Kildeer Rest trappings of starlight

No fight was offered from the stranger. She is mollified some as the woman’s gaze diverts, grounded too by her own mates solid presence. 

Tikigâk watched as the woman stepped away from the kill in an offering of peace, of good will. Had she not just hunted with the man alongside her, she might have partook—but she left it for the woman, not possessive of the thing the other had felled. Tikigâk was a scavenger no more—she need not worry for her own next meal any longer. 

The touch of Faust against her chin soothes her further. She understood, huffing out a slow and easy breath. 

Her mates display was matched. Tikigâk’s own plume rose squarely over her hindquarters in a show of her own place—and as her mate speaks she appears all the more severe. Pregnancy would not soften her—in fact, it would make her all the harder. 

His words were a warning. Tikigâk was the promise that came after, should the stranger overstay or overstep—with life brewing within her, Tikigâk’s singular kindness was letting the woman linger to finish her food. But such a thing had an expiry minute upon it. 

The wind revealed to Tikigâk that the other fierce woman before her might understand. Tikigâk, still stoic and straight-faced, aloof as she ever was, could not see any indication of her condition; the truth of it was, she only suspected the scent the other carried was of her bodily change. Tikigâk wondered if her own revealed her, and looked to study the features of the woman as to see if understanding dawned.