& a heart that only beats within the chest of another,

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remainjng puppies will be npc by me!

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 had it been mere days, or two weeks already, when she wonders at how @Eira does not bruise beneath what will be the mothsfoot touch of her pink nose?

 it is a fear gone unmastered, and she halts before it alights upon his great shoulder at the new knowledge of this. hacksilver eye glimmering blearily up the vast expanse of his back; savoring the late sun and shadow over the broad ridge of shoulder yet again. the thick lock of jaw to proud throat. a breath trembles from her, hitching in some high hidden place in her pearl throat. she rouses once more, with an earnest endeavor, to brush a stroke of her kiss up along the slumbering colossus. to not be parted for a moment more —
 — and yet! stops once more, gaze swept down and then becoming so taken with rapture that she cannot bear it at what she finds there. even @Rauha was tucked at the place that had held them for almost two moons; breaking their fast upon her as if they only wished such a return.

 but even wound up within it, the muted agony in her hip remains, bitten tail lain lifeless; the sotaherra bemoans both through the grit of her fangs. hushed, mouthless curse and all with a shudder through the crescent of her own spine.

 it would not do well to wake either here;
 but her eye glows still upon eira.

 father, and hers.

 a whimper flutes in a golden, sweet peal for him to awaken. ever pining, ever pleading.

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^^
He was fairly certain that the first day he didn’t sleep at all. After the treacherous task it was just getting his family home, he’d tended to Riannon fiercely and made sure she got food and that she wasn’t hurt. He’d slipped into irregular slumber and woke often to the soft baby cries of their young and whenever Ria spoke. Any visitors were swiftly vetted and in reality the man was only comfortable with Olive and Asriel coming close.

In his dreams he heard the singing of his mother, the rougher lilt of his fathers stories, the wisdom his Mummo had shared - and he saw them, all of them, with his four little babies at their paws and giving them the same loving embrace. He looked for Riannon, saw Hemlock tending to her wounds, but when he called to her it seemed that they were too far away and couldn’t hear him.

But then Riannon turned to him, her maw opening to talk to him and then —

It was just the softest whimper and his ears twitched, the bear shaped man a crescent opposite the sotaherra to envelope their children in warmth. Groggily he lifted his head to look them over first before he looked to his Queen. “Are you okay?” he asked softly and reached to touch his nose to her cheek.

He’d gathered a small stock of herbs to keep the pain at bay but he wasn’t sure how long he’d managed to sleep or how bad it was. “Do you need something for the pain?” His voice was still soft even if their children couldn’t even hear him yet.

^^

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[narrow width=800] "only you," came her weak warble; ears that had never quivered in derision to any other now falling back, hurrying away to burrow in the depths of her heavy-hung moonshed ruff. all that she wished to say dry with her yearning; another note flits from her to him, nothing more now than a rosy, aching mess that reached for him with the clumsiness that comes with the tragedy of being as smitten as she — if there was ever one such a woman, fearsome to behold. riannon wisps a quiet communion to their tundrian gods before forsaking any misgivings or uncomfort. before arcing her elegant neck and sealing her hot mouth a simmering kiss that meant to warm its way through to his marrow.

 the vestal flame between them, still. "only this," with her ruined cheek goes to him, pressing behind his heart. perhaps it did not matter what residual fury he might harbor at her far flight; or that she did not deserve his forgiveness at her being as away from her lead more than she'd ever ought to be in this state. she reaches for him anyways, always —

 "suutele minua, karhuni?" — please kiss me, my bear? [/narrow]

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^^Already a paw had shifted and lifted to pull some more arnica close for her tail but then she had made that sound again and his attention was purely on her. He’d never seen her like this - he’d seen her in many ways but this was different. It was almost like she needed reassurance from him and all he could do was to remember the children tucked at her side and keep himself from crushing them.

He made a crooning sound and nuzzled into her for a moment, letting his head eventually shift to nibble at the delicate underside of her neck. He wanted to be physically affectionate but he also wanted to remind her - her place was always over him, and she didn’t need to be lowering herself to him. She worried he had anger, and maybe he did - but not at her. Instead at the life she had been robbed of to make her mind so treacherous to her own happiness. Whatever had driven her into fear, Riannon had surely paid for it in spades. She’d find no more wraith from him - not towards her. Never forwards her.

