Sun Mote Copse Just like dust we settle in this town

"I regret that I even asked for more already," Wraen murmured to herself, but nonetheless set gears of her mind hard at work. Killer plant drool, killer plant drool, killer plant drool... the first thing that came to her mind was pine sap, which was kind of a drool and sticky, but not poisonous at all. Of course, everything depended on the dosage, but still... "The back of an earth-toad. You take one lick and you will drool like crazy," she told Maia, knowing well that this was yet another inside-the-box guess and was probably not true.

Maia was delighted with Wraen's grumble and her apparent difficulty with her second question.  She'd hoped it wouldn't be too easy.

Nope!  But.... oh, jeeze, that's a good one.  I'm gonna have to keep that.  Earth frog licking.  She kept a mental note.  Good story scenery there!  She couldn't pass it up.  A hint.... it isn't deadly to us!  Just to something else.  She sat down with a thump while she waited for Wraen to take her second guess.

"Sap," Wraen made her second guess, which - in fact - had been her first one not said aloud. "It comes from trees - many kinds - and insects get stuck to it and die," she explained. "And I remember mom telling me a true story of, where one of our ancestors got stuck to a massive patch of the tree sap and could not be removed from it for days," she spun the tale out of thin air, but did with a confidence and without so much as a blink. "And since it was winter, the other packmates kept the poor chap fed and warm, until spring came, he began to shed his fur and was finally free. But that furry tree was still a reminder of his ordeal."

Feeling in the mood Wraen added a victorious finishing touch: "And with this in mind - it fits your disgusting description per-fect-ly. Does not matter, what other stuff you got in mind, 'cause that wolf could have died, you know."

Ding ding!  She crowed happily when Wraen guessed it.  The story was a cool one, and she giggled.  Guess I'm wrong, and it is sometimes deadly for us.  How drooly was that tree?!  There must have been a ton of sap for a wolf to get stuck in it.

Then Maia grinned mischievously.  Probably as drooly as this!  She leaned over to give her sister a big old lick on the side of her head, up towards the ear, and then bounced back, dropping down to initiate a wrestle!

"Super drool--EUGH!" Wraen turned her head sideways to avoid any more unexpected drool-attacks and rubbed her nose and ears with her paws to get rid of the residue. "You have not changed at all," she declared to her sister, who was now inviting her for a play-fight. This act earned a wayward smile from her: "So - you run from Towhee as if she was the devil herself and yet you want to beat your own sister in a fight she cannot win?"

Ah, she'd noticed that.  Maia stood up, embarrassed, and suddenly wondered just how obvious it was.  Had Towhee noticed too?  She'd assumed the woman didn't care about her one way or the other.

Oh, uhm, yeah.  Her smile fell a little.  That's just different though, right?  Like this is fun, but that's all serious and terrible and I hate it.  She'd not actually sparred in a long time, but it seemed like serious business when everyone else did it.  And it had definitely felt like it when she'd gotten her butt handed to her by those Moonspear wolves.

I'm just no good with that, she finished a little lamely, her ears burning a bit.

Wraen sighed and tried to come up with the most diplomatic answer. It was hard really, when your younger sibling, who was a full-fledged adult now, acted as if she was still a child. Turned out you needed as much patience with young grown-ups as you did with teenagers. 

"It is not something Towhee came up with on her own. I asked her to help me," she told her sister, attempting to meet her gaze. "You were not here, but for many months our only defence was Niamh and her teenage son. 

Nothing happened, but if things could have turned for the worse you would not have had a pack to return to. That's why we cannot rely on things staying the same forever," at this point exhaustion from the weight of responsibility was palpable in her voice.

"I don't ask you to become a mercenary, I don't command you to do anything that goes against your grain, but I plead you as your sister - do the bare minimum to know, what to do, if we ever come to a situation, where we need to defend ourselves and fight for, what is ours," Wraen said calmly and waited for Maia's response.

She felt pretty sick at the idea of it, but Wraen sounded serious.  Her stomach was weighed down with an anxiety she couldn't really explain.  What was wrong with her?  She'd spent so long loving stories about great warriors, and for so long she'd gone on and on about how she wanted to be a Valkyrie.  They were her heroes.

I tried fighting, before I got here.  I was starving and I couldn't even get a single bite before they forced my nose in the snow,  she said, still looking away.  Then she finally let Wraen meet her gaze.  What will Towhee do if I totally fail at it?  She was intimidating, and Maia didn't know her well.  Would she just fight harder?  Would she embarrass her in front of the whole pack?  Maia had a plethora of nightmare scenarios she'd cooked up over the last couple of weeks avoiding it.

But I'll try.  It's fine, I'm just being stupid.  She shrugged, and her tone was forcibly light.  You know me, I'd rather talk a wolf's ear off.  Maybe a spar with Towhee wouldn't be so bad.  After how bothered she was with the last one, and how much of a coward she'd been, she should probably do something to make up for it.

