Northstar Vale All the days of my life.

Hoping for @Ibis, set around May 26th.

To reunite with his brother had been nothing short of wonderful, and there were no words to describe the overwhelming emotion that bloomed within him to look upon his face for the first time in so long. Despite the bitterness and frustration that Viinturuth harboured for their parents, he'd always regretted leaving his siblings behind - especially Akavir.

Life could be good again, he wanted to believe. Together, the Frostfur-Mayfair siblings would work to make up for lost time, to reestablish the bond that clearly still remained, yet something wasn't quite right. While Viinturuth loved his brother fiercely, there was a darkness in him that he couldn't quite shed: envy.

It rooted itself the moment he recognised the scent of a certain little Queen that clung to Akavir's pelage. Viinturuth, fixated at first sight of Ibis on the slopes of their neighbouring mountains, wasn't sure what to make of it all. They'd flirted smoothly back and forth and, as far as he could tell, she had enjoyed his company as much as he had hers. There was an undeniable attraction, one he was curious to pursue - until Akavir dropped the bomb that she and her unborn litter belonged to him.

He didn't like it, not one bit, and his jealousy only grew over the days that followed. Viinturuth knew it would spread throughout him the longer it all played on his mind, and he prowled the vale in search of her. Perhaps, he wondered, seeing her again might temper the sourness he felt for the whole situation he'd found himself in.

The empire was growing. By this point Ibis had hiked all the way to the borders and accepted Clay in to the fold, and returned to the valley bottom where Celara had helped her un-turtle, and after all the commotion and travel within the limits of the claim, Ibis was exhausted. She knew she needed something to eat but reaching a cache was going to be a laborious task. Her belly was so round, so heavy. Her back hurt whenever she stood up and her thin little legs often burned. It was harder for her to judge her own dimensions, so when she trailed along certain paths that were easy to maneuver prior to her pregnancy, now there were obstacles, dead-ends she could not squeeze out of. So she had to stay away from heavily forested areas, the mossy stonework lining the waterways, and anywhere that might prove hazardous to her unborn.

It was tedious. Everything about this stage of her pregnancy added to her discomfort. Ibis did not know how much longer she would have to be fat and awkward, but she hoped her babies would come soon and she could return to her normal shape - as if life were that easy. Gone was the famine-starved husk of a girl, gone was the sleepy faced dreamer. Ibis might not have been ready to mother anything but she was certainly much healthier these days - spherical, with an obvious ponch to her previously athletic little body. How much of this chub would remain after, she wondered...?

As she ambled, trying to place one paw ahead of the other but inevitably giving up and letting herself waddle along, she thought she spotted another new face. This one was just as unknown as Clay or Celara, except the rugged cut of Viinturuth's shoulders brought a glimmer to her eye, and when she caught a glimpse of his face and recognized him as the flirty man from before, she couldn't help but smile as she approached him. The valley was massive and he was, no doubt, trying to adapt to the space like all the others.

Hello again, she called to him, trying to pick up her pace so she could get to him swiftly (her waddling was not pretty and the less of it he could watch, the better she felt about herself). She moved a little bit too fast though, losing a step and then feeling the momentum of her heavy belly carrying her off-kilter just a touch, causing her tiny planetary self to collide with him. Oop..!

He heard her before he saw her, and a tufted white ear swivelled in the direction her voice sounded from. Viinturuth's snout was swift to follow, and he regarded the tiny Queen with an amused smile as she swaddled her way toward him.

Smoothly, he turned to face ger so that he might find a betterritory angle to admire her from. As round as she appeared, as much as the idea of pups did not appeal to him, as repulsed at himself for the intimate thoughts of her that plagued him, she ignited something within him that he couldn't ignore. That flurry of butterfly wings in his gut had to mean something, right?

Did she feel it too, he wondered, as his body shifted forward automatically. Viinturuth prowled forward with a sweeping alabaster plume, eager to be close enough so that he could drink deep that alluring scent she wore. "Hello to you," the rogue chirped back in greeting, though there was no room to offer compliments as Ibis stumbled and made to collide with him.

He braced himself for impact, arched his proud neck in a way to gather her into the firm, gentle hold of his frame so that he might save her from toppling over. "You alright?" Viinturuth asked of her, clearly concerned but vividly aware of the sudden, wild drumbeat of his untamed heart.

Rather than let her trip and roll (comical as that might've been to another person), he stepped up and helped her to steady her footing. The feeling of him next to her was electric; she felt some kind of spark, which could've been static caught in their fur for all she knew, or not even real - but it was enough to make her blush. Thankfully Ibis was known to be bashful and in her current state, had little control over the various changes occurring to her body. Whatever alchemical process was causing her to swell up and build her little family inside her belly had served to make her more emotional, if that's even possible.

She chalked up the sensation to her hormones and left it at that; but the heated flush of her face did not abate. She was thankful for the pale coat that hid her pink cheeks.

You alright? He quipped.

Yes, just.. clumsy. I can't see my feet these days. She explained softly, carefully leaning against his shoulder for a moment longer than necessary and then drawing back when she realized. Sometimes it feels like I have a whole pack growing in me. She smiled, glancing at his face, but couldn't look at him for long - he was radiant.

She pressed herself to him, and he allowed her - encouraged it, in fact. The pale rogue hummed softly at his little Queen's comment as he eyed her with a gentle gaze, smiling toothily in amusement. "A whole pack?" Viinturuth arched his proud, platinum-tipped neck over her slim shoulders to better look upon the swelling that his companion carried.

"Hmmm," he pretended to contemplate, then lifted his pale crown to better look upon her face with a teasing glint to his iris, "I'm willing to bet you've got at least double the numbers you think you'll have."

She withdrew, and at once Viinturuth wondered if he had overstepped his boundaries. He blinked, unsure if he should apologise or not, so offered a silent one in the softening of his expression.