Hush Meadow Here we are again

@Narimé

Ashanti arrived in a meadow, her journey continuing and she picked up a scent, or rather two that rang into her mind. It was a pack borders, but there were two scents when she knew. Sloane and Narimé. It was the borders to their pack, she had to hide now. They would both know she wasn’t an alpha, and everyone jumped to conclusions. She assumed they wouldn’t even ask what had happened. She was shaking in fear as she backed further away from their borders that she had accidently crossed before she realized her mistake and tried to correct it.

Ashanti tried to calm herself, but it was hard to when she was aware of what was going on. She wanted to just run, but for some reason she was frozen in her tracks. She was farther off from the borders, but still in eye sight of anyone checking them. She wouldn’t, no, she couldn’t move. Her limbs locked and that damned pup was kicking at her gut. She growled at herself, she also wondered. Why couldn’t she move, she knew she was in danger so why couldn’t she move. The last encounter she had been in with Narimé wasn’t a pleasant one, and Narime’s scent was fresher then Sloane’s. Shit. She was gonna die today she had the feeling.

Ashanti wanted to die, but at the same time she didn’t want to. She felt really bad about denouncing the child; after all it wasn’t his fault that his father was an asshole. Or if his mother was forced into this, Hollow was right, she did have a black heart.

Her stomach was rolling around sloshing whatever its contents were around so much so that Nari felt she would puke any minute. The feeling had gradually gotten worse as the morning went by. At first the silver wolf thought that taking a walk would help, and for a short while it did. Her walk around the border had been a boring one but at least the food had stayed down till a short time later. An hour ago her stomach began reeling again so much so that she began getting dizzy after the random bouts of nauseousness. Now Nari was debating on heading back to the den to let whatever was on its way out leave in peace.

She barely noted Ashanti's scent as Nari continued trying to decide whether to keep walking or head back. Narimé's gray head kept low watching the ground as she padded forward unaware of how close she was to running upon the white wolf. It wasn't until Nari caught Ashanti's scent full on in her nose that the gray womens head lifted glancing around cautiously. Ugghh.. Why's she here? To visit Sloane perhaps? Wait.. why's the scent inside the border... Normally Narimé would be somewhat glad to have a guest at the border, but she was not happy to smell the woman over her border on their land.

Don't assume things Nari.. That got you into trouble last time. Lets see where she came from first and where she's going. The silver wolf dropped her head using that keen hunters nose to track Ashanti's movements. The trail was so fresh that Narimé quickly realized that the white she wolf had been there only a few minutes before. The fattened hunter also realized something as she tracked the womans scent. The trail went from just inside the border then quickly turned back outside. As if the white wolf had realized her mistake. The thought calmed down Nari a little, her bristles along the silver wolfs spine slowly being forced flat once more. She accidentally crossed that's it. Narimé kept herself hopeful. Their border was better marked than it had been a week or so ago with the new male @Anglo to help out with the borders.

Narimé looked around picking her head up from tracking; her blue gaze searching the landscape for the white wolf fur. It was a bit harder to pick the white wolf out with some of the snow still settled around in places, but soon enough Nari found her. Though something seemed off. The white wolf was looking around frightened of something. Perhaps of being caught accidentally crossing the border... The thought made the silver wolf sigh. Their first meeting had been a bad one. Even though she had meant o give good news about Isen once Ashanti was found. Ironically it was she who brought bad energy to Ashanti in the form of jealousy. Perhaps the young woman could make amends now.

She gave out a short yip quenching her stomach as it heaved to puke without her consent. Nari stood there for a second getting the nauseous feeling under control, then padded slowly to Ashanti. Her tail stayed higher as Nari was near her pack lands, but her appearance was that of friendliness.

"Hello again Ashanti. So what are you doing around here?" She asked politely but with an amused raised eye brow.

