Dragoncrest Cliffs The ribbons and the wrappings

Wildfire woke ravenous. She untangled herself from her mate and made a beeline toward the nearest cache, quickly gobbling down three whole rabbits. When she sloppily licked her chops afterward and then blinked over at her belly, the bulge was most likely nothing more than a food baby. Still, the Bandrona's slightly bloodied lips twitched into an incandescent smile. Baby bump! she thought gleefully.

Especially after such a big breakfast, it was the trapper's duty to replenish the cache she had just depleted. Instead, she ducked back inside the cave. She wanted to show @Thuringwethil the slight rounding of her flank but, honestly, she would stop and show anyone else whose path she happened to cross this morning.

When Wildfire moves, Thuringwethil's eyes snap open to see her mate disappear. She doesn't follow after her and instead readjusts her position and rests her head on the ground. Dread keeps her from standing and going about her day and eventually she is able to get her paws beneath her to stretch her limbs. Her mate does not return right away and she begins to move in the direction she'd gone, following the scent easily until she sees her.

"Hey," she calls, glancing around for anyone else but she bumps her nose against her cheek with a nibble at her chin. "Save me any?" she murmurs in jest when she tastes the blood on her lips.

The commander intercepted her and Wildfire's entire body began wiggling before they even touched, these shivers of delight increasing when Thuringwethil nibbled at her. The Bandrona returned the favor, swiping a tongue across the Heda's chin out of both affection and respect, then grinned at the playful query.

"Nope! I ate three entire rabbits," she reported with a gleeful glint in her chestnut eyes that seemed to say, You know what that means! "I did bring you this," she added, swinging her hips to show off her flank to her mate. Wildfire's black tail sped up as she eyeballed the very slight rounding just beyond her rib cage. She stared at it happily for a beat before her chestnut eyes rose hopefully to the commander's face.

Wildfire is quick to shoot her down but she smiles anyway, not quite having the stomach for actual food. She needs a little while longer to shake back her old self but her mate offers a good distraction this morning. When she directs her attention to a slight swell of her belly, Thuringwethil blinks a few times. She knows little about the body when it houses children, her last experience had been with Gyda, so she isn't so sure on the official timeline.

"That you're the proud mother a three beautiful rabbits?" she offers with a playful smirk on her features and a wag of her tail.

Wildfire merely snorted affectionately at her mate's rejoinder. "It's not just rabbits in there," she assured confidently. "You know, my parents always had larger litters," she continued in the next breath, "so there's probably probably three or four in there." She glanced at the commander's face to see what she thought about bringing that many children into the world. Would it please her? Frighten her? "Pups, not rabbits," Wildfire carelessly amended after a beat, emitting another delicate snort.

"Speaking of my parents," the Bandrona said a moment later, snatching onto a thought she'd had and deciding to share it lest she forget, "I was thinking of naming at least one of the pups in their honor somehow. Would that be okay?" There was a slight melancholic pall to her face for a beat, though it softened into something less sad and more hopeful and nostalgic. Her parents' deaths still made her heart ache but it was bittersweet at this point, a flow of happy memories she was determined never to forget and a legacy she was thrilled to perpetuate with a little help from Dio and Thuringwethil.

Wildfire’s closeness with her family leaves an empty hole in her chest that hadn’t really been there before. She’d gotten along just fine without a traditional family, not having someone to call mom and dad or if she had any older or younger siblings. However, seeing her mate torn up about their loss gives her an understanding that those losses affect wolves in certain ways. She mourns the wolves she loses through battle and wars and those that disappear but she is never pulled out of her position of Heda, never has a cloudy mind.

As she speaks, Thuringwethil gives her a nudge to follow along. Her toes mess in the damp sand but her goal is to walk near the coast where the waves kiss the shore, if only to settle her restless heart.

“Of course,” she finally says with a smile fluttering her lips. It does not last long as she considers they may have a family together. If something I to happen to her mate, or to the children, how will she react? Wildfire has a fiery passion that matches the color of her fur but Thuringwethil never had much to lose prior to now and the weight of hit doesn’t give her any peace. “What are you thinking?” she decides to ask, turning for a glance. Her gait is slow enough she doesn’t have to constantly look where she is going so she settles on the girl’s soft, glowing features.

