Duskfire Glacier i can charm dogs

things have been set into motion given the freedom with which he'd participated in recent events. time would tell if cubs were to come from his couplings but nonetheless, wintersbane looks to the ( potential ) future, bearing in mind a consideration that had been asked of him once upon a time. if lane and tzila were pregnant then his time would be divided between being a leader and being a father and he doesn't want to fuck up either of them.

he will need help and, likely, another perspective other than his own ( for the past has proven it's not the best to go off of ).

it's with these thoughts circling 'round in his mind, demanding his attention that he seeks @Iana out; hoping he could come across a recent trail.

She would be at the icefield. Sorting a collection of spring pelts that she had tried her handiwork on in the fashion of @Imaq's style. They would not be as well done, but she hoped they would be good enough for...anyone. Perhaps future mothers, perhaps any ill in the spring.

Regardless on if his presence had been...noticeably heard, she found a soft struggle to face him in that moment. Yet she was always soft at the end of everything. Always inclined to be kind and not vile.

Wintersbane, She hummed carefully in greeting as she nosed along a fox skin.

when he finds her, she is ...doing something with some sort of creature's skin ( fur ? ) that wintersbane takes absent note of but does not focus his full attention to. iana, he rumbles his greeting, waiting for her to face him. she does not, tending to ...whatever it was she was doing. he gives a soft clear of his throat but elects to speak to her anyway, even if he finds it a bit awkward to speak to her back.

there'll be cubs in the coming month or so, or at least he hoped so. and i've been thinking about your offer. he decides to get right to the point, having never been one to tolerate beating around the bush. like his father, he was a blunt man, a razor's edge glinting in the peak of a cap. if it still stands, i would like to promote you to beta.

It is when he truly speaks that she turned to face him. His declaration of cubs in the coming month. It welled a million questions on her tongue. Who all? How many? Yours? Yet she is silent and she gave him the floor to finish his words.

A promotion.

Admittedly, she had not still expected such. In her home land it was common for the...pair to lead and as they had established and cubs were announced clearly now. She figured that perhaps he might take a wife by his side.

But it is her. A return to origins, she thinks.

Despite internalized feelings about the season, she still knew this to be home now. She trusted those within and grew closer to everyone with each day.

It will always stand. She assured him with a respectful nod. I would be honored.

good, wintersbane concludes, grateful that her offer still stands. though he was ( understandably ) gunshy about promoting someone else to leadership with him given recent past experiences he thinks he's made the right choice with iana. she does not strike him as the type to undermine his authority and seize control and change everything to fit her needs — though admittedly he is already one for one on the seize control thing and plenty guilty for it.

i plan to be an attentive father when my children are born. a chance denied to him in previous years; though that was the downfall of one night stands. it was only pure circumstance that he ran into quellcrist and miwa ...and even then they were too old to see him as 'father' ( or so he thinks, anyway ). though i fully intend to keep to my duties as alpha, acclimating myself to two roles might take me a bit. or perhaps he would surprise himself and it would be easier than he thinks.

beyond that, because he'd already said as much, hadn't he? no point on beating the bush into the ground. i realize your input and opinion on matters would be invaluable to me. someone to play devil's advocate on his decisions so the best one can be made for duskfire was something wintersbane definitely needed; and being able to recognize that in himself had to stand for something.

His children.

Which still left the who all and the more clueless question of how many? Things she (or anyone, for that matter) might not know until the mother's were in labor.

She simply nodded softly in understanding for his desire to be a father and a leader. It had been done before by many men in many places and she sees no reason why he can't do both. Just...not alone. Which was why she was here.

Thank you for respecting me enough to want my opinion. Was it respect? She thought so. Our neighbors — Mahler she thinks. trust me as well. Perhaps I can be diplomat as well when little ones litter you. A warming thought even if all the rutting among her peers had soured her mood as of late.

to her 'thanks' wintersbane offers a small, sage nod. anything he could and wanted to say would only be repetitive to what he's already said and he ( unlike viz ) disliked being a broken record. iana was important to the glacier, important to him and the tundrian feels ( perhaps wrongly ) that it goes without saying.

good, wintersbane rasps on his next breath when she speaks of their neighbors. mahler is a good friend... a brother, even, which further reminds wintersbane he should take a trip out there to see how he and rivenwood fare; before his kids are born. and kukutux is a trusted friend. and once-matchmaker, though wintersbane does not add that. even if the alliance with moonglow isn't entirely practical for the distance alone he holds to it because it is what remains of moonspear and it's leader, once his subordinate during his tenure as andraste's husband and red-right hand.

it might be worth scouting out the taiga, getting a feel for if there are any potential packs setting up in the area. though as far as wintersbane was actively aware duskfire glacier was the first pack in some time ...he holds onto the belief that it will not always remain so. i won't shift everything on you. i will still be a leader. he would not be tied so tightly to the cubs and birthing den(s) as the mothers would be.

even so, he does not wish for the weight of responsibility to crush him either.