Wheeling Gull Isle Spinn spindel, tvinn i tankar, kverv i syn.

She decided she wanted to make the trip to the island on her own. Towhee intended to disembark the same day Njord and Meerkat returned from their getaway, though she was waylaid by what her daughter had to tell her about the copse. Despite putting that particular bug in Njord’s ear herself, Towhee knew what Meerkat meant when she admitted the whole enterprise was as daunting as it was exciting. If those two settled the copse, Towhee didn’t know what she would do. The thought of uprooting again—and doing that to her kids—went beyond exhaustion.

In the meantime, she would stick to her plan. Towhee kissed @Sable and @Towhee Jr goodbye, knowing there were many eyes to watch them, and thanked @Phox for understanding her need to do this by herself. She set off from the foot of the mountain, striding past Moonglow and making a note to herself to arrange that puppy play date in Firefly Glen when she returned to Moonspear a few days from now.

The trip to the coast was uneventful, which was exactly what she needed. Towhee slowed down when she hit the beach, giving the residents of Sea Lion Shores a wide berth as she moseyed past. She could see the delta ahead, the speck of an island beyond it. Towhee sent some silent thanks to Meerkat for her easy-to-follow directions as she approached what felt like the edge of the world and called for her son.

Caracal looked like he hadn’t slept in a month, which made sense once he informed Towhee of her four newest grandchildren. She followed him across the partly submerged sandbar to the island’s interior, feeling only a moment’s disquiet as she trod on another’s territory. The views as they crested the hill were incredibly distracting, as were the scents of @Heda, @Simeon, @Malakai, @Judah and @Dinah on the salty June breeze.

Dated for June 10.

Towhee’s call might’ve sounded like a gargling banshee, though she was a sight for sore eyes! Caracal practically collapsed into their embrace when he found her standing on the mainland just beyond the land bridge. He guided her across to the island in a slight daze, his excitement and exhaustion gunking up his executive function.

Somehow, he managed to lead his mother to the den he shared with his wife and children. Caracal ducked inside to lick Heda’s cheek, hoping she didn’t mind that he’d brought Towhee here directly. His eyes flicked over the four tottering toddlers as he withdrew, gaze gauging Towhee’s reaction as she took her first look inside. His own careworn face wore a look of loving pride as he sank into a seat just outside the door.

Cameo!

the island gave.
its children grew.
heda had suffered a mild milk-fever the past week. it had weakened her somewhat, but the devotion of her husband kept her steady. heda saw what a great toll it exacted from him, however, but they both, surely, took pride and relief in the constant growth of their children.
when the call came, she raised her head. the lavender breeze tilted sidelong and heda looked curiously to caracal. 
their grandmother, towhee.
delight broke over the shores of her heart; carefully she nursed and preened the children, and then her own frame, thinned slightly.
but her eyes were radiant, her scarlet spine resplendent in the light which poured directly over them. "welcome to sweetharbor. come and meet your grandchildren."
for god gives the gift of family, and it soothed heda to know that just upon the mainland were so many of caracal's gathered. her heart warmed to think of druid. surely she was happy now. and sequoia would always have her love. for mahler; at last; forgiveness.

She arched a brow slightly when her son slumped wearily in the door. Towhee was amused, though mostly she empathized. She reached out to pat his shoulder in affectionate camaraderie. She wouldn’t be able to stay long enough for it to make a big difference, though as long as she was here, maybe he could catch up on some sleep.

She turned her attention to the den’s interior, Heda’s pale fur standing out in the dim. Her son was a lucky man. She was beautiful and she appeared happy and healthy, if a little on the thin side. That made sense, considering the four puppies currently attached to her, nursing even as they appeared to sleep. Although there was no precedent for it, the sight made Towhee worry that Heda might develop milk fever.

Poking Caracal—whose chin had sunk to his chest in a drowse—Towhee said, After I meet my daughter-in-law and grandbabies, you and me are going to go find some fish and mushrooms. Let’s say an hour from now. Why don’t you get some sleep? I’ll wake you when I’m ready.

Facing inside again, Towhee sank into a sphinx pose and said, They’re beautiful, Heda, with familial affection, genuine despite only just meeting. What are their names?

Babies are (more than) welcome anytime!

Cameo!

