Silver Creek Sweet Summer Wind

AW but hoping for @Rowan Mayfair, since they've not met. (Hopefully I've done my tag right.)  

There was but a single wolf scent in Silver Creek that Heston had yet to meet. Though he knew not how many hopefuls stood in the door, he'd only managed to catch wind of a single wolf already in the pack that he did not know. (Admittedly there were other scents that were old and not familiar, but he did not count those.) As morning stretched into afternoon he thought there was no better time than now to meet his final packmate, so he set out to look for them.

He walked calmly after their scent for a time, hoping perhaps they would run into each other. From the scent he could tell it was yet another female, which suited him just fine. He was hoping not to stumble across anyone's den, but if the female was within her den there wasn't much that could be done. He was confident in his tracking abilities based on the age of these scents, and as he walked he made no effort to hide his approach. 

He was in a pleasant mood, well rested and well fed. His coat was freshly clean and he felt that he was truly learning the Silver Creek territory. It was starting to feel like this could be home, which both excited him and frightened him.

In comparison to Heston's pleasant mood and well groomed appearance Rowan was restless, the children demanding her to expel her energies at random hours. The witch spent her time casting her magics in the hopes of bringing home Indra and Laurel, of guiding Casmir and Laika with swift feet to safety. With any luck they would be home and safe and settled before her children were born and they would get to know their cousins from the first moments they could see and hear them. 

She heard another wolf approach, her giat much slower than she was capable of for the sake of the slow waddle that she had adopted. Rowan paused and turned to look back toward the approaching male, the only one in the pack that she hadn't met yet. Her coat had come up in whisps, hair in wild tufts that only added to the hazed glow around her. The halo of power to some, the air of suspicion to others. 

looks like it's just right! :)

Yay!

Before long he made out the shape of a pale female in the distance. At first he wondered if she was injured, for even from a distance her gait was strange to him. Yet as he grew closer he noted that her sides were swollen and round. His brow arched, he hadn't been aware that anyone in the pack was expecting. Casmir hadn't mentioned his mate being in the family way, and he was the only male other than Heston himself. He approached slowly, remembering from his youth how pregnant females could be testy to wolves they didn't know.

Her hair fluffed wildly about her as she turned to look at him and he smiled kindly, hoping to put her at ease. "Hello there! I didn't mean to intrude. I'm newly accepted to Silver Creek." He approached but kept a polite distance, smiling still. "Yours is the only scent I hadn't yet put a face to, so I was aiming to fix that. I'm Heston, pleasure to meet you." He dipped his head politely. "There's not a male waiting around the corner to tear my head off for talking to you, is there? I was under the impression that Casmir was the only other brute for now." He was kidding, but looking for answers in a polite fashion all the same. He certainly didn't want to be assaulted for being too close to someone's mate.

As she understood it the witch had a different experience joining the pack than what many others had known. Her integration had been different given that she had a rather obvious reason and her family was in the pack. Rowan slowed and finally came to a stop, looking Heston over with a small smile on her face. "Rowan Mayfair." She offered easily - and gosh, he went right for it, didn't he? 

Her smile shifted a little, giving a shake of her head. "No, Casmir is alone. The father has passed." She explained simply; she did not need to go further into anything than that.  It was more complicated and dredged up emotions that Rowan was happier to leave behind. She could offer only that as her pregnancy progressed she had become more assured - more centered. She did not question anything as she had before. She was coming into her own. 

He dipped his head in a low and playful bow to her. "A lovely name." He did not miss the tremor of her smile though, and felt instantly like he'd bitten into his own hind end by asking. He shook his head softly, eyes meeting hers. "My deepest apologies. I did not mean any offense, nor to remind you." She owed him nothing further, and he would not pry for anything further. He was not a wolf who enjoyed seeing females cry ever, and to ask such a heart wrenching question to a pregnant female would be a suicide mission.

"Since I've gone and shoved my tail in my mouth I must apologize again, I'm normally much better at first impressions than this." He offered her a lopsided smile. "Have you been with the Creek long yourself?" He made conscious effort not to glance at her sides, though he would comment on her pregnancy. "You've got the glow about you, Rowan. Though I believe my mother once told me that comes from exhaustion and nothing magical. I hope that's not the case with you?" He chuckled softly, he'd gotten much of his sharp wit from his mother. "Where are you headed now? Anything I can do to assist you?"

Rowan shook her head at his apology, not dismissive of it, but, she had moved past being sad. "It is more unfortunate for them that the will not know their father. He was a wise man - he is missed by many." Rowan said as evenly as she could. "Not very long. I came here after the successor dismissed me from the pack - she was threatened by my children." Little did Rowan know that Aria would abandon the forest and wasn't that so interesting? 

"Mostly just wandering. I find that they control my feet frequently." Rowan offered with a small smile, looking down for a moment. "It's mostly aimless wandering, but, I don't seem to be able to stop." Not that she spent too long trying. Mostly it was obeying the restless sensation and doing whatever he could to make it stop. 

He was glad at least that what he'd said hadn't sent her into tears. He knew females were more hormonal during pregnancy, and losing someone you loved was a deep blow no matter the state of your body. He listened to her speak of her mate and nodded his head. "I'm sure he is, Rowan. They'll know him, though. You only need to tell them stories of him." It wasn't as good as the real thing, he knew, but it would help both Rowan and her children.

