Herbalists' Cache cen

everyone tagged is assumed present or nearby based on IC assumption/knowledge, please feel free to make single posts or repeated replies, just lmk who wants to be added to rounds in ur ooc notes/tag me on discord <3 no posting order & set after pack meeting! everyone not tagged are welcome to join as cameo or participant!

there was to be no immediate visit upon the snow shelter. sun eater ate what was brought, filling his belly with fat and bone-marrow. for thirst, pale drifts to quench. 

first he counted those that had not come, running in mind's eye a count of his clan and their faces. "i think three at the den with her," he said to @Dark Fang, @Meleeys, and @Sulukinak, voice turning to a hiss as pain scintillated through torn shoulder.

forcing himself upward, sun eater turned his unreadable sight upon the snow shelter standing gently distant. @Black Hawk he expected to be there and @Other Shore as well. @Ishmira he had not seen; he did not remember her swift visit to his side. but there was no other place for her to be, and so he put her there in mental arrangement.

a step, and in his heart a dull sense of dread for what truths he might find. he had not yet come to think of star eater as he did her kin.

but sulukinak would not lie.

sun eater did not press the boundaries of the place still standing sacred; he stood there in a line with the lanzadoii and drew a breath. exhale held steam in the cold air. an effort to place words in proper place sounded then, a call roughened by the imposed cold of his tone.

"@Morwenna. did you go to darukaal?"

Her brother spoke the names. Meleys listened. Other Shore and Ishmira, two pale yearlings with little knowing or experience. Black Hawk would be the only true threat to get past, should it be true that not only had Star Eater decide to stand against her mate, but to sway the people of Saatsine, ripping them apart and turning them against one another. For who? For what? In the defense of those she had long ago chose to run from. 

She follows behind Cen, towards the den where new life stirred. For all the others knew, it was the time to collect the pups into warm maws for their journey. Meleys remained watchful.

she had known this was coming.
the moment her husband called, star eater steadied herself, rising from where their children hungrily tore at her teats. she soothed each one, pressing a gentle kiss to their tiny crowns before she stepped away. they whimpered at the loss of warmth, but she did not look back—not yet.
she stepped out into the cold. sun eater stood there, waiting, questioning, weak.
her heart twisted at the sight of him. his wounds—why had they not been tended? hadn’t ishmira…? but no, it seemed she had not. rage flickered through her like a candle’s flame, burning at the edges of her restraint. for all his faults, for all the war he had waged, she had never wished him to suffer like this.
he spoke, and she did as a good wife would. she moved to heal him.
with measured steps, she grabbed the herbs from a small pile she had gathered earlier, dropping them before him with quiet finality. no words of comfort, no softness in her gaze—only duty.
i followed the trail of my sister’s blood, she answered at last, voice steady, unwavering.
i did not breach the heart of darukaal.
her hands worked as she spoke, chewing the herbs, preparing them for the worst of his wounds. she met his gaze only briefly, searching for something—understanding, anger, regret.
i left herbs, and came back to our children.
her meaning was clear. she had not abandoned him, nor their family. whatever war he had started, she had not fought in it. but she had seen the cost.

he was stalwart at the side of his brother. his walk, however, was not one of the confident chieftain. it was the hatchet at his side, carefully crafted. dark fang moved with stalking strides, head lowered amongst squared shoulders.
he came to a pause when he did. eyes watching with devouring curiosity of what went on within the snow shelter. his woman appeared, looking to him with beautiful eyes. dark fang saw easily what sun eater saw in her. but felt nothing, only the heat of loyalty for his brother that would drive him to cut down anyone.
he resisted the urge to snap at her when she came too close. herbs in paw, looking to tend to his wounds. now, she want to heal you. dark fang comments, passing eyes to meleys. where had his wife been before? if she could leave to go heal the darukaal woman, she could leave to heal her husband, no?
he grunts. he does not like this woman.
dark fang watches carefully as this unfurls. he is not the smartest man. he is not made for these things. he is meant for fighting. he is meant for hunting the caribou they lived after. he cannot be the one to say if she lies or not.

light eyes fix on the man, morwenna's husband, who dares call her a traitor. but she does not curl her lip, hackles laying flat. there is nothing to fear while morwenna calms the storm. nothing to do until she is given command.

she remains attentive, warming the children against her belly fur. they cry for their mother as she departs, and the white wolf noses them gently in an effort to soothe. muscles remain taut, ready.

