty more than any other wolf in the world ever had - here is where she would stay until her death. 

This, however, felt like the end of the conversation - Giana was anxious to really explore her new home, to meet the other wolves here. If the leader should not need anything else, she'd depart.