He could understand her dismissal from her pack, though of course he didn't agree with it. Many wolves were paranoid about blood right, however. Rowan was lucky the female hadn't been overly cruel. Better she be here and safe than in a pack that planned to slaughter her children once they were born. "I understand. Well, I don't really. Not truly. But I can sympathize. Even without pups to power them, my own paws keep me awake some nights with the need to move." 

He returned her soft smile with a smirk, tail waving pleasantly. "Is this your first litter?"

He didn't understand, which was not his fault, but she would not be the one to walk him through the nuances of Lasher and his life and death. She was protective as anything of the memory of the dark male and he meant far too much for her to try and offer things about him to people she didn't know. As brief as their time had been, it had still meant a great deal to her. Rowan offered instead a small smile, nodding at his question. 

"Yes, I had not recognized my first heat for what it was." Rowan said with a sigh, though it happened often enough she figured. Only to some, it was perhaps far harder, given that they had to endure their heats within packs that did not support them or what they chose to do. Not that she had, but, now, she felt at least safe. 

"Have you handled children before?" She asked, trying to be respectful to what might be a delicate situation to some. 

Her reply about not recognizing her first heat confused him. Not that she hadn't recognized it, but why exactly that was important. Had she and her mate not been planning on pups? Or had it been more of a darker affair at the start? He didn't want to ask, even if she did speak kindly of the father of her children. The conversation returned back to him and he shrugged.

"Not my own. Nor the very small ones, for obvious reasons." Only the parents would get to see the pups at their smallest, and the truly trusted friends. "In my birthplace, a little. No more than simply playing with them after they'd been allowed to wander from their den, though. None of the hard stuff." He hadn't had to parent any, nor to discipline. When they got to be too rambunctious he had simply made his leave, or sent them to their mother.

"Have you had any experience?" Obviously she'd answered that this was her first litter...but that didn't mean she'd never been around children before. She could have baby sat, or adopted, a number of things.

Rowan offered him a small smile when he admitted to none of the hard parts of raising a brood. Most men did not have to, after all. They had mothers to tend to their young and in Rowan's case no doubt she would be too obsessive to leave the children for too long. Even an experienced mother with a mate to help her raise the brood might have been just as careful. 

"I have served as a medic and midwife in my home, before here." Rowan explained. "It helps to know what will come, but, it certainly won't make that journey any easier." She said with a small laugh. 

He nodded, impressed. "Do you plan to assume the same roles here? Once you are able?" If Silver Creek had a dedicated medic, he didn't know of them. Her words rang true to him, though they were words of a world he would never know. He may one day have a mate, but he would never himself bear pups. 

"At least you'll know the herbs to ease the process, if you need it. Of any experience to have that isn't already having a litter, I think you have the best. I imagine I'll be bumbling and clueless." He thought silently for a moment on his own ineptitude with being a father. He couldn't say he knew he'd be terrible. He'd never tried it. "Have you got any names picked out?"

"Yes, I could do some of them now still. There are some herbs I cannot touch lest I risk the children but I can identify them and direct others to them all the same." Rowan said evenly. "It would require an assistant - should someone wish for the tutelage - but the knowledge that would come with it would be a boon to anyone." All wolves should know the basics, she felt, but not many were interested in what was frequently dismissed as a lesser skill. Knowing how to heal was noble, not only that, it could save lives. It was so very important in her eyes. 

Rowan gave a little laugh when he said he would probably falter as a father the first go around. "I'll recount the experience to you once I've made it through to the other side." Rowan offered with a smile. To names, she was unsure. There were options, of course, but she had yet to actually settle on any one name. "It will depend on when I meet them, I feel, but...I have some names from my family's history that I will probably choose from." 

He nodded, wondering now what he would pursue. He'd not been anywhere long enough to really devote himself to anything. Healing wasn't his forte, he didn't care for herbs nor for dealing with the sick and wounded. Fighting wasn't enjoyable to him, though he'd fight if he must. Perhaps a scout or a hunter. He didn't have a mind much for story-teller, but history was something he found interesting. The tales stuck well in his head. Perhaps, in the future, that could be a path for him as well.

"I'll be sure to come to you should I find myself ailing then." He said, smiling at her. "Assuming I wouldn't put your children in risk of contacting anything, of course." He smirked at her comment, chuckling himself. "I'll hold you to that!" As she got to names, he wondered about what his own children would be named. Her answer made sense, and he shared the history behind his own name. "My parents combined their names to create mine and my siblings. My father was named Hessar, my mother Catonia. Although, I think I was luckiest of the lot. Heston, obviously me. Two brothers: Harto and Hintar and a single sister: Cassia. My sister didn't get off too bad, either, I suppose." He wondered why they'd decided to name that way. Would his name blend well with that of his mate?

Truth be told there wasn't much that was pleasant to come from her name combined with Lasher's. Lawon, Rosher, Rowher, Lashon - none of them sounded good in her head. What she had in mind were names of her heritage, ones to honor the spirits that watched over her and that guided her and her family. There was no promise of course in what would seem appropriate for the children until she had met them and they started to show their personalities more. 

Eventually she did have to part from Heston, tired suddenly. She offered him a small smile and her apologies and promised to meet up with him again later.