Blackfeather Woods mamihlapinatapai

a little something for these two, @Moonshadow (forward dated around 4/28 -4/30ish)

(n.) a look shared by two people, each wishing the other would initiate something which they both desire but neither wants to begin.

She assimilated quietly and in an undistracting manner, for the witch had little desire to incur the same silent disregard she had received at the borders. Perhaps she was unwelcome; it mattered as little as her words had in either case. It was unspoken that she was to care for the pregnant Moonshadow, a task that suited Istoira perfectly fine. 

She attended her duties - patrolling the borders and adding her own mingling scent to the others with a displaced feeling that it did not belong there. She hunted, leaving a portion of her game within the pack's caches as she had promised Mou though the charred girl reserved the choicer catches for the dark lady. 

Midday, though one would not be able to guess the time from within the dim Woods - a fact that the Storm-bringer was still acclimating to - found her weaving amidst the black trunks with a different sort of prize held gingerly in her scarred maw. 

The firewood sought Moonshadow's den, lingering some respective distance from its entrance - for the last thing she wished was to make the woman uncomfortable with her proximity to what would likely become a whelping nest. 

She called softly for the dark lady, voice vaguely muffled by the leathery beaver foot clenched betwixt her lips - a soft, fatty chewtoy that Moonshadow's children might enjoy playing with, well into the future when they began to teeth.

omg forgot all about this!

She felt huge like she was going to explode at any given moment. The pups kept waking her up at and time of the night and she was exhausted as well as impatient. She wanted them to be born already. Hopefully it would get easier.

she spotted a familiar figure and smiled. “Hi!” She called out.

it happens!

The raven-pelted mother withdrew from the confines of her thicket, radiant as she recieved the firewood with joy - a sight the Serenorth could grow well used to, the woman was beautiful and made more so by the progression of her pregnancy. She felt a flicker of concern flare within at the simmering fatigue hidden within Moonshadow's jade optics, despite her appreciation for the onyx femme's appearance.

"I hope I have not disturbed your rest, my lady," the shadow murmured after she had placed the beaver foot at the other's paws in offering. The botanist had midwifed a few she-wolves in the past and knew exhaustion to be typical just as jilted sleep cycles were; chagrined, she would be if she had woken the woman just as she found respite in slumber. 

"I must admit that motherhood suits you though," she complimented softly, dark plume swaying gently. 

The dark woman was slightly concerned with her wellbeing and it made smile. “Oh don’t worry the little ones did way before you. Normally a walk seems to calm them down but clearly not this time. It may be close to the time of their birth but I am not sure. “ She sure as hell hoped so though.

She nodded slightly, put at ease now that she knew for certain she had not disturbed the dark femme - who was quickly occuyping a majority of her thoughts of late. 

"How far along are you?" The healer asked curiously as she settled upon dark haunches of onyx, head tilting slightly as she tried to gauge the woman's gestation with a glance. 

The swell of her stomach and the sag of her teats spoke of an approaching delivery within the next few days - perhaps a week - though the woman was no expert in such things. Perhaps she was mistaken. 

"I imagine you're anxious just to bring them into the world already," she quipped with a gentle smile after a moment, chuckling softly. "Have you considered names?"

She never thought of how far along she was. “I feel like I’m about to explode.” Her stomach felt heavy as hell and it even hurt to stand for long periods of time. “No I haven’t really thought of names but I have decided their last names.” She smiled. “Asenda after me and my brother and Blackfeather after the pack I hold dear to my heart.”

Istoira laughed, not quite expecting that answer. But then she supposed that pups arrived whenever they wanted to, there really was no way to pinpoint an exact moment of arrival. "Well, let us hope they come soon then," she chimed in amusement. 

The former slave nodded, thinking it a befitting blend of ideals though it was not really her place to say as an outsider. "Does your brother also reside here?"

A low whimper escaped her muzzle and a slight wince as well at the thought of her brother. "To my knowledge he uh died protecting me." It was her fault if she hadn't of been kidnapped he'd of been here.

"Oh," she exhaled softly, "Moonshadow, I'm sorry. I didn't know." Her auds curled against her skull as she grimaced in sympathy for the woman's loss. "It sounds like he was a brave man," she complimented softly, hoping to make her feel better somehow, as she moved to the woman's side. Her inky shoulder pressed against Moon's, offering silent comfort.

In truth he was, she looked up to him and held him in high esteem. “A lot braver than I am.” She felt incomplete without her brother near. She prayed that he was safe wherever he is, whether that be in the stars or in teekon

"You are brave," she insisted gently. The woman hadnt let it destroy her, she was a devoted pack member and a soon-to-be mother. "It takes strength to carry on when your loved ones have gone," she murmured, knowing only to well that it was true.

She miles and felt something seemed to stir in the She wolf and Moonshadow gave her a gentle nudge. “Thanks I needed that.” If there was nothing else the she wolf would go and attempt to get the den ready for her children to come. Only the gods know when they will come but something told her that it would be soon.