Arrow Lake first sight, she made me look twice,

Some days after birth (4/1.) All welcome!
v sleepy writing idk what this is

Aure had found she was rousing now and again at this particular time — the hushed time, hours before dawn and not exactly night. Lately, she spent these hours fading to and from sleep, with warm, trembly tears of fatigue following each frequent yawn. She’d begun to feel that familiar twinge of restlessness — the same that had driven her voracious forages along the coast despite her pregnancy.

Nursing was more exhausting than it seemed, with abysmally-ravenous children to worry at her belly. Of course, Aure was endlessly grateful of the weeks of leisure ahead of her, days for nothing but love for her children, and hourly water breaks. She was so worn, so wilted and tired of travel... at least, for now. Straggling her way back from one of these said breaks, she knelt to lap at the lake’s edge; the distant, rumbling hum of the falls is what helped her to sleep, mostly when her thoughts became too stubborn to leave her.

Though days had followed another after her delivery, her body felt heavy, weighty, as if each segment of her marrow were made of warm milk and sleepiness. The far-seer could feel her lashes drawing heavy to scarred cheeks, too, though she knew she must return to nursing soon. A lethargy that she would veil herself in once she returned to her children; coaxed by the falls she’d become so used to — no, remembered from Rhaesuial.

She had lain awake after being roused from her sleep by a particularly bad dream, the sun hadn't even risen yet. Her brain had been quiet for once, perhaps because she wasn't fully awake at the time. Then came a few sharp cracks in the distance, the sound of a stupid animal testing their luck amongst wolves. She stood up Immediately awake and went off to hunt it down, finding a rabbit amongst the bushes nearby the lake. 

She carried her catch toward the water, pausing as she spotted Aurë. The mother looked exhausted, completely worn and Kazimir carried the rabbit forward, gently barking a muffled greeting through rabbit flesh "Here...you look like you could use it" she said in a low voice, dropping it and stepping back.

If it hadn’t been for the drawl that pinched her awake, Aure would’ve most certainly slept at the edges of the lake — and probably would’ve toppled right on in. Her fur ruffled with a start, tail a pale sickle over boney hips, but the herbalist relaxed the moment she saw the source of her alarm: Kazimir, the burly she-wolf who’d been one of the first to accept the cliff-cadre into Diaspora.

The accent that rolled from this sensible Tessarius’ throat could’ve been called a heavier, headier version of Aure’s own foreign trill; regardless, though, Kazimir looked and sounded just as reasonable as she had the day the far-seer had been initiated.

Now, though, she was being offered a catch; usually one to decline such profferings out of politeness, the silver thanked her sleepily, and knelt to nibble from one of the hare’s haunches. It wasn’t long until Aure withdrew — leaving some for Kazimir, after all — and regarded the hefty female before her with tired, kindly eyes. “Thank you, Kazimir. You are very considerate.”

She watched silently as the woman ate her share, grateful that some was left for her. She nodded her thanks and will a heavy paw she dragged the rabbit over to herself and ate her fill, leaving only the skull behind. Her ears twitched at Aure's words and she smiled, gaze softening "You're welcome Aurëwen. How are you doing, besides being tired I assume" it was a safe thing to assume right? Since the woman had babes to care for, that probably kept her up. A flicker of curiosity mixed with a bit of derision came to het features "If it's not too forward, what is it like? The pregnancy and then afterwards?" she asked. She wanted pups instinctually and maybe even emotionally but she was a bit uncertain if she'd want the sickness and exhaustion and pain that came from it. Even the first few months of motherhood sounded like something she wouldn't consider a good time but... having smiling, active children to raise and show the world to, that sounded much better.

The corner of a scarred lip curled minutely at the assumption of tired. Compared to the great exhaustion she felt, being tired would be a blessing. She kept quiet when the inquiry came, and went even quieter still on the subject of pregnancy and its aftermath; her eyes went to the alpine lake, so different from the coastal one of the cliffs. "There is pain, and much of it. I spent ze wake of it lost among my own dreams, and while it was muted, I... I felt it. Ebbing through me. Not enough to push me into void, but not enough, either, to give me relief from ze fever." If only epidurals were a common practice here, lmao.

Perhaps it may have been a blessing that delirium had taken Aure when she was delivering. It may have been what had saved her and allowed her to keep breathing in the end. "You are... big. Strong," she continued, clumsy and contemplative, her distant gaze returning to Kazimir. "You have a better chance of conquering that pain than I ever did," a rueful little laugh. "Afterwards, though, it... it is worth it, to know that my children and I survived through such a severity. Seeing them, falling for them as dragostea fell for them has been worth it. Even ze morning sickness has been worth it."