“You don’t even need to ask.” He said softly, nibbling back up to kiss her and press his face against hers. He let out a shaky breath and his tail thumped the earth a few times. “I would have traded spots with you in a heartbeat if I could have.” Take his tail, he didn’t need it. Damn his hips, let his gait be broken, if he could have taken her pain he would have. He still would. If there was a potion he could brew he’d take it immediately to take on her pains.

A little squirm from one of the children drew his focus and he gently nudged Rurik back to her breast. The cub was too close and would find nothing at his fathers snowy breast after all. “You have made me a truly blessed man.” He whispered his thanks, finally pulling back to meet her eyes again.

“I will never find words enough to thank you properly, not for you, or them - just…” He smiled again, even though his cheeks hurt at how happy he was after fretting that he had lost them already. He kissed her again - five times. One for each child and another for herself. “I will thank you every day I live.”

^^

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 a little cheshire curl to her lips, at that: "your thanks is in giving me more children, is it? ...when do we start?" her dark elven lilt fading into a murmur as she petaled her way up along his heavy jaw; a crease between each fell-feather brow, glistening up into his own before, with a tug of the thin fur of his sturdy chin, she brings the sharp glint of his fangs to her own lips with a heady, reverential sigh. "this means you will stay? with what-ever will happen?" throat sewn shut, her abyssal ardor momentarily sobered with another slight, pale shiver. "with me, even?"

 her lone gray eye roams for some while before returning, as it always will, to him.

 "...no," she states for herself, with a decided ( yet rather demure ) shake of her radiant head. "you will do more than thank me by being here, eira," nestling close as well as she was able to without upsetting their future too direly. "more than i could have ever known, or wish for," carding a tooth-tip gentle and grasping at the velvet of his stern handsome snout. "i should have been here, but i was not. i know this, just as they will know it when they are of age. but ... eira ..." sidling nearer, nearer, until her snowhite brow quivered beneath that chin. "i would not ever send you from this."

 from me.

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^^her touches soothed a part of him he had no idea ached, settled those loose frayed threads and repaired what had broken apart. Being separated from his family hurt him greatly, but, he had to be sure that he would tell the children all his family stories to keep them here, too. He tumbled a laugh when she asked when they would start and reached to nip a soft ear teasingly. “I have to let you heal,” Eira reminded her. “Although now it will be worse without your tail to hide what delights me so…” Thank the stars that the cubs ears didn’t function - they needed to hear none of this talk. It warmed his heart to hear her tease and took it as a sign of good spirits.

His blue gaze remained steady as her silver fled, spritely and unable to hold itself in her worry. He couldn’t help the slight smile, and if he could he would have cradled her face in his hands. He pressed gentle kisses to her cheeks and then to her forehead, breathing her in again. Her scent was sweeter now with the milk on her and their little brood mixed in too. It was heavenly. “I know my place. It is with you. With them.” He wouldn’t rush her thoughts from one disaster to the next but hold her steady to face them. As long as she would have him there and allow him, Eira wanted to do nothing more than provide a steady haven for her.

She inched closer and he was quick to huff at her movements. Not because of the children, they settled quickly enough so long as they stayed warm and had food, but his worry for her own discomfort had him in high alert. He scooted in and draped his tail across her ankles gingerly, nuzzling into her. “I was brought to you for a reason - brought right where I needed to be.” with her. With them. “You make me whole…you make me want to be better - to be worth you and worth them.” He admitted quietly, but the wild beating of his heart sounded so impossibly loud to him. ^^

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 "and i you," murmured she, touching the seam of her lips to the lush thatch of fur that curled wildly from the bulb of his roseate ear. bravely fighting down the flush his previous, risqué admission brought to burn timidly the long-frayed edges of her. what remains of said tail flicks sheepishly 'round her thighs, and she turns to settle a sudden, great interest in the dark head of little rourke. lashes low to unmarred cheek; she cannot bring herself to look up at him through them. "you are what heals me. is that what you wanted to hear?" had he even needed to? wanted to? she might never know — but her hesitant, honeyed demeanor did not fade, and she was reaching for him once more before she could give herself a moment to give this thought.

 a long waning arm sculpts itself along the vast territory of his neck, run up from his deep chest and into the warm creamthick mane. he was hearthfire come to life; alpine and nord, with the faint tang of sleepy maleness and his nobility rests within her like the lingering note of a chord. "what is another four?" maudlin features drawn in languid ardor as she tucks herself further into the stonewall of the bard's neck. what, indeed, was another four? five? "eight?" the nightingale trills with a coy suggestion that even that many babes would not be enough to suffice what he felt for her and what she wished to give in return.

 even if if pains her in a way she dares not to show; being held and holding him so til everything in her flutters enlivened.

