Sleep had become a cherished companion during the harder winter months. It wasn't hard due to scarcity of food as Iromar ever flourished with prey for the creatures wintered in the marsh as a way to avoid the harsher environments without. It wasn't even the cold for it was at times penetrating and at others, soothing with a hint of warmth. It was the way her body had changed. The children that were cradled within her belly had caused an extreme change - she had grown larger and much burlier. When she looked into the water yesterday, the murk having settled on the cold air, she had thought she stared at a bear rather than a wolf. Her belly was round, evidence of the time she had spent with Praetor, but the babies had not stopped there. Their presence had required a whole new layer of weight to spread across her entire figure and while she moved constantly her body had begun to ache beneath the weight, her joints crying out against whatever children were nestled within her.

Aithne had grown ravenous and grumpy this season, often waking at night in the midst of a loud grumble from her stomach. Praetor took care of her and the children but she wondered when even he would grow tired of the constant need to eat, having almost exhausted the supply of prey near her den. She had snacked this night and as soon as the warm food had hit her belly she was out like a light, a dark and dreamless slumber consuming her. Until a noise awakens her, a presence that blocks the entrance, a whine. Aithne would never and could never be considered a soft kind of wolf - when the children arrived she would struggle to understand just what was needed. To be close and far, Tesseract had said, and she would strive to find that middle ground.

Still, her pregnancy affords her a sense of over protective desires, her body stiffening immediately at the whine and she shoves herself up before sleep could even be warded off. "Halcyon?" Her voice cracks from sleep as she stumbles forward, away from the press of her mate, having to practically squeeze out of the entrance and almost bowling over the scared boy outside. It is instinct that makes her rush as she does, her eyes rapidly blinking against the pale light of morning as she spins her head to look at him, seeing the look of extreme panic and the remnants of a long run on his shaking figure. "What has happened?!" Her voice sharpens now, a low growl bubbling beneath it as she steps close to him and sniffs his shoulder and side. Normally such closeness would be a thing frowned upon by her but in this moment Halcyon resembles a child in need of protection, and that is truly what he is. She had taken him in by the scruff, literally, and she had promised him protection. While he had been away she had wondered if he was alright but chasing him down would be a fools errand - he must learn, she had thought, and while she did not go to offer moral support he would know Iromar was there to help if he just called. But what had happened to shake him so, this little hellion of Iblis and Rhae who had fought upon his arrival and now strove for such a distinguished rank?

Seven - Empress of Iromar - fated for Praetor

aithne