"Should I tell you a secret?" Wraen leaned closer to Maia, her voice tuned down to a conspirative whisper. "Towhee was not born as a master warrior either," though it was hard to imagine her cousin as a little baby or even acting like one. So serious and important she appeared now.

Wraen leaned back and continued: "Talking off Towhee's ear won't do you any good. She is deaf. And - I did train with her, though... she almost poked my eye out - it was not that bad. She was awfully sorry about that incident. So - all things considered - you should be fine." 

Yeahhh, but now she was one.  Still, Maia did smile at her sister's conspiratorial whisper.  It was hard to get into too much of a funk when she was around.

It was weird realizing that she no longer even wanted to be good at it.  Some wolves were, and that was cool.  But she remembered how she'd felt when Hydra had grabbed her muzzle and forced her down, and making another wolf feel that way sounded terrible.  Yeah, if they were bad or something she'd totally fight, but practicing endlessly to be good at doing it? No way.

I'll ask her.  She said, a little resigned to it.  But I'm going to hope the only fights we have to worry about are the rad stories I'm going to come up with.  Those ones couldn't hurt anyone.  She much preferred to make another wolf smile than beat them at anything.

"I hope so too," Wraen nodded in agreement with Maia. Sun Mote Copse had remained a peaceful oasis for the most part of the year and she really, really wished that nothing would change. 

"Do you..." she began to say, "... would you like to be a mother one day?" Maia had had her fair share objects of romantic interest in the past, Wraen had no doubt that somewhere out in the world there was a person, who would suit her sister the best.

But - naturally - there were other ways of getting children without getting too involved with the opposite party. And Wraen was genuinely curious about Maia's thoughts of the matter. After all - come spring - she was going to be three years old.

Maia was surprised by the change in direction.  Her mind was still preoccupied with thoughts of the previous, and she opened her mouth to immediately deny it.  It was habit to say no, of course not, why would she want kids!?  But she closed her muzzle again when she actually caught up and thought about it.

Yeah, she admitted, with a little shrug and a sheepish smile.  She had always thought maybe being a mom was too much, but she really liked kids.  She enjoyed talking to them and telling them stories and playing with them.  It would be pretty cool to have some of her own.

That prolly won't happen anytime soon though, she added quickly, dismissing it almost as soon as she said it.  It wasn't like any guys were really banging down her door in that department, and it wasn't like she had any she'd liked enough to.... yeah.  Maybe she'd thought once or twice about the kind of dad her prince woulda made, but he was gone again, and she knew it was stupid.  What about you?

"No, not really," Wraen shook her head and smiled, having decided not to tell, why was it not possible for her to even consider that possibility. "Besides leading a pack is like managing a huge litter of puppies. Except they are all grown-up and you can't scold them or put them in the corner, if they are naughty," she joked and laughed gaily.

"But, if ever opportunity comes your way, let me be the first person to know that, okay?" Wraen asked. "I would not want to miss Maia babies for the world." 

It disappointed Maia a bit to know Wraen didn't want any.  Not because she wanted nieces, but because she felt like Wraen would make the best mom ever, just like theirs had been.  But she understood, having recently only changed her own mind.  But the idea that having a pack was like having kids was interesting, and she wondered if that was the cause of the slight shift in their own dynamic.  Maia had never really felt like she had to impress Wraen before; not until recently.

You bet!!! You'll so be the first to know!!  And same for you, if you ever change your mind.  She said, beaming back.  Then she laughed.  Speaking of all that, anyone around here or anywhere you'd think about that with?  If you were, y'know? Interested?  She'd asked a long time ago and neither of them had really had anyone.  But she'd been gone a while!  So who knew if her sister had seen someone?

Long time it may have been, since Maia had asked Wraen last about her love life, but nothing much had changed in that area. The only difference from then and now was that she no longer hoped and had settled smoothly in the life of merry spinsterhood ever since. From what she had learned, mates either broke your heart or died (and broke your heart anyway), while good friendships lasted a lot longer, did not require you to invest too much and in general caused less damage. 

"Well, if you have had a good look around here, then you will probably see that the men here are either too young or too old, already taken and still in love," Wraen summarized the uneven distribution of sexes among Firebirds. "And I have not wandered outside too much to meet the fateful tall dark stranger of prince Charming elsewhere," she smiled. "What about you - have you met the Illidan boy?" Maia's love life was way more interesting than hers.

Wraen was right.  There wasn't really a lot to choose from left, and they were young.  It was the thought that she struggled with when she thought about her crush on Bronco, and her slight one on Fig.  They were super cute, but... she was so much older than they were.  She didn't feel like it but she was.

She shook her head, and her face fell a little when she mentioned Illidan.  No.  I took a trip to the coast, but they were all gone.  I bet I won't see him again.  He probably ran off with that one girl and was super happy now.  Least, that's how she preferred to think it happened.  As much as she'd wanted him to like her, she preferred that version to the one where her friend disappeared unhappily.

