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WARNING: Sexual Content is contained within this story. Be advised. There’s also violence. But who is surprised by that? krwordgazer wrote: *SPLAT!!* (whether it's someone jumping into water, a sudden downpour or whatever the imagination can come up with!) Balance A New Revelation (this can be about something they have, something they thought they knew, something they find, etc) Nagging A First Word - whether it's the first word someone says in the story, or someone's first word in another language/tongue Trying to Change Habits: The struggle to break a bad habit, or trying to start (and stick with) a good one. ______________________________________________________________________ Days and nights blended in together; one sun setting, two moons rising. An endless chase through the soft blue skies to the dark velvet of night. “This is madness,” Daymist sighed. “We have been following the Preserver for weeks now.” “Even I begin to doubt the Preserver’s sanity,” Joybringer sighed. “Could it have flown for so many days, in search of the Palace?” “It hears the call as we do,” Echo said with a smile. “The way we tingle the closer we got to the Palace.” “And now we leave it behind,” Daymist shook her head. “To the mercy of those frozen trolls.” “We will come back for it,” Shadow said, from the front. “We will come back for it when we have more elves. When we have more to fight the trolls.” “So you have said,” Daymist muttered beneath her breath. She made no secret of the fact that she disliked Shadow and his tribe. She believed them to be more savage than elf. The way they dressed, the way they lived. They were barbarians, almost no better than the human savages who had first attacked the Palace. Skyshade suddenly fell from her wolf, gripping her stomach. Stream was quickly at her side. “Chief! It’s time!” Shadow brought everyone around Skyshade. “We camp here. Foxhair, Vineweaver, you’re with me. We shall scout around. Moonsong, Treerunner, you keep watch here.” “I am going with you,” Joybringer stepped forward. “I want to learn to hunt.” Shadow shook his head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. You should stay here.” “Thankfully,” Joybringer said with determination. “I don’t care what you think.” The intensity of frustration between Shadow and Joybringer was reaching a breaking point. Everyone else could feel it. Tensions were mounting as the two of them fought Recognition for their own reasons. Shadow, because he had felt that Foxfur was his one true love. She would be the one he would one day Recognize. Though he understood the need for Recognition, he fought it with all his heart, with all of his soul. Having Joybringer with him during a scouting mission would prove distracting. As much as he fought Recognition – the need to mate, the need to protect her, was unbearable to endure. As the days passed, he grew increasingly irritated. Wolves mated for life; and his choice was Foxhair. The Curse of Recognition, a part of his elven side, was conflicting with the Way of thinking. Joybringer fought Recognition, because she believed herself above mating with someone she regarded like an animal. Though she respected Shadow’s ability as both a warrior and a leader, she could not see past the wolf blood that coursed through her veins. She did not want to be here to see Skyshade give birth to twins. It would be a reminder of when both Warsong and Wardance, of her own tribe, mated with one of Shadow’s. Scouting the dark plains, Shadow looked to those with him. “Foxhair and I will go…” “No,” Joybringer snapped. “I want to go with you, Shadow. There is something to discuss.” Foxhair looked at Shadow and pleaded silently that he just do it – to mate with her – to complete the circle of Recognition. She would understand that when it was all done – that he would come to her. She would help raise his cub if the need ever arose. Foxhair smiled. “Of course,” she said. “Vineweaver and I will go this way. You two go that way.” Shadow looked at Foxhair, pleading silently himself, that she would change her mind and come with them. He did not want to be alone with Joybringer. Once they were far enough away, Joybringer turned to look at Shadow. “Look, I have been trying to fight this nagging feeling of Recognition that’s burning at my soul,” she shook her head, tears were brimming in her eyes, sparkling like diamonds beneath the twin moons in the sky. “But I can’t. I don’t eat. I can’t even feel anything anymore. Only frustration. And the desire to mate. I hate that this curse of Recognition has demanded that I mate with you. I hate that I see you for your tainted blood, and not just for who you are. I hate that I know your secrets. I hate that I know how you feel about me. I hate that I know how you feel about Foxhair. I hate it. But I can’t go on. I can’t. If we don’t answer this call of Recognition here and I now, High Ones help me, I will beg for death rather than live another day like this!” Shadow approached Joybringer and she collapsed into his arms weeping. Her golden locks of hair, like streams of sunlight fell around him. Her scent engulfed him like a tidal wave over a small stone. The two fell to the soft ground, and slowly began touching… Stream laid Skyshade down. “Now you have to breath easy,” Stream smiled at the expecting