Sun Mote Copse Moonrock rampage
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#1
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@Towhee - I am leaving the timelines open. Adjust them as you seem fit.

Wraen had heard the news about the arrival of Towhee's miracle baby and spent the rest of the afternoon, wondering about the strange sense of humour gods had and, when would be the right moment to approach the Regent with a "I told you so!". She had not gone to congratulate the new mother on the day of giving birth or too soon after - she kept a polite distance, while the nuclear family and Eljay took care of the matters.

Only, when it was clear that both were doing more or less fine, she came for a visit one sunny afternoon, announced her presence with a quiet woof and waited for her cousin to appear.
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#2
Many wolves circulated in the hours following the pup's surprise birth, though Towhee barely paid any attention to them (except for @Phox, @Figment and @Fennec). She was absolutely riveted by the small creature now nestled in her arms. She ran her tongue over her daughter's small body, her heart leaping every time the puppy so much as twitched in her sleep. The emotions running through her were utterly indescribable, fierce joy mingling with terrible fear, not to mention the powerful feelings of protectiveness. Even now, her forelegs tightened around her baby as she finally ceased her grooming and spared a moment to glance outside the makeshift den.

She started a little when she saw the Sovereign lingering nearby. Towhee looked down at her daughter, who looked like a little ground squirrel tucked in her arms, then up at Wraen. Honestly, she wished everyone except her brother and kids would leave them alone, give her some time to wrap her head and heart around this monumental shift in her life's schema. Couldn't she just have a few days to enjoy her miracle baby, keep her all to herself? With that said, part of Towhee wanted nothing more than to lift up her little girl a la Rafiki and proudly present her to the entire world.

The Regent compromised by unfurling a foreleg to expose the tiny puppy so the leader could take a look at the pack's newest addition.

-Signing.- | "Speaking." | -"Signing & speaking."- | "Mouthing (inaudible)." | Thoughts.

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Towhee was around and, quietly, not to wake up her infant daughter, she allowed Wraen to catch a glimpse of Firebirds' youngest addition. It was a sandy-coloured thing, hard to tell yet, which parent she looked more alike, but in a way the Sovereign was relieved that it did not wear the midnight black of Moonspear clan. And not just because of political reasons.

The Sovereign sat down and met her cousin's gaze: "What do you want to hear now: a "Congratulations!" or a "Raven's ear needs to be torn off"?" She tilted her head to the side and smiled: "Or maybe those two and a... what was that phrase: "I told you so!"?"
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#4
The Sovereign took a moment to gaze at the pup, Towhee unknowingly biting her lip as she bore witness, more to curtail the shit-eating grin that wanted to spread rather than out of any particular apprehension. When Wraen settled and caught her gaze, none of the three suggestions surprised her in particular. She shot her co-leader and friend a dirty look, though it was chased by a smile.

"I ain't even mad," she quipped in reply. "You can say it as many times as you want. I've never been so happy to be so wrong." Towhee huffed a laugh, her tail thumping on the log's interior. "Although don't blame Rave. There were no signs at all. I mean, if I had no idea I was pregnant, I can hardly blame anyone else for not noticing either."

She paused and shifted so that her forelegs wrapped around the sleeping youngster, cradling her but leaving her visible to Wraen. "I'm calling her Meerkat," she shared, dipping down to place a lick on the child's head. "Mm, you should smell her. Her head, her feet, even her breath... I don't know how to describe but it all smells so good, 'specially for something that came out of my ass." Towhee smirked.
-Signing.- | "Speaking." | -"Signing & speaking."- | "Mouthing (inaudible)." | Thoughts.

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"We-e-e-ell you had digestive upsets on more than one occasion," Wraen pointed out and refrained from saying that, if Raven had got this wrong, who knew, what other mistakes she had made in the past. Hopefully - none of them had been lethal. "And that was not because of the fish - we emptied that lot weeks ago," she pointed out to the gassy fumes Towhee had had, when she had first tried to teach Wraen mercenary secrets.

