A couple of days had passed since the initial discovery of the blight. He was keeping secluded, and holding on to the threads of all the moving parts as the wolves of the pack worked together to keep eachother safe.

He found himself stalking the border between the Col and the Woods. Alone, for his companions surrounded Ignita. There was a quiet to the evening, as if the world was holding its breath. Waiting to see what would come. So far, he had shown no signs of illness. No evidence that the blight had reached him. But the fear was still there. The fear that he would not hold Ignita in his arms again. His eyes were dark as he stalked along the path, back and forth, back and forth. A few more days of forced seclusion from Ignita, and he knew his temper would flare even further.


"Basilisk"

She had thought she was getting sick, another victim of the blight. But she wasn't experiencing any other symptoms. No hallucinations, no fever, no convulsions at least! She had gone to Oleander believing she was getting the blight. But no... He gave her another diagnosis... Morning sickness except it gave her a strong aversion to different random things...

She was elated! But suddenly somber, when should she tell Bas? He would want to know immediately, but they still haven't figured out how the Blight was spreading! It was so strange! Oleander hadn't let her see the samples yet. And now he wanted her to stay as far away as possible from it all.

She swallowed. She rejoined her entourage of Oso, Larimar, and the falcons overhead outside of the Warrens. She looked down the Col toward the woods and saw him prowling along the edge like a caged animal. Maybe it'll be good enough news to soothe him?

She walked toward the line between the woods and the Col, her gaggle of companions getting more anxious as she neared it. Oso eventually ducked his head to keep her from going further. She soothed him with hushes and hums, a stroke along his nose.

"Bas, my love." She called to him. Her attention was on petting Oso, she didn't want to see the agony of their separation in his eyes.


"Speech"

As if his need had called her, Ignita trotted into view from the Col. It was clear his companions were keeping an eye on her, and his reindeer stopped her in her tracks. She took the hint, calling out to him from there, though her eyes were on Orso. She didn't see the hunger in his gaze as he stared at her. At the wolf who had clawed her way into his heart and taken up residence so deeply that this separation set his teeth on edge.


“Ignita.” He said, taking care as his lips formed her name. You could pack a lot of punch into one word when it meant enough to you. “You're well?” he asked softly. “No sign of the blight?” He had stilled his pacing, staring intently at her.

"No, No sign of the blight." She replied smoothly, gathering her strength to peel her eyes away from the reindeer to gather in his hungry and desperate visage drinking her in.

"I thought I did at one point. Tethys has it bad though. She has full-on hallucinations." She was skirting the subject. She looked away again, gathering her lips tight into her mouth, keeping herself from smiling.

"I went to Ollie wondering if I was getting the Blight but... Nope... Just... Morning sickness." And her maw broke into a smile as she glanced back at him to drink in his reaction. It was a bad time to be pregnant.

"Speech"

Not good. He'd have to check back with her about Tethys regularly. Surely getting it quick and strong was a bad sign. He ground his teeth, hating the feeling of helplessness. He was much better at fighting his way to an answer, but he was doing his best to face this with a level head. Knowing that wasting time moaning about things he couldn't change would only hurt his wolves. That didn't make this any easier for Bas.


He tensed when she spoke of her worry, explaining it was only morning sickness. “Good” he said, relieved there was no sign of the sickness in her. He needed her, most of all, to be safe.


Wait.


Wait


No, what did she say? His eyes snapped back to her with a growl. He dug his paws into the earth with the force of keeping himself rooted. A sheen of emotion brushed over his gaze. “Morning. Sickness.” He ground out.

He was distracted by the earlier news, for all his work into his rough exterior, he worried about each pack member intensely. Absently he nodded to her reveal without thinking about the words much, just taking it in that she didn't have the Blight. She counted four heartbeats before his attention suddenly ground to a halt and his eyes snapped back to her, a wave of hidden emotion flickering behind his bright azure eyes.

She tilted her head softly toward him, waiting for him to connect the dots, a knowing and coy smile playing on her lips. She tilted her head the other way, her smile broadening. Her brows lifted to indicate he was in the right direction. Her paw gently lifts and she places it casually over her lower stomach. Where his seed had been planted and finally started to grow. She nodded.

"Speech"

Holy crap, it had happened. Of all the times for it to happen… this wasn't the way it was supposed to go. He was supposed to sweep her off her paws and treat her like royalty, force her to relax and have a stressless pregnancy. Ollie's warnings came to mind. Thank fuck the healer had stayed in that side of the quarantine. 


He flexed his claws in the dirt and stared at her. Their children. “You should leave the Armada. You should head to the Hallows and wait it out there, away from all this. They have excellent healers.” And it would be a stupid, selfish thing to do. It would put them at risk of whatever had contaminated the Armada. “Our children..” he wanted to hold her so badly. He stared at the gaping distance between them.

Her eyes softened further, knowing his attempt to shuffle her away was from trying to keep her and their progeny safe. She could see the longing in his eyes, the way he dug his sharp sheathed paws into the soil. The gaping distance was wide between them .

