Duskfire Glacier i just want you to get out

hoping for anyone she hasn't threaded with recently :)
could also go towards guardian (i believe, it's border patrol!) if someone would like!

Soon Duskfire would be alight with new life. She was certain of it. Both mothers rather well into their pregnancy — uncertain that there might be more than the two that came to mind. As such, she picked up tasks that she typically would sparingly take part in.

That included patrols of their borders.

Previously she might not have been so confident as to stroll them with pride and certainty, but now she had no choice. She helped lead here. This was her home. Filled with lives that needed protection more than ever.

Perhaps she might bump into someone along the way who had the same thinking that morning.

Lane's pregnancy had progressed nearly to its breaking point, and she had been consumed by the compulsion to move. To walk now, because all too soon her weeks of confinement would begin. 

Ooohh. Lane winced, halting for a moment to breathe through some belly pain-- that same old, nagging one the one that she had taken to mean that the pups were wrestling with her internal organs. When she had first felt the pain during her journey to Moonglow, Lane had come to the terrified conclusion that her contractions had started, and she was fated to give birth to half-formed pups all alone, far away from home. 

Thankfully, such a thing had not occurred, but each time the pain stabbed through her, Lane was reminded of those terrified moments. 

The pain passed, Lane opened her eyes. Oh! "Iana!" 

"Iana!"

Her own name exclaimed out to her, it caused her ears to perk with a newfound alertness. Green eyes trailing over the form of Lane. Another expectant mother. Someone who seemed as if they were bound to be here temporarily, now ready to birth the life of Duskfire.

She would be a liar if she said it did not grate her nerves some, yet she did not speak on it.

Polite and professional. Always.

Lane, She murmured softly in turn. How are you fairing?

Iana was the one Lane had hoped to befriend upon her admittance into the Duskfire territories, but so far she had proven to be the most elusive. Of course, her visits with Mahler must be to blame for that.. Lane could not bring herself to believe that Iana could be avoiding her. 

"Um.." Lane struggled to answer positively, considering she had just struggled through a wave of pain. "I'm getting by," she answered vaguely. It was no secret that the Duskfire wolves as a collective had thought her most recent escapade to Moonglow imprudent, and Lane was embarrassed to admit that she was suffering seemingly as a result of the journey against which she'd been cautioned. She still had her pride.  

"I met Mahler," she noted. "He spoke fondly of you. I wonder..." Lane trailed off, an idea coming to her. "I wonder, has he shared with you any recipes for, ah, mild aches and pains in pregnancy?" She did her best to sound offhand.

She would have sought to soothe over any difficulties Lane faced but...she mentioned Mahler. It was a distraction to her professional mind!

"He spoke fondly of you."

Heat in the face! He had made it clear how he had felt, surely he did not go about speaking such fondness for her behind her back. Surely, surely this was all doctors being doctors. Fondness for the work of each other...

She had accidentally grown a bit sheepish in such heavy distraction. How awful it was to be so easily shifted by the mention of the lilac man.

Oh, ah, A quick soft hum to regain her composure. I have heard of raspberry leaves to help ease pain for mothers.

Although her brow knit close in slight concern.

Is it contractions...or something else?

Something passed over Iana's features, but Lane was not an adept reader of faces. She couldn't quite place the emotion that flitted in her companion's expression. 

Was it.. guilt? Did Iana feel guilty for spending time with Mahler, away from the Glacier? 

The pain in her stomach throbbed, distracting Lane from her train of thought. 

"Raspberry leaves?" she echoed, wincing through the pain. "Yeah. I think my mom used some kind of berry with.. with her pregnancy last year.." 

The pain subsided, diminishing into a dull ache. This was more bearable. Lane let out a relieved breath. 

"It was juniper berries, mixed with ragwort," Lane recalled, now that she wasn't so distracted by the pain. "..But I'll try anything we've got," she added with a tight smile. She was more than willing to give the raspberry leaves a try, although she'd been taught that they were more useful during the birth itself, to slow bleeding. 

"Not contractions," she shook her head. She hesitated, but after a moment she admitted, "...It's more of a lingering pain." 

Lane would accompany Iana eagerly to her medicine stores, to see what treatment they could come up with as a team. It was trickier during pregnancy, since some of the more potent ingested medications were off the table, but Lane was confident that they could come up with something.

I'm wrapping and closing this one, since Iana is currently inactive. If you want to reopen once you bring her back, feel free!