"Mirka for short then," Wraen remarked, but did not follow Towhee's invitation to have a sniff at the little loaf of fur and bread. "And the father? Do you know, which one is it?" she asked.
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Towhee huffed a laugh. "Believe me, it's not just fish that gives me gas. Everything gives me gas." That was possibly an exaggeration, though the point still stood. It was easier to note these matters in hindsight, naturally. But never once had she actually suspected she might be pregnant, her conviction to the contrary had been so complete.

The Regent felt herself prickle a little defensively at the question. "Phox," Towhee replied automatically, then realized how that sounded and said, "for all intents and purposes. There's no possible way to know who sired her, so it's mute," she insisted, having meant "moot." There was the obvious resemblance to Pippin, so Towhee added, "I banged a few guys with lighter fur, although I'm not even sure how all that works." She shrugged and left it there. Meerkat was hers (and Phox's), full stop.

Towhee couldn't help but recollect the day when Raven had come to her, then the Alpha of the Redhawks, and revealed her accidental pregnancy. She had thrust her sister into the Alpha role, which made sense to her at the time. She'd already realized the similarities here, though she didn't think Wraen was likely to do the same, nor was it what Towhee wanted. Quite the opposite actually: she didn't want the Sovereign to feel in any way threatened or undermined by this development.

"You're the Sovereign and I technically violated pack law by breeding without permission," the Regent observed blandly, her orange eyes sharp on the leader's face. "I don't want any trouble between you and me." She couldn't imagine Wraen wanting to harm Meerkat; in fact, she trusted she wouldn't and resisted the urge to shield the newborn from the Sovereign's view. But she vividly recollected the leader's attack on herself. "Phox and I will raise her, along with Niamh and their kids, hopefully here with the rest of the Firebirds." She took a steadying breath. "Tell me now if you have any problems with any of this."
-Signing.- | "Speaking." | -"Signing & speaking."- | "Mouthing (inaudible)." | Thoughts.

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"Point taken," Wraen nodded solemnly and suppressed an amused grin. Towhee was exaggerating, surely, but she would remember her self-proclaimed title of resident Firebirds Gas Bomb later. She would not get away from that. 

"Well, as long as no one comes here to claim her as her own," she mused, but it was not likely. One-night-stand guys weren't the type, who tended to survey, how many kids they had sired during the season. "Phox will be daddy grande this year," she finished. 

What Towhee said next earned a momentarily confused look from Wraen, but she listened to the rest of the speech with attentive interest. And, when Regent had finished, she was silent for a long time. Thinking about, what had been said. "As far as I am concerned any ward of yours is ward of the whole pack. Mirka won't come to any harm. 

However, what you bring up is a question for future - do you want to be an exception to a rule that no one is allowed to breed without permission from the ruling party or do we bend the rule and be lenient in the future to those, who do?"
Wraen asked.
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Although Towhee made no reply, her jaw tightened at the mention of someone trying to come along and claim Meerkat. Her paws even flexed, as if she was a lioness preparing to unsheathe her claws. If any one of her lovers tried to stake a claim—including Pippin, whom she cared for in her own way—Towhee would make it very clear what she thought of that entire notion.

Meanwhile, Wraen seemed to turn Towhee's speech over in her mind for several moments before replying. During that interim, the Regent bent to nuzzle the crown of Meerkat's head, that by now familiar scent relaxing her more than a little. She would've lingered there indefinitely, though she saw Wraen's lips moving out of the corner of her eye and lifted her head again to capture the words.

"That means a lot," Towhee said earnestly. She then paused, weighing the question. She hadn't even thought ahead to the future. In fact, the realization she could could have more offspring next year momentarily stunned Towhee, her mouth opening and closing before she remembered herself and blinked back to a focus. "I think everyone should seek and obtain the Sovereign's permission before breeding," she summed up simply. She paused again before adding, "Myself included. I mean, I'd heard a baby changes everything," she mused, putting her speculation about how much would be different next breeding season in a closet for now as she returned her focus to her miracle baby.
-Signing.- | "Speaking." | -"Signing & speaking."- | "Mouthing (inaudible)." | Thoughts.

