"Lake"
By Ami E. Bowen
It was cold. The forest was white with snow and branches fairly bent low with the weight of the frozen sky water covering them. Cheiftess Weepingshale sighed and stuck her foot down on the crusted ground, hearing the ice break beneath her heavy boot as her breath came out in a fog to waft through the air. She held her new bow, a gift Roughcall had spent the better part of two seasons fashioning from sturdy oakwood, out at arm's length and the quiver of black-tailed feathers were full on her back.
Shivering, she used one hand to pull her winter cloak tighter about her shoulders and looked around. Her keen nose sifted through the air, discarding normal scents of the forest, the nearby holt, the wolves and the large bond-ravens who nested high in the crags above the holt. She walked further from the holt, her footsteps as quiet as an elf as large with cub walking over frozen ground as they could be.
I've got to find something soon. She thought, thankful that most of her people were asleep in their shelters and did not know about thier pregnant chieftess leaving them for the morning. Our tribe can't last long on fish and ravvits...
She looked down at her belly, a tinge of motherly concern coursed through her. ** Don't worry, little one.** She sent to the unborn child within her, ** I would never let you starve.**
Yet hours of tracking proved nothing more than how very cold it truly was. Weepingshale thought of those she had lost. Preyhowl...Nightbreeze...Everheart. Who had gone scouting game in the white-cold when the young Silentmoon was no more than a few days old. She grew pale at the thought of losing anymore of her precious people and vowed to feed them with her own blood if everything else failed.
With a determined vigor, Weepingshale pushed onward, aware of the weight she carried and how low it has become over the past day or so. She grit her teeth and reminded herself that pregnant elves went hunting and tracking all the time. She thought of Nightbreeze and how active she was during her entire pregnancy. If Nightbreeze could do it, than surely the chieftess could as well.
All at once, almost as if in answer to her renewed determination, a wave of pain shot through her body, starting at her stomach and moving up her spine and across her midsection. Dizzy, she started to fall. Grasping the trunk of a nearby tree, she slide to the ground and found herself gasping for air as the ache slowly died to an end.
"Oh..." She cried, unable to make more than the basic sound of surprise. She had thought to mark the days until the cub would arrive...but, judging from the warm liquid seeping from her crotch and soaking through her leathers into the ground beneath her, her marks were a little off.
"Oh, little one." She said in a whisper, "Couldn't wait another day, could you?"
She knew that she had little time before the cub began to emerge to find shelter and so, using a low hanging branch, pulled herself to her feet. She cried out as movement caused the cubling to shift lower and wished she'd not had to leave Redsnout behind with his front leg bound in wraps and a splint from a fractured bone. The wolf had been frollicking with the her little daughter, Seedling when he'd slipped on a patch of ice and fallen, twisting his front leg at an awkward angle and breaking it.
Songdaughter, the healer, had soothed away most of the pain and helped knit the bone back together, but the wolf would be forced to remain inactive for a hand of days or so while the healing magic worked. Songdaughter had bound the leg and made the splint herself and charged Seedling and Coppertoe; the cub's own wolf-friend, to watch out for him.
Weepingshale's breath came out in hard gasps as she felt another wave of pain ride her to it's peak. She stumbled a few feet in the direction of the holt and held her stomach, groaning. She was trying to remember if Seedling had been so painful to give birth to. But, it had been seven seasons since she had whelped her young daughter and in the now of wolf-thought such things tended to become lost in the shuffle of indefinable elven memories.
** Chieftess! ** The sudden sending was close and nearly knocked her back to the ground with it's feirceness. She fell to her knees in the snow and moaned, her eyes watery. ** What in the name of Talltracker do you think you're doing? **
"Lastfall..." She looked up into the flame haired woman's face, "Quick! Call your wolf-friend..."
"Oh..." Lastfall's words of anger at her chieftess going off to track game in her condition died on her lips as she took in the full measure of what was happening. She ran to Weepingshale and held her up, guiding her towards the holt, "It's only a little ways..." She was silent a moment before she spoke again, "I've sent ahead to the healer..."
"Ohhh..." Weepingshale cried, ashamed at being seen in such a weaken state by one as strong as Lastfall. But the huntress either did not notice or choose to ignore her chieftess's feelings and gave a short breif howl.
"Leaper will carry you back faster." Lastfall's reddish-brown wolf loped into the clearing, snuffed and allowed the chieftess to climb onto his back. When she had secured her fingers into the thick winter coat of the animal, Lastfall bid him go...fast...to the holt.