Ridgeback followed, trailing some distance as the Lanzadoii wolves made their way toward Morwenna’s den. He did not expect foul play might take place, but felt little trust for the four wolves who led the group. Having promised to protect Morwenna and the children, he figured his best bet was simply to shadow the Chieftan and his entourage, outwardly fulfilling the role he had chosen to take.

Simultaneously, fulfilling his pledge to keep the woman and her children safe. 

He regarded Morwenna calmly, though with a somewhat judicious air as she explained her case. The others watched her, and Dark Fang scoffed. Ridgeback showed no signs of empathy for the woman, as he felt it might be better to remain aloof, still outwardly devoted to the welfare of Saatsine. 

I may pop him in between rounds if he would act or speak, otherwise he’s low on the priority list for engagement in this.

Wasn't going to post Sulukinak since there were so many bodies already, but this can be a low-contact addition; she's more in the background, can be skipped, and can be PP'd by Cen.

They moved together because they had to; she braced her uncle until he felt the desire to rise without aid and stand, and he addressed the woman who was his wife. When she moved toward him with an assumption of grace and care, Sulukinak bristled and looked with her periphery to the muscle that came with them: Dark Fang carried an air of determination, a tension which was shared among those loyal to Sun Eater. If anything were to happen, she could trust this man as well as Meleeys to keep her uncle safe.

The den was cramped by now. Too many adult bodies in one place; but Sulukinak was of narrow build, and with the bulk of them confronting one-another she could snake her way a little deeper, if only for a breath of clean air. The urge to put oneself in to the dirt had never made sense to Sulukinak—she who slept upon open ground, or was at home with the ice of the glacier—but perhaps this was a trait shared only by mothers?

She caught a glimpse of a pale body near the back of the den, her ears pricking and eyes alight, but only for a moment. This was not someone she knew—but the air was sweeter that way, and some part of Sulukinak (perhaps the part that harbored its own maternal fixations) identified that as the nest within which Cen's children slept. Keeping to the curving wall, she turned her attention back to the two leaders of Saatsine.

their storm toward star-woman's whelping den was met with a low growl of warning from the lanzadoii woman. she had not left her queen's side—she could not, when she had made a promise to protect her children. to usher ishmira and the cubs toward safety if needed. 

they would not step closer. black hawk would not allow it. she'd meet the lot of them with teeth and sword, with brute strength and the vengeance roaring through her veins. her cousin demands to speak with star-woman, and hawk nearly takes a step toward him to spit in his one good eye. 

but she does not. star-woman moves easily, and it unnerves her. instead, she places herself in front of the mouth of the den. shielding the whining cubs and ishmira inside. hiding them from all the leering eyes that might wish them harm. 

her cousin was a prideful being, and paired with his terrible temper? she did not know what he wished of his children. whatever scheme he and his group had planned for them would be thwarted. 

she would die defending them, if needed. and what a way to go it would be.

skip w permission! <3 no posting order

he held up a paw to forestall any healing star eater might have given. dark fang offered harsh words, but his wounded brother offered nothing. for a long time he studied the starwoven with whom alone there had been such intimacies of spirit shared.

his expression closed. his spirit closed. heart held in desperate linger, following suit at the last. cen lanzadoii stood cold before morwenna, as he had done once with gheli and another with red leaf. all that had been gathered in word and in sight while he lay bleeding said that the wife of his heart moved submissive before him and lied.

"your sister choose to fight. she was saatsine. mine, to bring teeth if teeth given. the way of chieftain. the way of — jarl," tasting the word that dark fang had brought to him from winsook's mouth. lips tensed. "way of queen?"