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Towhee had got only the half of the point, what Wraen had wanted to discuss, but her admitting that even she had to seek out Sovereing's permission was already a step in the right direction. "What do we do with people, who break that rule in the future?" she asked. 

"Before I came here, I served my time as a co-leader in a pack led by my brother and his good friend. Among the people, who joined, there was a female without a mate, who joined the ranks and who we did not know - was pregnant already at the time. 

My brother and his friend allowed her to have the children, they had their own in due time and few months later we had surpluss of children and did not have food for everyone. I and other hunters had to travel far and for long to get all that we needed.
 

In the end the pack disbanded - the female picked up her children and left for greener pastures, when it was her time to contribute to all of the help and support she had received from the rest of the group. The others had to look for a new home with small and vulnerable children in tow. 

You maybe see that my relcutance to have accident litters in the future has purely practical reasons, however, what do we do with such people in the future? No permission, no mate, but a litter of puppies - not one, but many,"
she finished.
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Wraen didn't let the matter rest there. Towhee did her best to pay attention, even when Meerkat began to fuss a little, though she was admittedly distracted during bits of the Sovereign's story. It was a valid discussion, though the Regent couldn't help but think it would have to wait until a better time. Even if she wasn't preoccupied with trying to soothe the suddenly squirming newborn, she didn't feel particularly pragmatic about anything relating to puppies at the moment.

"I don't know," she answered honestly, letting a paw rest gently on the baby, who seemed to take comfort from the warmth and weight. "I'll have to think about it and get back to you." Towhee paused. "Although my knee-jerk reaction is that, well, the Alpha is law, and part of being top dog means you look out for what's best for the pack and make the tough calls. Even if I was in charge, I don't think I could bring myself to hurt a helpless pup," the Regent confessed, which was true long before Meerkat had come along, "but you would be within your rights to boot out a mother and her pups if you felt the pack couldn't support them. That's why I wanted to make sure there was nothing like that happening here."

When Meerkat began to suck on one of her toes, growing still once more, Towhee couldn't help but smile. She was grateful she needn't fear upheaval because of this little one. She had never intended to undermine Wraen's leadership, had acted out of sheer irresponsibility borne of her incorrect beliefs about herself, but still the dominant female would've been within her rights to make Towhee leave. Technically, she could've killed Meerkat, though that idea was absurd in so many ways. It didn't bear thinking about; none of it did. Wraen had already accepted "Mirka" as a ward of the pack and Towhee took her at her word, so all was well.
-Signing.- | "Speaking." | -"Signing & speaking."- | "Mouthing (inaudible)." | Thoughts.

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"Please do, Towhee," Wraen said, feeling that this, probably, was not the right time to discuss the matters rationally. On the other hand - perhaps, being a mother herself would give Regent a better insight in a problem that was neither easy to solve or predict. Each case was different.

"You might have to face that decision as a Sovereign next year," she added, gave her a small smile and left the young mother and her child on their own. She went to the borders and later on fetched Maia for a long-awaited outing.
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She nodded. Of course she would try to contemplate the hypotheticals when she had an opportunity to focus more. Towhee knew Meerkat would keep her preoccupied for a few weeks, though she would eventually reprise her role as the Regent and everything that came with it, including patrols. She missed them, though nothing could tear her from her baby's side for the moment.

When Wraen said something utterly inexplicable and promptly left, Towhee therefore did not run after her. She did shout, once, but belatedly, as it took her a few beats to process. The Sovereign did not return to explain herself, so that left the Regent to inwardly balk at the the randomly cryptic remark.

But she couldn't dwell on any of this stuff right now, not with her newborn begging all of her attention even in her sleep. Honestly, Towhee was glad to forget everything else as she snuggled her cheek against her child's soft, fuzzy spine.
-Signing.- | "Speaking." | -"Signing & speaking."- | "Mouthing (inaudible)." | Thoughts.

I archive threads if my partner goes inactive and/or there are no new replies for several weeks. I'm more than happy to continue an archived thread if you're interested. Just revive it (via maintenance) and tag me in your next reply. :)