Weepingshale, in the midist of the bumpy ride back to the holt, sensed her cubling's need to be born and named and loved. She felt tears spring to her eyes as her heart swelled with an overwhelmingly aching love for the infant awaiting birth. She blinked her eyes as they raced past a lake, it's frozen water sparkling in the light of the daystar, which was high in the sky by now, and felt her cubling's joy as her vision was shared with the little one within. Before she arrived at the holt and was gathered up by both her worried lifemate Bloodhowler and the healer, she knew what name she would give the new one once it came.
*** Coldarrow, his normally bubbly lifemate Gemsinger at his side clutching his hand with one of hers, waited outside the healer's den with the rest of the tribe for the birth of the cubling he knew to be his through recognition. He glanced at his lifemate and wondered what it was that had brought them together to begin with. Certainly not recognition. The cub he had sired on her had been born outside of that ancient elven mating urge. He wondered what made him love and want her so. They certainly couldn't be more different. She was light, cheerful and loved to dance and play. He was silent, moody, and often prone to sulking alone in the forest.
"I think it's gonna be a girl!" This came from Ayini, her amber eyes sparkling as she came up behind Glitterfall and Silentmoon, "Though half the tribe allready thinks it's a boy."
"I'll be glad that's healthy." Coldarrow spoke, drawing the attention of the most of the tribe, most, though they did not say or sent, knew of Coldarrow's role in the parentage of Weepingshale's new cubling. "We need healthy cubs."
"It will be, beloved." Gemsinger said, smiling, squeezing his hand, "Our daughter won't let anything go wrong."
Coldarrow nodded, knowing Songdaughter's powers of healing were good and strong.
Nearby, Grass and his twin sister Snake sit on the snowy ground wrapped in a large bear skin blanket. Seedling sat between them in the blanket and smiled at the thought of having a new sibling at last.
***
Singing softly, Songdaughter soothed most of the pain with her hands and magic, rubbing a pleasent-scented oil over Weepingshale's bare stomach. The chieftess, her lifemate Bloodhowler and the healer near, lay back on the soft furs of Songdaughter's bed and struggled to help a new life come into the world. She could hear her lifemate gasping nearby as every wave of pain washing over her was shared by one who carries her soulname within him.
"It's as smooth as ever." Songdaughter whispered, her voice calm and gentle, urging the birth onward with steady encouragment, "You're doing so wonderful, chieftess."
"Easy..." Weepingshale gasped, "...For you to...say!"
At this, Bloodhowler chuckled though the agony and Weepingshale grasped his tunic, pulling him down to her level, "Don't...laugh...at me!"
** Beloved.** Bloodhowler sent, ** I can feel the pain as you, we are recognized after all...I wasn't laughing at you...but trying to deal with this as best I am able...**
Songdaughter began singing again as the last moments of labor wore on. She smiled as she worked and rubbed more oil on Weepingshale's stomach, having Bloodhowler massage her legs so that the muscles did not cramp and told them both that the time was near.
*** Coldarrow smiled, a sound, slight as a bird's fluttering of wings upon emerging from the nest for the first time, whispered into his mind. That sound was followed by the sound of an infant's angry wails at being being forced to face this cold outside world. Gemsinger smiled up at him and stroked his hand with her own, seeing his slightly startled grin. She knew her lifemate had heard the cubling's soul name, as a true sire would.
Finally, after what seemd like many hands of day, but was really only a few hours at most, Songdaughter emerged from her den, her face beaded in sweat that turned chill in the wintery cold air. She faced the gathered tribe with a grin.
"Our chieftess is resting." She said, everyone was quiet, save for Chari who cried out; "Well? Is it a girl or a boy?"
"It's a boy." Songdaughter replied, still smiling, "Our chieftess has whelped a beautiful male cubling!"
"What's his name?" Snake asked, as everyone looked towards the den.
"Weepingshale hasn't said yet." Songdaughter said, "She will tell us soon, I imagine."
"I will tell them now." Weepingshale, supported by her lifemate, peeked from the hide covering of Songdaughter's den, her new cubling wrapped in thick warm furs at her breasts, his lusty wails heard over her voice. She both sent and spoke her next words. Seedling scooted out from between Snake and Grass and ran towards her mother to peer into the furs which swaddled her new brother.
"His name is Lake." She said, "The reason I have chosen to give him this name is shared between just me and my son. His soulname is known to me and the one who sired him..." She turned her gaze to Coldarrow for a split second, "And in turn will be shared by his lifemate or recognized mate when he is of age. Let us raise our voices in a howl of welcome to little Lake!"
Voices, wolf and elf alike, rose into the frigid winter air in a howl of welcome.
