Willow Ridge calm before the storm

@Skana
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Her body quakes. Her gut twists and her throat tightens to holds back the bile that threatens to exit. Her limbs quiver as she pushes forth to the sound of water, more specifically the shallow, slow flowing river just to the south of the pack's rocky den site. Her intentions of a drink from the fresh moving water does not go without complication, as by now the woman is a stumbling round mess, days away from pregnancy and soon to be bed ridden with pups at her side for the next few weeks. She hungers. Had since her pregnancy and is left with a hidden fear. Though she has a new huntress within her ranks, new is still yet a threat. Elettra Archer had a desperation to replenish the ranks that had been lost in order to make sure there was enough wolves to protect her boarders and feed her whilst "exiled" to motherhood. However, still half the members within her pack were new, not yet fully trusted and not yet to have fully proven worthy of said trust had come by. She was jaded and with no Lead male at her side to protect her placement, Elettra was on edge.
Of course, though the new members within her ranks had not given her any grief or reason not to trust them, there was plenty yet still to protectively watch her back and the backs of her children which made the future of this pack and her legacy: Guiness and Tempest, large and powerful enough to knock any down who came into their Queen's path. Skana with enough tactic and aggression by word enough to keep at bay. Angier, trusted ally and potential 'suitor' with a readiness to prove himself and Kiche, of course, the very father of the lives which stirred within her now.
Her thoughts leave her mind running wild, though her body does its best to ease as she nears the river's edge, small and choppy over the rocks to more or less look more a creek in this part. She eases to the edge, her limbs tight to her sides so that in her lay she is not fully rested on the rounding of her belly. She drinks, the cool water bringing her what little relief capable. Overwhelmed, a deep sigh takes her as she is stilled by the pool, taking in the heat of what sun's rays may reach to her beyond the clouded afternoon.

The cool water trickled around her calloused paws and brushed past her bony ankles, the gentle tug of the current not enough to budge the old stubborn wolf. She stood, relishing the nip of the water which was cold from snow-melt, but with winter passed it no longer held an icy sting. The feeling was familiar, and Skana reminisced on standing in the shallows of the great Salmon River, a waterway so wide that this stream would be hardly a drop compared to it. She let her eyes close and savored the moment, dreaming of times passed and nearly dozing off on her feet to the babbling noise of the creek.

Until a different sound broke through her consciousness, paws over the gravelly stream shore followed by the lapping of water. Flinching back to wakefulness the advisor looked down along the creek, finding a shape dark enough to be Elettra resting at its edge, the scent of the pregnant leader enough to make Skana sure that it indeed was her. Skana still wondered who the father was, and as of now she truly had no guesses. She had never witnessed Elettra acting favorable to any of the males of the pack, and Skana wasn't brash enough to ask her. The old wolf appreciated that Elettra never pushed for details, and she would afford her leader the same respect.

Slowly Skana tread down the stream bed, following the flow of the water until she was a short distance from Elettra, head level and tail relaxed by her hocks. Up close she could now see just how uncomfortable Elettra looked with her widened sides. That certainly wasn't an aspect of motherhood that Skana missed. "Is there anything you need?" Skana asked, and offered.

The approach of the coming brown woman would not go unnoticed, though Elettra kept her placement in her near lay by the water side, silvery pale eyes lifting to bore upon the woman as she made her approach. She carried herself relaxed, evenly in the same manner she had always. She needed not tug her tail or whine in the presence of her leader, though held her tail drooped and lazy at her back side. Elettra had no need to lift herself, to assure her dominance over the older woman. It was not because Elettra did not think the woman capable of giving her a run for her money, but simply because of the respect they held for one another and the trust Elettra had formed in Skana. She would never back stabber, she was certain, even more so in knowing that such a thing had been done to Skana formerly.
There is a smirk firstly offered to the woman's question and a huff. She could have said something snarky, about having the pups ripped from her gut or perhaps something more smooth as in saying 'her company', though decided for simplicity for the moment: "Nothing Skana, thank you...." She breaths in deep, hiding back a wince as the children seemingly fought within her belly, eager to be freed into the world. Likely, they were large in size and perhaps, large in amount as her family usually held. It left Elettra well swollen with pups and far uncomfortable in this. But with already having fed and supplied herself with what little herbs she held at the moment (she could not venture far for them herself and Kyrie was no longer here to help her with this) there was little which could be done for the situation.
After another small drink, Elettra lifts then, struggling into a much lazy sitting position. Very unlike and unproper of the woman, but she had thrown proper out the window the more near to birthing she became. "Does no one question of the father?" It had been something she had wondered time and time and had decided to ask Skana of it now that they had some alone time together. Not anyone had asked, had not even neared the conversation. Even Angier himself who spoke of 'promise and love' did not ask. Perhaps it was out of respect. Perhaps it was out of trust that their Leader had chosen the right man to bore their future even without a mate at her side. Single motherhood was certainly something Elettra would not have firstly chosen, though she held little room for options at the time if she was going to further secure her placement in this pack and the legacy of her family line. If any one knew of the pack's 'gossip' it would be Skana. After all, she kept mostly to the pack's den area if not at the border. Elettra minded not this, for whilst everyone else was scouting, hunting, searching for herbs or at the border, it was Skana who was securing the pack den.

(This post was last modified: May 07, 2013, 12:02 AM by Elettra.)