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^^The tease of her breath along his ear sent a pleasant shiver down his spine, tail flicking happily. His eyes closed in a full surrender, a little sound leaving his lips at her touches. It didn't take much to make him swoon, but, the bear couldn't deny how he felt when it came to her touches. He only opened his eyes again when she spoke, finding her focused on one of their cubs. “I want to hear what you want - what you need?” He said softly. His needs were inconsequential - from the first of his arrival into this world she had consumed him and had been his entire driving force. It was all about her. She didn't demand his attention and focus that way but being concerned over her made it so that he didn't lose himself in the pain of his missing family.

His head lowered down to the earth, warm breath ghosting across their children as they both admired this little family of theirs. This precious thing, without needing a name, could only make him think of his parents. Had they ever felt like this? He knew how his father had endlessly doted over his litter, Ceallach had learned early the best way that he could handle his anger issues is to embrace his emotions and try focusing heavily on the good. “Hm, how many stars do you reason there are?” He asked with a crooked smile, tucking his nose against her chest and letting his tongue wash across her skin. He nibbled over her fur for a moment before he gazed at the cubs again, lost again in how precious and tiny they were. “Is that how many we should have?” We - not just that she should bear.

“Sotaherra,” He purred her title out, the titan feeling settled and pleased. “What do you think of the future? What do you see for our future, for theirs? For all of Frostchant?”
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 she supposes he hadn't been listening at all — had she not answered him on that matter already? therein her lidded gray eye was the remnant glint that had led to where the two of them were now, looking across the great expanse of him. an involuntary shiver of her own arrows up through her at his silken rumbling in answer; splitting from her in a low, aching groan as he nudged his way beneath her neck. rocking back against him as he moors her with his earthly affections; letting herself lie limp and let him work any worry from her. anything that might've been returned on stars already too flown-far from her rosy mind. the notch in her silverbrow deepening as she came to the realization that there would not be enough seasons for all she wished to give him.

 her mouth passes over his temple with a weak note of his name.

 "i see our home in each other," comes the lilting low tones, "where our haven is in those that work their way into being welcomed by it. where their worth is in their word. i want to test those who are untried. and if they so choose, i want them to earn their right to leaving our tribe. i want them to reach for their freedom, and walk beyond our lands their path with purpose. whatever it will be." preening quietly at the cusp of his short, ursal ears. "i want us to be known for the knowledge that we keep. i want to be sent those who hunger for more; where the flame of youth might be tampered into something more percise. i do not want us to be cruel, even if we are cold — but i want us to be necessary to those who need it. i want us to be where one comes back again."

look to lilac-smudged rauha then, easing back;
ears pricking at her eager breakfasting. then:

 "i do not want to be known as sotaherra — warlord, though. not anymore."

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^^
Listening to her was always easy for him. He liked to hear her voice anyways, and hearing her vision for what Frostchant would become warmed his heart. The part that surprised him the most, however, was the idea of loosening her title from it's hold in her mind. She would be the Warlord no more? His ears flickered curiously and he nibbled against her chin - subservient happily in his role for her. “If not Sotaherra, then what?” He asked curiously, giving a little grin a moment later. “But if they should call you Jumalatar or Rakastaja, I do not know how I'll still my tongue.” Those were sweet nothings he'd only ever used on her. Things that he only wanted to share with her, because he had been blind to all other options from the moment he'd met her after all.

But her thoughts and the realization of what she wanted for their home filled him with an eager sensation. “We are not cruel, no - but we are one of the last before the Tunda, and it is. So, testing others, guiding them, we can be gatekeepers to ensure that those beyond are not lost.” He barely knew of the other packs - Windmere seemed gone, and Northfall was close but not too close. He knew nothing of those towards the East. “I will help with my knowledge of medicine, and I can help with the stories from home too....there were always legends mixed with knowledge. My family thought that it helped the young remember easier to have them woven into tales.” Eira explained. While his stories and his songs were pleasant - more often than not, they came with a deeper meaning than what he could tell at surface level.

