Hushed Willows for he has cast down leviathan, the tyrant, and the horse and rider

AW, but would love an @Olive potentially!

she made her way to the borders finally, swinging hare clutched fast in her jaws. it had been an easy choice between her two catches that morning, the latter had been mostly skin and bones and disappeared quickly down her throat. her wanderings had carried her further and longer than she would have travelled in fortnight in only a few days, and those small treasure along the shore did not fill the void in her stomach. 

setting down the creature, she called her desire for audience into the early morning stillness, listening for a moment as the last notes blurred and faded. content, she sat, sniffing once and finding the smell of her heat to be fading quickly, now. the scent had become apparent once she'd left ravensblood, and those few days had been passed alone by the sea. she was in no mood for company (despite an intinctual want for it) and the rare wolf along that empty strand had gotten the message well enough.

Nearly halfway through her pregnancy, Olive was beginning to feel, in fact, pregnant. Her usually slight figure had rounded out and the fur along her belly thinned in that telltale way — her constitution had become uneasy, and she tired easily, but the druid proudly showed off her body’s changes to her wives, rolling supine and displaying her belly at the other’s slightest behest. Olive swore she even saw Delight smile one or twice to know his progenies flourished within her. She absolutely loved bringing this happiness to her wives, and to all of Elysium.

Olive was lounging by the den, sun bathing in the dappled sunlight that happened to fall between the willows, when the call from the borders came. So few actually took the time to announce their presence (open borders just worked that way) that this immediately grabbed her attention — it was after a second or two that the tone of the voice registered, and recognition bloomed across Olive’s expression. She immediately darted to the threshold of the willows, abandoning any semblance of sleep or sleepiness, thrilled that her daughter had finally come for a visit. 

The druid ran to her Cassiopeia as if she was afraid that she’d change her mind and leave. She never really knew what the girl was thinking, and wouldn’t be surprised if that happened. Olive only knew of some of things had happened to her daughter to make her the way she was, and for that, Olive was quick to excuse everything. She even forgave her for murdering Dakarai — her first love, and the dark girl’s father. Tried to take the fall for it, even. There was little Olive’s first girl could do to become sullied in her eyes. 

She slowed before she arrived, attempting to catch her breath but not wanting to waste a moment. A massive grin plastered upon her pointed features, she trotted forward. “Daughter!”  she called out, her light voice chiming through billowing branches. “I am so glad you’re here. Seabreeze will be delighted to see you!”  The woman pushed forward to kiss the star-spangled girl — not a girl anymore, but a two year old woman that was bigger than she — and rested there with her chin on Cass’s shoulder.

“What brings you this day?" 

there came a dash of silver and grey and her mother was before her, out of breath and seemingly having run all the way here. the grin on her face had cassiopeia's own muzzle curve, her tail waft at her hocks as she moved at once to meet her mother, gaze moving all over her to take in as much as she could. her mother seemed to have aged not from when last they'd been together, sylph-like still. "mother," she answers, and the word is lined with gladness at seeing her finally. 

she returned the kiss, drawing in the scent of her mother's fur. she knows her mother's gladness is sincere, and she too is happy to feel her embrace. but still there is a timer ticking in the back of her wind, a warning that she should not, can not, stay long. she doesn't belong here. perhaps it is some crumb of her father's violent words that she'd absorbed, the knowledge that his death marks her forever as kinslayer, but she has no place in her mother's sanctuary. "I should have come earlier - I met your brother, Cortez, some time ago." he'd been the first to solidify the thought that she ought to come, but it had been the drastic shift with Vaati that had afforded her the heart to see through that desire. 

she hums a note, she eager to ignore the ticking and live in this contentness. "I wanted to see you." besides that base desire, she harbours no other motive in coming. she wants to know her mother is well, her family thrives. she desires it, for all she'd gone through with Dakarai, her strength. juxtaposed against her father, Olive is all that is good.

When Cassiopeia returned her genuine felicity, it only multiplied Olive’s a thousand-fold. Sometimes life got so messy, and there was so much baggage that had the potential to weigh their relationship down and make it more trouble than it was worth — at times, when Olive was deep in her melancholy, that’s what he mind would tell her. That Cassiopeia was not a part of Elysium because she did not want to be a part of Elysium; that she did not want to be closer to her. But, in the light of day, Olive never lost faith; at moments such as these, it was only restored.

