Willow Ridge Settle Down

For @Ravenna Addy wanted to see her siblings/cousins c: set 5/7

With the events of the past week the Ridge wolves had been running around like a chicken with it’s head cut off, Adeltra included. Luckily their numbers had been revived and they had more than enough able bodies to provide for the children and their mothers. The dark Archer had decided to take a little break from her duties to go and visit Ravenna once again. She’d yet to really sit down and talk with the woman since her birth giving two days prior. She’d left her to rest and also been caught up in helping Leotie, who’d given birth only the day prior. However, she wanted to formally meet the newest additions to the pack.

Addy padded up to the den, giving a quick sniff to see if her cousin was present. She imagined she was, likely still too sore to do much moving and tied down with mewling puppies, but she needed to check anyways. “Rav? Are you busy?” she called gently, not wanting to disturb the new mother and the possible sleeping brood.

(This post was last modified: May 09, 2018, 11:14 PM by Adeltra.)

Ravenna had done virtually nothing when it came to her duties as a leader over the past few days. She had not even left the birthing den even got a moment of you didn't include simply going outside of it to use 'the bathroom'. It felt odd not knowing everything that was going on in the pack and not being involved. Though she trusted @Sven to take care of the mantle and her members to come to her if something dire happen. Though it had, like said, felt odd, she found herself content with this lack of duty. It meant her pack was strong, capable and unified. She did not have to worry and her full attention could be placed on her newborn pups.

While they were still very young and immobile Ravenna took it upon herself to get as much rest as possible. She slept mostly when not eating to restore her energy lost, provide enough milk for her pups and of course, heal her sore body. When a visitor arrived, she padded her tail happily and lifted herself up a bit. "Not at all. Come see them." She spoke with a smile and shifted back as she lifted move into a better sit so that Adeltra may wiggle herself in best she could. It would have been a long while since Adeltra had been the one wriggling for attention in this den.

The distinct thumping of a tail alerted her to the awake presence of the matriarch, a small smile lighting up her features. Her head ducked at the opened, the movement strange to her in a way. The last time she’d been in this den, she’d had no trouble getting in and out. She’d been so much smaller, so much more naive. So much more innocent, oblivious to the wooes that the world would decide to drop on her. How she envied the little ones.

She wiggled in as best she could, laying half in and half out of the den. It could easily fit her, but she worried that she would wake up the duo. Her eyes adjusted to the dim lighting, the first to come into focus being her light pelted cousin. She extended her neck, pressing a kiss to the woman’s chin in greeting. Then, her honeyed amber gaze traveled down the the pups and her breath hitched in her throat. They were pale, creamy little things. As small as her paw, though perhaps they seemed smaller curled up next to their large mother’s stomach. Little mewls escaped their mouths as they dreamed and wondered what it could be that they were dreaming about. Perhaps warmth, and milk. Yes, likely those two because that was all they had known. And Ravenna’s soft voice.

She felt a wetness on her cheeks and her brows wrinkled in confusion, looking up in wonder before she realized where the wetness was coming from. Her eyes. She was crying. Hastily she raised a paw to wipe at her eyes, a small sniffle being given. “Rav, they’re beautiful,” she whispered, giving a wet smile.

Adeltra slipped in, half in and half out of the den as she moved forward to offer her cousin and matriarch a lick to her silver haired chin. Once more Ravenna's tail thumped the earth and her eyes watched the yearling as she looked over her pups. She ate up the happiness, wonder and admiration that seemed to show in Adeltra's amber gaze.

She had not expected the tears, however. Tears of a happiness, sure, but either way concern touched her expression as she smiled lightly in turn and reached out to press Her black nose to Adeltra's cheek. "Thank you, Del." She rarely ever called her 'cousin' and instead used the nickname she had given her. After all, Ravenna couldn't help but feel like she was much more to her. "Your going to be very needed by them, you know." She wanted to remind the youth that despite her young age she was a very important member to the ranks. Now that her father had passed away she did not have caring for him to keep her occupied and surely the lack of work there made things feel a bit empty. Hopefully the pups could fill that need. After all, Ravenna had felt exactly the same when her mother had passed. So much of her time had been to listening to her mother's every lesson and when she aged, caring for her. When she died there had been a void, she had been restless. ...Then Adeltra and Romanov were born.

Ravenna shifted her head down then, touching her nose in the same delicate fashion she had to Adeltra onto Ragnar's crown. "This is our boy, Ragnar." Then onto Freyja, who, had it not been for their obvious different scents and being different genders, would have been quite hard to tell apart. "And this is our daughter, Freyja."

Ravenna’s kind words were responded with a thankful look. It was nice to be reminded that she was needed. As she looked at the little ones below her she knew that her cousin’s words were true. Adeltra, even in her darkest moment, had never questioned her will to live. But, she had questioned what she was meant for. She had wondered what the point of it all was if she was just going to lose everyone she loved, what the point had been of her trying so damned hard to make everything better. She knew it now. It was for the future. She kept trying for the future, for the hope that she could contribute and make the impact that she was meant to. The future was nestled against the Queen’s stomach. Addy was no teacher, she loved to explore too much, but she supposed she could stick around more for the little furballs.

