Stone Circle you cannot kill what you did not create

Sjandein (Seer Stones); open!

the desire to nest wasn't yet upon sanja. she sought the solace of the forest, or the babbling of the creek to calm her nerves, and sometimes would spend her hours watching the fields for signs of deer; but she did not have the energy to chase anything or to fish.
her body was heavy. her belly round. something moved inside of her stomach sometimes - rousing her from weak, hazy sleep that occasionally blessed her with a time-sink; but she would wake up and see herself in the reflection of the water, and dread the coming days.
for now she lingered by one of the many stones wedged in to the earth. they were so common-place to her now that they lost their mystique.

Ivee was out of her den, getting bored of hanging around the same place, when another pregnant female came into sight. Ivee herself was also obviously pregnant, so she hoped the other wouldn't mind some small talk. the other woman also seemed young so Ivee assumed it was a first time pregnancy for her as well.

"Hi." Ivee said friendlily.

having lived in this place for a couple of weeks now, you'd have thought sanja had explored every inch of it. that was untrue; she had grown fat, uncomfortable because of it, and was often too distracted by bjarna to go far afield.

that a den sat hidden among the trees, or in the meadow, would not be of much surprise. that someone had been living right under her nose here, where the standing stones were exposed to the elements, was a shock.

a spry white wolf approached over a burm. they spoke, and sanja turned her head sharply to catch a glimpse of the corpulent cloud of their belly; they were like her, ill.

The other female seemed surprised and kind of scared by her presence, so Ivee tried again, tentatively saying "Hi...", keeping a friendly posture though, to show the wolf as well as tell her that she meant no harm.

The other woman spoke a greeting, and Sanja's ears turned. She thought the other wolf was saying heim which was her own word for home, thus a miscommunication transpired.

Were they asking for a home? Sanja breathed deeply of their scent and found similarities there - a sweetness like her own, something off-putting that reminded Sanja of sickness. She compared their swollen bellies.

Her dark fur began to bristle.

Ivee took a step back. Why was the others fur bristling? All she had said was hello. She remembered being told by her parents that some wolves spoke other languages. She had been taught small greetings in a few other languages, so she decided to give one a try. "halló, ég ensku ég tala. þú íslenskur?"

She knew that along with 'yes', 'no', 'ok', and 'goodbye'. And she knew how to say 'I will fight you'. But any other words were unbeknownst to her.

The issue was not the language barrier; though it was an issue, true. Sanja saw competition within the other wolf. This woman who had been living, for all she could tell, deep within the territory she had herself claimed - and to be heavy with child!

When she stepped closer - to ascertain if she had been wrong, somehow, and that maybe this woman was only overweight - she was struck by the sentiment in their words.

She could not let such a reaction stop her from doing what was right. Sanja carried children in her own belly, of that she was certain. She would not let anyone else live here, eat of her herd, and raise their young — so within moments her inquisitive step became something sharper, something barbed.

Her teeth cut through the air as she snapped for the woman's face, intent to startle her and to drive her away.

Ivee was taken aback. She only wanted an ally or perhaps a friend. But this wolf obviously did not. When she snapped at her face, Ivee paced backward, ears flattened. She was much too pregnant to risk a fight. With a low whine of submission, she crouched low and backed away, hoping not to be chased.

After enough distance was made, she turned tail and ran back towards her own home

Sanja watched as the corpulent wolf turned and fled. Their rotundity matched that of the darker wolf, and perhaps that similarity brought fear to Sanja in a way that exacerbated her rage. She snapped and lunged, but did not in the end, give chase.

The stranger fled; all was right in the world after that.