The Sentinels little lost witch

She was more concerned than anything, needing an explanation from the source. Was this what Ellie had warned of? This sort if force that the dark wolf was - as that the concern her mother had? The grey eyes flashed again before she lifted her head and gave a call for @Lasher . The pale wolf waited on the edge of his land, expecting him to give her audience - and hoping be could give her the answers she so desperately needed.

ooc: Osprey will keep you company for a while. I hope that you don't mind.

Though the last year's pregnancy and time of delivery was tainted with very sad memories, some signs of the fact that her time was coming, Osprey did recognize. One of them was the need to nest - having settled for her and Dante's old den, she spent days either digging and expanding it, or bringing stuff to make the floor a softer place to lie on. She was also on a hunt for food and in the absence of the large game and the obvious fact that she was unfit for running after a fast moving breakfast/lunch/dinner, she used the scavenging skills that had saved her ass numerous time, while in the wilds. And it turned out that those blasted bugs that had stripped the land off everything that had once been green, were actually edible. Crunchy yet satisfying. 

Today she was prowling around a small ditch, ambushing and fishing for frogs. Two had already met their demise in her jaws and the third was about to meet it's fate, when a call, requiring Lasher raised in the air. Deciding that she was in the vicinity and also - kind of a leader - she went to greet the stranger and find out, what they wanted - even better - if they had something useful to provide. 

She met a young girl with a white pelt and quite an innocent look. Not very promising, but it would not hurt to ask, before driving her away. "What are you here for?" Osprey asked, ambling closer and scrutinizing the stranger's face.

When a figure appeared through the tree line Rowan was almost hopeful. When it neared only to end up being someone else she was disappointed. She kept a neutral face, licking her lips as the other wolf approached. Her eyes drifted down and the tall woman swallowed back the first response she had. She had wanted to speak further with Lasher, she did not know why exactly anyone else would respond to a call just for the male. "To speak with Lasher," She admitted, purposefully keeping her voice neutral. 

"I wanted to trace my family roots back to our mutual ancestors." Although they had not talked about it, specifically, she was confident that they were both from the same line somewhere along their common ancestors. She just needed to trace back to where it was.

mayfair. ellie. rowan. lasher admitted to himself that the sudden presence of an extended family member in his woodland so soon after the plague of locusts sparked wariness within him, and though he was interested in her reasons for coming to donnelaith, he tempered it with caution.

again, rowan's call rose above the stripped treeline, and taltos paused only once before he loped slowly to meet the ashen eyes of the pale wolfess. osprey was near, heavily pregnant and glowing with the anticipation of her impending birth -- lasher slowed alongside her and smiled, nudging the newly made beta with affection before he turned his gaze back to the stranger. "rowan mayfair. what brings you to my domain again?"

going to answer really quickly just to save the time >>;

Rowan didn't wait too long before Lasher's inky form cut through the tree trunks and she held her breath, eyes downcast. She was trying to be as respectful as she could, feeling the slightest bit uncomfortable around the pregnant female. She had never known how to behave around mothers or their children, it just left her with more questions about herself than anything. Rowan only looked up with Lasher addressed her by name, her grey eyes flashing a bit. "I wish to talk with you about my bloodline." She admitted. "My mother's fears regarding our family - I do not know why she was adamant about my avoidance of our homelands." Across the seas and even here, it would seem, where her clan had taken root and seemed to be stable even against the plagues that threatened their world. 

"Forgive me - it's presumptuous of me, and my mother would be distraught to know I am here...but it leaves me so many questions about myself, about who I am, since she has passed and would not give me any answers herself...and I have an uncanny feeling you might be able to shed some light for me." She understood he couldn't give her everything - she wouldn't even know where to start - but anything would be better than nothing.

Osprey was spared the troubles of dealing with the stranger that claimed to be familiar with Lasher. Though keen on proving that she had ascended to the beta rank for a reason, frankly speaking, at this very moment she would have very much preferred a nice, quiet place to lie down. Therefore she returned her leader's affectionate touch and then walked few feet away from the two, giving them a little space and privacy. She would have gladly offered more distance, but her feet were tired. The elder lied down carefully and, while listening to the conversation with one ear, she busied herself with tending for her hind-foot and then using it to scratch behind her ear. 

Though not quite invisible, she had no intentions of interrupting the talk between the two. 

ooc: as a cameo from now on. Feel free to skip and I will post occasionally out of order. 

he followed fondly the steps of his beta with a gentle gaze, somehow relieved that she chose so close for her resting. if he was indeed in the presence of a mayfair witch, lasher did not wish to be alone with her, for he felt no wreathing of power as he had with julien, mary beth, angelique. 

ellie had died with vagueness upon her tongue -- lasher watched rowan inscrutably. a woman filled with questions about their line; he held the answers, all these long years, but he was loathe to give them. however, he settled himself and motioned that she do the same. "your mother, she warned you of us, of me, and still you come." a pause. "what are these questions you have?"

