Stone Circle When the sun sets

Dated to the first night, @Nanook would be in the circle as well!

Arlette was getting worried when her mother demanded everyone from the pack to meet at the circle every night. She never had experienced these shocks before. They scared her. But when they made it through the night she forced herself to do something for the pack. She would help where she could and tried to be strong for the other pack members especially ones that were younger. She wanted to be a mentor and therapist for the pack which mean that she had to push her own fear away.

She had been moving further away from the territory, trying to see where there was still prey. When the sun started to set the girl realized that she was further away than she thought. Arlette rushed back home over the plains, the sun setting fast. She felt her heart beat fast as dusk had fallen. On no. She didn't want to worry her mother. As darkness began to settle she ran into the circle. "Sorry! Sorry! I'm here!," she called out and gave her mother an apologetic smile. She could tell that her mother was relieved.

Arlette panted as she came to a halt only then noticing the two new ones. Her ears perked up and her red eyes drinking the male and female in. She wouldn't expect her mother to take in new members during a crisis, really. Arlette curiously stepped closer, always the kind one to greet a new member.

<3 thanks for starting, my friend!

Something was amiss around them, beneath them, inside the ground. For all her years as a naturalist - and those years being all her years alive - she had never once observed the earth to creak and groan like it did now, except for when the Glacier had fallen and entombed her in the tunnels of Duskfire. And there were the rockslides and landslides she had witnessed, of course; erosion of cliffs, and of mountainsides, that sent hordes of earth cascading down the rocky face into the forests and oceans below.

But Easthollow was not a glacier, and Easthollow - in all her understanding - was not built upon tunnels. They were not a mountain, they did not erode - so something else caused the tremors, and while the unknown stirred an air of anxiety through many of the family here, she instead felt a morbid curiosity, and a hunger to learn.

Yet these investigations would have to wait; for now, her duties stood with Valette. Stark light filtered between the stones as the final rays of sun snuffed out behind the distant hills. She perched herself in silence against @Siarut's side, their fur just brushing, and she took in the family tucked around them with calm, discerning eyes. Counting them, observing them, and memorizing faces, names, and voice -

And that was one she did not recognize - loud, and apologetic - and when she turned --

Nanook blinked, multiple times, because she -

had never seen -

- and yet had memorized -

Her eyes. And she blinked again, this time with a startled jerk. No, no, no, this was not her - for she had seen her mother die - and finally her memory caught up, and the mercenary quickly corrected, "Sorry - you must be Arlette." For that was one of the names Val had given her, yes - Merrit and Arlette - and even if she hadn't already met Merrit stalking along the border, and looking so much like Stark, from size and form to the very way he seemed to brood - she still would have guessed - would have known - this one was Arlette.

Scarlett. Arlette. And she laughed, though she wanted to cry? And her face grew hot, and her eyes felt wet, and her mouth wavered into a sort of grin that didn't seem entirely sure of what it wanted to be, either, and she added on a quiet, "Sorry." Perhaps she understood; perhaps she had heard enough of how she looked so much like her grandmother, and perhaps Arlette would see family in Nanook's face as well. After all, as Arlette bore the memory of Scarlett in her eyes, so Nanook would always carry Kove.

Welcome <3

Her red eyes fell into familiar copper ones. For a moment, she didn't know where she recognized them from, but then she realized that they were just like Kove's eyes. Arlette watched the female for a moment longer before focusing on the male. It seemed she didn't know him. Then the female spoke. Arlette quickly offered a kind smile and wagged her tail. "Yes! I am," she smiled and approached with a more friendly matter. "I don't know who you are but you /must/ have known my grandmother because you look shocked," she chuckled and settled down before the other female.

"Are you mama's sister?," she asked curiously, since she had Kove's eyes and was younger than Kove. She could do some math and tell that she was probably a daughter from Kove. It was weird to see how things worked because, both her grandparents were white and it seemed that their children weren't. Arlette was still eager to get to know her mother's siblings even though Xan hadn't been really nice at all. If she ever had puppies she would love to have them know Merrit as well.