Pale cheeks stung with blood, then, as she remembered how her introduction with Lily had went. "Never did I think I would ever have children of my own, I... I thought my life would be nothing but wandering. And perhaps I may always wander; but ze children will forever be home in my heart, now." Ears flicking a bit sheepishly, Aure refocused to the burly she-wolf. "It will not be perfect, but it will be happy."

She had not expected a tidal wave of emotional heartfelt mush to wash over her. Part of her wished to say something quickly that wasnt rude but also would probably make her look like an ass. The other part, the soft feminine side that wanted a husband and kids some day, it listened intently. Her lips curved upwards with humor as Aure seemed to stumble on what to call her figure and she let a breath of laughter leave her nose, showing she wasn't offended at all. The notion that this woman had almost died from the birth was startling and her gaze softened a bit as she felt bad that it had been so rough on the woman.


It was the description of the love for the babes that had a sharp, aching yearning swell in her chest. "That's really beautiful...I feel the same way currently. That I'll never have children...always be a wanderer. Though...Diaspora has somewhat tempered my yearning for a home." she said this hesitantly, flame like eyes sliding to the side. She couldn't admit that she was afraid nobody would

want her because she was a bigger size, because she had more muscles than some men did. She knew she wasn't ugly but she...she was what her humans would call a "Bear Dog" a big thick burly woman. It wasn't exactly a curvy feminine figure. Not to mention nobody had really caught her eye except for Mahler and...oh she couldn't ask that could she? She remembered the man who had fixated the weirdest smirk upon Stigmata, he had oozed masculinity and had stood beside Aure. She remembered hearing somewhere along the grape vine of the man being her brother. "How are your wolves settling in? Vercingetorix and....and Vonn?" she had to throw in the other man's name just so it didn't seem too clear though she was a poor liar and even worse at hiding interest.

The bit of guilt had returned, despite pleasantries, at Kazimir’s inquiry of how are the others settling in? She elbowed the nibbling, taunting thoughts away, and instead made her lips curl as the she-bear presented her with names. “Vonn — Vonnaruil? He is as adaptable as any season. Though I haven’t been able to properly see him, I am sure he is delighted to be around Stigmata again?” Phrased as a question, but spoken as fact.

Thoughtful, as she turned her mind to the second male in question... “Vercingetorix, he is... adapting, as he can. I suspect all of this,” a sweep of her tail to gesture all that was around them — the place, the culture, the wolves, “is foreign to him.” As foreign as it was to Aurëwen herself to settle somewhere for all of your living days. But it was all she would elaborate on; it wasn’t  her story, her life to tell.

Truth be told, she hadn’t an inkling or imagining of what Verx was trying to surmount on his own — or Vonn, or even Blodreina. She wished to understand them, to help them in whatever way she could... but her children had arrived. For now, it was Verx’s children which commanded her utmost attention; and Aure cast a half-distracted look towards her thicket. She should return to them, and soon.

She was glad to hear everyone from Drageda was doing their best to settle in though she could sense that there was uncertainty. She didn't know what their pack had been like but she was sure that it had to be strange settling in someone else's home instead of one you ruled. "I hope that everyone finds Diaspora to be worthy of their loyalty" she said gently her eyes sympathetic. She noticed her glance toward the thicket and smiled "You can go to your babies. It was nice talking to you officially" she said and stepped back her tail swaying.

There seemed to a hesitant certainty that both she-wolves seemed to share, as far as settling in so far went. She was sure that the living here would be alright; her little family only needed to adjust, is all. How long they would remain was another matter entirely... and one that was better contemplating much later, preferably some time in the morning when thinking was clear.

Still quite tendered from her ordeal, Aurëwen bade Kazimir goodnight with a soft, wearied smile, ”It was lovely to meet you, too,” and soon returned to her children at a hobble. The silver bedded down just as they began to rouse, and greeted each with a mother’s fond kiss whether they squalled or nursed into the deepening night.

last post from me <3

She returned the smile with her own, breathing in the milky scent the woman gave off as discreetly as possible as the other turned to go back to her children. She watched her go before picking up the pelt of the rabbit to clean it off and let it dry out before she would present it as a gift for the woman's babies at a later time. She then returned to her chosen place of rest and began to clean the pelt though she dozed off in the middle of it .

Love Aure so much! I hope we can have another sometime!