Willow Ridge don't leave me low

It was another morning, another day closer to when Ravenna would be giving birth to her first litter of pups. Many hiccups had happened since then... She had been chased off by a bear and coyotes had ran after her too. The predators of the lands had certainly tested her motherhood and yet still today as she moved along her territory she could feel the movement of her children inside her, uncomfortably pressing on her sides and weighing down her gut.

She had thought to check up on the birthing den, to perhaps once more fluff the furs, feathers and mosses within it. To restock it with fresh lavender and sweet grass. For the time being however she decided to take a stroll around her home and found herself making way to one of the caches close to the border. She dug at it, ripping off small pieces of rabbit meal as a morning snack. A call sounded then, one specifically for her.

Ravenna was reluctant to go and found herself frozen in a pause for a moment or two. The land outside the safety of the pack territory had become dangerous with an over flooding of coyote. After being chased down by a group of them she had kept inside the confines of of her home, letting the heavy lifting go to Blitz, Sven and Blackmoore predominantly in order to run off the trouble. She figured though if someone was specifically requesting her, however, she would come out of pure curiosity for it was a voice she did not recognize as family from another pack.

She padded over in a quick pace and soon would find a gray hued woman at her border, pregnant. The two women looked similar in ways, both being large and both of gray and silvery hues. However the woman at her border was larger then she, her coat darker along her upper half (mostly around her shoulders) and then smoothing out to a near white along her undersides and legs. Ravenna was far more solid in color, no pretty markings or designs, with only darker bits along her ears and nose, colors which had come out more so as she had reached adulthood.

Ravenna would continue to look the woman over as she made her way towards her, stopping as she reached the edges of her home. A slight smile touched her expression though it was mostly a face of question and curiosity. "You called for me?" She spoke, pausing only a moment before continuing on. "My name's Ravenna Archer-Lyall, Willow Ridge's Alphess."

Unsurprisingly, the woman that found her was pregnant, yet another sign that the Ridge continued to prosper. At least one of the packs here in the West stood strong against the many trials of time.

"Nineva Hervok," she returned, "Daughter of Narime Lagina. Your mother had quite the history with her, if you didn't know."

She couldn't be sure how much this Ravenna knew about Narime and her Legacy, if she remember that in the earliest days of their childhood the Caverns had once been allies to the Ridge. Nineva hoped so, but would not hold her breath; she was far better tempered against disappointment than she had been when she'd first returned to the cedarwoods.

Her ears twitched backward as, moments after her words, Elias appeared. It wasn't a shock at all that he was here, even though she hadn't explicitly invited him along. What with the coyotes running rampant and the lives within her stomach, it was expected that he would shadow her closely. He was too caring of a man not to.

She gave him a brief but fond smile, a silent sign that he wasn't intruding at all in her eyes.

Nineva Hervok was the name which the woman before her had given her as she introduced herself. Instantly it made Ravenna think of Nina Hervok which had been a close friend of her mother's, a women who's former mate had been here (Koda) visiting the lands for however long he had. What she had not been expecting, however, was the name of Narime to cross her mouth. Narime was the Leader of Whisper Caverns, a place which she had visit a time or two before, both meeting @Blackmoore and @Blitz there in her youth. A woman which had served under Elettra's leadership as a great huntress before she made a home all her own not far off.

"I have to admit, for a moment there I thought you were going to tell me you were a daughter of Nina Hervok. She was a close friend of my mothers who led in the northern forest." She admitted, deciding to let in on the thought she had because after all, although Nina was not her mother, they were of some relation with having the same last name and all. "But yes, I do know about your mother. My mom used to tell me how close they were and insisted when she went to make her own family she not go far. They were allies for a long time, she said." An incredibly close alliance, where Narime would often offer food to the Ridge in exchange for medical treatment and the like. It was an alliance she had hoped for with her own brother's pack until the members own ignorance she prevented such a thing.

Though Elias had shown up by now, Ravenna had not paused in her words when he came to settle himself just slightly back from Nineva's side. Had he decided to align with this woman here and this is what had caused him to leave her brother's ranks? Either way, Ravenna did not care where Elias decided to lay his roots for it seemed their friendship had all but shattered between them. "Elias..." She spoke his name in greeting and dipped her head slightly, allowing the grey woman before her to know she already knew the man and yet, otherwise kept her attention to Nineva. It was her which had asked for this meeting, after all.