Swiftcurrent Creek A walk around the world to ease my troubled mind.

For @Kaskara - sorry for the enormous delay in a new thread for us. :X

It was during the cold season that Paarthurnax was thankful for her mother's Northern bloodlines. While her coat for the Summertime was fine and sleek, Winter's pelt grew in thick and lustrous, having her appear remarkably fluffy. New snowflakes dusted her head and back as she meandered along the Creek's shore, letting her aching paws be cooled by the water's chill.

The crimson mother-to-be paused in her tracks to dip her muzzle and taste the ice-cold surface of the territory's namesake, taking a few moments to quench her thirst before she rose her head and turned her bright eyes skyward. Snow fell lightly, but the grim white sky promised a heavier bout and, reluctant to be too far from her den when it came, Paarthurnax made to move away from the creek and waddle awkwardly away.

Things had been quiet for her since the meeting, during which her pack-mates had been given the stage to share their opinions of her return. Some were happy to have her back, some already felt a fierce protectiveness over her unborn brood, while others were... well, not so comfortable. Paarthurnax did her best to avoid the wolves who disapproved of her presence, though she knew she could not keep away from them forever.

No problem! :)

The pack meeting and the attack by those lone wolves had instilled a great sense of foreboding within Kaskara, and she had lately been focused on hunting whatever she could to fill the pack's caches. While birds and small rodents wouldn't tide them over for the entire winter, at least it would help them if their hunts continued to fail; one success was not enough to make her vigilant stance on the matter wane at all.

Today, she carried a pair of rabbits within her jaws. They weren't as plump as she would've liked them to be, but they weren't scrawny, either. Apparently food was relatively scarce for them, as well. One was destined for the cache near the creek and the other she would take to Paarthurnax, for the unborn pups she carried within her belly. Kaskara had never taken to pups before, but she felt protective over these, considering she was beta now and was responsible for all her pack mates.

After burying one of the rabbits, she cleaned off her paws in the creek and was lucky enough to see the crimson woman nearby, waddling away from the creek. With a bark, Kaskara picked up the other rabbit and trotted to Paar's side, laying it down between them so she could nudge her friend's shoulder gently. "I got this for you, Paar. You can share it with Bazi if you can't finish it."

She regarded the sound of padding paws accompanied by the crunch of fresh snow with the cant of a russet lobe, before her crown and gaze followed. Paarthurnax' bright eyes fell upon the dark figure of a wolfess she knew, and as the memory of Kaskara's protective stance against Falwasi's harsh comments flooded her mind, she slackened. Carefully she turned toward the sable-furred wolfess, her feathery tail wagging in a friendly manner, and strode forward to aid in closing the distance between herself and her companion.

Kaskara offered her catch to her, a warm gesture that she appreciated yet still found difficult to accept. "Thank you," she said, looking down at the bloodied carcass of the still-warm rabbit. Swiftcurrent's kindness made her feel hugely guilty, considering how she'd left them before to pursue romance with their competitor. She lifted her gaze from the corpse then, looked up into the taller female's dark chocolate features, and found a fond expression there. She stepped closer then, reached out to bump her snout affectionately to the underside of her friend's jaw, "I have missed you, Kaskara. Congratulations on your rise to Beta - it is very well deserved."

Kaskara saw a shadow of something cross Paar's face, but it was gone the next moment. "You're welcome," she said in reply, hoping that the woman as truly thankful and not resentful or feeling guilty for her current state. The crimson flower bumped her nose against Kas's jaw and the warrior blinked in surprise, but grinned nonetheless as she returned it with a gentle nudge of her own.

"I've missed you too, Paar," she said. In all honesty, Kas hadn't known Paarthurnax well, but she had missed the girl while she had been gone. Having all those males around was hard on a girl's ego. "I know Bazi missed you, too, and is glad to have you back." Kaskara grinned at Paar's congratulations and shook her head, slightly embarrassed now that she was in the spotlight. "My brother needed someone to rely on during these troubled times, especially now that Shadow is looming at our doorstep. I couldn't very well say no to him."

They had never been particularly close, Kaskara and Paarthurnax. But they'd been bonded as pack-mates, enough to consider one another a friend, at last on the latter's part. She had loved her as family, just as she'd been fond of all Swiftcurrent wolves. And each of the ones she'd known had crossed her mind regularly following her departure to Noctisardor Bypass with Shadow. Absence had certainly made her heart grow fonder, for to see Kaskara's familiar face and know she was well had roused fresh happiness within her.

The mention of Paar's former mate's lurking at their doorstep was enough to make her ears fall back, and a solemn glint glimmered in her copper irises. She looked to Kaskara in silence, unsure how to respond with words, and as the awkward silence hung between them she decided to simply shrug a sleek shoulder. "I am trying not to let that bother me," she announced, not unkindly, though there was an edge of guilt to her tone for passing the topic by when the Beta seemed interested in conversing about it. "You are looking well. I trust your trip to Duskfire was not too harsh?"

Kaskara had never been very tactful, and the glimmer of guilt that shadowed Paar's voice and crossed her face when Kas said Shadow's name made the beta feel guilty for even bringing it up. After all, he was not the only threat this winter, and although he was the most recent one, he was far from the harshest: winter could do that all on her own. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up. It's not your fault he never learned the meaning of no."

But after that, she let it drop. Paar was uncomfortable speaking about it and she wasn't about to make the pregnant woman squirm even more than she probably already was. It wasn't in her nature to do that to others, especially wolves she considered friends. The conversation turned to her trip to Duskfire and Kas nodded, smiling. "It wasn't as harsh as I thought it would be, but then again Falwasi and Kieran went with me. It would have been a long and lonely road without them."

Paarthurnax and Kaskara spent the next few minutes talking of trivial things, and Kas wasn't going to bring up the subject of Shadow again. So she smiled and simply let the subject lie. Later she would bring it up again if necessary, but for now Kas bid her friend farewell and promised to return in a few days to check on her again.