Willow Ridge the hierophant

Early Morning, Overcast Clouds, 24.71 ° F, -4.05 ° C

That soft tickle of knowing.

She stirred in the familiar space, rolled softly from one side to the other. The hot wind she had danced in on was suddenly gone. In its place bloomed scents like fresh spring.

Revival, rebirth.

The gentle ruffling of her movements revealed something she had not scented on herself before. Oh, but she had smelled it on others before. In the places of women, in the following days and weeks of spring's brilliance. Now it had come to wrap around her, snug and tight.

"@Hagar," She called out warm but sleepy still.

Did the already once-father know? Soon the scent would spill over from a sleeping place, out into the willows. Then all might know!

adopt my brother!

note: mentions of fortune telling and magic are purely a belief system.

Hagar shifted, sleep still gripped around his mind. He huffed lowly, a deep exhale that moved the earth in front of his maw, and rolled onto his side so that his back might rest gently against Niamh's side. His paws pushed out and his stout legs stretched, and slowly the fog began to clear. When he breathed in, all he could smell was the perfume of his wife. The thought put a smile on his lips.

"Yes?"

Had he overslept? Just because he had the added comfort of her presence didn't mean he should begin to slack. He lifted his heavy skull, and green eyes looked toward the opening where daylight poured in. Nah, he was still good. Hagar remained largely nocturnal, for he found the hunting to be best at night. His head settled back against the den floor.

Her heart hammered softly within her chest.

Inclined to let him continue his comfortable slumber, yet more inclined to whisper to him all the good in the world. That a leap of faith had been taken and now a new future rooted in her womb. Made of them.

How could she keep this tidbit of knowledge to herself for any longer?

"You wanted children," Her voice soft with slumber as she reached for him with lithe limbs. "If spring continues so kind, we will have them, I think. Know rather but I-"

Her voice trailed off kindly.

Would such words shake free the sleep from his tired handsome face?

adopt my brother!

note: mentions of fortune telling and magic are purely a belief system.

She made herself clear swiftly, rousing Hagar further. He shifted back onto his stomach and then wriggled closer, returning Niamh's reach for an embrace by placing one hefty limb along her opposite side and snuggling down into her. Another deep breath brought him more of her natural scent, and all the intricacies laced therein. It had been fainter before, but growing stronger each time they woke to start a new day. Now, it was undeniable that new life had garnered a healthy start within his mate.

She was right, that they required nature's kindness for this to be certain, but it had been benevolent to Avella. He could not help but feel particularly confident this land would treat Niamh just the same.

"What do you see for them?" he asked, daydreams of his own bubbling to life within his thoughts. Hagar was not the gifted one, though. He felt his wife's musing would have more weight.

She closed her eyes, softly settled her face alongside the thick of his fur. The heft of his limbs familiar comfort. She could want for nothing when she laid alongside him in this hushed space.

The world theirs.

"A bounty. No matter hardships I sense...fruitfulness growing within me. Perhaps we will have ourselves busy with eager little babes ready to take the world. Once they walk we will know no thing like rest." She laughed with warmth, not bothered by the idea in the slightest. She had seen plenty of mothers chase after their young with tired eyes. Yet how often they had told her that they would not change it for the world.

It was why they tended to do this every year until they no longer could.

"Do you see sons or daughters when you close your eyes? Both?"

adopt my brother!

note: mentions of fortune telling and magic are purely a belief system.

As she spoke, his mind conjured its own visions, working in tandem with her words. Another trio, as close and loving as their siblings before them, bolstered by the triplets' guidance and companionship. No drought, no surplus of uncertainties, only progress, growth.

"Daughters," he answered without considering the question, merely describing what his mind's eye was showing him. They were silhouettes with halos so bright it was as though the sun itself stood directly behind them. The image was fuzzy, undetailed, but clear in meaning and feeling. Pride, heart, boundless energy.

He smiled again as one thought led to another, and he found himself amused with the thought of his eldest daughter reacting to a gaggle of other girls to contend with.

"I wonder how Nineve will take to them," Hagar shared in warmly spoken words.

Daughters.

Secretly she wished for them as well and wished they might take like her to the world she lived in. Yet these things could not be forced, she could only be supportive. She could only hold wishes and wonder if they would bloom within her too or if she might find herself with something other than her own path.

Her family had seen warriors before. Paired with the blood of her Bearkissed it was not so hard a thought to imagine.

"I hope all of yours will like them. That they can learn from them." Her lashes fluttered softly as she opened her eyes once more. "I don't wish to...overly disrupt the ones you already have."

And in her voice an inkling of worry.

She reached to kiss his face softly.

adopt my brother!

note: mentions of fortune telling and magic are purely a belief system.

Hagar felt the same, and the low grumble of a pleased growl communicated as much. He had not thought to worry before, but Avella's reaction when he'd told her of his new union had planted a seed of doubt. The sprout it grew was frail and withered, but present all the same. Maybe his children wouldn't enjoy their new siblings. Maybe they would even find them aversive, a threat. He leaned into his wife's touch again, thinking a moment before letting the words out into the air.

"... Avella was not happy with the news," he spoke quietly, almost a whisper but not quite. They were alone, but that wasn't to mean someone couldn't pass by or approach, and he wanted this part of the conversation to be private. A concern trusted to Niamh's ears alone.

"I do not know why."

(This post was last modified: Jun 16, 2023, 05:21 AM by Hagar.)

The news did not strike her as odd and nor did she feel displaced in it.

"You gave her children," The level of her voice also dipped into hushed words. "It is a powerful thing, and perhaps she wished for more of them from you this year."

And she perhaps would not have faulted him in full if he had come asking. Avella was to lead among the willows and children were a right in such a position. Just as had been Hagar's right with her.

"What do you make of it?"

For her bear-kissed knew the willow woman best.

adopt my brother!

note: mentions of fortune telling and magic are purely a belief system.