Ravensblood Forest in a battle, that's all you get

Arturo had risen early, before the sun had risen into the new morning sky. When it did rise it helped to chase away the chill that had settled over the land, kept at bay by the walls of the den lined with the fur he'd managed to collect but he had felt it the second he had slipped out from it's mouth. He brought Chusi the particularly fat rabbit he'd caught for, dropping it off just inside the den as to ward off unwanted scavengers from stealing it from her while she slept and then hunted for himself. The young fox did not fill his belly but there would be time for pack hunts when Teaghlaigh officially established themselves. It was a time that Ceannasach found himself looking forward to. Weekly hunts would help to strengthen their bonds with one another and it would teach them to work together as The Family was expected to.

It was coming along together nicely. He found himself with an unexpected Póilín in Furiosa. He did not believe that she would betray him; and if she did, surely she understood what the consequences for it would be. No. On this he did not worry. She would be the muscle that he looked to her to be, his red herring for the protection of The Family (and by extension his own). The unexpected, he considered, was not always a bad thing. Arturo made his way to the borders figuring he would refresh markers where they might have grown faint though with the combined effort of the wolves he'd gathered he did not think that was much of an issue.

Still, Ceannasach approached their established borders and sniffed at the ground and trees for a few moments, contented that they smelled like Teaghlaigh and none else. With the morning sun warm against his back where it filtered through the thick canopy above Arturo began his patrol, hyper-vigilant and alert for anything out of the ordinary.

Though his borders smelled only of his family, one that was not of his own lurked in the shadows nearby. Doe had followed the scents of her lover and her former packmate to the borders that Arturo now admired, and had long watched them in silent contemplation. When Arturo appeared - and now, she remembered to call him by that name, and not the other - Doe watched for another moment longer before slipping out of the shadows and revealing herself to the dark coywolf.

For a long moment, she simply gazed around, still taking in the pack-scents that had sprung up in the forest. Doe had only briefly been to this part of the coast - once before, with her Shadow - but she was sorry to see it claimed. There would be a treasure trove of herbs in there, if she could ever keep her memories long enough to search for them. Perhaps now, with Furiosa in place...

But it was a useless thought. She could get herbs elsewhere, and this pack was nothing to be concerned about. She disliked Arturo even less now that he'd left her vicinity, and she only hoped he would treat both Szymon's foundling and her own dear lover with the esteem they deserved.

"Hail," she said haughtily - though she thought herself no better than the other, irritation made her less willing to be friendly. She was discovering that pregnancy irritated her like nothing else.

Her scent came to him on the breeze, of Blackrock Depths and of sweet mother's milk. That scent, in an d of itself was not a scent that was easily forgotten by the Fearghal. She appeared a few moments after he'd caught her scent upon the wind, his steps ceasing to greet her. For the briefest of moments his thoughts flickered to Chusi and the way she had almost wanted to be sure that the Atoll of the Depths would not be joining them in Teaghlaigh. This was almost enough to make the father guardian bristle in warning. Yet, it was both unwarranted and Arturo believed unneeded thus he kept to his casual and indifferent demeanor. So long as she was respectable the terms and conditions of the alliance Arturo had struck with Skellige stood and thus Doe was to be treated as if she were apart of The Family. Her haughty mannerism did not impress the Ceannasach whose fiery, red-orange gaze studied her openly. He was a gentleman first and foremost and Doe was an ally.

“Doe,” The accented, smoky reticence of his softly deep and low voice into a soft murmur of greeting. He no longer recognized ranks of the Depths beyond Skellige and they were on his turf here. She had introduced him first as Riptide at her Den Night which gave Arturo all the silent explanation he needed when he tried to figure out why it appeared that she did not like him. But he wasn't Riptide. Riptide had been an unfortunate consequence to his tumble from Ravenshook Cliffs but as Arturo's head injury had healed the sea witch had become a indifferent memory.

“What brings you to Teaghlaigh's borders?” She was welcomed here, of course, just as any Depths wolf was but he was curious all the same. It seemed a little too early for Skellige to be calling on his and The Family's aid already.

In truth, the Blackrock woman had not come for any particular reason. She'd grown tired of skulking around her own territory, and had missed Furiosa as soon as she'd left - it seemed only natural to follow her back to her own haunt, to see what there was to be seen. She hadn't expected to see Arturo, somehow, but now that she was before him, she was not particularly bothered that he was there. It was his land, and she'd much rather him have his own than continue to live among them at the bay.

