tea for two

Skye Collins · 07-07-2012, 12:12 PM

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Smile

The female had known it since the day before - the slight sickness at every lurching movement, the headaches and the stomachaches in the morning, each morning, the changes in her body overall. The regret she felt over coupling with Jazper increased tenfold; although there was no discernible difference to her person, and no one else may be able to see what she did, it was only a matter of time before she began to show.

Fettered, she knew she had to tell someone - she couldn't keep this secret her secret alone, although she wanted to. If it was possible for her to never say, and for no one to find out, she would have opted for that - it was only a matter of time, however, and she needed to tell someone, if at least to relieve her pressure only a bit. Most of the pack was away, on the trip - for that she was thankful. She knew that there were good fighters on that ship, able to protect it and themselves quite well. With a relatively empty Cercatori d'Arte to protect, she could find the time to tell someone without attracting too much attention.

She knew that Jace had been feeling ill. Not wanting her friend to suffer, she brewed her a tea in her home over a fire; it contained berries and leaves from the garden for the taste, and also a few poppy seeds to help her with her pain. The poppy wouldn't harm the little ones in her stomach, however - she had made sure of that.

She took the kettle of tea as well as a cup to Jace's house - she knocked on the door lightly, hoping that the female was feeling well enough today to drink a bit of the tea, and perhaps talk a bit. The leader stood at the door, tea and cups in her hand, waiting.

Jace Wolfe · 07-14-2012, 01:48 PM

If you reply to this straight away I might just kill you :|

The arctic woman was fast asleep while her fast forming friend was making her way from her own house towards Jace's. Her dreams were not restful and she tossed and twitched, whining unhappily as the unpleasant imaged played over her mind. Blood drenched the walls and pain lanced every step. The loud knocking had her sitting up quickly with a sharp gasp, her breath coming in bursts of erratic panting. She felt scared, dizzy and sick. Trying to slow her rapidly beating heart she managed to raise herself to her feet, swallowing heavily as the vertigo had her world spinning. She grasped hold of the long staff that temo had carved for her to help her get around when she was feeling ill and slowly made her way to the door, her stomach leading the way.

She was surprised and rather happy to see Skye stood there looking as though she were hoping for a longish visit from the sight of the cups and steaming pot she brought with her. She wagged her tail tiredly, her eyes almost half lidded from her exhaustion and her voice a quiet timbre from its normal strength,

"Hello, come in. Everybody else if out at the moment, so it's just me." Honrin and Dalgina were off on that trading voyage, Temo was in his shop and her other two girls were presumably doing what their ranks required of them. She invited the Captina in with a welcoming wave of her hand.

Skye Collins · 07-17-2012, 05:56 PM

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She smiled as the woman opened the door - her friend looked older, more tired, as if the pregnancy was truly taking a toll on her. Skye was not one to have large litters, as evidenced by her mother only having her and Alexander, and she herself only having a litter of two. Even now, her belly was not formed and may not be for a while - she simply did not have the genes for larger litters. She knew that Jace, however, did, and it was apparent by not only her size, but her fatigue that was etched upon her face as she welcomed Skye into her home.

Smiling, she entered the Wolfe woman's home, setting down the heavy pot of tea and the cups down on a table. Silently, she poured the tea into the cup, putting it out for Jace to take if she wished. She hoped it tasted good. She smiled at her friend, tail wagging slowly, a wolfish greeting in body language.

"Your children will be beautiful," she stated simply. It was true - Jace's children now were all beautiful and colorful and varied, and she was sure that her children yet to be born would be just as wonderful to look at.

Jace Wolfe · 08-11-2012, 07:17 PM

sorry for fail

Temo's staff was clutched tightly in her paw as one of her regular dizzy waves overtook her. The woman had to lower herself down into one of the three chairs surrounding the table Skye set her tea pots onto before she fell to the floor. She grit her teeth against the vertigo and nausea. he wave of tiredness that followed was soul crushing. She could relax in the company of the Captina, trusting Skye would let no ill befall her. She massaged her temples while Skye poured the fragrant tea into the two cups without a word as though she knew her friend would need fortification before continuing any conversation.

The steaming cup was pulled towards herself with a grateful smile and lifted slowly to her lips by paws that trembled. The tea was sweet on the tongue and helped to calm her shaking hands, its heat permeating deep into her body. She looked up at Skye as she spoke, her eyes betraying just how truly tired she was. A deeply warm motherly look instantly washed away her exhaustion and her mismatched gaze shined,

"Yes. They are all beautiful to me. I am blessed with such a large family." To any normal gray wolf this statement would be strange for four was not an overly large number of children. But to Jace every last child was doubly precious going back to the place of her birth up in the high arctic where children very rarely survived and a wolfess should be very lucky to raise to adulthood two or three children in her entire life, her own mother had amazingly defied all of the odds nature had thrown at the small family and kept alive Jace and her younger sister Elsie of the same litter. In a world where every year the number of pup deaths were in the high twenties, for a single child to have survived was miraculous, more was simply amazing. Jace felt heavily the weight of all those lost lives upon her own soul, a feeling every woman of Denahlli origin was very familiar with.

Skye Collins · 08-23-2012, 08:16 PM

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Skye's eyebrows knit together in concern as Jace stumbled slightly - she knew that the pregnancy was being hard on her. She smiled, however, as she drank the blue tea, her eyes lifting to meet Skye's, showing how truly tired and exhausted she really was. She felt for her friend, and hoped that the tea helped.