"you seen. come back with blood. smell of glacier. you choose fool sister over lanzadoii children. you leave them. put self in danger. but i think you do more than this." sulukinak had not lied. she had not left his side, and even now did not, though to keep herself around such an assemblage was a strain for the shadow, he knew.

lanzadoii faced those who would not be.

he did not glance toward meleys nor his brother; he spoke what had been carried, his trust in them a reassuring simmer beneath the hurting irritation. "darukaal go to winsook. claim i make war. ask warriors. winsook come to saatsine and you tell them i make war. refuse heal for saatsine. you play game, morwenna," came the heavy voice of a man wronged. "you lie." it was an effort to remain rooted, not to advance, to snap. to escalate. his children lay beyond and the traitors among them had already broken the peace of their birth. "gjalla was never stay here. not after. i let her for you. for you. blackfell leave. same reason. " he did not address his at last-glimpsed cousin, who he had surely sent away. "you not tell to me blackfell have kin in darukaal. he with us, in peace-meeting. remember? saatsine fight saatsine. now glacier may come here?"

there were great energies to be cost, but sun eater did not waver. "speak again, wife. i will listen to explain from you."

his heart galloped a flat field of open pain.

"give explain why you tell winsook i go mad because i not take sister challenge."

morwenna was still, composed in the way of a woman who had no choice but to be. she had made her bed beside a man whose blood stained the land, whose name carried weight and consequence. she had known this when she had taken his name, when she had borne his children, when she had returned to him instead of staying at the glacier.
she is my sister first, husband.
there was no trembling in her voice, no hesitation. it was the truth, though she had not thought she would have to say it aloud. but it did not mean she did not love him, that she did not love their children, that she did not wish to see the saatsine thrive beneath them.
but he had nearly killed her sister. and he spoke now as if it was right.
calmly, she let him inspect the herbs, stepping closer with the soft brush of her tail. ishmira was tasked to heal you, she murmured, but it seemed she had not. it was not her fault, perhaps, but it was something. and it gave her pause—how many wolves would let him suffer? how many turned away, unwilling to lay their paws upon a man who could not stop himself from drawing blood?
his voice was sharp, accusing. his words tore through her, lashing against old wounds. her breath was steady, but inside, something cracked.
you tried to kill my sister. you know how i love her.
it hurt. and yet i came back.
i did not stay at the glacier.
she could have. she had every reason to. but she had returned to their den, to their children, to him.
our children are here, right there— she flicked her ears toward the den, toward the lives they had made together. and i will not leave them.
her voice did not rise. it did not break. her fury was the quiet kind, restrained and slow-burning, the way snow melted in the warmth of spring.
i did not know the kaan was his cousin. this was the truth, at least. but it did not matter, did it? he would believe what he wanted.
he spoke of war, of betrayal, of lies. he accused her of choosing her sister over their children, but had he not chosen his own pride first? had he not set them all down this path with his insatiable hunger for blood and retribution?
her ears flicked. she exhaled slowly. and then—
not even days after your children were born, you want violence.
her silver eyes searched his face, seeking something—anything—that might make sense of this.
is it never enough?
there was something fragile beneath her words, something quiet and aching. she had chosen him, but had he ever truly chosen her?

dark fang watches morwenna speak. her words slice through the air, but they don’t reach him. she lies! her words don’t match her actions. he stands stiff beside sun eater, eyes cold, narrow. his jaw clenches, his muscles tight.
betrayal stings his blood.
he does not know this woman and yet he burns in the face of her. he feels greatly for his brother; that he has been duped so viciously by a woman let into his heart.
his head lifts from where it'd been lowered, and he feels the bristling of his fur as brown connects like electricity with the cold blacks of his brother. he sees fit to interject, once, fanatic eyes raking harsh over morwenna. violence, he exhales, is to let cubs see the strength of the sire. his breath quivers, visible as it plumes from nostrils and mouth.
challenge to chieftain must go answered. sister does not matter. dark fang's ears twitch, head tilting in a quick jolt. it is way. i defy chieftain one day and i expect his teeth to meet.
hypothetical truth. the way of all people, not just lanzadoii. what does she not understand?
does the mind think itself so important that she be exempt?
she speaks and he hears only excuses and no answers. dark fang looks once to sun eater, feels the bubbling of agitation under his own skin. she avoid. he spits in his ear.