Ashanti watched as Narime arrived, fan flippin’ tastic. It was the last thing she needed, not to mention the pregnant fae puking, then politely talking to her. She had to admit she was surprised by the friendliness. She hadn’t expected such behaviors from the wolf that had formally attacked her and brought the mention towards her sister, who ironically, she was looking for now. “J-Ju-Just wandering.” She stuttered, hoping that Narime would not take notice to her own swelling stomach. She had thrown up a few times, but this morning seemed like a good day for her, though the kicking in her stomach hurt. She almost wanted to just rip open her stomach some days. Today was one of those days. “I-I just needed s-some air. The thicket g-get kinda crowded.” She said shyly, it was more of she needed to be away from the entire pack, especially Hollow.

Her mind gnawed, wondering if she should ask Narime when she had last seen Isen. She wondered what had become of her dear sister anyway. After all, family was all you could really trust, blood family was all you could really trust. She waited to see if Narime would comment to anything that she had said, she was extremely nervous about everything. She hoped that Narime didn’t call Sloane; he would know something was amiss because he knew her former confident personality. That was the last thing she needed was a wolf questioning all that had happened. Her tail, she kept lower than Narime’s. She wanted to show no disrespect for the alpha.

Just so you know she didn't actually puke yet. Just gagged a little at the beginning.

She put a confused face on cocking her head slightly. The thickets got too crowded? How many members do they have now? The young alpha was very curious. She had been looking for good hunters to join to her own family without too much success. Were the Thicket packs numbers on the high rise?

"Too crowded huh? So you decided to visit a pack lower in numbers? Or you crossed the border by accident before while having some alone quiet time?" She gestured back to where the trail of Ashanti crossed over her border then sat down to rest her legs a little. The gray wolfs stomach churned in response while Nari closed her eyes to calm the ill feeling.

"So anyway... When are you due?" She smiled knowingly as the ex best hunter of Willow Ridge had scented Ashanti's pregnancy since she had tracked the white wolfs trail. That might be the real reason she left the Thickets... Nari was well aware of pack law. No breeding. So why had Ashanti done it?

In any case a number of questions were forming in the silvery wolfs head. Reverting back to her old thousand questions a minute mind set that Nari had been as a yearling. Keep quiet Nari, just one question at a time.. she paced herself waiting for Ashanti to answer. The Cavern female quite comfortable now as Ashanti showed no aggressive behavior. In fact she seemed to be very respectful of Nari at the moment.

(Gaw, sorry about that!)

As soon as the questions started to roll off of Narime’s lips she knew she was in trouble. Shit, she needed to answer these, but she honestly didn’t know, so how was she supposed to respond to these? “I accidently crossed the border, I-I apologize for that.” She admitted her fault to the alpha of the pack whose border she had crossed. Then the question she had hoped wouldn’t be asked, that question came up in the conversation. “I-I honestly have no idea w-w-what so ever.” She stuttered out again. She was shame filled for what had happened to her, and felt no interest in explaining her story unless asked about it. “That one is a r-rather long story. Or a short on, I’m not quite sure, half of it is gone out of my memory.” Was all she provided for the topic.

She preferred to not have anyone else know. The Secret Woodland’s scent was still on her, and she wore it with pride. Her stomach ached a bit more, she honestly felt like throwing up, but she knew better then to puke. She managed to retain it, not quite sure on how she did so. She just had to survive the encounter. “Although it’s not a story most like to hear about, nor could imagine.” She offered the last words she would speak. There was a sound of bitterness in her voice whenever she spoke of anything involving her pregnancy. She hoped Narime didn’t continue, however curiosity was expected in other wolves. After all, who wouldn’t be curious as to why a loyal member, a healer, mated against the leaders laws despite not having a love interest.

She listened quietly. Apparently something bad had happened to Ashanti which concerned the pregnancy. Nari wondered how bad the white wolfs experience was, but if it hurts her to talk then I won't drag it out.. She closed her eyes recalling the story her father had told her. The one where she came to be.

"You don't know me too well, and that's okay. But maybe you would sit and listen to a story about me for a bit. The story of my birth." She sighed feeling nauseous once more. At least for now the waves of sick feelings weren't too bad.

