Lion Head Mesa those who wish me dead, yeah

@Ash Paw's scent is heavy upon the borders; of a pack that ingram does not know.

the patronsaint leaves his offering at the altar of osiris: a rabbit's heart — the rest he ate — making up his mind that he would seek her out.

his offering made, he slips out of akashingo's borders, following the freshest trails of her scent.

She had arrived as a guest of the Princess Toula bearing gifts and teaching, because she knew she'd not be able too in the weeks coming for quite sometime. She had wished to offer this small gift.

She was planning on seeking out Ingram and it seemed Deathbringer was here also. She thought of perhaps seeking him out too, but she was found by the former before she made up her mind 

She held up a paw in greeting. Rotund and large as she was she didnt stand. She had a long walk ahead of her yet.

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she is larger than he remembers, even though only a few weeks have slipped past them.

mage, ingram rumbles in greeting, wiry smirk tugging at the edges of his lips. it fills him with a nostalgia that he hopes she might appreciate.

you look ... well. lackluster but nothing else seemed appropriate as all of what had been dancing upon his tongue had to do with her swollen belly.

much has changed shortly after princess toula and i arrived here. pharaoh ramesses is dead and his queenwife has gone. how he feels about the political upheaval, that a child now commanded him? well, he wasn't quite sure — eager to suffocate traitorous inklings before they could take root.

She certainly feels larger. Off kilter and unbalanced. Getting up from sitting down is always a marathon, her limbs ached, but otherwise she was in good health.

A small chuckled slipped betwixt lip and teeth and she shakes her head with amusement and care.

She laughed outright at that. I look like a beached sea beast.

She blinked as he dropped heavy topics on her lap. She frowned in thought. From what she had gathered the pharaoh had seemed healthy, perhaps it was not so. Then fear rammed into her.

It was not from a sickness i could catch is it?

Then she thought and answered. I've not heard good things of here under the pharaohs rule in the pack i am part of now. Perhaps this will be a small blessing.

though she was sure to be as hush as she could. She had seen all the servants the very walls had eyes and ears.

well ... yes. ingram admits with a half-sheepish grin and shrug of shoulders. the fact that he'd been trying to be kind was rare.

i do not think so. ingram murmurs confidently. he cannot say what had killed the prior pharaoh, simply that very shortly after his arrival — if not during it — he'd died.

i like to think if that was the case, we'd have been warned. but then again, he couldn't pretend to know for sure. would the childpharaoh have bothered to mention if ramesses was sick? if it was contagious?

she's a child, ash paw. like being lead by one of my shadowchildren. she was about their age, after all. it does not ... feel good. was this Osiris' whispers poisoning ingram's brain? his inability to handle authority? or because he didn't like the massive change. he thought and had accepted he'd be beneath ramesses' and his queenwife's rule, after all.

She darted a paw out to press to his shoukler. She had appreciated his kindness. Had enjoyed it even. She hoped he understood what she didnt say.

His words that it was probably not a sickness eased her shoulders down. Good, she was not endangering the babes by being here.

Ash paw furrowed a brow and looked around being sure no one could hear. She wouldn't have Ingram be ostracized for something miniscule.

How old were you when you began to lead the druids?

who is the new crown pharaoh it is not Toula correct?

i did not lead the druids. it was my ...well, my ex nightwife. ingram tells ashpaw with a lofty shrug.

basilica was my first go at leadership. and it had failed spectacularly: but such was the way of things. failures stung, but they provided their own fair share of opportunities.

the dusk always promised a dawn.

no. ingram replies. the new pharaoh ... she is presumably another daughter of ramesses.

A brief touch of surprise colored her thoughts.  He had seemed to be the leader. Not the absent nightwife and now they were no longer a couple. She hoped she hadn't caused that. He hadn't done anything, behaved. It had been her that offered something he couldn't have.

She listened and studied him. Are you finding peace in your worship of Osiris?.

