500+
The day was warm with the sun shining brightly with mirth within the heavens. The golden light filtered through the trees and dappled the foliage that still lingered within the dying holds of summer. The warrior moved silently, her movements fluid, ethereal. Her body sang quietly, content with the practice of war that had been tested upon her within the hours before dawn. Her training was pushed, and she worked diligently with focus and determination. She had regained already what had been lost. Now, patiently, she sought to push herself beyond that, to heighten her skill so that defeat would not come so easily.
The silence was disturbed by a soft rustling behind her. The twins followed close behind, their little bodies unable to maneuver with silence through the foliage of the woods. They were quiet, however, for they had grown watching the movements of their mother, and their father too. The heterochromia eyes carefully watched their woad-marked mother. “Are we going hunting, mamaidh” Honor asked, his small voice as quiet as his mother’s. The pied boy’s head tilted in question as he trotted up to walk abreast the warrior. Cwmfen nodded imperceptibly, her white orbs turning to look upon the small form of the boy that had taken the coat of her own father. "We are," the soft melody sang in confirmation. She had decided to take them farther than she had before, to allow them to explore and see a greater world than the world of the den and the forest in proximity. Much of the journey had been in silence as they had observed the unfamiliar woods. And, despite the distance that they had walked, the twins did not complain.
Chastity, her coat the colouration of the masked coyote, trotted alongside her brother. “Is dadaidh coming too?” the little girl asked, but Cwmfen shook her head. "No," the soft alto replied as her gaze returned to the path ahead. "Dadaidh is not coming with us today." The pups nodded silently, and yet they were not sad or disappointed. The twins understood with a peculiar understanding the nature of their parents’ lives. They did not resent the time away from their parents. Even now, the twins silently and mutually decided to learn how to hunt so that they could show their dadaidh what they had learned. Cwmfen herself was content with their understanding and her ability to teach them that it was okay. They would need to understand the nature of a warrior’s path and to know what it could mean and what could happen. They received such things well.
The warrior paused, her head lifting. The woad bound ears, already erected, pressed forward to listen. There was no sound yet, but there was a scent upon the wind. She recognized it immediately for one that she had met while she had been pregnant. The woad-marked she-wolf flicked her tail, and the pups fell still, falling in behind her. The forest grew silent. The bearer of the scent had shown her no hostility, but the pack upon the scent made her wary, for she was not unaware of the tensions between Dahlia and Inferni. Not all were as Ezekiel. Through the trees, she could see the boarder, but she did not proceed forward save for but a few steps made in fluid silence. The warrior’s mind grew protective of her young as instinct rose up and hostility with it. But the warrior’s control was held in place, the tranquility seemingly undisturbed as the white orbs, made bright by the half-light of the woods, watched the boarders with fierce intensity in the silence.