At two weeks old, Malakai was still a very useless thing. His eyes had opened, bright and blue and his little whines of protest had turned into dominant and needy little growls. His kicks had gotten a little stronger. Now, not only can he hear and smell those around him, he could see them. The stranger's arrival prompted a stare and when he realized he did not know this wolf, Kai goes all to hell and gives her his most fierce of roars. 

wrath

He’d finally been sleeping when the visitor came, and immediately, he turned round to face her.

Woah.

His puppy brain couldn’t comprehend any words for her yet, but he stared, wide eyed and gawking, up.

He looked to mama who seemed happy to see this visitor, to papa who’d fallen asleep. They gave the indication this lady was good — and Simeon wondered, was this what angels looked like?

Fiery, and fierce. She made him want to cower and find shelter with her all the same.

Of course, Simeon did neither of these things. Maybe he would have if Kai hadn’t roared. Instead his brother pulled him from wonder again, and with a huff, Simeon shot out to tackle him best he could with a battle cry of, SeeEEEEmm!!

Mama always said something with a first sound like that to him and it always made him stop. He couldn’t remember the other half, but no worries! His mouth would be too busy trying to grab hold of his brother’s ruff.

He was nestling into his twin’s rump when that shot out from underneath him and he jolted awake in surprise.  

By now he’d accepted that the smokey shadowy thingies were the same as him and not going to hurt him. The big ones gave lots of milk and baths. The small ones were good for cuddling up to for naps. But it still shocked him how quickly they jostled from one place to another, and his reaction was severely delayed as he watched his twin and brother spring towards the new smokey thingy that smelled vaguely familiar.

Judah did not rise to join them, but tilted his head up and up and up and up until he was looking at the very peak of it. This one was bright, a lot like his siblings and big smokey thing, and he took comfort in that recognition.  His mouth stretches in voiceless “yap” to greet them. His tail wiggles. Hello tall shape.

the golden eyes flicked to her husband, but heda meant to be a good if tired host. "this is malakai and his twin, judah," heda murmured, showing towhee each of the boys in turn. malakai roared, "and this is simeon," the dashing, running child. 
"and dinah," she introduced last, the small girl tucked close to her.
"this is your grandma towhee," the sweetharbor wolf said to her brood, pronouncing the name twice. "she is your father's mother."

One of the pups opened his mouth wide in what Towhee took to be a yawn. Perhaps there was more to it, since it invited his sandy brother to tackle him. She cocked her head in amusement at the sight, eyes then shifting to the first boy’s spitting image. There must be some sort of twinning gene in the Redhawk line, she thought as her gaze wandered to the fourth pup, her son’s lookalike.

Heda introduced them and Towhee raised her eyes to catch each name. Malakai and Judah, she repeated in her head, glancing between the twins. The brown boy was Simon or something similar. There was only one girl: tiny Tina, still tucked at her mother’s bosom.

Shifting her weight onto one elbow to free her forelegs a little, Towhee signed, -“Hello, grandbabies.”-

She then spread her paws and made grabbing motions, hoping to coax some of the puppies into her arms, supposing their mother didn’t mind. Towhee also lowered her head, resting it nearly flush with the ground to further entice them. It would delight her more than anything if they chose to use her as a jungle gym.

We can keep the posting order loose. I’ll just post again once everyone’s had a turn!

completely forgot i got tagged in this UH OH WHOOPS SORRY GUYS

A new face. Hard for such a small mind to try to comprehend. But the little Redhawk is excited no less, wide, beady little eyes struggling to take in the light and the figure and the blurry details of the painted face.
Rolling up, up, up and onto four little paws, she wobbles closer to the stranger, stumpy tail in an unsteady wag. She tries to step over what she thinks is a foot, and then climb a wall that is actually a foreleg. A tiny, curious smile, and then:
woooOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! 
A new face calls for a celebration! And what better celebration than a howl? 
Except her howl is more of a high-pitched screech. 
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Though Kai had thought to try and be intimidating towards the stranger, it had horribly failed. Simeon tackling him, which caused Kai to land with an 'OOF!' on his side. He laughs at his brother as they play and Kai stuck out his back legs and did his best to shove Simeon off of him. Malakai early in life had started shoving his way past his siblings and he become rather good at it! It was subtle displays of dominance which would strengthen with time. 