There's not a ton of wolves here my age.  I dunno, maybe it isn't so bad to just have friends.  Despite her light tone, there was an unmistakeable longing to her.  Maia knew, without a doubt, that she wanted to fall head over heels in love one of these days.  And she couldn't help but feel like her clock was ticking.

"Well, look at the bright side - there is Bronco, Penn and Figment - they are still young and impressionable," Wraen said, paused and gave Maia a suggestive wink. "They say that you have to raise and train them young."

"Or you can outsource. Fresh blood is always appreciated," she mused. "I mean, I have nothing against either Blackthorns or Redhawks, despite being related to the latter myself, but... new faces would be great," she smiled at her sister. "So, next time you go out for a breath of fresh air elsewhere, bring somebody nice with you!"

Maia laughed with her sister.  That sounds so wroooong, she joked, and nipped at her cheek a bit for good measure.  

I'm going to bring a different one every time, the worst of the worst.  Then we'll have too many to choose from.  She couldn't help but laugh at the image of a ton of terrible, bedraggled guys wandering around Firebirds.  Of course, her innocent mind thought only of drifters and scruffiness, not of the things that would actually make them terrible.

Maybe I'll go visit Terance again sometime soon.  See if he could help.  Even that was a little mean... the image of her brother helping her find a guy was even funnier than the previous.

"Do you think that he would be an expert?" Wraen asked, not taking Terance as a matchmaker kind of person. He was great and wonderful about many things, but understanding women were not among them. Treason was an exception to the rule, though - techinally - she had brains of a man and therefore did not count.

"Nah, Maia. I think you should choose the handsomest - think of the children," she continued to weave the colourful thread. "Good brains in that case are optional, but not mandatory. Silly people, after all, are either very easy to steer or amusing to observe," she mused. "But - in case your mind is set on the terrible looking ones - a sound and keen mind is an absolute must. Poor fellow must have at least one appealing quality."

Oh, heck no! But he might at least know a couple.  Can you imagine asking him for dating advice?  She laughed, and continued grinning when she listened to her sister's opinions of her plans.

Yeah, I guess it wouldn't be fair to any kids, would it? she asked, and her stomach did a little flutter as she said it.  It was so good to talk to Wraen about this and actually confirm, out loud, that this was something she wanted! It made her feel more optimistic about it.  She knew distantly that other wolves (like Towhee) felt okay looking for kids without needing love, but she knew that wasn't for her.  She couldn't have one without the other.

You'll have to help me judge.  Anyone I bring back will have to pass whatever test we want to give them, she added, agreeing that they would need to be at least smart if not pretty.  She couldn't have all the assets!

"Tests are our specialties," Wraen smiled at Maia's enthusiasm for finding the perfect match for her. Would be a lot easier, if they could host something like "Bachelorette of Sun Mote Copse" and have all the potential, carefully selected and properly trained for their roles boys here. But then - taking one by one did not sound that bad either. 

"Task number one: describe your perfect man!" she asked her sister in taking-notes-on-clipboard important and serious voice.

Ooooooooh what a GOOD question!! Maia wasn't sure, but she paused to think very long and hard about the boys she'd crushed on before.

Nice eyes, she said, remembering Artaax.  Sweet, quiet.... Umm.  Illidan came to mind.  I dunno.  I feel like if they have too much confidence they are just jerks.  She laughed.  Maybe quiet wasn't the best, but she didn't want someone who talked so much she couldn't.

What about you? What would your dream guy be like?  If her sister had points, maybe she could hone her own criterion down.

Wraen chuckled, when Maia mentioned that an important character trait for her perfect man was ability to stay quiet. Knowing her sister's talkativity, she would have added "knows, how to listen" to the "silent" part too.

Naturally the question was tossed back at her. What would her "dream guy" be? If she had been in her first year, she could have made a huge list, but as she got older and still no man (read - a possible husband material) had appeared on the horizon, she had become more humble in her wishes. 

Down-to-Earth would be a better name for it. "He should understand my sense of humour or at least not be offended by it. He... must not be snarky or jealous at my story-telling. After all my marriage to the trade has been the most long-lasting and steady," she said.

"Not to mention the first one too," she laughed.

Oooooh yeah good point.  I'd have to still be able to travel and all.  It'd be really cool to find someone who liked traveling and stories too.  Actually, liking stories is kinda required.  Could you imagine someone who didnt!? She pulled a face, then laughed.  A wolf would have to be a special kind of grump to not like a good story.

Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever meet someone.  But even if not, I don't think I'd be too lonely.  Not as long as I've got you to stay with.  She felt like she'd probably said that before, but never hurt to say it a few times!

"That would be totally awful," Wraen shuddered at the very idea of having a guy or even a friend, who would not appreciate a story. Not a single one. Such people existed - no doubt - but the storyteller felt pity for them. They did not know, what they missed out in their lives. 

"I think so too," she agreed. As long as there was her personal sun Maia around she felt whole and happy. She did not need anyone else. "Do you want to take a nap? I would talk with you gladly for the next ten thousand years, but I am afraid I might fall asleep during some of the conversation," she yawned.