It would have been a lie if she suggested that her thoughts didn't frequently returned to Shrike. She wondered how far away the Caldera was, even what he was up to. Shrike certainly wasn't the first person to be kind to her, but, on the back of the series of missteps Rowan was perhaps more grateful for his presence. She shook her pelt out, the puppies stirring her to a point of needing to get up and move around again.

Beneath her breath she hummed a tune, something old and something beautiful - from the Quarter, so far away. She started at her little nook in the Creek and began to cross the packlands, keeping moving and not letting herself slow down too much. 

When Spring's scent caught her nose she debated if she should go after her or not - not wanting to impose but at the same time she wanted to seek the Alpha out, to learn more about her. She had seen the sort of concern that Spring had, even for wolves that were not her own, and she was grateful for the chances afford to her when others had given her none. Her tail wagged a few times when she was addressed, the pale woman giving a respectful bow to Spring. "Hello," She said with a brief smile. "It's....it's nice here. Peaceful." With the distance between them and any other packs Rowan felt a sense of comfort. Perhaps it was too naive and idealistic, but, she did find herself relaxing here. She'd finally stopped looking over her shoulder for any hidden dangers. 

While she had spent some time in the Forest near them she still spent most of her days inside the packlands. She wanted to try and learn it, to find the places that she and her children would spend most of their time. She didn't want to be unprepared, although it felt like she would never catch up properly. Everything would end up being too soon, too fast. It wouldn't be bad though - she refused to let it be that way. "How are you?" She could only imagine how she was feeling with Laurel and Indra still not home. 

Rowan frowned as he looked down at the ground, listening to the unhappy tone to her voice. Rowan reached out and pressed against her shoulder for a moment before she stepped back to look at Spring. "I hope they are alright." The pale with said. "And that they come home soon." Because she knew how much it meant to Casmir and Laika - and now to Spring as well. 

The want was still there for Laurel and Indra to come home - to know their cousins. "They are getting much more active." Rowan confessed. "I just fear the burden I will put on all of you in the next few weeks."

A little shiver ran down the length of her spine as Spring said that they were gifts. If she only knew the way that Donnelaith was now falling apart - well. Her revenge extracted, she might suppose. Her goal was not to see the pack suffer, no matter how negatively she felt towards Aria for her hypocrisy. She was cautious - giving Spring plenty of time if she felt the need to pull away - but Rowan approached and rested her head for a moment against Spring's shoulder, tail giving a few wags before she stepped back. 

"I think soon you will be able to see them move," She admitted, turning to survey her stomach as if they might answer her on command and be good children already. "But I cannot tell if I see it because I feel it or not." She admitted with a cautious little smile. 

Rowan just wasn't sure that Spring would accept her touch. They weren't familiar, after all, though they were becoming friends and this was a boon to her. It didn't mean that she was going to assume she was allowed to be so close to the Alpha. She offered a reassuring smile (Or what she hoped was, at least) to the woman. "I just....I have an issue with boundaries." She explained quietly. "Just not being sure when I've passed one. You've all been so wonderful to me, but, I don't want to overstep any sort of boundary." She had always been a little bad at reading social cues, but, she did try. 

She thought of Casmir, of how quickly the male had been accepting to her - and how he trusted in her, unlike his twin. Why would she lie? What good did it do to her when the truth was already so damning. The thought became good though given how Silver Creek had become such a home to her, and had taken such good care of her when her pack had not. 

Things happened for a reason, and the witch was assured that they had led her to the Creek.

The silver eyed girl gave Spring a small smile, nodding. She felt comfortable as she could, given the reason she'd joined the Creek, and the longer that she spent there the more it was become a home to her and not just a refuge. It would take time, naturally, until the two became one and the same, but Rowan was eager for the shift and embraced it. "Not at least until the children potty outside the den." She teased back, her smile growing a little bit stronger. 

"If there is anything I can do to help you - please, let me know." Rowan couldn't hunt or properly defend the borders but she could offer council and she could heal. She could do the more intellectual things while her body physically was set in its process. "The other children - Indra, Laurel, and Milo - they were born outside the packlands right?" She asked curiously. She was thinking more about where the puppies would be born and it was becoming more and more necessary to decide where her whelping den would be. 

So the children had been the firstborns of the pack, but, had not been born in the Creek. It must have been a long journey, and while she isn't familiar with the Maplewood at all it sounded far away. '"It must have been difficult, still. Perhaps even more so with the puppies to travel with." Rowan surmised. She might have been in the same position herself had Casmir not been there for her. Though the dark male frequently said it was nothing Rowan felt like she owed him the world. 

"The Creek is a haven, it seems, for all who have come to it's borders." It was something she had come to realize the more that she learned about it, and the recent history lesson from Spring only cements the concept. 

"It truly has been for me." Rowan offered sincerely. She did not question things in the Creek, not the way that she had in Donnelaith, and it finally felt like she could relax. She wasn't worried about some axe swinging above her head, constantly keeping her worried and fearful. She could blossom and she could relax and give her children the life that they deserved. 

"I am sorry to hear of the loss." Rowan said softly, her fears for her own children realized in the child she'd never met. "I have heard it was a horrible time for everyone then." 

Rowan sobered when it came to hearing of Milo, this time when she reached out to touch Spring she was more certain in her motions. "You gave him the best chance you all could...without a healer to help him, it is still hard to say if anything would have changed." Rowan offered quietly. She drew in a deep breath, frowning gently. It was a hard loss and she worried over her children and what their lives would bring.  "I cannot imagine the pain you all have gone through." Rowan admitted. They had somehow survived a nightmare of hers, although she couldn't tell what the future held, she knew with the wolves of her pack she would make it. 

They had done what it took to keep their children safe and secure and Rowan knew it would be done the same way for her children if need be. They would take care of her. She would do whatever she could to do the same for them, too. 

Rowan was excited for a split second to hear that there was another healer in the Creek - at least until she realized that it also meant her words had questioned Spring's ability. "Forgive me," She said quietly. "Even the best of us can't know everything - can't see everything and children especially..." She trailed her words off for a moment. "They can't always tell us what ails us." She said softly. "I don't specialize with children, I find it to be such a difficult field." She sighed quietly. Life was simply unfair.

Rowan was a little pragmatic in that regard - perhaps even pessimistic. No matter how much she wished it to be otherwise she truly felt it was too difficult to try and imagine what might have been the perfect wand to fix things. Her attempts had only proven to put her paw in her own mouth. 

It was part of why wolves had such large litters; the chance of bringing any to adulthood was still slim. She worried for her own in the coming weeks and months, but fretting wouldn't help her. "There is only what you've done so far - to continue, to improve, in his memory." She offered softly. "Would you mind a walk?" Rowan asked, feeling antsy from her faux pas.