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There was a dull splash as a small white form hit the water, paws first. "Almost!" squealed Xion, looking over toward her mother, who sat by the stream, watching with golden eyes. Xeris smiled. "You're getting there," she said, amused. "Soon you'll be bringing home dinner for the whole family every night." Her daughter grinned widely at the praise she received and went back to focusing her attention on the stream. For a moment she stood completely still, watching for the shimmer of scales beneath the water, and then she pounced.
Xeris had taken her daughter out here to learn to fish, mostly because Xion herself had asked about it. And Xeris knew just the place for the young wolfess to learn; the stream where she met Rendall and Ty. While Xion hadn't had as much success as Xeris and her friends had that day, it was still good for the two of them to get out and about for a while. The boys were off somewhere else, presumably with their father; they had showed more interest in his teachings than in their mother's today. It was a lot of work, being a parent. But enjoyable at the same time.
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Cerridwyn pawed softly through the forest, touching the trees absently here and there as she passed them. She hummed to herself as she strolled, a tuneless melody but a pretty one nonetheless. She had been in the Valley for nearly two months now, and had kept to herself for the most part. She'd needed time to recuperate, to come to terms with herself and the new person she needed to become. She'd met pack members here and there, but not the whole pack yet, and she felt a little guilty about this; these people had taken her in, a sopping straggler about whom they knew nothing, and she'd barely made the effort to get to know them. So the tri-color collie mix had begun to pointedly leave her thicket every day now, no longer intent on exploring the packlands, but intent on wandering them until she stumbled upon at least one member of Phoenix Valley.
Things were so different here, and she was still adjusting. A new member of her tribe back in Bhaile would have brought every single member the moment they stepped foot onto the territory. Probably because strangers rarely came to the backwater pack; Cerridwyn could remember only one in her four years growing up there, and he had been addled, staying long enough to get a rest and some food in his belly before wandering away again. Here, however, the pack seemed less... cohesive. Oh, there was loyalty there, and they loved each other, but you could go days without seeing another packmate and no one thought anything of it.
She was still deep in her reverie when she heard splashing, laughter, and conversation up ahead. Her ears perked, and she strode purposefully forward. On the banks of the stream sat an ivory female, golden eyes trained upon a smaller snowy form playing in the water. Cerridwyn grinned at this; while she wasn't just in love with children, she did like them, and their innocent outlooks brightened her days. She approached the adult female slowly and cleared her throat. "'Ello, she said warmly. "Doin' a bit o' fishin', are we?"
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Neither Xeris nor Xion had noticed the approaching female at first; they were both busied with the stream and the pup's attempts at fishing. When the newcomer spoke, however, Xeris' ears flicked forward and she turned in the direction of the voice, slightly startled. She hadn't been expecting anyone to suddenly appear like that. "Oh, hello," she said cheerfully. "Yep, we're out getting some fishing practice. A mother-daughter thing." She smiled and looked over to her daughter, who hadn't even noticed that anything else was going on. Xeris herself remembered her own days of youth, when she could splash about in the river near her home. That river had inherited a name from the humans, she recalled, but that name was never used.
"I don't believe I've met you yet," the ivory-colored mother said kindly. "I'm Xeris, and this is my daughter Xion." Upon hearing her name, the pup turned around and piped up, "What is it, mama?" It didn't take the little one long to notice the stranger. At her age she was beginning to recognize the scent of the Valley, and she could smell it on this woman too. Wandering over between her mother and the unfamiliar woman, she looked upward with her mismatched eyes, waiting in a curious silence to see what happened next.
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Cerridwyn smiled at the mother-daughter comment. It was sweet to see parents out with their pups. The relationships between individual parents and their children had always interested the collie mix, since it was something she never really had. The whole tribe had raised her, each adult acting as a parent at one time or another. She realized when she was older that this was advantageous in many ways, but that she also missed out on a connection that other children seemed to have with their parents; that connection that says that the child is the parents' world, that nothing and no one else is more important.
She settled down on the bank next to the female as she introduced herself, and the hybrid nodded her head. "No, we en't met as of yet," she commented. "'S nice t'meet ye, Xeris. M'name's Cerridwyn." Her smile grew as the young pup, Xion, came and sat between the two of them. "'Ello there, li'l 'un. 'Ave you 'ad any luck catchin' fish t'day?"
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It become obvious to Xeris that this newcomer was definitely not from around the 'Souls area. She had never heard this type of accent before. She made a note to herself to ask about the collie mix's origin sometime. "It's a pleasure, Cerridwyn," Xeris replied kindly. Xion's small voice piped up from below her, "Serr-i-wen. Hi!" She smiled and wagged her tail a bit. "No, no fish yet," the little white pup's expression remained happy and optimistic. "But soon!" With that, she leaped off back toward the stream to stare at the water again.