Their mother began to speak their names, names which she had spoken time and time again when speaking to them. Then, she said 'mother'. 'Father's mother'. Malakai did his best to understand it, deciding that if their mother was okay with her presence here, so was Kai. After all, if the woman was a danger, their parents would let them know and instinct would take hold. 

Watching his sister charge at the woman, Malakai followed suit- bravely and boldly. He grumbles and woofs, trying to climb the woman and equally taking chunks of her fur into his mouth and shaking wildly.

He landed his hit on Malakai and they rolled in the dirt together. Simmy had meant to shut Kai up, but his brother laughed — taking their squall as a game — and maybe that’s all it actually was. Wrestling rolled the tension from his shoulders and soon, a giggle of laughter spilled from Simeon too, even when Kai tried to shove him off. Simmy gave his brother a playful shove back even in Kai’s retreat, an internal retaliation against the dominance Kai tried to hold over him.

He didn’t really hear what mama said, except what sounded like a new name — a name for the stranger, who beat the air with a funny wave of her paws.

To-wee!! Simeon repeated his mother’s words, and charged after his sister and brother with a laugh. Rather than climb her, he slapped himself full force into a plead to play, only to throw his paws up to try and mimic the dance of the stranger’s paws.

Gramma Twee!

His siblings erupt into chaos- nips and woofs singing from unformed tongues. Judah joins them with a low sort of cough and tromps in half-circles about the stranger before catching his paw on a small stone and slipping down into the earthen den floor. He flops over onto his back and paddles the air with all four paws, peering curiously up at the new silhouette between mindless giggles.

The only girl woke and toddled toward her, reminding Towhee of Caracal at that age. Her little mouth opened in what looked like a howl, though of course the elder Redhawk couldn’t be entirely sure. In any case, she gave tiny “Tina” her most impressed smile.

One of the twin boys came right up and began tearing at her like she was a fresh kill. Towhee laughed, his gums tickling her wherever he bit. When it became a bit much for her, she simply (but gently!) knocked him over with one soft thrust of her snout. She then smothered him in kisses as payback.

The brown one began to do a playful dance, which she recognized as a very crude mimicry of Ptero. Towhee always liked encouraging the sign language in young pups and gave him the wolfish equivalent of two thumbs up.

-“Hold that thought, Simon,”- Towhee said when she noticed Judah had gone topsy turvy in the background.

She lifted up enough to scoop the awkward little turtle toward herself, still on his back. She tucked him against her chest and then settled down, snuffling at his belly before Towhee nudged him in the direction of his carbon copy.

-“I’d happily spend the whole day here with you guys but I’m gonna go grab some grub for your mama. But worry not! I’ll be back soon,”- she promised, blowing grandmotherly kisses toward the babies as she rose and slowly retreated from the den.

She playfully punched her son awake, quickly maneuvering him downhill toward some of the island’s forestry, where they could gather some choice fungi to supplement Heda’s diet and thus her milk supply.

In favor of completing formation threads and prioritizing the latest arc, I thought I’d nudge this toward a finish! Also, I only skipped Heda with permission. :)

Last post for me then!

Kai truly enjoyed play fighting with the large wolf and both they and his mother seemed quite alright with it, too. A larger opponent! She nosed him to the ground after a time, causing him to be scrambling limbs in the air like a turtle, much as his twin brother. Soon, Judah was scooted across the ground next to him, both their limbs wildly kicking out until Kai got tired and flopped to his side. By then, Towhee was exciting the den, a 'be back' on her lips- words that had been repeated time and time before by his parents so Kai quickly understood this would not be the last time seeing this new wolf.

last too!

Their church: a den.
Their hymnals: laughter.
Their parish: a family.

Memories afloat like magic or goldenrod pollen of simple times and the purest love as Gramma tickles his belly with her nose.
Maybe this is that ‘God’ Ami and Papa talk about.
And if that’s the case, then God is good!

last! <3

heda healed in this moment, some old wound at last covering itself in new greenery as she watched towhee play with the sweetharbor pups.
her grandchildren. heda's babies would be more connected to their family than she had been in the end.
she lay down to nurse them when the older wolf departed, closing her eyes in a grateful prayer that quickly became sleep.