She was snapped out of her thoughts by the Archer-Lyall’s voice. She was introducing them. Her honeyed-amber gaze traveled over each one, committing their little faces and names to heart. Ragnar and Freyja. “They’re strong names. Perfect for your pups and the next generation of Archers,” she commented with a small wag of her tail. “Have they been giving you much trouble?”

A silence moved between them for a moment as the yearling looked over the newborn pups. As common nature amongst wolf packs, it would be up to the members of her pack to go out hunting and bring food back to the mothers that could not wonder far from the den site. Once the pups were mobile and able to move around outside of the den, Ravenna and Leotie could once more partake in the search for food amongst other pack duties and then likely the yearlings, like Adeltra, would take over caring for the pups until the adults return. Ravenna knew she could trust Adeltra enough for the task, for every pack wolf knew that the most important thing was to make sure the children were fed and protected.

It was hard to really say or not though if the pups were giving her a hard time. Ravenna found herself shrugging to Adeltra. "I really don't think so." She didn't really have anything to compare it too. Perhaps all pups were this easy to manage in their first weeks? "They just sleep and eat now, really. I imagine things will be much different once they are able to walk around on their own." Then when they were little toddlers, that would be the true test of how much they were going to keep their pack on their toes, especially seeing as it was not only her litter, but Leotie's too. However in reality, even with the two litters it was only one more pup then the pack had been typically used to and Ravenna was certain with how well the pack was doing now they would have well enough bodies to both hunt, mark borders, and tend to the children.

Ravenna revealed that she didn’t think they were giving her problems, which was a relief. Though, she also wondered if she was saying that because they were her pups. Could a mother even honestly say her children were bad children? After all, from what she had heard of Skoll and Morganna they were both equally rambunctious and troublesome yet Elettra had loved them fiercely all the same. The girl wasn’t a mother herself, and with her placement it was likely she never would be. At least not until she was much older. This she was fine with, however. She didn’t mind tending to the youth that Sven and Ravenna produced, especially since they were essentially her siblings.

“If I’m any indication, we should definitely be on our toes. I know I gave Daddy and Momma all kinds of trouble,” she mused, remembering her rambunctious ways as a tiny child before the storm had swept her away. She made a note to have a conversation with the pups when they were old enough, to warn them of the dangers of wandering too far.

When Adeltra spoke up again, she mentioned how she had given her own parents trouble when she was in her youth. A trouble which everyone who was within the ranks at the time would well remember. Adeltra had wondered off as a child and had gotten lost in a winter storm, bringing forth both her parents much obvious sorrow and worry. Adeltra had returned and made it out okay, obviously, though it went without saying that her actions had caused much damage for the pack. They would have still likely had their leader, Enoki, with them... Nicolo might have been alive, Romanov may have stayed. It was hard telling, really, though if the events had not happened it likely would have meant the two pups at her side would not have been born either.

Though Ravenna would always remember and learn from it, she had learnt at a very young age to push forward, to survive and prevail when the world could be unbarebly cruel. She would otherwise have been a blubbering, useless mess had she not. She would not have what she had now if she had not. "Exactly," Ravenna mused as she looked over Adeltra's features. "And as an establishing scout I'm sure they will put your skills to the test." Lucky for them, Leotie, who would be a guiding mother to them was also a profound scout within the ranks. Even Ravenna had done her share of traveling. With so many eyes and ears she did not think her pups would get far so easily.

Fade with your next post?

Ravenna mentioned that the puppies would likely put her scouting skills to the test. She chuckled quietly, gazing fondly down at the puppies snoozing away at her cousin’s belly. At that moment she could say the woman was crazy, that the two little bundles of perfect could never be any kind of trouble. But, she was sure that they had said that about her too. And look at all the trouble she had caused. “Good, I think I’m starting to lose my touch anyways,” she mused. She hoped dearly that she would never have to use her scouting skills to find any of them if they were suspected of being in trouble. No, she wanted to romp around with them. Play hide and seek and maybe cheat a little. She wanted them to experience a childhood in the Willows, not out on their own for months with hunger clawing at their stomachs and longing for home in their hearts. No, that would never happen to them. She swore it.

Ravenna chuckled to herself at Adeltra's words, nodding an agreement to her though otherwise finding herself falling silent for a moment. She was sure that with the new pups once they started getting out and about Adeltra would be able to keep up with them, as swift as she was. It was also good knowing that they would have a wolf only a year from their own age, someone to answer their questions, guide them and to look up to perhaps when they felt their parents were too 'boring' or just 'didn't get it'.

Shifting her weight back as she leaned into the pack dirt wall of the den, she stretched out her limbs, making more room in the process. "I'm feeling a nap, why don't you join us?" She spoke to her cousin, hoping the yearling girl would come in and get snuggled up next to her while the two little pups remained warmed in a circle of two large bodies. Yawning, Ravenna settled down her head.

Fade.