Harbringr's scent stopped here. Her meeting with him had brief, but quite memorable - and it was only when she noticed the life beginning to grow within her did she realize it'd been more than just a passing encounter. For so long she'd been searching for some greater purpose and suddenly it had been bestowed upon her. Even if she couldn't find purpose, even if she felt her gods had punished her, at least she could know that the Finnvi bloodline was being carried on into the future. Having children wasn't something she'd ever dreamt of specifically but she knew it was important and wasn't at all opposed to this new chapter.

And though she was hardly a pack wolf, when she found herself stopped at Habari's borders, she knew there was a reason she'd ended up here. As much as she wished she could raise a litter of children with just Aryn at her side, as she had been for so many months now, she knew practically that children thrived when surrounded by others. They could spend time training and worshiping rather than simply fighting to survive, which was sometimes all the life of a rogue consisted of. With the season being as harsh as it had been, when she ended up here she knew everything simply made sense. She didn't know the first thing about Harbringr but he'd spoke to her about his sons and how fatherhood had given him purpose, and she had to hope he'd know it was fated just as she did now.

She lifted her head to sniff at the air, taking in the assortment of scents that lingered her. Harbringr's scent was faint but clearly stopped here. She tilted her head back at Aryn, flashing her companion a smile that possessed about as much warmth as she was capable of. She'd helped bolster the weak girl back up, aiding her physically as well as mentally, teaching her to fend for herself against all odds - and the last season had certainly tested them both. As soon as she'd recognized that she was pregnant she'd told Aryn, and she fully expected the girl would see her through her pregnancy, wherever she ended up. In fact, she'd insist on it. "Time to find out if this is where he's hiding," she quipped, raising an eyebrow before lifting her head to the sky and letting loose a call for Harbringr.

Though she couldn't know it yet it Eyrún's call couldn't have been timed any worse. The wounds of her uncle's death were still fresh in Recluse's mind. Worse still was the effect it had had on her cousins, Jigsaw was distant, and poor Áskell had witnessed the entire affair and the woman suddenly realized she wasn't equipped to help him. The best she could do was offer her strength to her grieving family, the boys, and her aunt especially. As for her own children she was doing what she could to help them work through their first experience with death... which she had realized only days ago was technically he first experience with a proper death, though she assumed well enough at this point that her parents were dead, and had been dead to her emotionally since she'd been a child.

So there was a mix of emotions that flowed through the woman as she answered the call for her uncle, frustration, anger, a fresh wave of grief. These emotions would only get more confusing as the stranger appeared before her, cherry gaze instantly jumping to the woman's visibly swollen stomach. "Oh god." She wasn't quick enough to stop the words as they drop from her lips, realization, and pain in her tone in equal measure. She hoped to the gods she was wrong, that she wasn't about to have to tell this stranger that her unborn were to be denied their father... something that seemed to always happen in their family, by some cruel twist of fate. She summoned her courage and approached the woman until she was standing close to the border on her side of the territory. Her gaze flicked towards the black and grey girl, only a little younger than herself.

"I am Recluse Klien, Harbringr's niece and the leader of Habari. He voice wavered slightly as she said her uncle's name, and she berated herself mentally for showing weakness in front of these two strangers. "Forgive me but may I ask... Are they his?" She gestured toward's the woman's stomach, her tone softer than it might otherwise have been, all signs that she would not be angry at the answer, the pain clearly evident in her tone and posture and she tried to bite back the tears that were prickling at the corners of her eyes as she considered that yet another branch of her family would be broken.

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Art by MrRendy

She wasn't left waiting for long at all before her call was answered. The woman that greeted her had an ethereal sort of beauty that was hard to ignore; Eyrún suppressed a quiet whistle through her teeth as she got a better look at her. If she'd been in a different position - and not visibly pregnant - perhaps she would've commented on her physical appeal, but instead she was tired, and all she could do was recline to her haunches and steady herself. The stranger didn't necessarily seem happy to see her though Eyrún couldn't say she blamed her. A pregnant woman at your doorstep, searching for the man that had impregnated her wasn't always a good scenario.