This young girl Arlette, she seemed confident, yet gently so, and exuded an air that stilled Nanook with a welcome peace. The mercenary felt comfortable in her presence -- despite the uncanny resemblance she shared with her late mother -- and her face finally settled into a soft and genuine smile. The mercenary covered the final steps toward her niece.

"Yes, and yes," she said in short reply, and the hum of a laugh rolled from her throat. "Your mother must have told you this already, but you look exactly like her. Our mother," and she missed her greatly, but the pain, the guilt, the blame -- the Order of the North had taught her to forgive all of that. They had helped her see, that to think of Scarlett now, and the grief she had put them through in choosing to tear herself from Kove, no longer hurt so much.

"I am Nanook, and this," she swung her head to the man of ice, laying some feet behind her now, her own eyes warm with affection, "this is my mate, Siarut." She returned to observe Arlette -- her niece -- and already, she felt a strong instinct to protect this young one, to uphold her, and strengthen her. She already seemed so strong, and she queried, "You must be old enough to have taken a trade. Tell me, what interests you? Do you give as a hunter? A healer? Or, perhaps something else?"

Arlette beamed out a pleased grin when she realized that she was right. This was her mother's sister. So fascinating. It was weird of this female being small, and her mother being small and that they were siblings and just little and.... Woow. She couldn't really wrap her mind around it. She was introduced to her mate. "Nice to meet you!!,' she smiled and then looked around them, followed to Nanook's belly just to check. "No nieces and nephews?," she asked, almost disappointed. "Where are your pups?" It was not strange of the girl to think that mated couples had pups since her mother was so active in obtaining them.

Her ears perked up at that question. "Oh!! I am becoming a counselor but I am focussing on being a mediator and therapist!,' she spoke proudly. 'I don't like it when wolves are mad at each other," she admitted. "And minds are really fascinating. I don't know about my other trade. Mom has been drilling me into being a hunter but... Idon'tlikeit," she quickly mumbled. "It is essential yes but I don't want to be a provider if I don't have to," she revealed.

Nanook hit the air with the bark of a laugh. Nieces and nephews! Of course she would ask; Arlette was definitely a daughter of her mother, no question there. "Nice to meet you too," the warrior teased through a bemused grin, "But no, we don't have any kids. Val was always the powerhouse there. Anyway, I had enough on my paws caring for your older siblings and the rest of the pack that I never felt the need to have any kids of my own." And when she and Siarut had met, and finally decided to consumate their marriage, breeding season was already well behind them. Not such a bad thing. Siarut had been able to heal from his emotional wounds without the worry of children on the way, and Nanook wouldn't change that.

Nanook couldn't help the genuine light that flooded her when Arlette began to speak of her interested; her ears perked forward, and a wide smile spread across her face. She herself had never been much of a mediator, at least, not by choice -- she fit more as an advisor, perhaps, but only because she wasn't afraid to call bull for what it was. She left the emotional things to the more astute, and in listening to Arlette, and the passion and purity behind her motives, Nanook wasn't hard pressed to believe that her niece was well in tune with that.

Not so much with hunting, it seemed. A bemused smile twitched over the mercenary's face, and she offered a conspiring lift of her brow. "Well good on your mother for teaching you to hunt," she said, quite blank. She had never had the luxury herself; her childhood had not been normal, and Scarlett had died right when Nanook and her siblings had reached the age where they would have learned how to hunt larger game than rabbits and birds. "You'll need that skill whether it's your trade or not. I'll let you in on a secret though," at this, she glanced around, before she leaned in and whispered, "I've never much liked hunting myself," she grinned, "Have you ever thought about healing, though? I would reckon that would pair well with your experience in counselling. If the body needs healing, the mind usually does as well."