She thought of the other gods her own thoughts straying to the stone she now carried from toula for the egyptian goddess.

some. an honest admittance, uttered like a choked whisper in the candlelit chased shadows of a confessional. not enough.

oh! but he was obsessed with Osiris!

but the unease that spurs him away from the bones, from the feather of ma'at was born of his own personal issues — always rearing their ugly heads — and the plaguing worry that he would be barred from ash paw, from the children he agreed to be father to.

how could he be father? when he was so far away?

spurred into action, a quick gasp of a breath; a decision made.

what if i went with you? what if i became full father to your children? if they could always know me and not just visits ... which i fear i will be ordered away from.

He didn't seem to hold the same fervor he always had for Sithis, for dreadfather for Basilica. What had dulled him. She wasn't sure how to take it. But she didn't like it. A shadow of his former self.

There was a heaviness to his spirit. Was it truly simply a matter of a child pharaoh?

Before she could say anything a gasp colored the silence overly loud. She blinked at him surprised.

What was this sudden shift. You could if you really wanted too. I can't answer for my leaders Crowfeather and Silvertongue. But is thia what you truly want? I don't take half measures in anything nor will my children.

Lift of queenly head, proud tilt to jaw.

duty.

though he served Osiris ... it was not true duty. not true purpose that drove him. for so long, it had been the listener. and then it had been basilica.

now?

he was adrift.

the only duty he had was a half promise that he fears he cannot fulfill if he didn't go with her. to be a part-time parent.

but devoting himself to them in full? to her (if she let him!) ... this he could do.

he could be devout to Osiris anywhere. toula had taught him that. the deathlord was not constrained by boundries.

i would be disappointed if you did. rumbles the patronsaint. i can serve Osiris anywhere. my duty to him is spiritual and i find myself lacking because of it. not to besmirch the deathlord! he only speaks with deeply embedded reverence for his new patrongod.

i want to. ...this. whatever complicated tangled web it was. to be the only father they know.

Blue eyes stared at him. A small tightening of her jaw as she studied him and his words. She had not mispoke there would be no half measures or half wit. But, but.

They existed well, but they were both proud, haughty, tempermental. Could it work. Or would it burn itself out. Though who would be the fool that didn't try. And he had proven time and time again even in her deepest ire in moments that he meant what he said almost always. Sometimes harshly so.

She chuckled. He certainly knew her mind well. Deep breath and she blinked. 

Speak plainly. You want fatherhood or me and fatherhood?

She wanted to be certain she understood what he wanted completely.

speak plainly.

riddles upon riddles.

speaking about feelings was not something ingram excelled at.

both.

though if feelings came into play he would not acknowledge them. not yet. he craved the stability ash paw gave him, even if their friendship has had it's fair share of tumultuous moments.

did he not deserve stability? didn't she?

he could give that to her. to the cubs. at the very least, he could give a stable presence.

It was as plain as she could make it. She detested unanswered questions. Or things that didn't have a reason or somwthing behind it. Did she love him. No, not quite. Was he her best friend yes, was he stability and known yes again.

She nodded. Very well. I accept.

She didn't know what the future would hold or how they would move forward. Only because the two of them were chaos incarnate at times.

Who'd have thought a wolf she attacked upon first meeting would become, well this.

of course, it wasn't quite so simple.

there was still a lot of uncertainty in how this would play out.

to be such a green acolyte and to leave so soon! would the pack she joined accept him?

in the end, ingram would not let potential snags stop him. he was determined. he'd made the vow. the simplicity lay in the fact that he was her's now: in whatever way she wanted him.

and he was father to the unborn cubs in her womb.

should i call for pharaoh? or seek her out alone? he would not put ash paw in danger but as he wasn't entirely alone in making decisions now he looked to her for her thoughts.

Ash paw knew much rested on both now and it seemed an unjust cruelty to take somwthing from Toula again. However, she was growing tired. Her body aching.

If you want me there I can be, but right now i need to rest. I'm quite tired. And still have quite a journey to do.

She had no qualms about meeting the pharaoh if he wished it but her body was tired.

you rest, ingram tells her, voice a low rumble of a command. better i not worry about you and the cubs if this goes south. at least this way, she would be out of the direct line of fire — so to speak.

no matter what happens: i'll be back.

perhaps it was a promise he couldn't realistically keep ...but he made it resolutely all the same.

feel free to wrap as is or with your next reply! <3