His azure gaze swept over their children and he pressed a tender kiss to the closest of their cubs before meeting her gaze again. “You will make us all proud, I know this.” He would give his whole to her in all the ways she needed, but, there was the prickling of excitement in him at the chance for witnessing greatness.

^^

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blind and deaf to the world around her – and particularly the frankly sappy romantic display of her parents’, rauha exists in a realm all her own. though she knows of nothing else, the babe would, if she were able, decline to leave this warm, soundless space; but alas, such a thing would be fruitless, for as she grows, she will be forced to depart from her beloved darkness, and enter into the chaos of life.

as young as she is, her thoughts are nothing but vague emotions that appear and vanish like mist. she attempts to grasp at a few of them, to bring them to clarity, but the sleepy feeling that weighs upon her like rocks tied to her muscles has her metaphorical grip falling limp, allowing the faint feelings to flow between her fingers. after a few arbitrary tries, she gives up, and settles once more, snuggling close to the warmth pressed against her side.

rauha dozes, for a while. she does not dream, for how could she? bereft of sensory experience as she is, there is nothing for her to dream of. at a mere six days old, she simply exists, fading between sleep and awake, lingering briefly in the space in between.

content to float through the soothing darkness, she sleeps.

delicate, ebony-streaked shoulders, bones as brittle as a bird’s, rise and fall with the soft heaves of her breath. dainty paws twitch in the throes of rest, and she shifts her tiny body into a wiggle, awakening just enough to snuffle about her mother’s belly fur in search of sustenance. she finds none, as the body against her jolts into movement, shuffling further away from her probing maw. she squeaks in sudden, indignant rage, blindly struggling to push up on shaking, unbalanced limbs. her voice rises in high-pitched, frantic whines. she knows no words to speak, nor the sound she creates; only the vibrations of her vocal cords, which feels somewhat satisfying in her upset.

rauha’s tone steadily increases, until the noises reverberating from her chest bear more of a resemblance to those of a yowling cat, rather than a fussy pup.

as her raucous symphony grows, so too does the hot, overwhelming feeling blooming from her chest and gripping at her shoulders. her wails abruptly peter out to be replaced with low, angry growls - though, in a pup so young, so small and frail, it is nowhere near scary.

in her ire, rauha thrashes her small body to and fro’, until the familiar heat is nothing but a memory. the abrupt loss of it has her pausing, unsure and mildly nervous. then she remembers her anger, and writhes once more. her backend hits something firm, and she swings around as quick as she can (which isn’t very quickly – at barely a week old, her balance is wildly off). her muzzle meets soft fur, then skin, and with a tiny, enraged baby snarl, she clamps the skin between her maw.

it won’t do much damage, of course. without milk teeth, all she’s doing is gumming at her father, snorting little growls all the while.

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note: sorry this took so long, i wasn't happy with the original and had to rewrite a few times... hopefully this is ok!

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[narrow width=800] "i have not thought of a better-fitting title yet. but i cannot call myself warchief when i have no sentinels to take to war," snowshoe paw drawn down his heavy shoulder in a telltale way. losing herself to her momentary ruminations before she simpers his way, lidded silver gaze shadowed, voice low, lower: "but what i want most, eira, is—"

 — but, instead, it was one of their own that spoke for her then; heart leaping into tiny rauha's throat with the ferocity of her squalling. the nightingale's ears flit away into her ruff at a particularly sharp note, and yet therein her eye glittering ( pained ) affection as the fellgrey bairn put an end to her soliloquy with gums smacking at her father's mottled nose. warmth blooms in her breast, but is bitten down before it can emerge as a laugh of its own.

 her thoughts return to what she meant to say, and then what eira had asked of her further; for now, though, she only tends to their battlemade daughter, drawing her tongue down the inksmear of her back with a musing of, "i would want to call us evenrise, as well. ...we only need to leave our mark."[/narrow]

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^^When she admitted her title was useless without anyone to guide into the roles his ears flicked back. He could have been - probably should have been, given the size of him and his build, but he had never possessed a warrior's heart. When he fought, it was purely because he had to. Not because he wanted to. Certainly not because he enjoyed it. He could be roused to battle only when his home or family were threatened - and that did extend to the wolves of their claim. He was apologetic, but his maw clicked closed the second she started to talk again, only for their child to interrupt them.

