Aithne reclines in her den with Praetor nearby. She can feel their bond, that connection that seemed infinitely strengthened by their devotion to one another. While she had been continuously frustrated this winter, a combination of frustrations both of lack of evidence for her missing Consul and the hormones that raged wildly within her (much to her dismay), she felt a sense of contentment that she had not felt ever in her existence. The knowledge that Praetor had chosen her and that they were now complete - both complete in soul and in heart. As each day passed her grip of reluctance fled, each touch from him and to him a balm to her soul, and she reserved that love like a tightly held gift within her. It was not for others to see and she did not make grand overtures in public with him, a mere touch of his body enough to stabilize her. Already his position at her side would afford him a target in the event another decided to focus upon her and she would not give them more fuel for that fire power.

The day is a lazy one with her legs stretched out to the side in her back and her eyes at half mast, simply enjoying the moment. Until a cry, so familiar and dear, takes up into the air. With it Aithne rises in one swift motion, tail erect and ears forward, eyes shining in disbelief and in joy. Raven had returned! She felt recently a sense of betrayal, wondering if the girl hadn't left her on purpose because why would she stay gone so long? But no, it was not right, and Raven was back.

Aithne lunges into a flat out run, her massive body plowing through weeds with snaps and jolts. She did not take the easy paths this time but a more direct route through the dirty part of the swamps, cold mud sinking between her toes and claws and splashing up along her hips and belly. Wide jaws part to let out huffs of air as she thunders across Iromar, breaking close to a spot where she assumed Raven had called from and in that moment she sees him. Sees that vile, filthy male dismounting from her Consul. HER FRIEND. It is clear by Raven's demeanor that this was NOT consensual and fury, remembered and once held, flares through her body.

She lets loose a vicious snarl even as she rocks forward, a juggernaut as she focuses solely upon that wretched male, racing towards him with death on her face and saliva dripping from her teeth. He runs for all cowards run after committing foul deeds. Her own assailant had run in her younger years and she had tracked him down and she had covered him, but her intent had been to suffocate the life out of him and he had watched her until the moment of his death. She flies by Raven, on the heels of the rapist, her jaws snapping in her blood lust; can he feel her breath upon those tender bones of his legs? Can he feel the way her teeth rip some of that fur away from the tip of his tail?

But this male is much smaller in both height and weight and she is not built for such stamina - her body meant to break walls and for barriers. So he begins to gain distance and a little over the line of Iromar she comes to a bouncing halt as he slips through some trees. She stands there for a moment and then she howls and it is one of rage and warning - he was now an enemy of Iromar and a death sentence was upon his doorstep if he ever encountered one of hers again. Thus Aithne turns back and begins a swift trot back to Raven, worry and failure hanging over her like a cloud, coming upon the scene to spy Starfall near her. She does not growl at him or run him off because she knew he cared for Raven, the feathers he had brought once before so clear in their gesture, and she pauses a few feet away from her Consul. "Raven," she says in a broken voice, not sure how to ease her pain, how to ask her where she has been. All she knows is how to show her that she cares and so she does, stepping forward and slowly reaching out to touch her muzzle to Raven's in a sign of deep respect since the girl would know Aithne's dislike of such touch for many.

Six - Empress of Iromar - fated for Praetor

aithne