Duskfire Glacier The Future

OOC: For Wintersbane and the kiddos. Set directly after the birth.

Few hours had passed since the arrival of the trio, born to Wintersbane and Tzila Duskfire. Neither first time parents, but both newly blessed with the family they had dreamt of. Curled to nestle up against the bulk of her husbands frame, she had managed to sneak in a short nap after the trying ordeal of labor and birth. Her instincts wouldn't let her sleep for long. Tzila was a fastidious mother, shifting away a soiled fur skin in exchange for another or gently nosing away the tiniest fleck of dust from the newborns.

No longer sleepy but still very much spent, instead of fussing over them, she quietly gazed down at the set of three, each latched onto a teat and fast asleep. Two light and one dark. The boys clearly favored their father heavily. But even in her own family, paler grays were not uncommon. Her distasteful brother was one such example; a dark wolf peppered with sterling. The girl could have earned her black color and muted coppery tone from her own mother. Or possibly a relative of Wintersbane's. Or from Rye. None of these thoughts crossed her mind. They had something else to think about. "Have you thought of any names? I've been trying to think, but I have just felt so out of it, with all that has happened..."

i'm so sorry for the wait on this!

though the tiny size of the youngest duskfires does not surprise him, wintersbane still finds them incredibly fragile all the same ...even if it wasn't precisely true. regardless, they are small and helpless and beautiful and like his children with lane, he cannot help but marvel over them. the commotion around the birthing den has calmed and for this, he is grateful for the quiet moment with his wife.

tzila brings up names and wintersbane hesitates, afraid to voice that he hasn't. he hasn't ever been involved in more than anything than the act of siring pups. if not for strange and tiny chances of fate he might not've even known about quellcrist. i haven't, wintersbane says, drawing in a small breath, figuring that honesty was the best solution here. i've never been ...involved in any of my children's lives before this year.

OOC: No apologies needed!

She drew in a humming breath, a sound of content. Up she reached, craning her neck to press the top of her crown affectionately along the line of his jaw. Her dark tail tip tapped once. His reveal came as a small surprise to her, but she valued his honesty. It didn't change anything about the way she felt towards him or her hopes for the future.
"Then, that makes this time...your first time, all the more meaningful." She hummed again with a smile. "Wouldn't you agree?" Her silver eyes sought his blue one's. "Tell me, how did you come to receive your name?" She tilted her head now, deeply curious of any history behind his namesake.

so it would seem, the tundrian drawls, contemplative; leaning into her affectionate touch. he returns the gesture with a small nuzzle to her cheek, trying not to think too much about it lest the weight that he had five children in the glacier alone ( and perhaps a fair few outside of the glacier ) come crashing down upon him in a sudden wave of anxiety. the conversation then switches to the origin of his name and he draws in a soft breath, letting it out in a chuckle that rumbles in his chest.

the question has so much more depth than she realizes.

wintersbane was not his birth name and not the name he went by fully until a few years ago.

it was not the name given to me when i was born, he admits, figuring he might as well delve into the story. i was born roarke. it is a name from my father's origins. though arturo ( rest in peace )had always been hard and calloused and distant as far as wintersbane cared to remember him. he'd always been a mama's boy; tragic as that brief story ended. after an incident that separated me from my family i went by drogon out of ...loyalty to protect my teaghlaigh— the word does not sound as smooth rolling from his tongue as it had arturo's. during my first marriage, my then wife called me melkor but with her death i went back to wintersbane which i had used briefly sometime in the interim. the years and the tragedies all blended together at this point.

it was hard to decipher where one had ended and the other had begun.

wintersbane was a gift from my mother, given to me sometime in my cubhood. i cannot remember the circumstances of it anymore but i knew that i liked it the most.

Huddled beside him, she listened quietly and patiently. The name she knew him by, Wintersbane, was not his birth one. Roarke was. He had also gone by a second, from his previous wife, Melkor. By the end of it all, Tzila just gave a simple shake of her head and a soft little smile. "It doesn't matter which names you have gone by before. To me, I will always know you as Wintersbane."

Her thoughts furled back to her past, back in the days with her family. Not so fond memories. Though not asked, she provided a simple, short summary. "My name means Shadow Queen, or night. I don't know why they chose it for me, but I suppose it was for my coloration or the love of the dark hours while I was growing up." Silver eyes fell from his, down to the brood of three at her breast. "Their names should carry some meaning." Gently, she let her nose hover over Makatza. "I can already tell that she has wild spirt..."