bullshit. this was all bullshit. her cousin sitting here, spinning the webs from his deluded mind. has he not acted first, out of pure pride? had he not let everyone bare witness to his slip, to his anger? to think this all started because she and kill-brother snuffed the life of a rogue. one that very well could have threatened the life of his spawn. 

fury simmers in her veins, and it is not quiet or dignified like her queen. lips curl, maw wrinkles in disgust. "you brought this upon yourself. are you that big of a fool to let your pride blind you?" she sneered. the calmness that typically gripped her slipping.

he spoke as if he cared for his children. but did he truly when he had nearly killed their aunt? when he nearly gotten himself killed because why, his feelings were wounded? 

the surly filth beside him regards her queen with malice. hawk leers at him; just another prideful fucking man. "they are cubs. supposed to be protected, not thrust into the face of violence." she spat. cubs that could hardly open their eyes would not know of their sire's "strength."

they would grow to fear him. but perhaps that is what they want.

morwenna did not answer. black hawk made of herself a permanent enemy, one to be dealt with at another time. but his wife did not answer, and so sun eater was left with his blossoming assumptions and the terrible twist of her knife in his chest.

so. this was how it would be, the erosion of trust and thus feeling. gjalla had made her choice, and morwenna had chosen not lanzadoii, but her sister. "not explain, brother." she was not a caribou hunter. it did not need to be said that those who did not choose to submit were worthless. it did not need to be said that he expected a wife of a band chieftain no less to eschew all that came before.

it was his fault for not marrying lanzadoii. the core of his starwoven was different, and this would always be so.

"whatever you say to darukaal, they will come for all. so," and he stepped beyond her, beyond the herbs, "we move. away." the single eye burnished his mate. "sulukinak, meleys, and dark fang will carry little ones." all who stayed were saatsine, and he would not have them divided here. it was her chance to heed him, to show where her lot lay.

a final chance, it seemed. if she had done nothing, she would not stand against him.

his cousin showed her hand each time she spoke, and if it was to morwenna she was loyal, she was not the only. he would find each.

time was an impatient weave. he stared at morwenna and gave no word to any other wolf.

ishmira listens in, and she bristles. nestles the children closer to other shore, blue eyes narrow. she does not know whether morwenna will submit, whether it is time to run or to fight.

but if it is time, other shore will run with her. they will carry two each, run until the cries of saatsine are lost behind. morwenna will find them after. she will be unharmed, because she is untouchable. ishmira chooses to believe that, cannot fathom otherwise. does not want to imagine what she will do if the woman falls.

as sun eater enters the den, she growls and looks frantically to morwenna for direction.

morwenna did not flinch.

though her blood roared and her womb ached, though the breath of her husband curled the air around her like a threat—she did not flinch.

"see?" dark fang had said.

her stare turned to him, sharp as a blade unsheathed. her voice, when it came, was cool and cutting—elegance honed into something final.

see what when they have not yet opened their eyes? she echoed.

to black hawk, her gaze softened—if only slightly. enough, she said. not a rebuke, but a protection. a quiet command laced with gratitude. they want our fury. do not give it so freely.

then she moved, cutting a line between her husband and the den.

her body barred the way.

she faced him without fear. her voice, once velvet, now steel. we will move.

she would not risk her children—not for her pride, not for his.

but they do not touch them.

not dark fang. not meleys. not any wolf whose teeth trembled for blood. not any whose womb had proven incapable of love. she would not let the curse of violence cling to her children like it clung to those wolves. there were women—gentle women, mothers, caretakers—who still had the right.

ishmira and other shore will carry them. a pause. it is a woman’s job. let a mother have this.

her eyes were on sun eater now.