The pair began to walk, Wildfire eager to accompany her mate despite her large meal. She didn't know how pregnancy went for most she-wolves—she vaguely remembered Fox experiencing nausea and other unpleasantness—but it suited her very well. She felt like she was glowing from the inside out, just brimming with positive energy. She practically pranced at the commander's shoulder.

"I'm not sure yet," she admitted, "but I'll let you know what ideas I come up with." They could simply name one of the pups Peregrine and/or Fox, yet Wildfire craved something a little more creative. That thought prompted another, which she voiced aloud: "Hey, do you know what you'll want them to call you? I was thinking I could be 'mama.'" Her chestnut gaze sought Thuringwethil's, beseeching and more than a little curious.

She doesn’t have any ideas off the top of her head but she nods anyway, curious what she’d come up with. Thuringwethil holds more questions than anyone can give her answers. How full are their paws going to be when they are born? With Portia due around the same time, and Dio to there to help in some ways, she’s certain the four of them can manage a new brood of puppies but she still worries. Her connection to them is far more involved than any other children and she heaves a shaky breath as the topic changes.

She hasn’t considered that, not using to have other wolves call herself something other than Heda. Her children shouldn’t be any different, should they? She does need a separation but she isn’t sure Wildfire wants to hear that. Instead, she offers: “Nomon means mother in my language. Or Nomi,” she says after a moment of thought. They have time to figure it out and plenty of time before the children are integrated into pack life that a title will need to differentiate. “Speaking of,” she muses with a twitch of her head, “would you like to learn more of my language?”

"I like those," Wildfire said immediately, then paused when the commander asked about learning her language. She felt a flush of embarrassment. She should be fluent in it by now, she felt. But it did not come easily to her to learn a second vocabulary. "Yes," she replied in the commander's tongue, casting her a sheepish smile. "Always. I'm not very good at picking it up but I'll always keep trying." Her tail gave a self-conscious little flick, hoping Thuringwethil wasn't too disappointed in Wildfire's seeming inability to fully immerse herself in Drageda's culture.

Here came another boxcar on the expecting mother's train of thought. "I'd like them to have a surname. We could call them Redhawk..." She looked speculatively at the Heda's face, wondering if she was open to that idea. It would be a nice way to pay homage to Wildfire's family. But before her mate could even opine on the matter, the red she-wolf shook her head lightly. "I'd rather we give them a Dragedan name," she continued, well aware that she'd just made up that word. "But what do you think?" Because this was, as she'd said time and again, a team effort.

Wildfire knew a little from over time and picking some things up along the way and confirming it put a smile on her face. She is equally excited to learn the language, too, and it’ll make it easier for the children. They are to learn it just the same as she is sure Portia and Dio’s litter will pick it up after being immersed. They themselves have been learning over time and it gives her a feeling of home. The wolves from Trigeda are working—Drageda is the same as Seageda just as it is different. “I can help. As can the others, I’m sure,” she explains with a swish of her tail that brushes against Wildfire’s flank. Tirgatao and Arlo will likely offer their help in the language and anyone else that has grown to learn it.

When she mentions a surname, Thuringwethil eventually slows to a stop so she can better focus. Last names aren’t something they’ve ever used—or felt the need to use—and it sends a twist in her stomach. A part of her worries the litter is only for her mate, with nothing of her reflected in them so far but Thuringwethil bites her tongue and nods her head anyway. “It is not something we do, but if you want them to have them, they can.”

Thuringwethil stopped and Wildfire backtracked a few steps, pivoting to face her. She nibbled at her lip. She could see a tension in her mate's face and wondered if she'd made a misstep. Perhaps she had come on too strongly about the surname? Maybe the Heda was vehemently opposed to such a tradition? Was it worth it to her to push? Wildfire didn't want to do anything that would cause the chasm between them to reopen.

"We don't have to!" It just burst out of her. She ran her tongue along her lip, then amended, "I'd like to but we don't have to if you hate the idea," she elaborated, eyes searching the commander's before dropping. "I was thinking that we could come up with our own name, just for you and me and the children. But, again..." She trailed off to avoid being redundant. In a way, building their own family name was a nod to her own parents, who had done the very same thing with the Redhawk moniker.