"You know I won't do that. I will never abandon the pack, never abandon you. I'm needed here. Never mind the risk of infecting their crops with this. I hope to take a look at the samples but Ollie won't let me, especially now." She wanted to smother him in kisses.

She looked up instead, dismay she couldn't run into his arms with joy. Her brow creased in confused alarm as her golden eyes looked at the early spring leaves of the woods. She looked back at her lover, the father of the young now growing within her, concern awash over her features.

"Bas, look." She pointed with her nose up to the canopy. The leaves were more yellow, spotted, and drooping. The Blight was spreading.

"Basilisk" || "Iggy"

He loved her. He loved her so much, and he just needed all the awful crap around them to stop for just a moment. He needed the freedom to reach out and touch her. He wanted to sit on this border for hours, just to hear about her day. When would she feel the babies kicking?


He took in a slow, deep breath. But he wasn't sure what he was about to say, because he was thrown off his rhythm but her indication something was amiss. He looked, and he found the blighted trees. “Get back into the Col!” he snarled at her. “Get her out of here!” He ordered his companions. Suddenly, the distance between them didn't seem like it was nearly enough.

She shook her head but she did take a step back.
"Hold on. Wait, let me see." She told the companions, they knew her well enough now to know that she would comply eventually, this was the first time she had a good look at this blight.

Her golden eyes scanned the trees, carefully taking in every detail. Places along the bark were grey in patches, like a mold. The black spots on the new leaves looked nearly like rust.

She didn't know a lot about trees. She didn't know a lot about cactus and blights either. Damn. Gaps in her knowledge made her frustrated. Why didn't she know? She clenched her jaw as her eyes roved over the blighted tree above her lover and leader, demanding the trees give her the knowledge to understand already.

"You're not sick yet, are you? Ollie says it's fevers, vomiting trembling, and hallucinations." Her eyes were still glued to the trees above him. If she saw the desperation to protect her in his eyes she didn't know if she could hold herself back.

"Speech"

He seethed at the wait, unable to compel her when he was forced to keep his distance. His tail lashed behind him as he watched her like a hunter watched their prey. Waiting for a moment of weakness to strike.


He took a step forward against his will when she spoke. That need to be close to her, to push her out of danger. To fold himself around her was so great. but he caught himself and stilled, his eyes still on her even as her own wondered so freely. “Nothing yet. Not so much as a sniffle.” He told her. Luckily, Or just building up inside of him? He didn't know enough to be able to tell. “It's too early to feel them kick, isn't it?” He asked her softly. He needed her gone, safe. But he didn't want her to leave.

She nodded, good, nothing yet, he wasn't feeling any of the effects yet. Her eyes clung to the trees, thinking and thinking and thinking. Who was affected and sick first... Tethys. She was already hallucinating when Ollie got to her. She was a hunter, wasn't she? She helped Ignita gather a few goats for the pack. There was a recent influx of food stock and hides. Ignita wasn't an expert on how meat should look and she was rather distracted as she sorted them. Could the hunters be overly susceptible?

His soft question finally pulled her gaze down to his. She sighed. The look in his eyes told her everything, the impatient bastard already asking if it was too early to feel them kick. She nodded, too early, her breath catching. She won't cry. She won't.

She weakly chuckled, her face flinching and her voice strained, "Heh, I... I don't know much about trees and I don't know much about babies, or baby development... or blights." She looked at him, and shook her head as she chewed her lip, and a tear forced its way out to carve a path down her cheek. They'll survive. They'll survive this. They have to. They were... they were going to get married. They were going to have children. She needed to learn more.

"I don't suppose there's a stash of books on botany and diseases lying around?" She asked, her paws gripping the soil to keep her from shoving her way forward. Oso, pressing into her chest to keep her back.

"Ignita"

Basilisk may enter her threads without warning.

The longer they stood there, the more he wanted to disregard every safety measure and pull her into his arms. She was pregnant, they were having children. He let out a slow breath, and breathed in deeply. Trying to catch the scent of her. To savour it. He didn't know how long he was going to be stuck on the wrong side of the Col. If he missed the birth of their children, he would rage. He would rage, and rage, and rage.


If something happened to Ignita… he would not be the same. “There are not. Perhaps you could send word to Wynter, she's been out of the pack, heading to -somewhere- on a diplomatic job.” He said softly. Had anyone reached out to Wynter? Probably not.


He crouched down on the ground and looked softly at Ignita. “I never asked you officially. I thought…” that there would be more time. “Ignita, my beloved. Light of my life, and storm in my heart. Will you marry me?” He asked her softly. “There's… a proposal gift, I hid it in the spare guest room in our den. If your answer is yes, wear it. It's yours.” He told her softly.

She nodded, her mind beginning to wonder if Eterna would mind being a messenger again, or one of the other ravens, like Krakarak. Could she send a raven to Wynter, and another to Kea? Could he send her a few notes on cures? She'd much rather have a whole book- her thoughts were interrupted again as he crouched down and started a new topic.