"I take it you haven't been around here for too long," Xeris said, turning back to Cerridwyn. "It's always good to see a new face. Are you settling in well?" There had been many comings and goings in the Valley. Xeris tried her best to meet everyone that she could, as she loved making new friends. In this tense time of war, there was safety in numbers. Xeris was also concerned with finding allies that could help look after her children in case something happened; she was always prepared for the worst.
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Cerridwyn chuckled at the small pup's enthusiasm as she scampered back toward the stream. "Well, I dun doubt ye'll 'ave a whole bushel of 'em b'fore long, Xion." The saddled female pulled her knees to her chest and rested her arms on them as the golden-eyes Xeris spoke. "Well, I've been 'ere fer a couple months now," she replied, "but kep' t'm'self fer th' first month or so." She picked up a dried twig and began to fiddle with it. "Aye, ye've all been quite welcomin'," she said in response to Xeris' query. "'S almost beginnin' t'feel like 'ome 'ere."
The willowy female's chocolate eyes followed the young one as she played in the water, still trying to snag one of the silvery forms that danced beneath its surface. "Pretty li'l thing, she is," Cerridwyn commented thoughtfully, and turned back to Xeris. "Is it 'ard? Mother'ood, I mean. Seems like it would be, 'avin' t'keep up wi' th' li'l uns all th' time."
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Xeris smiled at her daughter, whose mismatched eyes lit up for a moment at Cerridwyn's words, before focusing again on the moving water. Her mother now brought her attention back to her packmate, listening with the curiosity that had always been a part of her. "Yes, that's what I love about Phoenix Valley. We're all a family here." Xeris had spoken similar words to Angelique not too long ago, but for different reasons. She wondered now how Angel was doing after such a stressful event. Surely, even though he was dead, Xeris had not heard the last about this mysterious Brutus that she had mentioned. But that was a matter for another time.
"Thank you," Xeris said in response to Cerridwyn's compliment of her daughter. She supposed that little Xion would not be able to give her thanks by herself, so she might as well do so for her. The tri-colored female asked about motherhood. Xeris paused for a moment, thinking of the right words. "It's a big responsibility, yes," she replied after a moment. "Now that they've gotten older, I split the duties of looking after them with their father. And of course there's Delwyn, he always has a knack for slipping out under our noses. But he knows better than to leave the Valley, so I have to believe that he'll be all right."
This table is by Syd!
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The breeze blew gently; it was such a beautiful day. Spring was well on its way and Cerridwyn was grateful; snow and ice, while beautiful, were not to her taste. She was generally a graceful wolf, but was quite prone to clumsiness during the winter. And snow was cold, and stuck in her pawpads. "Yes, that's what I love about Phoenix Valley. We're all a family here," Xeris commented, and Cerridwyn smiled. It was a nice feeling to be part of a pack that was a family; not the head of it, not one that the members feared, but just a member who didn't have to scare others into respecting her. "I love tha' e'eryone is so close 'ere," she said. "I look for'ard t'the day I c'n really call th' pack me fam'ly."
She listened closely as the snowy female answered her question. At the mention of Delwyn, Cerridwyn threw up her arms and laughed merrly. "Delwyn! O' course! Why din't I realize? I jus' din't make th' connection, I s'pose. Had quite a tirin' game o' tag wi' tha' one nae too long ago," she informed Xeris. "Aye, 'e's somethin' else, 'at one is. 'E's go' 'is 'eart inna right place, though, bless 'im, th' silly li'l thin'. I dun think 'e'd wander out th' packlands, either; ye'll nae 'ave t'worry 'bout tha', I dun b'lieve."
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ooc: sorry for the lateness...
The white Luperci turned her eyes back to Xion for a moment, keeping watch to make sure that she didn't hurt herself or wander off. Xeris wondered what her daughter would grow up to be like. It seemed so far that the pup had inherited many of her mother's traits--definitely her curiosity, as demonstrated by her repeated distraction from her fishing attempts. Turning her attention back to Cerridwyn, Xeris was glad to hear that the hybrid seemed pleased with Phoenix Valley. She got the feeling that her new friend wasn't used to a pack like this one. Then again, Xeris herself hadn't been when she first arrived.
She was rather surprised when Cerridwyn mentioned that she had met Delwyn, but only for a moment; the boy was bound to have come across some other pack members in his wanderings. "Ah, you know him, then?" She couldn't help smiling at the thought of her son's antics. "Yes, he's a bit of a handful. Takes after his father," she said lightheartedly. "Speaking of which, who else have you met here?"
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