Stone Circle stoneheart

She knew this place. Those scents - those stones.
Her path had followed the valley and once around the mighty mountains, Sanja could rest her eyes upon the heim again. Her heart was heavy; she could not bring herself to call out for anyone, and merely rested by one of the stones as if she would somehow become like them.

yes i need to catch up but ZOOM

she had thought that older hunter had come back.

perhaps for a trade, perhaps for more stories. bjarna kept a light step despite the anxieties she held close at hand. kvarsheim had lost a few, but she reminded herself that it was not a horrible loss. that rules had been broken and they must be upheld.

such as respect at their borders.

oh —

oh. this was not the old hunter.

this was mother bear. given form here at the borders.

mother?

Sanja did not know she was being watched until she heard that croaked voice, that struggled gasp, and when she looked she saw a spectre - her daughter! But not her one and only. The woman felt a hitch in her throat. Her eyes gleamed, and she smiled, but she was burdened by many feelings at once.
Bjarna, the woman said as she stood again, took her steps to close the distance. She pressed a kiss to the girl's face. I am sorry, that I... I did not mean to go away, not like that.
How could she explain? There was nothing she could say to make sense of it.

it did not feel real.

not until a kissed was pressed to her face. then it felt like she was a girl all over again. nothing more than a babe, babbling for words to make sense of everything.

but bjarna had become as much as a woman as she could! even if her body remained stunted, tiny and lean beneath the thick coat that cloaked her.

i...i missed you. so much. there was a soft sniffle and she pressed her face into the familiar chest. are you coming home now?

I am home now, if you'll have me. There was doubt there; what if Bjarna had been hurt too much? What if Gunnar was too angry? The others - her children! Did they live here still? The boys, maybe, she thought with great sadness, conflicted.

She presses close.
I won't ever go again. I won't.

The stones were a haunt of his; visited daily, and reflected upon. By now, each had a character, in his mind. They made him feel things, odd things. A couple of the stones he did not spend much time with, as they reminded him of something sad, or something frightening. They never changed; the sun lit them, and the moonlight washed them clean, but they never changed. He liked the monotony, and felt guarded by the stones, especially when the pack's numbers grew fewer. 

He was sad about Ike and his family leaving. He knew very little of the details, but didn't question the decision as it had not been his to make. He began to wonder if there would ever be other children in the pack again. Loneliness made him lose sleep; he was only half awake, and had a thrumming at the back of his mind when he rose for the day. 

Seeking comfort, or perhaps answers, he roved toward the stone circle, only to see that Bjarna was already there. He could see only her, and only part of her- the rest of her was obscured by one of his favourite stones. Perhaps he could talk to her about-

-she was talking to someone already. 

He should probably leave her to it...But curiosity got the better of him, and he began to approach slowly, rounding around the stones so that he might catch a glimpse of whoever it was that Bjarna was talking to. 

His feet dragged and his legs stiffened. He wouldn't see her- he stiffly fell to the ground, and in his vision was the white boar again. Its tusks broken, but its blue eyes kind, still. He felt simultaneously terrified and peaceful, as his body convulsed.

pls nudge me if i assumed wrong but bjarna won't notice skald yet unless pointed out!

she did not know that her brother pulled nearer, the snow softened the world and he was a hushed boy when he wanted to be it seemed.

so her mother held all her attention.

i will always have you home.

her voice small, shrinking. she did not think about logistics of the way kvarsheim might shift and change with her mother's return.

all she thought of was peace and did not realize that another issue lingered right over her shoulder. quite literally.

She held close to Bjarna for a long moment. If it was up to Sanja they would never be parted again! But it was necessary; she would need to get situated, find a meal, reacquaint herself with the lands and those who lived within them - a crash!

Sanja's ears shifted. She looked briefly to Bjarna as she pulled away from their embrace and drew a quick breath; there was a wolf scent very near, though it was not one Sanja could recognize quickly (which at a later time would mortify her, as it was her son). She moved around Bjarna and turned her head one way, then another.

Oh! There is -- a boy!

He was laying on the ground and kicking! Sanja did not recognize him yet - but she looked to Bjarna with some panic.

His teeth grit together, but fortunately, his tone was far back in his mouth and could not be clipped by his sharp incisors. His joints were stiff, but moved violently, and his tail thumped against the ground. Cushioned by snow, however, the boy made a very small amount of noise. The jerking movements ceased only a second or two after they had been noticed by Sanja. His muscles remained tight for a moment, as the movement stopped, before they finally began to become supple again. 

He remained quiet, breathing softly, as if he'd been simply suffering from a nightmare.

a boy?

she blinked and turned to then seen — skáld! she cried all at once. mother forgotten to rush to her brother and scoop him up.

the nosing and eyeing of a young caregiver. not yet given the practice or grace of a trained medic. these kinds of things still shook her to her core! no matter if he seemed more or less fine in the aftermath.

you are okay, her voice hushed as she ran her nose over his crown into the start of curls.

yeah? you are safe.

Bjarna turned on Sanja's prompting and when she exclaimed, the woman was stunned; she did not recognize this face! She did not know how the round, fat, earthen child she had birthed had somehow grown in to this; and the frenzy of his movements, although stilted now and ceasing, brought a new wave of concern.

The nornir was quick to act as sister, as mother. Sanja stood in shock a moment longer and wished she knew what to do! It was Bjarna who acted, who mothered and tended the boy. Sanja could only feel a frenzied kind of detachment.

In fur as soft as eider down he awakened, licking his lips and feeling the pain in his jaw from the clenching of his teeth. These were familiar pains now, and the ache down the muscles of his neck and spine was dull. His awareness returned to him, and he recognized immediately that his sister was holding him close, comforting him. He felt no chill from the wind, and tucked himself against her for a moment- grateful, loving. 

He knew, now, that these episodes happened, so he feared them less. The vision of the great white boar lingered in his mind, though it faded, peacefully, when he pulled his head back to give his sister a faint, weak smile. He kissed her cheek appreciatively. 

He pulled himself up into a seated position carefully, and noticed only then that there was a stranger there. A stranger- but familiar. Wide-eyed, he stared at her, and his lip trembled faintly. His heart thudded wildly in his chest. Normally, when the visions came to him, he was calm, but this was something very different. 

"Bjarna-" He spoke, questioningly. He could only hope that he wasn't the only one seeing this vision.

she still held him close. even if she was dwarfed by him now in his growing state. it had never stopped her from attempting to coddle him, love him.

his voice, his sight.

she had often wondered how much he recalled. if things had been jumbled and displaced in his mind or if he recalled her by sight. by scent.

ja, her voice was soft, she ruffled a small bunch of curls. mother has come home.

did it relieve him as it had her?