The Sentinels We get to share it

That morning Osprey had seen Dante off to the borders, patrolled with him for a while and then left for her own deeds. While not being able to hunt effectively with the rest of the pack, she was dead-set of not becoming a "parasite" that lives on the hard earned food of others. Therefore she was trying to remember all the bits and pieces of survival information her mother had taught her as a kid. It had been very important for March Owl that her kids were prepared to any kind of conditions. And her daughter had realized that if she was to have kids of her own, she would also want to make sure that they were ready to face the difficult life in the wilds. 

The winter this year had been quite easy on them - though there was snow, it wasn't nearly as cold as it could be, which also meant that the small game, digging tunnels and hiding in the snow, was still abundant. It took time to find them and even moreso skill to actually catch them, but today, before Osprey had a chance to contemplate of how else to fill her grumbling stomach, luck was on her side. As she pounced to catch a mouse, her front paws hit something furry and hard that had laid hidden under the snow. A bit of digging revealed it to be a carcass of deceased deer-calf.

osprey was a quiet sort, and had remained so after her mateship to dante. lasher would have liked to see more of her following their bonding, but the greyscale woman kept to the edges of their unit and he rarely saw her, except in passing. however, she was one of them, and so he did not press the issue of her appearances, for it did not truly matter. 

he watched her stalk the small rodents beneath the snow with a nimbleness that belied her age, and came closer when her paws revealed a larger patch of hair in the drifts. standing aside for a moment, the druid chuffed to make her aware of his presence -- he was curious about what she had found, but waited to be invited closer.

Osprey, who hadn't hunted anything bigger than a rodent in the past few months, was a bit confused about, what to do with the find. It was huge at the first glance and a piece of food that was not going to be easy to extract from the ice and snow around it. 

She looked up and shook her head to rid her face of snow and her gaze locked on Lasher's waiting form nearby. She greeted him with a smile and wagged her tail in a friendly manner, welcoming the alpha to come closer. 

"I found treasure - come and see!" Osprey said with a mischievous smile.

osprey lifted a radiant expression to lasher and in that moment he saw that gone was the broken woman she had been. like a phoenix, the woman had been reborn into her former grace and good humour. for this he was immeasurably glad, and he was sure her recent mateship to dante had been a great part of this. the man, after all, was a loyal and wondrous personage.

"what have you found?" he inquired, drawing nearer to the grey woman with a friendly lash of his plume. the patch of frost-roughened fur piqued his interest.

"Food," Osprey replied, working a bit more to uncover the cadaver from the snow and, when Lasher had come close enough, she stepped aside to let him see the find. "From the looks of it - there is plenty of it too." Though a closer examination revealed that the calf hadn't had too much meat on it's bones, which meant that - taking skin and bones away - there wasn't going to be that grand of a meal. For one or two wolves maybe, but not for a whole pack. 

"I never had a chance to congratulate you and Blue," Osprey thought it was a good time to give a bit late well-wishes for the newborns. "Dante has been sick lately, so I did not think it was wise for me to come anywhere near either."

his plume waved gently as the scent of iced-over meat entered his nares. coming to the same conclusion as osprey, the man set about excavating snow from 'round the edges of the downed animal, considering how he would split it for the caches, and if any internal organs remained. osprey spoke in her gentle way; lasher shook himself from his task and smiled gently at her, though his countenance fell somewhat at the revelation that his beta was ill.

"while you are welcome near our den, thank you for warding the sickness away from the girls. how long has dante been sick? has he been attended by blue willow or eilidh?" taltos inquired, worry flickering in his tones.

Osprey had assumed that Dante's chronic coughing spells was a general knowledge, but Lasher's surprise about the subject alarmed her. She was no healer, but a cough that had lasted this long didn't mean anything good. And if she was the only one to know about this, then this was even worse. "I don't think he has sought any help yet," she shrugged. Had Blue or Eilidh already attended him, Lasher would be the first to know.

"I asked him to be careful, but I fear that he does not take this long-lasting coughing seriously," once these words had been spilled, it occurred to her that Dante might not have wanted this piece of information to be known. Not without his consent.

he frowned. "perhaps aria saw to him," he murmured hopefully. "she is an aspiring healer as well." osprey seemed offput by her mate's sickness, and lasher was rather perturbed. yet this was a pleasant meeting -- he smiled fondly at the woman. "i shall insist he be seen by blue willow," he chuckled, attempting to lighten the atmosphere. "shall we dig out this meat? or perhaps it would be better left here and the location marked," he suggested, eyes flickering to her own. "what do you say?"

"Please do - he might take orders of an alpha more seriously," Osprey agreed, smiling at Lasher and imagining the very picture of Dante being scolded and dragged by his scruff to the healer. Of course, it would happen in a more civil way, but exaggerations sometimes made situations funny. 

"If we leave it here - someone else might find it and eat it," she reasoned, "if we drag it away, then... we should still eat it, because... if we don't, still someone else will." Osprey was no game-keeper, so she left the final decision up to Lasher.

he could not help but to laugh, for she had provided many options. "let us take it deeper into the wood," he suggested. "there it will be cached closer to those in need of it." with that, he began a slow excavation of the snow, carefully throwing it behind himself and moving with gentle gestures as not to splinter the frozen meat before it was able to be extricated from its icy tomb. 

osprey seemed hale and rather happy -- he hoped that this meant she would remain with them and not depart.

