Neverwinter Forest lxxii. i'm a stone's throw from the mill

AW but hoping for members of WG :)

Lótë's due date was fast approaching, this pregnancy progressing with much more ease than the last. Perhaps it was the number of pups. Only the spirits knew how many the cloudberry carried this summer but already the three-year suspected this litter would be smaller; the fallow swell of her belly was not so distended as last year nor had she suffered as many symptoms. But this was not say that the dusk rose was completely without discomfort as she left behind the ulaq and made for the (unofficial) borders. 

With the time to whelp closing in, Aiwëndil felt an urgent need to round the edges of their claim and make sure they were scented heavily -- even more heavily than before. They could not completely keep wanderers out but perhaps those with propriety would circle around when faced with the strong perfume of a small village and an expecting mother. Or at the very least the thought of facing a protective clan would drive them to find another route. 

Keyni's friend would not find herself alone for long in the endeavor of sharpening the lines of what would become their borders. Her mind had long been set in that she would settle here, assisting Lótë in building Winterglade, sister village to Moonglow.

Their numbers were still few, but stable. There would be pups this year, a good sign. The tundrian still had her own ambitions...her own hopes. Her time had yet to come and then she would know of her fortune this year. 

She was on her return from yet another recon mission, not too far away from the woodland. She had taken to scouting recently, in hopes she might come across potential contributors to the budding pack. When she came back empty, it did not dampen her spirit. Numbers were well and good but did not necessarily reflect true integrity. Character did. Catching scent of Lote and a flash of pale fur, she called out in greeting.

A beige ear flickered back at the sound of Keyni's voice, a smile crossing Lótë's lips as she drew to a halt and turned to face the coming silhouette of the willowish she-wolf. "Ilitannamek," the cloudberry lilted in greeting once her sister had closed the distance between them, reaching to touch her cheek against the other's in familiarity and affection. 

Her pace was slower now but she fell into step with Keyni cheerfully. "What have you been up to this morning?" came the herd-stalker's curious query. 

With breezy, natural strides, she joined Lote's side. As with the Moonwoman, she was not shy in expressing her sisterly affection. Pressing her flank along the rounded curve of a belly full with life. Gently stroking the end of her muzzle along a fine boned cheek. 

"I just returned from checking out some of the neighboring areas. You know, to try my luck and see if any potential candidates might turn up." She moved more deliberately now, her gait indictive of a wolf who was serious with the business of setting up borders. "But, no luck this time." She said with a carefree shrug, inspecting a young sapling, which she marked close to.

"Ah," Lótë sighed in understanding, as she turned to mark a tree in the opposite direction as Keyni, spreading their scents evenly along the path they laid. "It has been a hard winter. People will come in time," the dove murmured, similarly nonplussed. There were few villages in this corner of the Wilds -- not counting their allies whom had recently relocated. It was possible there wasn't much traffic through the area, though there was likely to be more loners wandering through as the seasons warmed. Their numbers were small but not nonexistent, they would see the ranks grow with patience. 

Lótë smiled, a secret smile, as they continued along and she marked another clump of shrubbery with her scent. One good thing about being heavily pregnant and patrolling -- her bladder seemed to constantly be full. 

After they had moved along the outer reaches of the conifer forest for a time, Lótë stopped with a sheepish expression to rest for a moment. "I had something I've been meaning to ask you," Lótë broached the topic in mind bashfully. 

Vigorously, she scraped the ground with her back feet. Further spreading her scent. "I have no doubt they will." She smiled, unbothered. "Besides, numbers aren't everything. In fact, I kind of like the idea of a smaller, tight knit group." It wasn't like they were alone either. They were neighbors with Moonglow. Between her, Kukutux and Lote, the women had plenty of connections.

She shared the pathway with her, taking the opposite side. Loose tufts of silver and fawn fur snagged at branches. The gentle itch felt refreshing against her skin. More paw scrapes followed. When Lote stopped, so did she. She read her expression, curious to know what was on her mind. "Oh and what would that be?" She coaxed her on, with a wiggle of her brows. Keyni also had a question of her own, but it would wait.

