Moonsong Glacier and I'm drinking your wine

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Coming back from a hunt with @Aditya and @Hototo, the panther had volunteered to bring the deer pelt to @Eira. He left them to wash up and brought the bloody deer hide to their common place. He did not see the woman immediately, but he saw no need to call upon her while the day was still young.

Feeling surprisingly content, for once, the panther climbed to his favorite rock — flat, and just high enough he didn't have to strain his hip — and lay down for a rest. His tail thumped in greeting any time someone passed. The next time his ear twisted toward someone's approach, he yawned and stretched, blunt claws digging into stone while he shifted into the downward dog position.

"Good morning," he said to whoever had approached, finally blinking himself back into the land of the living.

Finding a place to settle beside him, she hummed softly. I see the morning has treated you well. So long as he considered their successful hunt a reason to deem it so.

The deer you brought will bring great warmth to one of our tribekin's bed. She had too many of her own, else she would have taken it for herself. It certainly was a beauty.

The chief laughed; "Ah, the morning is not so fickle," he said to Eira, settling back down as soon as his company grew less mobile. The weak winter rays didn't do much but make him squint, but he still liked to lie flat and absorb them every once in a while. "I am sure she has greater things than me in mind," he concluded.

He craned his head to look at the pelt, which was just a little too bloody for him to consider it nice. But it would be nice, and when it was — "I think perhaps my father could use it for his sleeping place," he said to her, his voice quiet as if this were some terrible secret. "His old bones cool faster than ours."

He meant to joke, but there was worry in his eyes.

Perhaps so, She mused, glancing upward for as long as the bright rays would allow.

I had heard a newcomer had made their way to us, but I did not know he was your father. How does he settle? She hoped well. But, she could always be wrong.

The panther gave a little sigh in answer, but then appended it with, "Well enough." He'd been well enough to wander, at least, and well enough for a quick jaunt. Dutch thought that most of his worries were surely anxiety-driven rather than based in reality — but there was no denying that Aditya was an old man, for a wolf.

"He comes from more southern regions," he said to her, remembering his own time in the sun-baked south. "It's warmer there. He was not made for these climes."

Hm.. She hummed in though, chin downturned. 

I will work to make more furs for him, then. The snowy woman finally adds, a sense of finality in her tone. With enough to line the grounds of his sleeping place, he will find more warmth with the insulation. Another thought, too! Fallen Sun had been curious of it, and it may sound a silly thing... but my tribekin, mostly the women and older folk, wore thick skins on their shoulders to keep warm in the coldest days of winter. I could do the same for your father, if he would wear it.

The panther had seen Kukutux and his own aunt, Lavender, do the same. And Tulugak, he thought, somewhere in his first days on the mountainside. He made a contemplative sound — he'd previously considered it something only women did, but according to Eira, this was not the case.

"If he will not, then I am sure someone will," he said, his tone thoughtful. "Perhaps I will hunt up a mountain ram for him. It a thicker pelt than a deer would warm him better. And if we present it to him already made — "

Dutch smiled, glad to share his scheming with another.

"He is much too polite a man to turn down such a thing," he told her.

But she'd mentioned something that interested him perhaps a little more than Aditya's aching joints. It was, at least, something he was far more keen to discuss.

"You have spent much time with our sunset man," he said. A statement, but one that fished for further information.

She nods in agreement to the suggestion. A thicker pelt would do him well. 

Upon the mention of the possibility in him declining the gift, a soft grin found her expression. He would not dare turn such a thing away from a hardworking lady, She laughs, amused by her own jest, and hopeful that Dutch would be as well.

A shift, then. From father, to potential partner. 

I have, She agrees, though knowing what words he spoke were not a question. Still, she confirmed it. 

He has hunted for me many times, and the two of us together, even! I find delight in his company, and I hope he finds the same in mine.

Dutch gave a sage nod — or tried to, with his cheek still pillowed on the stone.

"A gentleman would never," he agreed, shutting his eyes once more. It comforted him to think that Aditya's troubles could be so easily healed — if ever he could call catching a mountain goat easy, of course. Just the thought of that task put him in the mood for another nap. All in favor of renewing his hunting spirit, of course.

"Hmm," he said, acknowledging Eira's words. He appreciated her candor — he found there was much to appreciate about the hard-working young woman. "And when your season comes?" he asked, his eyes fluttering once more. He watched her with eyes half-lidded, invested in the answer but suspecting that he already knew it.

Shifting her paws on the warm stone, she slides down gracefully to let her belly rest upon it. 

She is silent, eyes fixed on the distance. But it is only for a moment. 

When it comes — and I think I should expect it soon — I will seek the man of sun fur to share my sleeping place. An answer she had thought of many times before this. If he refuses then, so be it. 

Even she was not so bashful to say she thought he wouldn't. Especially not in front of the cheif.

This answer pleased him. He was happy to think of Fallen Sun's children playing before them. He would do his part to raise his pack brother's children, and although some would surely disperse, he still liked to think of it as their family growing.

He shifted as she did, turning onto his belly to rest his head on his paws.

"I welcome this," he said. She knew that, of course. "I do not think he would refuse you, Eira. But if you do bear his children — " A heavy weight was upon his chest. "You must be sure that it is him that you want. This season and the next. I do not want to see his heart broken."

He touched her paw with his nose.

"Nor yours, snowfall woman," he assured her, his voice soft. "I do not say this to doubt you. I speak to you because I cannot speak these words to him."

Dutch shared in her thoughts, and it warmed her heart. Melted it, almost!

I would never dream of doing such a thing, She assured him. I couldn't imagine another man better than he... another that could capture my attention in a way he has.

She had not met many men. It was naive to say, she knew. But a girl so young could only have such high hopes.

You are a young woman, he wanted to say. Her reassurances did not do quite what either of them had hoped. He was still worried for Fallen Sun, and for Eira to a lesser degree. It was not that he thought her feelings less important, but that she was far more of a flight risk than the stalwart sunset man.

"I will trust your heart," he said to her, a little smile on his face. Perhaps his worries were still clear in the slight furrow of his brow, but he understood there was no such thing as certainty in this world. "But please know, Eira, that you are valued here beyond your worth to Fallen Sun, and beyond your way with pelts. I see a friend in you."

With a nod, she offers him a smile. And I a friend in you, Dutch.

A friend and companion, she had here. How could she even begin to consider leaving?

Even in only a short time, I see this place as home. And those in it, family. Perhaps not of blood... but to few does it every truly matter. They were one as kin, no matter the ties of blood. She had always seen it this way among those she cared for.

I intend to do all I can for Morningsong, with what talents I have to offer. And what skills I do not posses that the pack requires, I will learn.

Somehow, these words sank in a little deeper than the rest. It was all talk, of course; Dutch believed in action first and foremost. But to hear her speak in such a way called to the storyteller in him. The voice that said, once upon a time, and, happily ever after.

He did not think about, the end.

"Your children will be blood of Morningsong," he said to her. "These ties are as good as blood, to me."

He leaned over to push his nose briefly, wetly to her cheek, but then he was up and stretching once more.

"I suppose I should go and look for that ram," he said, thinking that a climb might be nice either way. "Be well, Eira."

And I will be honored to bring such a life to this home. It was truth, and she would show it, even long after the birth of her children to come.

Travel carefully, She chuffed, scorning him as a mother might. 

He was of mature age; but could she not still warn him away from danger?

The only answer was the laughter that followed in the panther's wake.