Round Stone Crest I bring you my weary

First to answer his summons was Raela, turning his eyes toward her approach. Immediately he noticed the unease that outlined her being, and so a reassuring and warm smile appeared upon his lips. As he expected, her anxiety melted away with concern for Calanthe's well being. After passing another look upon the girl he'd taken in, Gent was reminded of just how awful she really did look. That would all be resolved, now that she had a pack to care for her.

Quickly after her toddled in Kino appeared, expanding Gent's grin, and of course Ari and Draven were quick to follow. Of course his little girl immediately approached him, cheerfully calling him dad. No longer did he fear hearing this in the presence of others, and certainly he did not attempt to change or correct the habit. In fact, he was grateful for it. The man pressed the top of his head upon Ari's, nuzzling her briefly to show his affection before chasing after Kino and Draven to give each a lick upon their crowns.

As Calanthe attempted to answer questions, and turned the conversation back around on the children, Gent reclined, sitting back. His tail wagged behind him slowly, carving snaking curves through the litter upon the timbered floor. He didn't have to answer for them, they were perfectly capable of carrying full conversations now, and it still amazed him. Pride buzzed through him.

"She lost everything, and still was fighting to survive, and to do it honestly," he spoke quietly to Raela, concisely informing her of why Calanthe had managed to impress him so swiftly.

The anxiety melted away further the more the pale woman spoke. She reminded Raela quite a bit of Cessair upon their first meeting; and therefore of herself. The emergence of Kino and his siblings seemed to catch them all off guard. She beamed her usual warm smile as each one arrived. Understandingly, they were all completely taken with the newcomer, and paid little attention to their own father figure let alone Raela. She couldn't feel bad in this situation. Watching the great black wolf adorn each tiny head with a kiss, however, had her chest practically glowing with warmth. What a good “dad” he was turning out to be. Someday she would have to thank him for what he was doing for the little ones, but right now their happiness seemed thanks enough.  She listened intently as the strange woman answered Kino's inquiry. Soon enough the attention shifted back to herself, and she was being issued an apology. A reassuring smile broke out onto the subordinate's face in response. “You too. And don't worry about it; I'm just... jumpy,” she added sheepishly. She could have mentioned Vitani but there was no need to bring it up and worry the girl further. Ari's sudden, energetic babbling had the older woman giggling as she trounced right up to Calanthe. At least this was a stranger that was safe. Heaven forbid the little girl did this when meeting real strangers. There was always a little something to worry about with the Crest's youngest daughter.  Impressively, the sharp witted silver boy answered his siblings before anyone else had to. Raela's eyebrows lifted with bemusement. Just how intelligent was this little guy going to get? She couldn't wait to see it as he grew. Calanthe seemed to have her hands full with the children, and she felt the same natural pull as Gent did to recline and let them converse. Her sunshine eyes drifted down to his lazily flapping tail, and a slow smirk carved its way onto her lips. He was shining with fatherly pride. Her ears cupped forward to drink in his quiet speech, and she nodded slowly. “I'm really glad you brought her here. She seems perfectly nice and who knows how long she would have lasted,” she responded in hushed tones.  Image © Chris Smith Photography Manipulation © Jenandra

            

Ari basked for a moment in the affection @Gent bestowed upon her, offering a soft growl before all her attention returned to the stranger. (It did not escape her notice that neither @Kino nor Draven got the same nuzzle she did, and something hummed proudly inside her as she puffed her chest. There were definitely advantages to being the only daughter in the pack.)

As Kino festinated to answer her question (and really, the same thing their other brother asked), she stuck out her little pink tongue. She'd asked the new wolf, not him! If she wanted to talk to the ghost, she would – they were seen as a pair much more often than any other combination of Minka's puppies. It had happened without discussion or arrangement, they were simply more akin to each other than they were the youngest member of their litter. She bumped into @Draven once, nudging at his shoulder as she made another silly face at their brother, trying to encourage him into the fun.

Calanthe soon distracted her as she spoke up, and the chunky puppy offered her rapt attention as the woman made a faltering attempt to explain herself. "I'm Ari! I just said that," the girl huffed, one ear flicking back as she realized she'd been ignored. "And my brothers are Kino and Draven. They're pretty alright." Well, Kino was more than alright, but she wasn't about to let him actually hear her say it. He'd never let her forget! (Even if she did owe him for rescuing her from that log a little while back.) "Gent's our da. And Raela is good at playing!"

 

A wild dissertation appears!

Calanthe winced at the little russet pup's words. She had introduced herself - Calanthe should have paid better attention to the girl, shell shock or none.

"I'm sorry," she told the little one sincerely. "That's a lovely name; I should have paid better attention the first time you introduced yourself." She smiled and listened as little Ari introduced her two brothers. Ah, so Gent was their father... which made these puppies royalty. Calanthe dipped her head and murmured, "That would make you three princes and princess of this pack. I'm honored to meet you." It was a genuine comment, even if it was delivered with far more ease than anything she had been able to say to Gent so far. Pups were easier to open up to than adults, even royal pups like these three.