"Never seen a pregnant lady before?" Eyrún seemed amused, as if undeterred by Recluse's wariness. Her discomfort was written plainly all over her face, even if she couldn't find the source of it. "I won't bite, I promise. Far too tired. Who knew pregnancy was so exhausting," she admitted casually. Being on her own was all she'd ever known, but with children growing inside her she thought they'd be better off.. well, somewhere a little more robust. Not that she thought she couldn't do it, but the gods had sent her Harbringr for a reason - why ignore their obvious direction? She'd be a fool to.

"I am Eyrún Finnvi, and this is Aryn," she gestured to the younger girl hastily, before she had a chance to introduce herself. "And yes, these children are his." Eyrún wasn't good at recognizing emotions of others very easily; if she thought Recluse seemed hurt by her arrival she made no sign of it whatsoever. "Don't tell me he'll be disappointed to see me? It sounded like he quite enjoys fatherhood. I'm not here to rope him into anything. If I'm unwanted I'd be a fool to stay, but I figured he'd want to know. And I really wouldn't mind somewhere to rest awhile." She'd leave out all the bits about her gods guiding her here, at least until she got a better sense of the sort of wolf she was dealing with.

The woman's tone would normally have ruffled some feathers, Recluse certainly was no naive pup and a pregnant woman on her borders calling for her uncle would normally have made her annoyed if nothing else... but her uncle wasn't with them anymore and she was overwhelmed by the continued cycle of Klein children being fatherless... and while she had no intention of letting any of the children suffer as she had for her father's abandonment she still couldn't help but feel that the world was conspiring to remove the Klein men from their children's lives.

She shook her head lamely as Eyrun asked never having seen a pregnant woman before, her own children were still young and her new cousins were just starting to run around on their own as well... she was no stranger to the concept but she wasn't able to find the voice to say as much. Her stomach dropping as her suspicions were proven true, and the woman took a deep if shaking breath.

"I- I'm sure he would not have turned you away." She started carefully. "I- He- I would be happy to provide you a place to stay for the duration of your pregnancy and afterwards if you so desire but I-" She struggled through two false starts and decided instead to address the last point first, making it clear she wouldn't turn the woman away.

"However you should know that Harbingr is... no longer with us. There was an attack some days ago and he gave his life saving one of his sons from the attackers." Might as well rip that bandage right off right? Recluse met the woman's gaze, an openness she usually reserved only for her own children in her eyes. "But I am certain he would have been overjoyed to find out he had pups on the way, and as his niece I have no intentions of turning you or your children away if you still wish to stay."

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Art by MrRendy

Eyrún was hardly the most empathetic of wolves, and she wasn't the best at discerning how they felt - and even then she didn't ever try to cater to how others felt. But Recluse's rising discomfort was palpable even to someone as emotionally stunted as Eyrún. She didn't react to her slight snark, instead shaking her head and beginning to speak slowly and deliberately. She had the sound of someone who was afraid of saying the wrong thing, and afraid of the words that did eventually come out... like they might reveal a truth she was afraid to admit, somehow.

Come on, spit it out, she wanted to say, but she was still and silent as she waited for her to get her point across. Harbringr was dead, she finally said. What a shame. He was a good lay. His death didn't elicit much emotion in her, even if she recognized the grief in Recluse's voice and expression. Part of her, if but for a moment, wondered if Recluse was wrong. Why would the gods have led her here if Harbringr was dead? And yet... her gods had never failed her, nor led her astray. She had no reason to believe they would now. Somewhere at the corner of her vision she could see the form of Huginn, her raven companion, circling in the distance.

"I am..." She fumbled for her words, not wanting to disturb his niece. If she'd ended up here it was for a reason, even if she didn't know the true purpose of this path yet. "Sorry to hear of his passing. I'd be honored to stay. I am but a rogue - and my children deserve a proper place to grow, where food is more plentiful than whatever scraps we manage to find." The life of a lone wolf was not always an easy one. Some days she ate well and others not, but she had no doubt her gods instead her children to grow strong and wild, and she would no deprive them of that, even if the words she spoke sounded foreign on her tongue.