~End~
It was cold. The forest was white with snow and branches fairly bent low with the weight of the frozen sky water covering them. Cheiftess Weepingshale sighed and stuck her foot down on the crusted ground, hearing the ice break beneath her heavy boot as her breath came out in a fog to waft through the air. She held her new bow, a gift Roughcall had spent the better part of two seasons fashioning from sturdy oakwood, out at arm's length and the quiver of black-tailed feathers were full on her back.
Shivering, she used one hand to pull her winter cloak tighter about her shoulders and looked around. Her keen nose sifted through the air, discarding normal scents of the forest, the nearby holt, the wolves and the large bond-ravens who nested high in the crags above the holt. She walked further from the holt, her footsteps as quiet as an elf as large with cub walking over frozen ground as they could be.
I've got to find something soon. She thought, thankful that most of her people were asleep in their shelters and did not know about thier pregnant chieftess leaving them for the morning. Our tribe can't last long on fish and ravvits...
She looked down at her belly, a tinge of motherly concern coursed through her. ** Don't worry, little one.** She sent to the unborn child within her, ** I would never let you starve.**
Yet hours of tracking proved nothing more than how very cold it truly was. Weepingshale thought of those she had lost. Preyhowl...Nightbreeze...Everheart. Who had gone scouting game in the white-cold when the young Silentmoon was no more than a few days old. She grew pale at the thought of losing anymore of her precious people and vowed to feed them with her own blood if everything else failed.
With a determined vigor, Weepingshale pushed onward, aware of the weight she carried and how low it has become over the past day or so. She grit her teeth and reminded herself that pregnant elves went hunting and tracking all the time. She thought of Nightbreeze and how active she was during her entire pregnancy. If Nightbreeze could do it, than surely the chieftess could as well.
All at once, almost as if in answer to her renewed determination, a wave of pain shot through her body, starting at her stomach and moving up her spine and across her midsection. Dizzy, she started to fall. Grasping the trunk of a nearby tree, she slide to the ground and found herself gasping for air as the ache slowly died to an end.
"Oh..." She cried, unable to make more than the basic sound of surprise. She had thought to mark the days until the cub would arrive...but, judging from the warm liquid seeping from her crotch and soaking through her leathers into the ground beneath her, her marks were a little off.
"Oh, little one." She said in a whisper, "Couldn't wait another day, could you?"
She knew that she had little time before the cub began to emerge to find shelter and so, using a low hanging branch, pulled herself to her feet. She cried out as movement caused the cubling to shift lower and wished she'd not had to leave Redsnout behind with his front leg bound in wraps and a splint from a fractured bone. The wolf had been frollicking with the her little daughter, Seedling when he'd slipped on a patch of ice and fallen, twisting his front leg at an awkward angle and breaking it.
Songdaughter, the healer, had soothed away most of the pain and helped knit the bone back together, but the wolf would be forced to remain inactive for a hand of days or so while the healing magic worked. Songdaughter had bound the leg and made the splint herself and charged Seedling and Coppertoe; the cub's own wolf-friend, to watch out for him.
Weepingshale's breath came out in hard gasps as she felt another wave of pain ride her to it's peak. She stumbled a few feet in the direction of the holt and held her stomach, groaning. She was trying to remember if Seedling had been so painful to give birth to. But, it had been seven seasons since she had whelped her young daughter and in the now of wolf-thought such things tended to become lost in the shuffle of indefinable elven memories.
** Chieftess! ** The sudden sending was close and nearly knocked her back to the ground with it's feirceness. She fell to her knees in the snow and moaned, her eyes watery. ** What in the name of Talltracker do you think you're doing? **
"Lastfall..." She looked up into the flame haired woman's face, "Quick! Call your wolf-friend..."
"Oh..." Lastfall's words of anger at her chieftess going off to track game in her condition died on her lips as she took in the full measure of what was happening. She ran to Weepingshale and held her up, guiding her towards the holt, "It's only a little ways..." She was silent a moment before she spoke again, "I've sent ahead to the healer..."
"Ohhh..." Weepingshale cried, ashamed at being seen in such a weaken state by one as strong as Lastfall. But the huntress either did not notice or choose to ignore her chieftess's feelings and gave a short breif howl.
"Leaper will carry you back faster." Lastfall's reddish-brown wolf loped into the clearing, snuffed and allowed the chieftess to climb onto his back. When she had secured her fingers into the thick winter coat of the animal, Lastfall bid him go...fast...to the holt.