It didn't sound as though Raela was their mother, though; surely Ari would have identified her as such. So the queen was still an enigma. Calanthe didn't hold that against her (not that she had any right to.) She surely had more pressing matters to attend to than greeting such a ragged newcomer.

The pale woman brought her attention swiftly back to the pups, addressing the ghostly gray one - Kino, she reminded herself firmly - as she said, "You asked me whether my name means I'm fast. It does; Quickfoot is a name I chose for myself." She smiled at the pup and added, "Although it seems you figured as much out on your own." Turning her attention again to all three, she asked, "How old are the three of you? Around three months?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Kino could see Ari stick her tongue out at him. He turned his head, mimicking her action but crossing his eyes at the same time. If she wanted to play that game, he could play it just the same! It seemed that she was trying to get Draven to gang up on him with her antics, and he was contemplating on ways to take them both on when Calanthe interrupted asking them their names. His attention was stolen away and he turned to look at her, taking in a breath to reply which quickly deflated as Ari answered for him. He shot her a glare, ‘humphing’ in a pout at this. Truly, he had nothing to be bothered by it for he’d done the same thing but what did that matter! He could still be upset. He looked back toward the creamy woman as she replied, apologizing to Ari though she hadn’t needed to. How rude of the princess to make her do that, he thought. Minka surely would have scolded them on manors but…Minka wasn’t there.

"That would make you three princes and princess of this pack. I'm honored to meet you." Calanthe then said, and he simply shrugged with a nod. At his age, he still didn’t quite know the full responsibility of the title he held. He’d been called a prince his whole life, and though he’d asked and been told what it was only age would teach him what true weight was held with the title of ‘prince’. Her attention then turned to Kino himself, and his auds swiveled forward in interest. ”You asked me whether my name means I'm fast. It does; Quickfoot is a name I chose for myself. Although it seems you figured as much out on your own." she said with a smile, and the boy couldn’t help but puff out his chest in pride. So he’d been right! Of course, it had been a lucky guess but no one had to be the wiser on that part. No, he would gladly take it in strides. A grin spread across his tiny maw as he looked at Ari and Draven smugly, though there was nothing other than a friendly sibling rivalry hidden there especially between Ari and Kino. In the end, they knew they would do anything for the other. "How old are the three of you? Around three months?" the woman questioned, and Kino nodded. “Yeah! How could you tell just by looking at us?”

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(This post was last modified: Aug 28, 2015, 04:20 AM by Kino.)

Draven frowned at Ari; that was rude, making Calanthe apologize like that! Couldn't Ari tell this pale wolf was skinny and probably tired? Draven thought it was pretty impressive somebody who looked so raggedy was able to keep up at all. Shouldn't she be napping, or something? Surely she would feel better if she laid down and slept for a little while - Draven always did whenever he was tired or sore. Maybe this stranger hadn't been told that when she was growing up, and so now maybe she didn't know any better. The darkest Crest prince felt himself glow a little bit, though, when Calanthe mentioned that she was honored to meet him... and his siblings, too. Like Kino, he didn't really understand what was so special about being a prince yet. For all Draven knew, that was as good as another word for wolves as young as they were - which he guessed meant 'prince' was a boy pup and 'princess' was a girl pup. But how many times did they get to hear someone be honored to meet them? Although it would have been nice if the next compliment wasn't directed at Kino. Draven deflated just a tiny bit, jealous of his brother. He could have guessed that about her name, too, if he'd gotten here first! It was all that dumb lizard's fault - if he'd been able to catch it right away, maybe he could have beaten Kino here. It was Draven's turn to stick his tongue out when Kino looked at him and smiled smugly. Show off! Kino stole the question Draven wanted to ask, too, after Calanthe guessed their ages. How did she know just by looking at them? Maybe she knew a lot more than she looked like she did. Not to be outdone by his brother, Draven was quick to offer his own idea about the woman's good guess: “Were there any pups where you come from? Is that how you can tell?”

ooc: Fading to black with this post.

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Calanthe grinned as she watched the pups interact with each other. Oh, she recognized sibling rivalry when she saw it, all right, and the boys at least had plenty of it to spare! Watching them almost brought a quiet giggle to her lips... almost. Somehow this time she managed to restrain herself from actually making any sound.

Her ears pricked attentively as Kino posed her question, and then she swung her head around enough to meet Draven's gaze as he added his own guesses to his brother's query. Very sharp little pups. She would have to remember not to mention much of her past to either of them - or around them, for that matter - until they were old enough not to be traumatized by any details they might weasel out of her.

"There were pups in my old home," she confirmed with a nod. It wasn't a lie... "And we have just finished the spring season. You couldn't be too much older or younger than three months."

Despite her lingering shyness - and it was there, still lurking around the edges of her mind, just like the shock and grief were still waiting in a corner of it - Calanthe found herself finally beginning to relax. Really relax. Maybe it was the pups and their innocent, immediate acceptance of her presence here. Maybe it was the trust Gent and Raela showed her in not hovering too stiflingly over the children. Maybe it was simply how... safe this place felt, how alive, how sheltered. Whatever the cause... Calanthe was home. Calanthe was finally, truly home again - and she never intended to leave.

{FADE TO BLACK}