"Well," Lótë began with a nervous, albeit excited, indraw of breath. She did not wish to keep Keyni in suspense but she faltered with her words for a moment -- something that had not happened since she had first begun speaking the common tongue. "I did not know your plans regarding motherhood this year...but I would welcome it if this was something you wanted," the paintwolf was quick to add as she segued into the topic at hand, though she found herself digressing when she brought up whether the wren would choose to whelp that summer. 

"But regardless, I know Kukutux and Aiolos share a hearth with me and they will likely visit the forest to help...but I thought with neither of us having a romantic partner to share parenthood with. Well, I thought perhaps I might ask you to be second mother to my cubs." The dove rambled more than she meant to, before realizing something. "Technically, third I suppose with Kukutux," she chuckled lightly, grateful that her children would grow up with such a close-knit community. 

"It is common in my birthplace for women who are close to raise their children together as I have done with moonwoman, to nurse each other's cubs and help care for them. I believe it is called a god mother here?" Lótë's head cocked, not as familiar with the customs in the south. 

A brief look of embarrassment flitted across her face. So, Lote had already known of her desires. She shouldn't be surprised, really. The dove, Moonwoman and herself were incredibly close. She felt no shame that it was likely Kukutux who Lote gleaned this news from. "It is. Especially with the right person, if I get so lucky. If I do bear children, when he does come into my life, I hope he would accept them, not being his own." 

What Lote moved on to propose would have made her blush, had such a warmth been able to be seen through the pale fur of her cheeks. Her eyes dropped and she found herself in a rare moment with a loss for words. The idea floored her. In a good way. She was so moved that the dove would offer her such an honor. It was like the final step in tying a knot that made it complete. 

"Lote...that's..." She pressed her ears down, reaching out to press the temple of her head against her jawline. "Of course I would! Nothing would make me happier than to be known in such a light to your children. To raise them, to teach them. To love them." Before she choked up, she nodded. "That sounds like it might be right, but I am not entirely sure. I...didn't stick around my birthplace long enough to notice any such similarities."

Aiwëndil felt emotion of her own choking up in the fallow swathe of her throat: relief, happiness, and love for the gray-tipped she-wolf. She pressed her cheek against Keyni's with gratitude and warmth, a sign of affection amongst close relatives in her homeland. 

"I think the right man would," the dove mused aloud, her gaze dipping to the side as she thought for once of her own situation. It was not often she pondered on her own lack of romantic interests and how she'd yet to meet such a male herself. For a moment, the familiar loneliness that permeated much of her waking moments pressed in -- until the herd-stalker pushed it away again firmly. "I have learned that motherhood does not always require a lover. Neither does a family," her lips quirked crookedly as pale gems of jadeite returned to Keyni's own verdant gaze. While it was true that she longed to meet a man who would make a suitable husband and father (and for Keyni to as well), it was not necessarily needed for happiness to abound in her life.

Her eyes softened at the hint of Keyni having left home young. "We have that in common, my friend. I, too, fled home when I was little older than my first litter." It was an opening, an invitation for the willow-branch woman to speak to the cloudberry if she wished to discuss it. 

"I'm glad you're here," she murmured, hugging her rabbitskin sister again. "And I'm glad you will be Âjatsuk to my children."

We can wrap this up here if you like?

"We shall see what this year brings." She affirmed, listening to Lote's take on motherhood. Happiness came in many forms. She thought she might have found it when she settled with Adrastus, but was wrong. He was not right for her. And without him in her life, she and her children were still perfectly happy. Her thoughts landed briefly on one particular male for Lote. Dark Makan seemed especially bound to her. Keyni would force nothing, content to let events play out naturally.

"To be more specific, I left as soon as I was old enough to travel alone. Before my first year, even." She had chosen to leave as early as possible. "I am glad to be with you too. I believe this is the path that was chosen for me all along." She smiled. When their rounds of finishing up on the borders were done, Keyni would take her aside and tell the story of her birthplace.