there was no challenge in her tone—but neither was there submission.

i will not run. i will not defy you before your warriors. but i will not give them over to monsters.

then she turned, and with a quiet murmur, brushed her tail against ishmira’s side.

go. take two. other shore, the other two.

she needed ridgeback. kekoa. and she will find them swiftly.

dark fang hears her speak. her words slide like ice, clean and cold and meant to cut. his eyes do not blink. they stare, wide and sharp, the blood-pool red of them burning in their sockets.
she says monsters.
he does not step away from the side of sun eater, where he belongs; but twice, fur bristling, his breath thick and animal in the cold air. a snarl trembles at his jaw but does not yet break loose.
“monster?” he snorts. the sound is violent and wet. “you speak of blood but you don't bleed for us. don't bleed for chieftain.” he looks to ishmira, then other shore. a wild glance. “you trust them. they are not blood. not lanzadoii!”
he steps back, breath harsh, shoulders twitching with rage barely leashed.
“you defy,” he says again, quieter this time. to no one. to everyone. it is not his place to act and this is seen in the way he does not move from the side of his brother and chieftain. head lowering as glimmering pools of blood red slide between the scent. first upon morwenna, then upon black hawk, who seethes and glints teeth at them.
if she wished to come to blows, he would headily meet her. and this one is the worst of all, dark fang provokes, traitor to bloodkin.
he watches his brother's wife as she seeks to empower herself over him once more in this act of derision. telling him no—ordering those not permitted to carry. his eyes flash then to sun eater. dark fang knows what he would do! she sought to embarrass sun eater. to make him appear small before his hunters.
dark fang thinks that if his brother does not defend his pride, then dark fang must. he watches greedily.

Meleys listens and waits, yet finds her patience so very much wanning. This woman would have never accepted the customs of Lanzadoii, with the words she spoke now. She was far too gentle for such harsh realities. It was a wonder at all how she had come to fall in love with her brother to begin with. Why had she left her homeland? Why flee from it, when she act so high now, that she was so much better then the fiendish Lanzadoii she had run to, so desperately so to become a part of. Fickle, so many women were. Tsk! Her tongue clicked on the roof of her mouth. 

Morweena does not answer the questions asked. Does not speak why she denied the help of healing aid. Does not speak why she calls her husband mad beyond his back. Meleys takes note of this. So does Dark Fang, who speaks it. Then she speaks of monsters, but what claims does she have to say this? Meleys had killed for Saatsine, but was it not true that both Blackfell and Gjalla were with her? That Gjalla did not lead the charge in spilling the blood of their own family member? No, no, it was not they who should be called monster. As they were disloyal to their own pack, they were disloyal to the man which founded it, disloyal to their blood. Meleys may be cruel, may be cold, but she was not a hypocrite of her own mortals or traitor to her own. 

Mothers? A scoff. These women aren't even old enough to have pups. They were still pups - yearlings. What did they know of how to care and raise young? It only proved how very new of a mother Star Eater was herself, to place her trust in those because they had a soft heart and sweet face. 

It is the stirring of Black Hawk from the den which had drawn Meleys' attention and her words there to follow only fueled her rage, as so it did Dark Fang's. It was she which Meleys would set her sights on through all this now. She had wanted to strut her defiance, now she had been noticed. My brother comes to visit his wife and pups and you look at him this way? Your chieftan? Traitor, traitors all the same! And she?? Blood. Lanzadoii. It made her worse then any of the rest. Meleys steps forward with a snarl. Show respect or I'll rip your head off your fucking neck you treacherous bitch.

She wanted it, was ready for it! Yes, let her put her teeth to action where words were spoken. They could end this little coop now, here, before it got any further.

Talk flowed, broken in places and smooth in others but dangerous either way, like the blackness of sea sliding through cracks in old ice. Sulukinak listened. She watched. She saw above all, women who did not understand and men who held no patience to teach.

The tone shifted to vitriol when Meleys voiced threats, and Sulukinak looked to the waiting darkness where children slept, and more traitors to her uncle lurked. Silent, until now.

