Redhawk Caldera the manuscript

while @Chickadee rests, kivaluk takes to learning the caldera. he remembers it in that veiled, hazy way of someone who'd been passing thru the last time he'd been here with her visiting. learning the terrain and it's secrets. more importantly he needed learn the migrating patterns of herds that lingered nearby or within the territory itself.

though, he wonders how much time he'll have to devote himself to that as a father.

a soft battering of nerves takes hold as he is left to face the realization, more closely now that he is alone to his thoughts, that he will be a new father soon. real soon.

he tries to tuck thoughts away and focus on the sights and smells and sounds of the trees and woodland life 'round him. there was no sense worrying about what kind of father he would be: regardless, he would find out.

Maia allowed the couple time to settle in before she sought out Kivaluk. Ever since her daughter and son-in-law’s arrival, Maia had been mulling a decision, but this needed to be done sooner than later. The advent of summer would bring more changes without a doubt, and if Brecheliant was to weather them, it needed to be at its best. She had known for a while that this was not true now.

These were not things she had brought up to anyone. She refused to guilt her daughters into leadership, or lend expectations to their shoulders that they should not bear. She was simply exhausted, and Killdeer and Ceridwen’s departures only made it more clear how precarious things would be if nothing changed.

Maia had gone to the gathering of the hunts to learn, but all she had brought home with her was a certainty of all the ability she lacked. Each herd she found was unreadable; she did not understand what those she would have hunt needed to do, and the thought of subjecting them to the danger of those hooves and antlers under her inept guidance left her cold. She was no hunter. Not in the way her father had been.

Kivaluk. Can we speak a moment? Maia asked, finding him and hoping she was not interrupting. The request was apologetic, just in case, but this was important.

the compiling thoughts of everything he needed to do was carefully tucked away for further contemplation at the sound of his mother in law's voice. his head lifts from the small woodland creature tracks he'd been dreamily following as he stared off into space studying to swivel in her direction.

of course. he invites, steps slowing to a stop. what can i do for you? kivaluk inquires, feeling a lingering bit of nerves in maia's presence; despite her gracious welcome.

Maia smiled gratefully, though she still felt tense asking. She hadn’t had much opportunity to get to know him well, but she knew that he was a hunter with considerable experience. And she knew he came from a pack that prized family.

She didn’t hold it against him, his home, but it would be a lie to say it hadn’t made her hesitate. Her own personal feelings about Moonglow made her fear Brecheliant becoming too tied with it, but there was no other way. She had to hold her reservations close and allow their future to belong to younger hearts.

It’s about Brecheliant. I wanted to know if you would accept a place as Raven here. Maia smiled at him, mostly genuine, but with a touch of tired apprehension. She really hoped it wasn’t an imposition. We get by fine, and it wasn’t a lie to say we would have been fine if you had decided not to join us. But we need hunters, and there isn’t a wolf here with the experience to lead a hunt, or to teach it. Not until you.

If you would, I’d like you to have the ability to call hunts, and to recruit any who might be able to help, if the opportunity comes. But only if it’s something you want. She stopped, watching and waiting for an answer, trying not to let her trepidation show in her expression. She did not want him to agree just to make her happy, but they could really use his knowledge. She hadn’t spoken to @Teya yet, but intended to as soon as she’d gotten an answer. She really hoped the other Raven wouldn’t mind; she just knew, wholeheartedly, that this was what they needed.

whatever kivaluk had thought maia had found him to talk about it hadn't been what she presented before him. he blinks at his mother-in-law a little taken aback by the offer to become a raven, despite the very valid reasons she presents to him as to why she thought he'd be a good choice.

leadership, admittedly, hadn't really been an aspiration of kivaluk's. he'd only ever wanted to be a hunter, to have a wife and settle down. he had all three of those things now, with children soon to be earthside.

and though he'd never dreamed of leadership, he supposes it was what shikoba and kukutux had been grooming him for: to one day take the rank of starhunter, would they have stayed in moonglow.

i'm very grateful for the offer, kivaluk breaks his stunned silence, realizing he needed to say something. he worries about how it'll be perceived, rising to leadership so quickly; but he feels that white knight desire to rise to duty: of lead hunter, of fatherhood. sorry, i just didn't expect anything like this, he lets out a small laugh, hoping she doesn't think he's rejecting the offer.

my skills as first hunter are your's; i accept. tucking away his own uncertainties of how he will juggle it all aside. it was the true test of a man's mettle: how he handled all the different facets of his life and perhaps it was tartok blood in him but he wasn't one to back down from a challenge.

Her heart sank as he looked at her. She knew it was too much too soon. She wanted Chickadee and him to both have the chance to enjoy parenthood, but she also knew how much of a struggle it had been to even just feed their own children in the past. Brecheliant only had one litter, theirs, and she was absolutely going to hunt for them too. But she also had Eljay, and sometimes it was necessary for her to provide for him.

She scrambled between thoughts of backtracking and apologizing, but then he accepted. Relief, and gratitude, were immediate. Maia stepped forward and, if he didn’t seem to pull back, would pull him into a brief (but tight) hug. Thank you.

Then she stepped back again, this time with an easier smile. It doesn’t have to be permanent, if you change your mind. I stepped down for a while a few times, when my kids were born. But I think you are going to do wonderfully. I’m just sorry to spring it on you so soon.

kivaluk does not recoil as maia pulls him into a tight, brief hug. though he worries his seriously rapid ascension in the ranks may have future consequences — wolves who had established themselves in a pack did not often like being overlooked — kivaluk is glad he has offered the relief he thought he felt in that hug.

unexpected as it was.

kivaluk had worried that chickadee's family hadn't liked him, hadn't entirely approved of him.

it is alright, kivaluk assures her. i am happy to help in any way that i can. it's the least i can do.

She hoped that he was being genuine. Maia watched him and couldn’t see any sign to indicate otherwise, then chided herself for even expecting one. Of course he was! He was going to be a father, Chickadee loved him, and he clearly loved her. He had no reason not to want to see them all succeed.

I can’t think of him like I thought of them. And I can’t think of them that way either. Maybe things had changed. Arcturus had been treated horribly for leaving, and Wraen horribly for “stealing” him, but her daughter had their blessing and still came home. Maia thought of her conversation with Kukutux and, for the first time, felt a touch of shame.

She would need to fix this and she knew exactly how. Once the children were born.

If you need anything, let me know. Maia replied, preparing to leave him to what she’d interrupted. And thank you. For taking such good care of her.