mother. “Breathe easy?” Skyshade screamed. “I have – I have – what’s it called?” “Twins,” Warsong held her right hand while Wardance held her left hand. She was clenching tightly. “Yes! Twins! Not one cub! But two cubs!” Skyshade shouted. “We need to keep her voice down,” Moonsong looked around nervously. “We don’t know what’s around us and she’s liable to attract the attention of something we may not want coming this way.” “Keep my voice down?” Skyshade growled. “How do you expect me to keep my voice down? I have two cubs coming out of me! And it feels like they’re fighting to see who can come out first!” Warsong looked over at Wardance. They smiled. “From the stories we heard, our mother explained us as the same way.” Moonsong began to sing softly. She was renowned for her ability to sing songs that could sooth a child’s crying who had just been bitten by a Stingertail – which was an extremely poisonous, but often not deadly, insect whose venom caused intense itching and burning beneath the skin for several days. Almost instantly, both the unborn children, as well as Skyshade felt a sense of tranquility as Moonsong’s voice carrier gently across the breeze. Joybringer’s bare body straddled Shadow’s as he laid beneath her. His hands roamed her soft, pink skin as she placed her hands on his chest for balance. The sensation was beyond phenomenal – and neither could understand – in that given moment, why they had fought Recognition for so long. While the act, the sensation, of mating has always felt incredible – Recognition enhanced it. For Joybringer, she closed her eyes. He felt so wonderful. His every thrust within her made her body explode in pleasure. Stream pulled the first child from Skyshade’s womb and smiled. “It would seem our tribe has one more girl.” She handed the young cub to Stillbreeze, who had mothered three cubs of her own, and knew to immediately clean the child and care for it while they waited on the second cub to be born. Joybringer let out a final moan of ecstasy and collapsed onto Shadow, her body drenched in sweat and pleasure. She ran her hair through Shadow’s thick hair, “You are indeed quite the animal, are you not?” She giggled slightly. It was quite a revelation to her to see that the very aspect of Shadow that she had disliked – the wolf in his blood – had also made him quite good in between the furs. Daymist watched as the second child came from Skyshade’s womb. Daymist, like Stream, had been a healer. But the long age and natural immunity to most diseases and sickness, had made her own power wane. She was nowhere the incredible healer that Stream had become. A hard life of death, injury, disease, war, had all forced Stream to hone her healing powers and master them at a very young age. And as Daymist watched Stream calmly deliver the second child, all the while also gently healing Skyshade, so that her pain was minimal, Daymist understood that there was much more to these elves who rode on wolves – there was much to learn. Much to respect. Daymist had a habit of disliking what she did not understand; anything new that had been unexpectedly added to the equation. But now she was seeing that these Stonehowl Elves were much more than the mere savages she had first painted them as. They were gentle, loving, caring – more of a family, than a tribe. Closer to one another, than any of the Firstborn had been with one another. She saw in their eyes, the intensity, the compassion, the ability to immediately sacrifice their lives for another, not out of foolishness, but out of sheer love for one another. Daymist knew she had to change her habit; change the way she thought of things. It would take a long time, but this was the first step. Stream held up the second child, “And it would seem the second cub is a boy.” Joybringer slid on her leathers as she smiled at Shadow. “Listen,” Shadow began. “Foxhair and I discussed this. If you want she and I to take care of the cub, we would be happy to do so. You would need to have nothing to do with it, in case when this is all said and done, you wanted to part ways when this war is over.” Joybringer smiled. “I would like us all to be one family. Together.” “All of us?” Shadow looked at her. That would be unusual. Wolves often denned together; but the mating was for life. “All of us,” Joybringer smiled. Shadow nodded, gave it more thought. “I think that might be possible.” It would be different. But then everything has been different since the day they had left their forest home in search of others. Suddenly Joybringer’s face went blank. “Shadow?” She barely muttered the words. “What is it?” She fell to her knees. Then he saw the arrow in her back. His eyes looked up – and in the distant brush – he saw them. Six eyes reflected in the moon light. In the intense moment of passion, they had managed to get closer than they would have ever before. Humans. The soft splat of the arrow into Joybringer’s back had escaped his ears. Shadow growled. A life for a life. He drew his dagger and prepared to pounce. A Life for A Life. Balance. Skyshade held the twins in her arms, sweat drenched from her face and body. She shivered in the cold, as the other gathered around her and smiled. The twin children seemed to say speak harmoniously. But none were ready for the first words these two beautiful cubs spoke. “Doom,” they said, in baby talk. “Doom.”