The caterwauling immediately threw him into a mild panic, new fatherhood and the particular rowdy lungs that their young daughter had shocked him every time. How she managed to be so damn loud he'd never understand. Eira leaned down and went to sniff over her to make sure she was okay, but then Rauna found a worthy target: his nose. His eyes widened at the surprising force behind her gumming, his eyes crossing a bit comically as he tried to watch her at the end of his snout. His gaze lifted to Riannon again, and he couldn't help laughing at the situation. Fatherhood he found was a role he was enjoying greatly, even with its strains and stresses.

Her little growls and fussing seemed to at least be preferable to her screams and Eira could at least hear Riannon speaking then. “Evenrise.” He repeated, Jopanousta. “I like that. No matter how long the night, the day still rises. The cycle is endless.” And they could be too.

^^

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 it's his words that bring her out of the quiet reverie of hers; snagging at her mind from how she wondered at who he had come to mean to her and how he gave the whole of himself into this new unscribed chapter of the saga of their tribelife together. he speaks of jopanousta — evenrise but her eyes fall to their voracious stormbird girl, stout ears flush against her ruff and quivering. she is taking a tad too lengthy a time to reply, she knows — but when the echo of his earnest demeanor spreads warm through the moonpale draw of her shorn face, and her heartache is more than she can bear, kuunhekku — moonglow busies herself with the rest of the children at paw. if the rest of her tail had kept, then it would have flicked 'round her silver hinds every pulsebeat anxious.

 when she cannot run from it anymore, she regards eira with an eye that is oddly shy; all that she wished to give in words rising again, as before, on the updraft of stilted ardor. but it was veiled beneath hesitancy and a crescent jaw that worked dumbly, cottonmouthed and everything gone dead in her throat until all that is left is, instead, a starsoft sigh: "tell me your stories, my great bear," weakened and withered the thick lilt of her dark sylvan voice. her chin lowers to rest upon the impressive heft of forearm, crown molding against the swell of deep chest. eye pressing closed before the bright film of tears can burn at its edges; rauha taken by slumber near her throat.

 she prays that he'll kiss her brow, her ugly cheek;
 and let her drift to dreams with his tales in her ear.

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^^
While he can't exactly claim to know her so intimately that he can tell her emotions and her thoughts even just on her face, he does know her well enough to be able to see once she focused on the children that she was using it as an excuse. The puppies were quiet, they were settled for the time being, so it didn't matter much too much to him specifically. She didn't have to face everything right then, and what she was worried over, he would let her process. When she was closer, he pressed a few kisses across her brow with a soft sigh. He nibbled at her scruff once their daughter had settled at Riannon's throat, smoothing out a little bit of fur that was out of place.

“My grandmother, Lotte, she was a morph; she could blend into anywhere, do anything. And she'd tell my father about her adventures with her twin Dagfinn. See, Ceallach didn't think too much on it then, hearing that he'd come from part of a twinset and that two of his siblings were twins - Roarke and Eirlys - and it was probable that he was doomed to have twins.” He began, his tongue occasionally stroking over her brow and down an ear. “My father loved listening to his mama's stories. He'd spend hours there, curled up against her chest. Not unlike you and Ruana, right now. So Ceallach thinks nothing of it, and when my Mama was set to give birth she was having a hard time of it. Not as bad as you had, of course.” He added quickly, not wanting to diminish anything that Riannon had gone through.

“So Mama is cursing and struggling and Papa was just more and more antsy. He's worried and he's pacing and she's miserable and she's struggling, so finally here I am, but a second later came Fiia and Mama kicked out and hit Papa square in the jaw. He was quick to check on me, not realizing Fiia was right there and she'd been born en caul, still in her sac. She popped out with a kick just like Mama had done, and made a mess of Papa's face. I think it took him a full year to get over it. He wouldn't trust her near water at all.” He was laughing softly at the memory, but it didn't hurt as much to talk about his family. It kept them there. Kept them with him.

“If Fiia could see Ruana, she'd laugh. She'd be so proud of our little Stormborn.” He promised. “She would pester you endlessly for your poor taste, though, in tolerating me.” It was a tease, the intentions plain as day. “But I am endlessly grateful for your tolerance of my love.” He said, carefully resting his head across her back, curled up against her and their children.

He wished he could have shown his family everything he had come to find in Cloudrest. He wished he could have shown them what the life he had made looked like.

^^

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