I am mother, too. She had suspected as much of herself; but afraid of it, too. Not for being Saatsine - she was barely that - but for the legacy that came before her. She looks from the darkness of the den mouth to Morwenna, figuring her admission would be lost among the emotions of her elder family.

You don't trust Saatsine. Why should you be welcome with us? You don't even trust your husband. Standing with Meleys, the shadow looked again to where the babes slept with their pale nanny. Are these even his blood?

The harvest could not come soon enough.

cameo! will reply if addressed <3

Too late. She returned far too late. She had only been gone for a moment, and returned to the splitting of Saatsine.

She had returned to the heart of Saatsine and found barely a soul there. Whatever concern had been washed away by her brief break, more replaced it now. No dark figures in the distant snow greeting and conversing, no running shapes bringing death upon caribou. An odd, murky silence filled the space where there should be life.

That meant few things. There were not many places they could be.

A moment of deliberation, and she took off running to the snow shelter. 

But again - too late. There she found far too many in a place where a mother should enjoy her peace. There was already tension being snapped, accusations of betrayal and challenges being thrown about. And with Black Hawk, it became a feud of Lanzadoii against Lanzadoii over the blood of Lanzadoii. Too much was happening; no longer could she tell what was truth and what was lie, and had no room to debate with herself who was right. 

But what of the children? Was Star Eater a traitor simply for wanting to protect them, as all mothers did? Was that what the Lanzadoii saw of her, an outsider whose protection of her pups was dangerous? She wanted to step in, but heard herself being regarded as a “yearling” and realized speaking would do little to convince them, perhaps even incite the anger more. 

The war was coming to the feet of newborns and she could do nothing about it.

He lingered nearby, having found a thick stick (formerly a branch from an oak tree) that he could barely wrap his jaws around, but with all the anxiety running through him, it would only be a matter of time before he cracked through it with his chattering teeth. 

But when voices began to rise, he knew it was time to do something. He bolted off, and fortune struck him once, landing @Kekoa in his path. C’mon! But stay low! He said, before he bolted back for the ring of trees that separated the world from Morwenna’s hearth. 

Her voice raised now. If she was speaking to Sun Eater in that way, then it would surely get out of hand. Stay here, or…Just somewhere around here. Act like you were just in the area, like you know nothing that’s gone on. I’ll call for you if I need you. His words were fast, quiet. 

He suspected, now, that the plans he’d suggested might be given wing to fly. 

With some trepidation he stepped forward, drawn in by the sound of Dark Fang’s voice; he seemed to be insisting, now, that they weren’t even Sun Eater’s children. Not blood, not Lanzadoii. His understanding of the language was far from complete, and he’d missed the gesture toward Ishmira. Questioning Sun Eater’s paternity felt both wild and dangerous; those who had been in Saatsine at the time, knew that Sun Eater had kept Star Eater to himself at that time. 

He looked to the Chieftan, worried. All he knew now was that Dark Fang looked like he was about to pick a fight with Black Hawk, and Meleeys commanded her to show respect; he knew the woman very little but he prayed that she might not snap beneath such pressure. Morwenna, at least, hadn’t raised her voice when she spoke to her husband again, but the ice was getting thin.

Sulukinak’s comment nearly made him laugh. She had been in the pack then, hadn’t she? Had she forget already how Sun Eater had stashed his wife away during her time? How their voices rang out even afterwards, through both day and night? It was wild, to him, for two wolves to speculate that someone else might’ve intruded into their lovemaking; for a time, they had been each other’s Sun and Stars. 

He chose not to comment on the matter, incapable as he was of taming his racing thoughts into something understandable. So when he spoke next, it was to the Chieftan.