Cassiopeia tells her of Cortez, which immediately elicited yet another, renewed grin — at first. “That is splendid!”  He didn’t tell me that, spoke her subconscious, but she hushed that voice for now. She continued to focus on the light of this moment. “How was it to meet your uncle?”  She never thought she’d have the ability to say that before!

Spinning to face within Elysium, she braced Cassiopeia’s side and sought to encourage her inside. This was Cassiopeia’s home too, even if she only considered it a ‘place to visit.’ Who knew what dangers lurked just beyond the sanctuary, but inside, all was sweet and serene. The waif turned her visage to look at her dark daughter, such a beloved replica of her father with that dark and plush pelt. “Where have you been? What have you seen?”  she inquired with every bone in her body.

“I wish to hear about all of your adventures, my child.” 

her mother's easy happiness is a balm to her worries, and in this moment the ticking grows faint. "I like him," she offers at her mother's question, an easy enough statement. it is odd to have an uncle, when previously her only recognized family was her mother, but it is simple to see that he will never be family in the way that olive is. her mother pushes against her side and her intent is clear. cassiopeia is hesitant a moment before she resigns to her mother's invitation, and moves at her side deeper into Elysium. it seems a place far from warlords and blackfeather, hunger and empty solitude, and between the willow trees she can imagine nothing but peace and good lingering here. it is a sanctuary, and while she is content to be here, she has been shaped into something, somebody, who can not linger here long. 

"the north, the sea," she offers, pausing before elaborating. "I like the coast. it is terrible and beautiful at the same time, and the sea almost seems alive, sometimes." vaati is there, by the water. it seems more his place than the woods ever where, but she does not elaborate on that particular attraction. "I've seen great fish thrown up on the shore, the size of a hill." the ocean was perpetually interesting in the treasures it threw at random upon the strand. the north was perhaps beautiful in its own way, populated by those strong enough to survive the conditions, great warriors and hunters. for some time, she was content to wander there, but the desolate cold lost its appeal. sidelong, she notices from the corner of her eye her mother's waist. it is not as high-tucked as she remembers it, and the slight swell of her sides confirm her sudden realization. "mother, you're pregnant!" she pauses in her step, confirming with another look at olive. her muzzle curves, and the silence asks elaboration.

It is a pleasant thing when Cassiopeia did not resist her advances in towards Elysium. Of course, the mother would never force her child into a situation that was unwanted, but Cassiopeia gave her no reason to believe she was anything other than elated to be here: safe, amongst the sanctuary, where the evils of life could not touch them.

Instead of building a wall around herself, the star-speckled girl opened herself considerable answered, for all Olive knew, truthfully. She told Olive stories of being by the sea, and of giant fish the size of hills — the latter of which sounded a little to wild to be true, but she was inclined to believe the girl anyways because the sheer force of her belief. Olive, too, had been attracted to the sea — but her experiences with teaghlaigh and blackfeather on the coast kept her from truly enjoying it as she once did. In all honesty, she rarely ever visited anymore.

“You were born close to the sea, you know?” she advised with a raising of her eyebrow. To Cassiopeia, the place of her birth might be an insignificant coincidence; but to Olive, it was everything. “In the blood-stained arbors close to the cliffs, Ravensblood Forest.” It was no wonder Cass liked it there. It was raw and deadly, much like her. “I watched the stars every night, so that I might know you were safe. The stars never doubted you, and neither did I.” The mother reached out to share a kiss with the girl — Cassiopeia was seemed impenetrable, undefeatable. She was born a survivor, and would likely remain one until the end of her days. 

It was then that Cassiopeia pointed out a fact that Olive herself had forgotten in the wake of her excitement. “Yes!” she chirped, stopping for a moment to cut a pose that displayed the delicate swell of her belly. Cassiopeia seemed to have unspoken questions, so Olive volunteered more information. “You and your siblings have been on your own for long time now. Even Ellie and Séamus left to go pursue their grand plans of visiting every pack in the Teekon Wilds.” She shrugged and gave the girl a knowing, sidelong glance. “We missed having kids around.” Oh, but ‘we’ had changed since she last saw Cassiopeia!

