Still dragging the unconscious woman between his legs, Laufey finally made it to Yfir. He drug her far enough into the pack that no one from the outside could see her and then he dropped her unceremoniously. It had occurred to him while he was dragging her that he knew next to nothing about her. He didn't know if she had family who might come looking for her or traveling companions who might follow her trail. His gaze dropped to the woman and he noted the blood on her face. It hadn't been his intention to hurt her, but clearly he had. He leaned down and gently cleaned the blood away, hoping that with this simple act he'd make up for the harm he'd done. He needed to talk to Katja. She was wise and she'd know what to do; she'd know if what the woman had said was true and Katja would know how to handle her if she was indeed pregnant. How soon could you tell? It had been a few days since they'd done it...could you tell by then? Was it too soon? How soon could you tell? All the questions swirling around in his head began to drive up his anxiety. In a clear, strong voice that masked the unease he felt, Laufey called for Katja.

As she scouted the caribou herd - returning, now that it was spring, to their calving grounds here in the north - seeking for any caribou weakened by the winter that they might pull down, a deep howl caught in her ears. She stood erect, suddenly alert. Laufey rarely, if ever, called for her, so hearing his voice was a matter of great interest, as was it's location.

The border.

A wolf seeking admittance? A trespasser? He had called for her, specifically, but it could easily have been anything. She set out at a brisk lope, scattering a few of the snorting, irritated caribou who - recognizing a lone wolf not in a hunting crouch was not a threat - immediately went back to nosing under the snow for lichen.

Things were not good at the border.

Her mercury eyes took in the scene with complete calm. Laufey, his giant frame straddling the limp form of a female. Drag marks, saliva coating her scruff. No trespasser, but someone who had been dragged - by him? - from elsewhere.

"Care to tell me what this is, Laufey?" she asked dryly, tilting her head back to stare up at her cousin's son.

While he waited for Katja the brute continued to fret over Hani. She was breathing just fine and not like...twitching or anything. It just looked like she was sleeping, which was a good thing, right? If not for the knot on her head she'd look fine. For good measure he licked at it again. And there was Katja. As she approached he straightened and attempted to bear her cool gaze without squirming. He'd made a mistake and he was not looking forward to this conversation. Laufey admired few wolves and the idea that this one, this one who he admired greatly, might be disappointed in him made him feel very small. She asked him what was happening and he swallowed to kill a few seconds as he tried to find the right words. How could he explain what happened? "She says I got her pregnant." He hesitated a moment, then admitted, "I'll admit it, I panicked. I didn't know what to do, I didn't want to lose her before I had a solution and she didn't seem too keen on staying with me." ....help?

Katja absorbed this in silence for a moment, staring down at the limp form with cold eyes. "Your decision was sound," she finally told him. "A bitch potentially bearing Yfir pups cannot be left to her own devices. More Finnvi blood left to languish to grow soft and useless. That is not a risk I would be willing to take." More Orochis. God help them. Laufey was a good boy but he had been so alone and misguided before he had found them. She would not allow there to be a repeat of Jaeger's folly.

Raising her eyes to his she said, "she is still in heat. It is too soon to know if she is with child and longer yet before we are certain they may be yours." She got, somehow, even more serious. "There are better than decent odds that they are not. These Alacratians females rarely have any sense of self control and a heat cycle is supposed to be... difficult to handle. You may never know that they are yours." She ruminate a moment. "They may not be Finnvi. She may not be pregnant at all. But you have brought Yfir an able bodied thrall nonetheless - unless you are particularly fond of her?" She looked askance at him. " And if she is pregnant then we will ford that river when we come to it."

"Your decision was sound," she informed him, much to his surprise, and the brute found himself relaxing somewhat. Katja backed up that statement with cold reasoning and Laufey dipped his head slightly in response. He understood. Finnvis were meant to be a stoic, capable people. They were meant to conquer and be feared. Him and Esti were stunted. No one had guided them through their adolescence. No one had taught them how to act as Finnvi should. Because of this they had never and may not ever, reach their full potential. Katja went on to explain some things to him. The brute was quiet as he listened, his head nodding slowly in a show of understanding. He didn't know how exactly heat cycles worked, so Katja could have told him pretty much anything and he'd have filed it away as fact. Honestly it hadn't occurred to him that (if she was indeed pregnant) they might not be his. "...unless you are particularly fond of her?" He had to think about that for a moment. Was he fond of her? Not really. He'd enjoyed his time, that was for sure, but did that translate to affection. "I'm not," he said firmly. Nudging the unconscious woman's muzzle with his nose, Laufey hunted for signs that she was playing possum. After a moment of studying Hani his gaze rose to search Katja's expression. "What do I do next?"

He firmly stated that no, the woman was not important to him, and she nodded solemnly in return. In many respects that would make this mess far easier to clean up. "She will remain in Yfir as a thrall then, " she told him. "And if she is pregnant, you have options." She paused to consider how in depth they had time to get into Finnvi mating and birthing tradition, and decided the answer was 'not very'. "The pups are not Finnvi unless you choose to claim them as your own. They are her children," she indicated the unconscious female, "unless you acknowledge them in the eyes of the gods. If you choose to raise them as yours -and I must caution you to remember in this decision that they may not be - they will be taken from her, all her claim to them refused, and raised as Finnvi and as part of Yfir. If you choose not to acknowledge them all claim to Finnvi bame and blood will be denied them and they will remain with their mother as thralls, as all children of thralls are themselves thralls."

Her voice was calm and unemotional, as though she were making an observation about an errant branch rather than a hypothetical litter of pups whose fate rested in the untried paws of her cousin's son. It was little matter to her one way or the other - as a matter of practicality it did not matter if they were Finnvi by blood or not unless they were claimed that way in the eyes of the gods, which made Jaeger's folly all the more infuriating concerning his own children.

"And if she is pregnant, you have options." His ears pricked forward at this. Katja didn't complete her thoughts immediately, instead pausing just long enough to quip his unease. Finally after what felt like an eternity but was in reality probably no more than a few heartbeats, she went on to explain a bit about Finnvi tradition. When she was done it was his turn to pause. It gave him quite a bit to think about in terms of not only his future, but the future of a litter of living and breathing beings. He had no qualms with Hani being made a slave or her kids if they weren't his. But what if they were? That changed everything. Laufey cleared his throat. "I'll know. When," he shook his head sharply, "If she gives birth I'll know when I see them." His voice was firm and his gaze was steady. He would know. "I don't want to be like my father. I want my children to grow up knowing our ways. If they're mine I'll know." He wasn't particularly keen on being a parent, but if he was going to be one, he wanted to do it right. He wouldn't fail his children like his parents had failed him. Wait. If a child had to be claimed by their father to be Finnvi, then what was he? "My father didn't claim me," he said carefully, "So what does that make me?"