"You are," she agreed - Skye herself did not have genes that would allow a large litter such as Jace's. Her largest litter, she suspected, would be the only one she had had so far - that is, except for the one she was carrying inside of her, at that moment. "And soon, so will I be..."

It was, perhaps, not the most elegant way to put it, but it was matter of fact - she saw how tired and exhausted Jace was, and at least wanted her to know that she was not alone, as well as telling her that she was, in fact, pregnant. She had to have told someone - and now that the words were lifted from her tongue, she felt a bit lighter yet.

Jace Wolfe · 08-27-2012, 01:42 PM

She was sipping some of the hot tea when Skye spoke and coughed as the surprise she felt caused her to suddenly inhaled some of it by accident. Patting herself on the sternum with one paw she lowered her cup to the table with the other and coughed a few times more. When she was sure she was not going to cough again she looked up at Skye a mixture of surprise and elation on her face, and she reached over to grasp the Captina's hand,

"That's very good news. We always need new life, to look to the future, the future will always be bright if he do." It was something her mother had often said, youth were the future and their entire world. Suddenly her old customs came back to her and she got to her feet quite suddenly and looked about herself, she was so rude to sit there drinking tea when the Alpha carried children inside of her. Oh how her mother would scold her for being so rude. Her poor mother... now appearing even more sad Jace began to shuffle about the kitchen searching for something and occasionally telling Skye to remain seated and that she wouldn't be long in her search.

She found what she was searching for with a small sigh of relief, it was a few strips of smoked meat, a paltry snack at best but it was the most she could find in her home. Custom dictated it should be food found within her own home and not brought from outside for the occasion, that much had been clear. Jace had never performed such a custom for the Alpha she had served under because of the lead female's infertility but she knew how it was supposed to go. She sat back down and arranged the strips in a precise arrangement, that would no doubt be meaningless to Skye, in fact this entire thing would be meaningless but Jace would not forget the teachings of her home,

She struggled to translate the ancient saying into a language that Skye could understand and where she failed the first time, she said it again right, "Inkila... Alpha. Kanyana... I come with good will. From the Olnayni.. the snow and from the Trongla.. the air and from the Earth too. I give you this gift, this food from my Ingali.. my home, of my Tingla... my family. So that you and yours Khina... your children may grow strong." She finished the saying with a small bow of her head and gesture that Skye take and eat the food she had offered.

Skye Collins · 09-08-2012, 01:17 PM

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The alpha leaned forward in surprise and concern as Jace seemed to choke on her tea, coughing and hacking as though the liquid had gone down the wrong pipe. She hadn't known that the news would be that surprising, or she wouldn't have told her while she was drinking the tea... just as she was about to ask if the woman was alright, however, Jace sat up once more, seemingly recovered from her coughing episode.

Her concerned countenance turned to a smile as Jace grasped her hand, telling her of the value and joy that new life brought. Her face once again morphed, now to confusion, as Jace got up in a rush and began to rummage around in the kitchen, looking for something that Skye could not see or help her with, apparently. It was always strange, visiting Jace - she was her friend, and yet.. she was so.. strange, sometimes.

Jace then laid out some strips of meat on the table, and began to say strange words that were alien to Skye's ears, but no doubt held great importance to the arctic woman before her. Skye smiled as she finished the words and the translation, indicating that Skye should eat the food. As to not be rude, she took one of the strips of meat and began to eat it.

"Thank you very much, Jace," she said happily. "It means a lot to me." Although she did not know the value of the ceremony, she knew that it was important to Jace, and therefore, it was important to Skye.

Jace Wolfe · 09-25-2012, 01:53 PM

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whee

Only when Skye took her first bite did Jace relax suitably back into their earlier pleasantness. No doubt she had wierded Skye out completely with her seemingly strange behavior. Now that she had finished the offering ritual did she see how silly it would look to an outsider. Jace was not stupid and knew that Skye would have no clue as to the meaning of all her posturing so she hastened to explain,

"Forgive my strangeness, it's a custom native to my tribe. In my birth pack when the Inkila, the Alpha discovers that she's pregnant its celebrated in this way. She travels around the pack to each family's tent or hut and she is offered food from the home as a gift to help her and her children stay healthy. Her children are given the best chance of surviving in the entire pack for they are the most important of all although not always do her children succeed her, sometimes others are more fitting of the role." Jace seemed far away as she explained the cultural concepts behind the funny offering, "It is an ancient tradition, going back to before we even gained the ability to walk upright and have hands. I didn't want to be the one to break tradition.. even... even so far away from my home."

She was sad looking now, a mighty warrior brought low by her condition and then cut by matters of the heart and soul.

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Skye Collins · 09-26-2012, 10:38 AM

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Skye's interest piqued when Jace spoke of the traditions of her home; Skye herself had no traditions, had no vows to bind herself to a certain way of life. And yet she respected Jace's traditions and rituals, although she could never truly understand them or why she did them.

Jace spoke of how far she was from home, and Skye moved to put her hand on Jace's own. "I am sorry," she said. She did not know why Jace left her home - but she loved it, she knew, so whatever had made her leave must have been something terrible.

She looked down to Jace's stomach; the life within her was growing, and so was the life within Skye. Soon, they would both be mothers, although they already had been mothers once before - the difference between them was that Jace had Temo, and the father of Skye's pups.. well, she would not ask him to come to her. It was a mistake made by both of them, and Jazper had his own responsibilities.

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