Redtail Rise champagne

Few things changed for Wealda following her claim of mateship. She continued her days in protection and in providing, sometimes alone, other times accompanied by packmates.

The change came with her rest. Before she would sleep alone, joined only when @Carrion chose to grace her presence on occasion. She had always welcomed the company but did not mind the solitude, for she knew that the pack breathed around her.

Now, each time she settled, she did so alongside @Gavrel. If he did not find her first, she would always seek him out to finish the day tucked companionably against him. She felt no need to declare what transpired; this change would speak on its own.

As she paced the woods near the edge of the rise’s bounds, her mind dwelt on spring. A duty once abandoned, now a renewed concept she was not certain she would even be given opportunity to explore. Nature would decide, just as it decided all things.

Still, as she tracked a pheasant’s trail, the thought remained a distracting notion. A few grains of sand in an otherwise oiled machine.

had blood star found a companion in goldwalker?

mountain boulder approved.

he wanted to test the mood of the younger woman he had always considered daughter; he brought her an elk femur, and fell to a bow, and mouthed it.

often she was somber. he wished to know if this gold man brought something new to her spirit, as new snow did for him.

Redd was agitated and pensive, but not for any reasons but her own.  When she saw him Wealda stopped and paused, allowing him to catch up and soothing the thoughts from her mind.  She knew that she could do nothing.  Yet she had no sense of when too late would pass.

These were not worries she could voice, even if she tried.  Even if any present could answer.  The only mother she knew she could ask no questions of, and it made the ache for her own all the more apparent.

Wealda mirrored his bow, allowing him to draw her into distracted play.  She grabbed at it with a rumble, but did not initiate to pull it from his grasp.  Wealda wished to know his intention, a hesitation in her betraying the divide  within.

blood star showed interest, but did not play.

the yellow eyes blinked. the broad jaws released the bone.

he paced to the nearest step of goldwalker; he peered at her and then her pelt, and gave a curious wave of his tail.

perhaps hopeful?

the grey ears came forward.

He did not initiate either, and as he stepped back, she dropped the antler with a small, apologetic wave of her tail.  It did not appear he took it personally.

Instead Ulfhedinn seemed interested in her companion.  Gavrel had spoken of them meeting but she did not know the hunt lead’s thoughts.  The choice had been hers and hers alone, and it still did not occur that he might disapprove.  Thankfully this anxiety was not one even hinted at in her thoughts.

As his eyes proposed the question, Redd thought of Gavrel, and the unease slid from her posture.  Her tail lifted with more genuine joy and there was no mistaking the fondness that eclipsed her features.  He had provided her escape, companionship, and freedom these past days.

She chuffed an affectionate confirmation, then nosed the hunt lead’s ruff appreciatively.  As she did, the hunt wife’s scent too became apparent, and children newly present.  Wealda felt a rush of protective pride, familiar by now.  But also the quiet weight of expectation, a sense of a duty that her body did not share.

Slightly dampened, she averted her gaze, but still radiated calm reassurance.  Happiness and pride overshadowed all else.  This confusion she intended to simply ignore.

he felt these things and they seemed to him like the gathering of light upon water. blood star was pleased and so then would the huntlead be. he chuffed over her withers, tail waving as he preened small knots and leaf-litter from her hackles.

we will help you to raise your children.

whether or not she bore them, the notion stood. he who had been father for long would welcome grandfather in the new generation of riseblood wolves born to the redtail pack, and he knew the same of new snow.

mountain boulder rumbled his own contentment.

Her discontentment remained, though she lightly pressed her head to his chest and allowed the attention to soothe her.  She could feel the parental affection behind it and knew this sense was shared.  When the time came she would rely on them both to show her what needed to be done.

She had hoped to strengthen the pack this year.  She feared she would not.  This felt like the first true failure as Wealda.

She felt the instinct to submit rise within her but quelled it, allowing the discomfort to settle instead into acceptance of what would come.  She would lead until others refused to follow, just as she’d always intended.  It was a success to have even found a mate this year.  She had thought even this to be a lost cause.

Wealda huffed appreciatively, nosing at his ear with affectionate thanks.  She would not let him down in all of the ways she could control.

he returned the gesture and then shook out his hackles with ebullience. a low bark challenged blood star to a run that would find its end in the burned place.

she had not wished the piece of ivory. perhaps something more energetic might burn off the last of the hesitance he sensed in her, at least for now.

yellow eyes danced.

A run required no decisions, no push and pull or even enthusiasm.  To run alone was freedom, but to run with pack was to touch the very heartbeat of the thing she held most sacred.  Redd’s hesitance vanished and Wealda answered his invitation, nipping playfully at him in grateful camaraderie as she ran past, then allowing their paces to meet.

There was little utility in worry.  These things reminded her why Wealda was.  This was all she truly needed.