When Lasher seemed to be amused by Osprey's reasoning, she too cracked a grin and then began helping him in recovering the cadaver. Šince it looked like it was going to take time and effort and staying silent was not an option, she could choose between singing and talking. And... since she could not sing - the choice was obvious.

"So - two princesses instead of one - is it any different than taking care of two rowdy boys and just one girl?" she paused and glanced up to the alpha, being genuinuely curious about the subject.

they dragged the carcass a short distance, pausing to take a breath, wherein osprey spoke. lasher smiled at her words. "it is much different. with constantine and casmir, at this age they were quite rambunctious, and eilidh was the reserved child. but this pair is inquisitive and require constant supervision, as they are most curious the goings-on outside the den." he wondered if the grey woman had asked so she knew what to expect with her own brood; the idea made him grin inwardly.

"But there certainly begins a pattern after the third litter, doesn't it?" Osprey asked with a crooked grin, wondering if MO ever grew bored of her kids. She had at least five or six litters during her lifetime, approximately 20 offspring. First may have been interesting, but didn't it get a bit tedious after a while. Of course, no two people were exactly the same, yet similarities existed. Some of them - to great extent. 

"I mean - you know, what to expect and there are less surprises," after saying this, she leaned down to sniff the carcass and, while waiting for Lasher's response, tried to find the best spot, where to grab and pull the heavy thing again.

"in many ways, yes. i know to tell their cries from one another, to discern between hunger or fear, to know if they are truly ill or merely sick with the little bouts of cough that attend the nursery from time to time. but they are each their own individual, and with their own daily surprises." 

he joined her in dragging the iced carcass some feet, before pausing once more. it was a heavy thing, caked as it was with the frozen snow. pulling it through the drifts was no small feat. "i am no longer surprised by the basic things, i suppose," he rounded with a smile.

"Yeah, those basic things kind of scare me," Osprey said thoughfully. It was not that she did not have experience in childcare - she had been a baby-sitter at her birth-place and had taken care of the kids from the moment they had been able to walk, giving her tired mum a very needed break. But she assumed that it was a lot different, when the sole responsibility about them was on you. You could not walk away from that. 

"But you seem to be okay," she grinned. "I believe I will be too."

to her answer, he gave the gunmetal woman a wondering look. "do you and dante intend to have children?" he asked, unable to keep the note of excitement from his voice. what a joy it would be to have little greyscale pups running about come summertime, with their parents' logical natures and gentle calm. as he waited for her answer, not hiding his wide beam, taltos began to tug at the carcass again, determined to move it these last few feet without pause.

"We have talked about it," Osprey admitted, a tint of doubt in her voice. Though the prospect of having kids had appeared great in the beginning, she was a little afraid now. Turn and twist it as you like, most of the responsibility was on her and she did not want to fail. "I am past my prime though," she pointed out to the fact that she was going to be five years old soon and for wolves that rarely lived longer than 8 - 10 years in the wild it was much. "Which means a lot of "what if"s - if you understand, what I mean," she did not expect Lasher to get it right away. "I fear that the one chance I had, I wasted last year." 

lasher did not know the workings of a woman's body, beyond the awareness of their pleasure and the pain of childbirth. he understood, yes, that there came a time when a wolfess could no longer bear young, but certainly that was not a condition that fit itself to each situation. "perhaps blue willow may be of assistance. she has so many stores of herbs for which i have no name," the man added wryly. 

"have no fear, osprey. i know that fate is something in which few believe, but i do. and if children are desired, i see no reason why they would not be granted." age was a fickle thing, at any rate.

"Blue willow might have herbs and skills, but she is no magician," Osprey returned, but thought that talking the matters over with her friend would help regardless. The alpha female had been in this world as long as Osprey herself, but still she might have more in-depth knowledge about this. 

"Fate has it's ways to play with people and it is not always the nice route," she said this and fell silent for a long time, concentrating on pulling the carcass. At the next stop she let the item loose and gave a questioning glance at Lasher: "Where do you want to leave this exactly?"

"here," he motioned, pushing snow away from a cache and taking hold of the frozen carcass, to drag it more fully into the iced depression. blue willow was not a depression, and it was true that fate could be cruel, but lasher had hope for the pair yet. however, he did not linger upon the subject, delicate as it was. the outcome of their union could only be determined in the spring. "whatever comes to pass, you both have my support and my blessing," he said softly.

"That means a lot to me," Osprey regarded Lasher gratefully. He was one of the few people of the pack, who knew most of her history and despite the mistakes she had made, still treated her as a loyal and supporting friend. At times she wondered, whether she was deserving of such a friendship, but fate had it's ways and, whoever was turning the wheels, knew, which people to bring together and when. 

"Alright - job well done," she said with a yawn, once the carcass was put in the right place. "I will go to kidnap my mate from the borders now, but I expect dinner for my strength and valour at your place at some point," she pointed out with a crooked grin and prepared to go, but paused for a bit, in case Lasher had some final "see you later" words to add. 

ooc: fade this one out in the next post? Thanks for the thread! 

of course! thank u too! <3

he smiled at osprey, nodding when she revealed her intentions to seek out dante. "a supper in your honour," the druid laughed, eyes shining with a mirth he had not felt in some time. "so it shall be."

his gaze followed the greyscale woman until she had disappeared from view; lasher then pushed the last of the snow over the newly cached meat and trotted away in the direction of the whelping den.