“I don’t hate it,” she says, if only to soothe the rambling of her mate. It’s such a minor detail to have an extra name to tag along to their own, especially when they’ve never really been important before. Wildfire has her ways she clings to, just as Thuringwethil does, and she doesn’t really know where to compromise and where to hold her ground. If the name means something to Wildfire, important enough to pass it on to their children, then Thuringwethil lets her guard down a little—it doesn’t have to mean much to her—and it gives her a little push that she is open to change more than she had been before. “I was just surprised.” But, really, should she have been?

The commander quickly clarified that she wasn't necessarily opposed, just taken off guard. Wildfire smiled and bobbed her head, saying, "Fair enough. Why don't we think on it and revisit?" She truly wanted this to be a joint venture in all ways possible. She was even a little proud of herself for her more reasonable approach. Her hormones had definitely settled down since conceiving and she was back in control of her emotions for the first time in a long while.

"Here's yet another thing to put on the list of considerations: would you like to be there for the birth? I hadn't actually given it any thought until Portia asked me about it the other day," the Bandrona said, going full transparency. She cocked her head as she regarded Thuringwethil. She could actually see the woman going either way on this particular topic. "It's up to you, of course, but I'd love for you to be there," Wildfire added, not wanting the Heda to think, even for a moment, that she would try to bar the commander from witnessing the birth of her own children. "You're their nomi, after all."

Wildfire offers a compromise on the situation and Thuringwethil nods. Their line of communication remains open and neither of them get upset with one another like the last time and it’s enough to take the weight of her shoulders. Perhaps their problem is a thing of the past now that they can only go forward. Once the children come, there isn’t any chance of rewinding any of their conflict to wade through. It’ll be okay, she decides.

The next question leaves her short of an answer and her jaw tightens in consideration. She’d put much thought into it either and suspected she’d do the same thing she did when Gyda had gone into labor: stand guard. The den had been small and cramped for the mother of four and trying to fit herself inside wouldn’t have ended well for either of them. “I may not be in the birthing den with you but I will be there,” she finally says with a smile, hoping it’s enough to satisfy. At least temporarily.

It was perhaps because of her discussion with Portia that Wildfire knew better than to take her mate's answer poorly. Actually, her lips twitched a little when Thuringwethil seemingly assumed more of a paternal role. She could easily see the Heda standing guard just outside and, after a moment of thought, she decided she was okay with that. As long as she stayed close enough to come when she called, that was enough for the Bandrona. (She marveled once more at her own self-awareness and calm.)

"All right," she said softly, a small smile on her lips. They had discussed much today about their coming brood and Wildfire sensed that the commander probably had other things to do, though there was one last thing Wildfire wanted to ask. "Is it okay if I give birth in the tree?" She had grown rather fond of the small space tucked into a private corner of the forest. She could see herself standing her ground on this if Thuringwethil disagreed—it was important that she feel she was in a safe space to birth and raise the cubs—but she gave the dark she-wolf a hopeful glance, anticipating acceptance of her wishes.

Their conversation seems to go almost too smoothly but Thuringwethil easily buries the emotion, deciding it is fine and brushes it off simply as inexperience. However, when she mentions the tree, she can’t help but blurt out the exact thought crossing her mind: “what tree?” At first, she thinks of the tree Wildfire found out in the sound, not even in their territory, but she hesitates to blunder through her words. After a moment, regardless of the answer, she’d had other plans. “I thought it would be good to use the beach outside of the cavern. It’s the safest spot in the territory.” It will make a great whelping location, for both she and Portia and future litters to come, to prevent any outside wolves from getting through to them.

"The tree I told you about, near the edge of the woods," Wildfire replied, sure she had brought it up but suddenly second-guessing herself. It didn't really matter, though. "I can show you," she added breezily, then pressed her lips together as the commander expressed her wish for the Bandrona to give birth in their private corner of the beach.

She felt a little prickly but a quick, deep breath smoothed down her proverbial hackles. "Let me show you the tree. I know the spot you're talking about but I think I'd be more comfortable in the spot I've chosen. That said," Wildfire rushed to add, "I'll take everything into consideration. I just want what's safest and most comfortable for me and the pups."

The red she-wolf reached out to fondly muss the velveteen fur behind the Heda's ear, then said, "C'mon, I'll show you, then I'll catch you something fresh for breakfast." With a flash of a smile, Wildfire began to trot off in the direction of the redwoods.

/fade? :D