"My father lived in a pack far south of Relic Lore. Called Dnakinna pack. He was the lowest male in the pack and not likely to ever have pups. Sibo RiverRunner was his name then." She paused letting the wind carry her words to wherever they wanted to fly. "The pack was ruled by my adopted mother Muerda Lospire. I used to think of her as a loving mother until I learned the truth of what happened. That I was not hers. " She paused once more to readjust herself for an odd pushing sensation plagued her rounded belly. Nari did not know that these were her pups moving around some.

"So one day a loner shows up at the border. My real mother. Father said that she looked like something beautiful that came out of the ocean. A lot like me but with darker blue eyes. Then Marianna Lagina, her name, tried to join Muerda's pack. Da told me that Muerda was jealous of mum. So much so that she ran off a great hunter and kept her from joining. Later that day Da traveled over the border to help Marianna. Well.. He visited her a number of times afterward trying to persuade Muerda to let mum join. Of course they fell in love after many visits. You can guess what happened next. " She stopped to let her words sink in. Narimé wasn't sure how Ashanti would take to the "adopted" part of her story. Many wolves did not like to adopt pups, but there were the occasional few who did. Many would call those pups lucky.

" I was born with six other siblings that following Spring. Father wanted to help but he could not leave the pack. So mum tried to take care of us. All the while Sibo was beaten mercilessly by Muerda for insubordination. Eventually I was the only one left of my litter. Marianna brought me to the border and called for the pack asking one last time to be joined. Muerda knew Sibo's relationship with her and purposely killed mum in front of him and myself. She took me in only to show me off in front of da to make him angry and sad. I never really was treated like the rest of her pups that year. I was always bullied by them as we grew up. It was just after Muerda's second litter when Sibo took me and left for Lore. Cause he knew mum had come from this place. " She finished sighing a bit and burping up a few yucky burps. Nari hoped that she wouldn't puke in front of the white wolf. Even so the young alpha wasn't sure what the moral of her story was. Maybe just an attempt to get closer to Ashanti. Or perhaps there was another hidden meaning behind it.

"Sorry! I kinda rambled a bit. I don't get to tell that story to many cause most won't listen for that long. " She smiled warmly and wagged her tail a bit.

Ashanti listened to her story with great interest, refining and holding every detail of the story in her brain. She wasn’t sure why, but she felt like she was safer talking to Narime than she was talking to any of her packmates. If her packmates knew, then shouldn’t she tell Narime? She didn’t know, all she could seem to say was. “Thank you.” Her lips parting barely as she spoke, she had no reason. Should she tell Narime her history in return? “There’s not as much to my history, but I’ll let you anyway. I-I was born to a pack, just the two alphas, all family, grew up like a normal pup, then it happened.” She paused briefly. “M-my aunt went power crazy, killed my mum, and my dad. All my siblings, I managed to flee, I thought Isen had died too; she hadn’t made it to the meeting place that we decided when she snuck me out. I-I thought my aunt had gotten to her. Later I found her, or rather Nina did, in the Thicket, and she agreed to never leave me again, and without a word. She was gone.” She explained why she was so upset to hear news of Isen.

She looked at her paws as they shifted a bit, perhaps she should tell Narime what happened? No, she wanted to be remembered for who she was, and whenever wolves heard her story, they treated her for what had happened to her. It drove her crazy and she preferred to keep it to a down low for now. She was calmed down rather, not as much stuttering when she had spoken, and she guessed that was a sign of improvement. She had to tell her, she felt better away from the thicket then she ever had since it happened. “It wasn’t my choice to become pregnant Narime, I was searching for herbs, it Ghastly Woods… a-and a male arrived, I turned to leave a-a-and I guess he got really mad, because he tackled me, and he raped me.” She said finally, closing her eyes, trying to block out the events from her memory. All it brought was pain.

Her stomach had patience today. That was a good thing. The nausea stayed away for a short time while Nari listened to Ashanti's answer. In fact the silver woman was surprised to hear Ashanti speak of her own life story. A shorter one perhaps, but just as dangerous as her own had been. It was nice to look at the woman from her own perspective, but what surprised and angered her the most is what Ashanti said next.

She was raped? Forced against her will by some stranger?!? A snarl instantly appeared on Narimé's muzzle. She glanced down at the white wolfs belly feeling pity for the pups who would have no father.

