600+ :: Sorry about the wait on my end too. My class was way more demanding than I expected!
“It will be okay,” she reassured her troubled friend, referring to both her state and her friend's concern for the puppies that she carried. This was a tense situation that required a fast, thorough plan, and Orin had one. One that she would be able to pull off with minimal exertion on her fragile body. Sure, there was a bit of work involved, but if all went according to plan, nothing would exert her or her babies too much.
She stood up and wrapped her hands around the plank that was lodged over the rock and beneath the tree trunk. She glanced at Sankara, seeing the woman was already preparing by digging out some of the snow beneath her. Perfect! She waited for Sankara to make eye contact and then they counted. “One! Two! Three!” Without hesitating on 'three,' Orin yanked down on the handle of the makeshift lever. At first it was not enough so she leaned forward and took her feet off the ground, using all of her weight on her end of the lever. It was working! The trunk that trapped Sankara shifted, and then slowly began to lift just a few inches. A few inches was all the wolfess needed to be free, though, and within seconds Orin's friend squirmed forward and then lunged out of the trap.
Just in the nick of time! A crackling sound emanated from the branch that Orin clung to, and just seconds after Sankara was free, the branch snapped under the weight of the trunk. The tree fell, splintering the bits of wood beneath it. Orin went toppling backwards and landed on her butt, but managed to land right in the pad of snow Sankara made when she discarded the snow beneath her, so it broke her fall and did not jolt the woman or her pups at all.
On the ground, Orin twisted to see if Sankara was alright. Her friend was sitting nearby, all in one piece even though both women were frazzled and shaken up by the incident. Orin let out a dramatic sigh of relief and fell backward into the snow, just as breathless as Sankara was. She stared at the destroyed structure, and after a moment found her voice again.
“I'm so glad you're okay. Are you hurt badly?” She rolled over and pushed herself up, crawling the few feet between her and Sankara, and then laid back down in the snow on her side, facing her friend. The exertion and her thick pelt keeping her and her babies warm for now. Sankara seemed shaken but not in any sort of writing pain that might be evidence of a broken bone.
“Don't apologize. I'm just glad I found you in time. You can thank the book I read on physics for that one,” she grinned and gestured toward the now destroyed lever device. Then her hand moved to her round belly. “They are fine.” She said, feeling one kick her hand. “They're excited, I think they're celebrating for you. Luckily that device kept me from having to work too hard, or else I would have had to go get someone, and by the looks of it, there wasn't enough time.”
“You prefer natural shelters, don't you?” She asked, knowing that her friend did. Kara seemed to be more of a feral Luperci, embracing their traditional nature more than many wolves did these days. “Maybe we can dig you a nice den someplace that we can reinforce, so it's still like a real den but less...” she looked at the trees... “...exciting,” she finished the thought with a giggle.
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