Arlette looked shocked for a moment that her aunt didn't have any children. But how!? Each time her mother went through a heat she ended up with pups. She knew by now that it was not something her mother did on her own. She needed Greyback for that, although she wasn't sure yet how exactly it would go, still, it seemed she had siblings from each year. "Don't you want your own pups?," she asked curious. "So you can decide if you want pups or not?," she let out curiously.

Arlette slowly nodded. She had to agree with that. "Bison are scary though," she admitted to her aunt. She rather preferred small game. She didn't feel as brave as her mother. She seemed to come alive when hunting those big beasts. She beamed a smile at her aunt when she admitted that she didn't really like hunting either. "I will keep you secret!!" she returned instantly. Then her aunt started about being a healer. Arlette had thought about it... "I thought about it, but there is no one who can teach me," she explained. "I wouldn't know what to do and we haven't had a healer in the pack for along time. Mom know some stuff but she isn't keep on teaching me as she isn't sure of it herself."

Nanook shrugged. "Maybe one day. Sia and I would have to discuss that first." She wondered how much her sister had told Arlette about the process of courtship. Nanook had learned a well worn way down her own messy path, but her niece was different. Her upbringing, her childhood, they all formed a fertile ground for proper education in matters as these. Arlette was blessed to still have her mother, and such a one as Valette.

"Sometimes you can decide. Sometimes they come by accident. But you can only have pups if you couple with a male while you're in heat -- mmm, how do I explain -- oh, kind of like you might've seen the rabbit, or the bison, do before," she said off-handedly, recalling how Valette had explained such process to her. "How old are you again?" she asked with a squint. This season might still be too early for Arlette, but the spring might also be her first...

"Thanks kid, and I'll keep yours," she added with a wink. Nanook liked this one's spunk, and found herself comparing her to the likes of Clary (only, far less rambunctious). But she was spirited, and inquisitive, and if she continued on this track, she would do well. "And aren't those excuses all the more reason," Nanook mused, "We have plenty of allies. Moonspear is a bit of a distance, but your brother Nikai lives with them now. Lost Creek Hollow is closer, and though there are wolves to be avoided within these Wilds, you'll find there are more friends to find than there are foes," she paused, "Your mother was a scout when she was your age. Some of your siblings have left Easthollow to study and learn. Perhaps you could propose something of that nature to your mother. If there's no one here to teach you, looking outside will be the only way to properly learn, and start to remedy the gap in our ranks that you've already seemed to notice."

Arlette slowly nodded. She didn't understand why she would need to discuss that with her mate. Wouldn't they already know they would want pups. It seemed to her that once you would be together that it would be assumed they would have pups but she had been wrong then. How would they come by accident? She wondered. She nodded to her aunt. "I have seen them," she spoke. "I kinda know about it. Mom told me bits," she stated and then flushed when her aunt started in detail.

"Uh.. one and half," she mumbled, now flushed, feeling that she should know. "I mean-- I know about the heat, and that a male is needed...," she ended in a mutter. She felt extremely embarrassed now. She really didn't need or want a sex talk from her aunt. The female was glad when the topic sort of shifted. Her eyes widened a bit as her aunt spoke. Leave Easthollow?

"Leave Easthollow?," she asked and then shook her head. Leta's attacker was out there! And the last time she tried to find Ira's pack she went in to completely the wrong direction. It had been terrible. Plus she had been so along. 'My mom? A ranger? What?," she asked. Her mother never left Easthollow, huh, weird. That was something she didn't know about her. "Last time I got really lost and... I don't like the idea of leaving Easthollow. Some siblings never returned. I only know them by name. I don't want to be like them," she spoke softly.

Once she talked everything through with her aunt she realized that the medical trade was definitely something she would pursue and that it could fit her. Now that Nanook had reminded her this skill it was time to learn it. She might not ever leave Easthollow, but she would try her hardest to get a trade that was helpful for her pack, for Easthollow. With that in mind she thanked her aunt for the advice before she continued her day.

- end -

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