If you want kids moved, I am ready.

ishmira forces her fur to lie flat for morwenna's sake. the air in the den is thick with tension, and sun eater's closeness does not help. it emboldens the rest, encourages them to push forward.

the bitch insults morwenna's name, implies she is unfaithful, and ishmira glances down at the smallest of the children- the one whose coat mimics sun eater's. they would all be fools not to see that she is his daughter. the white wolf scoffs, shakes her head and does as she is told. gently grabs @Caan and prepares to leave, patiently waiting for the argument to die so that she may pass. if they lunge for her, if they attempt to take the children, morwenna will intervene. she can only pray that other shore will follow her should they need to flee.

meleys outburst is met with hawk's deep, humorless laughter. "i am surprise cousin lets a woman speak." she muses. the threat rolls off her shoulders like water—the woman was hardly anything to be afraid of. "keep that tongue of yours quiet before i fucking remove it, sheep." comes her promise. 

the tension is nearly suffocating, and the back and forth bickering is growing tiresome. she is growing tiresome. this quarrel has gone on for long enough; it would take only one move to kickstart this war. she could grab her cousin by his throat, let his blood stain the ground. she would embrace the consequences after—for her victory would be sweeter than death by his goons. 

but she cannot. for what good is she to protect the many her queen asked, if she was dead? when the pale girl ishmira darts into the den to grab cubs, along with other shore, hawk backs off. sending a knowing look toward her queen; she would leave and guide the women carrying the cubs, but she would return.

but for now, her loyalty is sworn to the bundles of fur that cannot defend themselves.

no posting order! <3

morwenna's followers seemed to believe there was no penalty for their wagging tongues and defiance. with a hundred words to say, sun eater considered.

it was decided; "kill," he ordered of kin waiting for bloodspill, and then his own brutal stare was turned upon morwenna. "the ones who follow you, i say traitor," he declared to listening ears. "speak for them, wife." call them down, or see them die. call them down and out herself as rightful bearer of his accusations.

he shoved away from her now, lunging toward the den and whatever stupid fool girl had his children in her jaws. it did not matter; his teeth would thresh the same.

he would not bring black hawk nor the growling ishmira with them, and he would allow morwenna to reveal herself. there could be no death for her; the pups were in need of their mother. but she would not humiliate him, nor defy him; she would learn as each did.

phone post

morwenna had been quiet—too quiet. the storm behind her eyes churned, and for a moment, she looked every bit the stillness before a tempest, her body coiled and waiting.

but when sun eater surged forward, the dam inside her burst.

she met his lunge with a fury unholy—his name writ not on her tongue but in her wrath. as he brushed her aside, she twisted, surged with all the explosive power of a mother wronged. her body slammed upward beneath his jaw, the flat of her crown meeting bone with sickening force. she drove him back—headfirst into the den’s low edge, where the stone met him like a hammer.

the sound was a dull crack.

keep them at bay! she barked to blackhawk, voice like lightning, sharp and certain.

to ridgeback, whose eyes she met only briefly—now. the word was a command, but in it lived every ounce of trust she could offer. the plan. it was time.

morwenna turned to ishmira, voice softer now, but urgent and edged. run, girl. take caan—he is light. he will not slow you.

to other shore, her tail flicked once ghenaya. go. protect her.

to ridgeback again, her voice cutting through snow and chaos, take c’ed’e. he knows your scent. he will not cry.

and morwenna?

she bent low, gathered fa’liya in her jaws with a gentleness that belied her blaze, the girl’s tiny weight pressed into the shelter of her throat and chest.

without hesitation, she turned.

she vanished into the thicket—wreathed in winter’s white veil, in the screaming silence of falling snow. her breath was a fog trailing through briars, her blood a drumbeat against her ribs.

not for glory. not for defiance.

but for the only thing that mattered.

her children.

her vengeance would come later.

it is all a blur. morwenna attacks sun eater, barks commands. ishmira hears only the one meant for her. take caan. he is light. and she does so, gathering the boy in her jaws like precious cargo.

in her heart she follows morwenna out into the storm, into the unknown. but her legs carry her elsewhere, the beat of caan's racing heart rhythmic against her chest. she does not know where her mother and father hide. she does not know her way. she knows only this, of the saatsine.

if they catch her, they will kill her.

but first they must catch her.