the scent of redhawk was on the snow-laden wind, and relmyna bristled from where she had left the glen, heeding her instincts and moving through the trees until kove's deep, even tones were audible. the wolves who had attacked were not within the wood, and relmyna would come no further, keeping herself from view.
while instinct cried that she join her dark master in the guardianship of their borders, the evoker turned away and cantered back to where her spiderlings lay curled in night and sun together. @Averna the patchwork wolfess grasped first, knowing @Astara's sable pelt would blend more aptly with the deep shadows of the glen, and here she placed her pale daughter at the entrance to the tunnels below blackfeather.
one by one, footfall by tedious footfall, relmyna bore her children beneath the earth to meldresi's keep. the whelping glen was well protected, and to it perhaps she would return, but for now the woman refused to risk the eyes of enemies upon her or her brood. 
settling them into a nest of winter-dried herbs, relmyna curled her body around the squalling pair, tucking them closer to her breast with her slender forelegs. it was not until they had begun to eagerly nurse that the evoker realized she had left the rock of tongues in the den above. no matter; no words were necessary here. and while her body had found its lulling relaxation, relmyna could not rest, peering upward tensely with sharply quivering ears as she listened for the telltale footfalls of vicious interlopers.