Bearclaw Valley white claw

protective mama bear warning. she's holing away til birth day!

Ikkalrok knew the time was near. The den was dug, and she slept outside it every night; she knew that soon, she would not feel the wind on her back... instead, there would be the still, stale air of the whelping den. A frustrated huff came forth from leathery nostrils; she was a  woman  made for the elements. The heat was bothersome enough. She longed for ice, for snow. But she had found a place no bear would go or had ever been here—perhaps the single one that might exist within this keep, though she could not be certain of that.

She rest on the earth and let out a groan. This feeling was miserable, and the warmth from the Summer inescapable. Ikkalrok's eyes moved toward the babbling brook nearby, and she rose only to lumber slowly toward it before dropping unceremoniously within it. The cold brought some relief, and Ikkalrok closed her eyes to rest, the feel of the water soothing and her chin propped up on the earth just beside it. She did not sleep, though; she listened to all that was around her.