"Why the hell would someone do that?" Rarely did the silver wolf curse, she saved those words for angry occasions and times when she felt extreme shock or pain. This was an angry occasion. Though she was not angry at Ashanti. No, Nari felt sorrow for her. She made sure Ashanti knew she wasn't snarling at her by turning her gaze to the empty forest while she growled. The the Cavern wolf softened her snarl and cast Ashanti a sad look.

"So you can't go back to Nina's pack then?" Nari felt bad for her. She wanted to help and was pretty sure that Sloane would want to help too. However a swift kick in her gut told her that she had to worry about more than Ashanti's problem. Nari also had to worry about her own pups. They would benefit from another hunter, but Ashanti was also pregnant. So she couldn't just take her in could she?

"I really don't know what to say. A part from giving you good luck wherever you decide to go or do. " She thought about calling for Sloane to come. However she was unsure whether Ashanti would want Sloane to know. Nari knew though, that this was definitely something he needed to know about. Especially since she didn't know what to do about it. Maybe I'll tell him after she leaves. If he wants to help her then he can just track her to wherever she'd gone. she reasoned still unsure of how to help the white wolf.

Ashanti was shaking as she waited for a response; yet again she trusted someone as she had sworn to trust no one. It was a calm anger subsided; she couldn’t stop herself from trusting wolves around her. She had once gotten into a fight with Narimé and now she had gone and told her everything. Though she saw Narimé had matured much, not jumping to conclusions, she had a weird feeling that Narimé was suspicious about it, the entire thing. After all, she herself would be if a pregnant wolf, whom she knew to be a subordinate of a different pack, showed up at the pack borders. Especially from a pack that this specific wolf in front of hers mate had traveled from to create this new pack. Just linking everything with the specific ways she had made her head hurt. She shook her head as Narime spoke. “N-no, Nina allowed me to stay. S-she understands it wasn’t my will. I-I don’t know why someone would do that.” She admitted to the wolf.

“But at the same time, the more that everything happens, the less I feel at home there. It’s as if their shunning me and trying to get me to leave of my own free will.” She said sadly, even Hollow and Nina seemed to be against her. Ecco seemed to be the only one not treating her like dirt, and she was also the one who wanted to splatter the wolf’s guts across the ground by tracking him and killing him. She was scared more than anything, and doing her best to hide it wasn't ever enough.

Slight surprise trickled into the gray wolfs blue violet gaze. Narimé did not think that Nina would have allowed Ashanti to stay. For it was only natural that only the alpha female was to bare pups. Any others would be driven out. So Nina will let her stay and try to take care of her pups and Ashanti's? Will they be able to take adequate care of all of them? She wondered glad though that Ashanti was being given a chance when many might not have been so kind. She herself probably would have kicked a pregnant female out of the pack while taking her pups if she had enough room for them. Of course that's if the female had gotten pregnant of her own volition. Had Nari been in Nina's position with a rape case like Ashanti she wouldn't know quite what to do. The young alpha nodded her head respectful of Nina's judgment and ability to know what to do.

"I don't think they are shunning you. Everyone is probably just really busy getting ready for pups in the Spring time. Lots of food has to be cached for the mom err.. mothers to be and they probably just don't have time to be sitting around. " Nari cocked her head sideways feeling pity for Ashanti. The gray girl remembered how she was always busy back in Elettra's pack. Always doing something and almost never taking a break. Now she couldn't do anything to help anyone in Whisper Caverns out. All Narimé could do was sit, eat, sleep, puke, and walk around looking at borders. It felt as if she were doing nothing to help out her new family, and that helplessness made Nari somewhat angry with herself.

"Go back to them. You are a healer right? You can still make yourself useful to your pack. Whereas I can't at the moment, and it sucks not being able to help anyone at all. Makes me look useless. But you can show them that you are not useless. Prove to them that you were meant to be in their pack...If of course. You still feel like they are shunning you. Make them see your usefulness." She tried giving the white wolf brave words of encouragement, and for a moment the two females had something in common. Nari felt something like kin ship with the white she wolf who was to also have pups.