When the other woman chose to recline a few paces away Rowan understood; she was heavy with young and Rowan could not fault her wanting to be as comfortable as her state could allow. Rowan returned her focus to Lasher at his questioning, her grey eyes flashing just for a moment before she fixed them on the earth once more. The slightest twinge and she was confused again - beneath the earth, something thrived. Something lived. She could feel it, but did not ask him about that - he was already suspicious enough and did not need more reasons to question her. "She did not mention you, specifically." Rowan corrected. "She only said that the Mayfairs - those from the old lands - that they were to be feared. That they were ruthless, and capable, and she was of the impression that I would be in danger from them." She didn't want to say nor did she feel like she needed describe her mother's paranoia. "Nothing of the wolves I have met here makes me feel like you are a danger to me. Not as she suggested." 

Her explanation probably did not give him much hope, but she could not explain to him the ways in which her mother had been wrong. Ellie, though well meaning, was paranoid. She was too protective and did not want to answer any of the young witches' questions about herself. "I have questions about things most wolves would find foolish - ones they would claim as fancy. I know my mother could tell, but she refused to acknowledge me." Rowan breathed it out, a little shiver running the length of her spine at just admitting it to another soul. Perhaps Lasher could enlighten her. Maybe he would believe her.

she gave no true answer, but perhaps she had not. lasher watched rowan carefully for any sign that she knew of which she spoke, but found none. to be in her presence unnerved him, for she did not move him as had the mayfair witches of yore -- she did not veil herself, for it was clear she had no understanding of what it was she had been granted as birthright.

"foolish. like magick," the druid intoned, fixing her with a pointed gaze. "yes, when you feel the energies of the earth move under you, and you hear the sussuration of the dead whispering in the trees -- yes, yes. it is. and you hear these things, and will continue to hear them, until your dying day, for you are a witch, rowan mayfair, as was your mother, and hers before her, and hers before her. so on and so forth until suzanne! ah! you were drawn here," taltos went on, his eyes burning as they rarely did, "because of me, for i have served the witches all my years, and have fathered two -- if there is anyone who knows every dark secret of the mayfair clan, it is i, and that is why you have come!"

Her eyes went wide, the name he gave shooting through her. He spoke the truths - the things she knew in her core. The promises of a covenant she held with the Earth, the council she kept in secrecy. Rowan swallowed thickly, she felt the shift in the air, the very wind singing it's whispers to them. His eyes - they were a depths she had not experienced before. "And so I was bid to come here, I was lead here to grow." Rowan intoned. "Arrived amidst the death to help bring forth life anew." 

The little witch, though many moons dormant, had a power that was all her own. Carefully reared, though smuggled away and raised under secrecy. Rowan's eyes were wide, though fearless. "Je le sens. Il y a une vie ici - souterrain. Les graines , ils vont grandir." And she - she would do her part to make them grow. All she needed was the doorway opened.

Having finished with grooming herself, Osprey sighed and rested her head between her outstretched forepaws. It felt like it had been such a long day, though in truth she had not done much at all. Getting tired had become such an easy chore lately that she was looking forward to the day, when she would - once again - be able to boast with strength and endurance. 

She closed her eyes, but the details of Lasher's and Rowan's conversation were not exactly lost to her. Though she did not understand everything, one was clear - even after two years of knowing the druid personally, she still knew very little about him. And somewhere between the mentioning of witches and serving them, Osprey fell soundly asleep.

his mouth trembled as she spoke; he felt the gentle pressure of osprey's nearby energy and turned a fond gaze to find that she had fallen asleep. presently he looked back to rowan, and lifted his chin. "i grant you a home here -- serve us well, and when you have proven yourself, i shall teach you about the mayfairs." 

his eyes were hard now: would she agree to this, or would she turn away? taltos did not believe that she would.

The little witch swallowed thickly, his terms laid out clearly and she did not balk. She would impress him, it wouldn't be an issue. "I will not let you down." Rowan promised, her grey eyes flashing for a moment. "I will serve loyally."  loyally and wholly - there would be no questions as to that. Anything that it took to learn she would do. Anything asked of her at all.

Osprey's slumber was not to last for very long, because, when she was just about to have the pleasant dream of running easy and free through the fields, a sudden commotion inside her belly brought her back to the awake world. He yawned and growled in annoyment. They could not be calm for just one moment... boy, she could not wait, when the current tenants would move out. A kick to her bladder, made her flinch. She got to her feet, cast an apologetic glance to both of the wolves and trotted away from the area, deeper in the forest. 

ooc: last post from me. 

last for me also! <3

she promised, and he accepted. the movement of osprey's grey body provoked a fond smile from taltos, and he turned it upon rowan. "come," he murmured gently. "let me show you to your new home." he stood aside, inviting her over the borders and thus into donnelaith.

The lithe witch gave a brief smile, her eyes lifting again as she was bid to follow. She left a passing glance to the woman as she slept, pleased with the concept that the pack was secure enough and quiet enough that she could feel safe so heavily pregnant to rest in the sunshine. Rowan instead kept a few paces behind the dark male, her eyes traveling across the lands - allowing herself to feel and to do so fully. "Thank you." She said to him after a moment as he showed her to her new home.