Elettra had nothing for Skana to do, and yet the crone knew not to leave just yet. Skana had had her mate to depend on in times like these, and she imagined Elettra needed someone to depend on when she had no mate (at least none that Skana knew of), nor even a trusted co-leader at her side. An ear, a shoulder, a mind, Skana was willing to lend these things in lieu of physical feats.

Elettra struggled up to a sit, and Skana paced her wet paws ashore. Sensing a longer conversation than hello-goodbye, she lowered her bony haunches onto the gravelly ground beside Elettra, leaving some space between them. Her unfixed amber stare brushed over the black leader before settling on more neutral territory past the other woman's shoulder.

Elettra's question was sudden, but simple and not necessarily surprising to the old woman. "If anyone does, I have not heard a word of it. I'd think you garner too much respect for gossip." Skana wasn't trying to flatter, and though members of long standing loyalty were dwindling, Skana couldn't imagine herself or the others bandying about Elettra's pregnancy as if it were something as banal as the movements of the herds. Even if any were to indulge in such conversation, Skana would make sure to shut them up. She looked out onto the creek, rethinking her answer. Surely, the question did exist, and surely Skana wasn't the only one in the dark on the father. "Not to say that there isn't a question. More to say it hasn't been voiced." She elaborated.

Skana moves, the older woman coming to settle at her side, offering space for breath for the pregnant woman whom stifled back much discomfort in the ending days of her pregnancy. Though the battle was yet to be over when birthing came, but something knew. Though pregnancy and birthing had been something Elettra had endured once before (and at a very young age which she had to admit, was far worse then this time around) taking care of young was something all new to her. She had never nursed before, never had to keep locked away in a den with whimpering, peeing children clutching to her nipples. It seemed warning, in simple terms and yet still Elettra was certain of her ability to master it as anything. After all, where she was less knowledge, Skana would be there for her. When she needed a break, she was certain the protective siblings would be at the pups with determined watch.
Skana then answered her, informing that although the question was obviously in the air without a Lead male nor none that Elettra held open affection too, none had been caught wondering and speaking of the sexual act allowed. A small smile pressed to Elettra's mug, happy that no controversy over what Elettra was doing had stirred. After all, with the many that had left and all the new members that had arrived yet to be fully 'trusted' and Elettra being the sole Leader, enough was on her plate then to wonder if her members questioned her breeding tactics.
Feeling as though yet still the question lay on Skana's tongue, Elettra decides to open up to the news and offer answers where such questions lie. "Kiche." It was a simple enough answer and Elettra allowed time for this to sink in with Skana. Though some had accepted Kiche as a member of the pack (and now Kiche had been out of the Lowest position since many of the new arrivals) and even Guiness had seemed to take a likely to Kiche, it was Skana whom was not impressed easily by the red hued man. Elettra could not blame her. He had been placed into such position for reason though since then had proven himself otherwise to crawl out for it, only to betray such right by his lack of presence now. Elettra though craved him sometimes in the most erotic of ways, no love nor unbroken trust lie between her and Kiche. Each day he proved more and more to be no more then this - a doner.
"Kiche carries no lineage of his own. The children I bare will be no other then an Archer." She explains her reasoning clearly now. Without a Lead male at her side capable of breeding with her (as her last two had both held mates of their own) and without a loved one or even male around that had struck her interest in a way to 'make her run', Elettra had been left with little choice in the matter. Kiche, out of the men whom had been in her pack, had been the best choice for her and the future of this pack. The children would be her own and without such lineage, made to carry the Archer line to brand new heights. Though she was female, the blood of Archer would not rest at her paws.
Taking in a deep breath then, her eyes move, fixing far out of the water and the lands beyond the small river bank. Her words were small, whispered on her breath, but with much more still meaning then she would have otherwise liked to admit. But judgement did not fall half-hardheartedly with Skana and Elettra trusted the woman would hear her out even if she did not know all the details of why Elettra 'acted this way'. "I just couldn't handle...." ....Commitment. Though the word she searched for could not bare to fall from her lips. Oh, how she had longed the warm touch of Sica, his charismatic words whispering sweet nothings in her ear all the while. Had she not craved the wild, desperate emotions of Angier with promises of gratitude and longing to please. Would she not be pleased to run with Phineas again, laughing and playing and happy with a wonder that it would be he who showed her that love did not walk the same line as pain. Though these feelings she held for these men she knew would overcome far long then just a simple spat of greed and lust. They were heavy with the weight of future, for which, more then anything, Elettra feared. She was not ready for such a step in her life, not after what had happened the first time she had dared open herself up, fully and vulnerably to love's cruel touch. She simply could not handle to see a man of power and name stand at her side as her actual mate. To have her children be birthed and forever carry his name. To know that forever, they were bound... The very thoughts caused her heart to quack and her legs to quiver.
"I was afraid." Elettra admits, whispered on her breath. Though it stung to say allowed, hating herself for her weakness, she did not consider Skana to think of her as such - weak. It would seem even if it was not actually extremely long since Skana had joined, her loyalty had prevailed over most. Though anger was nothing she felt towards some of whom had left her: Koda had left to rule at Nina's side, Narime to form a pack of her own as well. They were both former trusted members of the Ridge and now branched off on their own, forming strong alliances with Willow Ridge. Perhaps Elettra would rival in an army comparative to her parents yet.