“You can consider Delight family, if you want.” she continued to explain kindly, not wishing to force anything upon the girl. “Rely on him the same way you would rely on Seabreeze.”

she'd never put thought to the place of her birth, she'd thought it always to be Moonspear. her earliest memories were set with a backdrop of rock and mountain. the thought that her mother would give birth in the midst of a blood-stained wood was an odd thought indeed, and yet the girl resolved to find that place. her mother's next words had her hum a low note, knowing any sort of response would be lackluster compared the depth of her mother's sentiment, and merely returned her mother's kiss. she did not share her mother's intimate relation with the stars, the elements, the universe, and yet as she grew older she began to wonder. 

her mother confirmed her suspicion with a pose that had a small curve appear on the girl's muzzle. "they are lucky, to be born here with you." motherhood was where her mother was most radiant, and her pure happiness as she spoke had the woman wonder if she would find her own as her mother had. she did not think the happiness of her mother's sort was something everyone attained; in fact, it was only in Olive that she had seen it so clearly. the news of her siblings had her curious, for she'd only ever known them as infants and it was decidedly odd to think them setting out on their own lives. she wondered how Olive did it. she, with her angry past and defective heart, would surely be ill-suited for motherhood. 

"delight? she is your wife now, too?" it was the first she'd heard of a wolf having more than one mate, and the concept felt decidedly odd. she, with only one - two - deep connections, could not imagine forming such deep bonds with two. and then, because it comes to mind with talk of lovers and she does not think it is something she can hold internally forever, she adds. "I met a man, by the shore." 

She and her shadowed daughter, whenever they were in one another’s company, got along famously — they always had, even when she was child, while her brothers were either 1) absent, or 2) fought her and others are every turn. Sometimes it surprised her that the star-speckled girl elected not to whether her days here at her side, where life would be made easy, but she understood that not all wolves were made for life amongst a sanctuary. Cassiopeia was made of different stuff, and that was to be respected, even if the mother did long to have her daughter by her side at all times. When Cass called her unborn half-brothers and half-sisters lucky, Olive almost used it as an opportunity to clarify exactly why she chose to remain afar, far away from her, but she bit her tongue. This was not her place to pry. 

Instead, the pale priestess smiled towards her child and continued to meander amongst the willows. Where there were heading, she did not know — possibly her and Seabreeze and Delight’s den, possibly the rose garden, possibly the caches to grab a snack to share… their padding feet, whatever their intention was, would show them the way. Thus was the magic of the willows; they showed you exactly what you needed. At Cassiopeia’s endearing comment, Olive could not help but agree. “Lucky they are, but only because these willows are magic,” she deflected and redirected. “I am the truly fortunate one, for all my children, both near and far.” At that, Olive gently sidestepped closer to the girl and brushed her shoulder, wishing she could hold her tight and never allow her to leave. These children were lucky because they were being born into a world of love and light, whereas poor Cassiopeia and her other two boys were born into an existence of expulsion — of homelessness, of seeking, of denial.

Cassiopeia did not seem to question the idea of Delight being one of her wives, although she did indeed utter a question. It was nice how many of those around her simply accepted the fact that Delight identified as her wife, and that she was allowed to love two at once, where most limited their love to a solitary soul. With her grand love dead and gone, Olive saw no reason to limit herself in any way such as this. The jade-eyed wolfess nodded eagerly. “Yes. We’ve grown fond of each other, and I do believe that Delight and Seabreeze have a sort of… spiritual connection.” Perhaps it was too much information for Cassiopeia, but it was the truth. It was a mutual caring for Seabreeze that bonded she and the Seraph together, and what made the decision to create life with one another. Delight alone held they key their neither she nor her sand-coated lover could. “and anything that creates more love and light in this dark, dark world is worth doing, is it not?” she canted her head, wondering what Cassiopeia might make of such a sentiment. She was surprisingly open-minded, but not when it came to these overtly-fluffy things. 

The next thing that left Cassiopeia’s lips, quite seriously, stopped Olive in her tracks. She halted, cocking her head at her daughter in stunned inquiry. She had never thought of her children as overtly romantic or sexual beings — in fact, they were more like lovely nightmares that she figured had chosen solitary, wandering existences. A man? Really? “By the shore? A seawolf?” She said incredulously. Her immediately reaction was happiness, for she wished nothing but happiness for her progenies, but her secondary reaction was questioning. Who was this man? Did he deserve her dear Cassiopeia — and on that matter, was it even a serious enough relationship to warrant that question?  “I always knew this day would come.”  No she didn’t. “Does he treat you well? Are you happy?” In all honesty, these were the only things that mattered. The woman watched her child's face beam as she spoke of the man she loved, and then they ate and spoke of other wonderful things, and all was happy.