Weepingshale, in the midist of the bumpy ride back to the holt, sensed her cubling's need to be born and named and loved. She felt tears spring to her eyes as her heart swelled with an overwhelmingly aching love for the infant awaiting birth. She blinked her eyes as they raced past a lake, it's frozen water sparkling in the light of the daystar, which was high in the sky by now, and felt her cubling's joy as her vision was shared with the little one within. Before she arrived at the holt and was gathered up by both her worried lifemate Bloodhowler and the healer, she knew what name she would give the new one once it came.
*** Coldarrow, his normally bubbly lifemate Gemsinger at his side clutching his hand with one of hers, waited outside the healer's den with the rest of the tribe for the birth of the cubling he knew to be his through recognition. He glanced at his lifemate and wondered what it was that had brought them together to begin with. Certainly not recognition. The cub he had sired on her had been born outside of that ancient elven mating urge. He wondered what made him love and want her so. They certainly couldn't be more different. She was light, cheerful and loved to dance and play. He was silent, moody, and often prone to sulking alone in the forest.
"I think it's gonna be a girl!" This came from Ayini, her amber eyes sparkling as she came up behind Glitterfall and Silentmoon, "Though half the tribe allready thinks it's a boy."
"I'll be glad that's healthy." Coldarrow spoke, drawing the attention of the most of the tribe, most, though they did not say or sent, knew of Coldarrow's role in the parentage of Weepingshale's new cubling. "We need healthy cubs."
"It will be, beloved." Gemsinger said, smiling, squeezing his hand, "Our daughter won't let anything go wrong."
Coldarrow nodded, knowing Songdaughter's powers of healing were good and strong.
Nearby, Grass and his twin sister Snake sit on the snowy ground wrapped in a large bear skin blanket. Seedling sat between them in the blanket and smiled at the thought of having a new sibling at last.
***
Singing softly, Songdaughter soothed most of the pain with her hands and magic, rubbing a pleasent-scented oil over Weepingshale's bare stomach. The chieftess, her lifemate Bloodhowler and the healer near, lay back on the soft furs of Songdaughter's bed and struggled to help a new life come into the world. She could hear her lifemate gasping nearby as every wave of pain washing over her was shared by one who carries her soulname within him.
"It's as smooth as ever." Songdaughter whispered, her voice calm and gentle, urging the birth onward with steady encouragment, "You're doing so wonderful, chieftess."
"Easy..." Weepingshale gasped, "...For you to...say!"
At this, Bloodhowler chuckled though the agony and Weepingshale grasped his tunic, pulling him down to her level, "Don't...laugh...at me!"
** Beloved.** Bloodhowler sent, ** I can feel the pain as you, we are recognized after all...I wasn't laughing at you...but trying to deal with this as best I am able...**
Songdaughter began singing again as the last moments of labor wore on. She smiled as she worked and rubbed more oil on Weepingshale's stomach, having Bloodhowler massage her legs so that the muscles did not cramp and told them both that the time was near.
*** Coldarrow smiled, a sound, slight as a bird's fluttering of wings upon emerging from the nest for the first time, whispered into his mind. That sound was followed by the sound of an infant's angry wails at being being forced to face this cold outside world. Gemsinger smiled up at him and stroked his hand with her own, seeing his slightly startled grin. She knew her lifemate had heard the cubling's soul name, as a true sire would.
Finally, after what seemd like many hands of day, but was really only a few hours at most, Songdaughter emerged from her den, her face beaded in sweat that turned chill in the wintery cold air. She faced the gathered tribe with a grin.
"Our chieftess is resting." She said, everyone was quiet, save for Chari who cried out; "Well? Is it a girl or a boy?"
"It's a boy." Songdaughter replied, still smiling, "Our chieftess has whelped a beautiful male cubling!"
"What's his name?" Snake asked, as everyone looked towards the den.
"Weepingshale hasn't said yet." Songdaughter said, "She will tell us soon, I imagine."
"I will tell them now." Weepingshale, supported by her lifemate, peeked from the hide covering of Songdaughter's den, her new cubling wrapped in thick warm furs at her breasts, his lusty wails heard over her voice. She both sent and spoke her next words. Seedling scooted out from between Snake and Grass and ran towards her mother to peer into the furs which swaddled her new brother.
"His name is Lake." She said, "The reason I have chosen to give him this name is shared between just me and my son. His soulname is known to me and the one who sired him..." She turned her gaze to Coldarrow for a split second, "And in turn will be shared by his lifemate or recognized mate when he is of age. Let us raise our voices in a howl of welcome to little Lake!"
Voices, wolf and elf alike, rose into the frigid winter air in a howl of welcome.
~End~