"You've done well for yourself," she offered, eyes tracing the woods once again. Though Doe still thought that she would do well in her pack by the sea, she could also see that this was a fitting environment for her panther. Doe could already imagine her, a bright moonbeam slithering through the trees... Pale death.

"Furiosa lives here," she said meaningfully, moving a bit nearer so that she need not raise her voice, but still respecting the borders that he'd set.

Arturo accepted her compliment with a gracious bow of his head though he did not break his silence as he assessed her and her round abdomen. She did not respond to his question, though whether it was out of avoidance or because she had no real reason Arturo could not be sure. Surely if she was here on official business for Skellige she would have started with that. No, Arturo had the feeling the longer the time in her presence ticked on that she was not here on the Leviathan's orders. So then, why? Surely she did not care enough for him to care either way though, admittedly, the alliance he struck with her Leviathan benefited her just as much as it did the titan Cairn.

Ah. There it is. Realization dawned quickly upon the gangster when Doe stated that Furiosa lived her. So his Póilín had made rather quick work of her introductions. That was good, but that still did not explain why Doe was here and why she had stated that particular fact. As it was not a question and rather obvious that Furiosa did, indeed, live in Teaghlaigh as his Second in Command and red herring he didn't bother responding to it. There was no use in being redundant.

“She's made quick work of her introductions then,” Arturo concluded out loud instead, drawing his salmon pink tongue across his lips. “Good.” Arturo was pleased. Though Furiosa was unpredictable to the gangster who had yet to meet a woman her equal he was very pleased and impressed with her already. There was no doubt that he'd made the right choice in allowing her a place at his side. Yet, there was still the matter of why. Why it mattered to Doe. And why she brought Furiosa up. “She is impressive, is she not?” For surely his Póilín had made an impression on the pregnant Cairn — else she would not be here.

There was not much conversation to be had. Neither of them had come for company or conversation, and Doe was beginning to feel a little grated by his company. Old memories of his other self, no doubt, for he was being the perfect gentleman. Doe considered retreating, for a moment, and returning later when the borders were less guarded to continue her silent watch. Perhaps it was not the most polite of passtimes, but she was feeling listless enough to pursue the activity - at least until Arturo made his comment about their mutual family member.

A flick of the woman's large ears betrayed her interest in the topic at hand. Her own tongue darted out to wet her tongue as she moved closer still, tail wagging in agreement.

"Yes," she said, emphatically, her eyes seeming to brighten as she warmed to the topic. "Pale death - a panther," was her praise, reeled off of her earlier train of thought. "I was jealous to know that she'd promised herself to your pack, but I do not begrudge your ties."

Maybe a little bit. He didn't need to know.

Doe looked past him, into his forest home. "She's beautiful," she added, her voice distant. "She will glow in this forest."

Arturo regarded Doe with a slight cant of his head and assessing eyes as he studied her, attempting to puzzle together her interest in Furiosa. Not because she wasn't interesting but because it was so sudden. He watched the way her demeanor changed with the change of their topic. Everything before had been little but social obligation. Dull pleasantries. So, she was enamored with his red herring, was she? For a moment, Arturo had the inkling to ask how the pale Cairn felt about that, if he even knew, but Doe's love life was not any of his concern. He didn't much care as long as she did not hinder Furiosa. Furiosa was his Family now. Bonds that could not be broken lest by a crime worthy of The Family's punishment. Arturo was privately amused by this for reasons he wasn't able to discern and would it not have been for his alliance to Skellige the merciless Ceannasach would have used this to his utter advantage. Arturo was a man who played all his chess pieces, calculated and coldly. Would she have been anyone else, under any other's rule than the Leviathan's he would have worked to exploit this new development. Yet: she was Doe. And she belonged to the Depths. And damn it all if the fact that he understood wasn't an entirely sobering thought.