She turned back to him and her eyes flicked between his bright azure eyes in his dark black and blue fur. Concern at first melted into surprise and wonder, then her mouth opened delicately as she became astounded.

He had technically told her before, but it was in their game of push and pull and tests. But...

"Now?" She replied flustered, "Here? I-I... But...!" She felt Oso push her back as she made to bolt forward. Larimar beat her wings into Ignita's face to push her back. She shook her face free of them and was pushed two steps back before she crumpled over her legs to keep herself from running into his arms.

"Yes." She whispered he wouldn't hear her.
"Yes!" She exclaimed louder! "But WHY now of all times when I can't even kiss you, you fucking bastard!" She cried out, the stupid hot tears streaming and making her nose run and her eyes red. Pregnancy hormones were going to make her even more weepy than her usual weepy self.

"Ignita"

Basilisk may enter her threads without warning.

His hungry eyes never left her. Taking in the confusion, the flustered hesitation. The excitement, the agreement and the need to be closer to him. He understood, he felt it too. His paws flexed in the dirt some more, imaging running them through Ignita’s soft coat. Too far, she was much too far away.

Only the knowledge that this distance was for her safety kept him grounded right where he was. When she started to cry, yelling across the distance he grinned. Slowly at first, until it spread across his muzzle. His fiance was pissed at him, and he was grinning like an idiot. “Because I’m an asshole.” He teased her softly, before growing more sombre. “Because you are mine, now and forever.” And if this blight took him, he’d still leave his mark on her. “Would you like Thunder to grab the engagement gift?” He asked her softly.


"Basilisk"

She shook her head with a laugh-sob as he called himself an asshole. A dastardly asshole indeed! She wiped her eyes as he called her his, now and forever, sending a new flush of tears to soak her fur.

He asked if Thunder should go and get the gift. She didn't know how much more she could take this distance.
She looked up at the sky, to Thunder and Galileo circling overhead. The falcons swooped and soared. She nodded a yes, sure, he could ask Thunder to get the gift for them.

"What about your tests, Bas? Did I pass them all?" Was she worthy enough to stand by his side and protect the pack? To be relied on?


"Speech"

He nodded his head to Thunder, who broke off his circling and angled inwards towards the Col. He looked back at Ignita, noting the fresh tear tracks that marked her face. The distance was an ache to them both, and his voice was gravelly. He needed to be closer. Oleander better find a cure or a fix soon.


“The tests did what they were designed to. They pushed you out of your comfort zone and forced you to do things differently. You'll still have to learn to protect our children.” No longer a hope, a reality. They were growing inside of her. “But I was always going to marry you.” Ss he spoke, thunder returned with a package in his claws. He deposited it in front of Ignita.

She again tried to wipe away her tears, she couldn't see him, so far away and through the flood in her eyes. She nodded, she still needed to learn how to protect, herself and others, especially their children. The tests did what they needed, she nodded, but he was always going to marry her. So another flood of weeping overtook her, making her shoulders shake and her nose sniffle.

Her shuddering breaths were broken by shuddering sobs, as she steadied her breathing the gift fell from the sky as Thunder dropped it before her. She shook her head, tired of her own tearful display as she picked it up gingerly and began to open it.

She gasped as the light caught the carved fire opal bird, wings outspread, a fire at its tail, attached to a thick silver chain. A tearful laugh at the heaviness of it. It was perfect, a fine testament to their relationship. Placing it around her neck a shorter length, closer to her skin would hide under her fur and the opal firebird would hang freely on display over her chest on the longer length.

She held the bird and marveled at its fine craftsmanship.
She caught another tear before it fell, wiping it away she looked back up to Bas with a smile, Her warlord, and Fiance. She sniffed back the roller coaster of happy, awestruck, flustered tears.

"It's perfect." She said aloud as if her wearing it didn't say that itself. She'd wear it more often than her goggles, that was for sure.

"Ignita"

A slow, sly grin spread across his maw as Ignita placed the necklace over her chest. If there wasn't forced distance between them, she definitely would have been in trouble. Perhaps he should have carved ‘property of Basilisk’ on the back. Alas. 


It was her version of a crown, and it suited her well. A chain, with a symbol of freedom. Of unity. Under her own control and power… and not. It fit the odd dynamic of their relationship. He licked his lips slowly. “Agreeing to be my Consort, Little Bird. Brave, or foolish?” He pondered  his voice a teasing purr. What he wouldn't give to pull her into his arms…

She looked down at the beautiful carving, wondering how they made it, how were opals even created? The orange-gold and flash of blue wove its way through the gem. She drew her attention back to him with a coy smile as he asked.

Her gaze softened, "Brave or foolish? Probably a little of both my Lord." She purred back, an urging within her to join with him flickered to life. Oso leaned down and brandished his antlers to keep her back.
She sighed and stroked his nose.

"I better check in on Ollie and the others before we cross lines." She glanced back to him.

"I miss you, Darling." She said as she stood up.

"Ignita"

Basilisk may enter her threads without warning.