Grizzly Hollow before the fire

AW, or maybe @Veho? 
Light drizzle, 42 ° F, 6 ° C

A soft susurus overtook the cedarwood forest, winter's snowflakes finally given way to raindrops that brought with them the scent of spring. The cream and grey leader trotted with a light step through the forest, her small ears pricked forward as her snout brushed over the thawing earth. Though her stomach grumbled hungrily, it wasn't food she was looking for at the moment.

An instinctual nudge for somewhere safe and secure brought her through the quieter enclaves of the Hollow territory. There was too much hustle and bustle at the pack den, too many prying eyes for her children's first moments. While it might have once served as a birthing den in some not so distant past, the communal den simply would not do for her imminent brood.

If there was any doubt before, there could be none now, her once trimmed waistline now rounded at the sides. It was a badge she wore with pride, to be literally filled with new life and vitality. Even though the cubs were beginning to uncomfortably push against her innards, she didn't mind too much. She would give whatever she could of herself, if it meant her offspring would be stronger for it.

Oula stopped as she neared a hedge of salal, her head ducking beneath the leathery leaves as she inspected it as a potential site. With a dismissive sniff she emerged. Close, but not quite. Too damp.

Hope this is okay, I'm making the sweeping (but hopefully not unjustified) assumption that she'd have been allowed to stay in GH during her visit.

Where Trisden's litter would be born had been decided a full moon's cycle before she'd even conceived, because the Lyall matriarch reviled last-minute planning and preferred to have all her eggs in a row... particularly if they involved her actual eggs. The notion of having children, her own, and not just helping to raise yet another litter of her siblings felt strange enough to be almost difficult to believe. Hers, really hers. It felt right, in a deep, satisfying kind of way, to know that she was finally going to be assuming the role she'd been craving for years. The Reach had been under her rule ever since her parents had left for the last time, and though the pack had been aware it was unlikely they would ever resume leadership, the fact that Borden was still alive out there, somewhere, had illegitimated Trisden's authority. She had still just been a placeholder, in her own eyes even if everyone else had accepted her rank.

Now her father was dead, and while she mourned his loss as a daughter, she celebrated the opportunity it presented to really come into her own as a leader.

Moving through the forest of her childhood, finding the nostalgia sickly sweet and vaguely unpleasant no matter how many days she spent here, Trisden reflected on what it may have been like to bear her offspring here, but that alternate universe was so divergent that would she even have been the same person? She tried to imagine still seeing these trees as home, the smell of cedarwood, but it was so alien now. To her satisfaction, pregnancy had been treating the Lyall very well indeed, which was all the better; she had been thinking about her journey back from the very day she'd arrived, only living half in Grizzly Hollow, for the other half was constantly ruminating on matters in Renegade's Reach and her absence from them. It made her feel so powerless to be away from it, but this had been a good choice. If nothing else, she had achieved a satisfying closure from being here one last time.

The sound of someone rustling on the other side of the shrubbery she was walking past caught her attention. She did not hesitate long before moving towards it, bouncing herself up so that she could stand on her back-legs with her front arms and chest resting on the top of the hedge, giving her the opportunity to see who was on the other side. Fortunately, it wasn't a particularly tall hedge, and she looked down on the woman on the other side - the current female leader of the pack, if she wasn't mistaken! And a total stranger, how about that. What a fine testament to Lyall power was this Grizzly Hollow.

"Good day," she said, with somewhat smug, blasé smile, as though it were totally normal for wolves to just appear on top of foliage.

Oula's rounded face jerked upwards as she heard a voice coming from above her. Narrowed sage eyes fixed on the face of the unfamiliar woman perched over the bush, her leathery black nose twitching as she brought in the scent of the stranger. Much like herself the female was gravid, and with the woman's skulking around for the past few weeks her scent wasn't entirely unfamiliar, but formal introductions had been missed.

Oula's short grey tail rose behind her, a banner swaying proudly over the line of her spine as she somehow managed to stare down on someone currently at a higher position than she was. The pieces swiftly clicked into place, she'd remembered hearing that some relative or other was visiting the territory, though this was her first face to face interaction with them. She couldn't say this was her preferred way to meet visitors, being suddenly accosted with her head in a shrub.

Oula stepped back a few paces, only to give her neck some relief from craning upwards. "I don't think we've met before, I'm Oula Whitebark," The leader introduced herself somewhat coolly, still not sure how she felt about the other female. She wasn't even really sure who's relative she was! "I hope you are finding your visit agreeable," She added, trying to sound maybe a little more welcoming with a few shakes of her tail.

The woman was understandably surprised by the interruption, but the swift and natural way in which her posture shifted to one more fitting a leader was satisfying to see. At least she wasn't meek or unassuming; however she had secured the role, first impressions implied that she suited it.

That was good enough for Trisden. It looked like Lyalls had long failed this forest, anyway, so maybe someone else could do it more justice.

The pregnant lead moved back, giving them more space and also allowing for a more gentle incline of her head up to meet Trisden. For her part, Trisden was quite content leaning over the bush, and decided to stay right there, shifting her forearms slightly to optimise her comfort. If she'd been human, she might have rested her chin on a hand, manner a hint playful.

Oula, as the lead quickly introduced herself, offered her most formal and almost-friendly hospitable remark. Trisden smiled coolly at her, not finding the hint of standoffishness offensive in the slightest. She was another pregnant stranger in the pack, and, on a primal level, a possible competitor for Oula's children - not that that was the intention at all. Trisden shrugged slightly in a casual gesture of 'yeah, it's not bad', an ear twisting forward in interest before speaking: "I am, thank you. It's quite an experience being back here again." Aware that Oula might not have been told exactly who she was, and not wanting to play too coy, she added: "Trisden Lyall. I came to visit my father's grave, and to see my brother. I was born here, but lead outside of Relic Lore, now - the pack Rook was born in, incidentally."

She had questions of her own, but acknowledged that she was most definitely the subordinate in this situation, and found she appreciated Oula's cool manner. If the woman had more questions of her own, they took precedence over Trisden's. This little jaunt to the cedarwoods was almost like a holiday, where she could sit back and bask in the sickly nostalgia and not have to deal with the constant concerns and running of a pack.

It was getting very boring very fast.