Those ruthless thoughts were disregarded as quickly as they slithered their way into his mind as Arturo made the mental comparing to his own enamorment with a lovely creature he barely knew. “She will flourish in Teaghlaigh,” Arturo concurred, unable to help but wonder if that was how he looked and sounded when he spoke of Kitku. He felt the very same about Kitku. Just the thought of the scarfed bard set his heart beat a bit faster in pace within it's prison of flesh and bone; and because he felt this formed some sort of (bizarre) kinship between the two of them Arturo murmured, “I will take care of her Doe. You have my word.” in a soft tone meant to reassure.

"And upon the alliance Skellige and I struck with one another many moons ago you are as free to visit her as she is to visit you." Arturo informed her, in case she had yet to hear of the courtesies the two packs were sworn to provide to one another. It made him wistful to speak of it, thinking not of Doe and Furiosa but of him and his mysterious Kitku.

Doe knew she would flourish. There was too much fight in the panther for anything else to be true. Still, it did not please her to have the beloved woman in a different pack, even one so near and dear as Arturo's. "Yes," she agreed, more hesitantly this time. But her tail wagged as Arturo went on to reassure her. Perhaps he was not so bad as she's always believed.

To think, she'd imagined poisoning him!

The small woman's heart was further warmed when she was told she had visiting rights to their shared interest. The woman, endless in her vanity, had assumed nothing less, but was happy all the same to hear this being spoken aloud. "Thank you, Arturo," she said warmly, pronouncing his name carefully as if to say, See, I remember. I can play nicely, too. Perhaps it was not so kind as it would have been to say it without pause, but Doe was - often - a very vapid and unthrifty creature. Likely, Arturo already knew this.

"You and yours will always be welcome at Den Nights - and any other time, of course," Doe replied, feeling it necessary to extend the needless invitation, as Arturo himself had. She was thinking specifically of Chusi, and Kitku if the regal woman saw fit to join her admirer, but the rest would be welcome as well. Though Doe recognized that Arturo had left her pack and her control, she saw Teaghlaigh as an exstention of Skellige's reign, rather than as Arturo breaking off on his own.

It was not true, of course - the man was now an alpha in his own rite. But Doe couldn't help but see him as one of Skellige's wolves - still a comrade to her, and one she now looked on with some amount of favor.

The change in the atmosphere, the shift of attitude between them was a palpable thing. So very different from how their meeting had begun. Albeit, this wasn't a bad change, Arturo knew. It was just a little bit astounding to see how quickly everything had changed between them though the Fearghal monarch wondered if her pregnancy played any sort of part in it. He remembered Duana's pregnancy well enough. Her mood swings had been like the tide: ever changing. She'd had her highs and her lows. One minute she'd been happy and another she was enraged or weeping. “Thank you,” Arturo accepted her invitation graciously with a dip of his head. Though the circumstances between Skellige and his alliance was not up for question he appreciated her willingness to invite him and Teaghlaigh to her Den Nights.

He would talk to Chusi about it when he returned to her later. It seemed like his ward had enjoyed the first Den Night — perhaps it was something she would be interested in doing again in the future. The message would also be passed on in their first Family meeting but he didn't speak the aloud to Doe. The inner workings of Teaghlaigh were exclusive to actual rank holding members of The Family and though she and the other Depth wolves were to be treated like Family they were not to be privy to how they operated.

Their business was concluded - perhaps bit had been since before Doe revealed herself to the coywolf. Either way, she had nothing more to say to the man, and little patience for further pleasantries. Without word, Doe tipped her head and flicked her tail in farewell and bounded the way she came, turning her back unguarded to the male in a rare show of trust.

Her little paws, aching though they were, carried her dutifully back toward her home. Halfway there, she would pause and double-back to stand a little longer in the shadows, but it was not to spy on her neighbors. Doe had made her peace with this new addition to the landscape - she'd added Teaghlaigh to her mental map of the area, and had branded Arturo's name beside that of her lover. Though she watched, it was with no more fear or suspicion that she afforded the seagulls that marched to and fro across the sand in her home.

She did not return home until dark, and she did not sleep for hours more.

Arturo watched as Doe tipped her head, turned and headed back in the direction of Blackrock Depth's bay. He half had a mind to stop her and offer to walk her home, as she was pregnant but in the end didn't extend the offer. Stavanger Bay was not far from Ravensblood Forest and any one dense enough to attack her would incur the wrath of not just the Depth wolves but also Teaghlaigh. He waited until Doe was out of sight before he continued on with his patrol, pausing to freshen up scents as he went along.