Pure Moonlight (closed)

[heartofcourage]

"Go easy, Dayja. He's just a man in love." Selena said, siding with her brother-in-law. "Sometimes I takes time to see what you've got standing right in front of you."

 

[KieranSoares]

"I won't rush it," Taqu'un murmured in Lunar. "We have a lot to learn to have any sort of good communication. That's too important to rush past."

"And I'm proud of you for that," Dayja assured him and kissed his cheek.

 

[heartofcourage]

Selena looked over at Kreston and smiled, taking his hand and squeezing it tightly. Their own relationship had taken a long time to get to solid ground. They had let fear separate them for far too long.

 

[KieranSoares]

Kreston leaned over to kiss Selena, earning a quiet chuckle from his father. The men cleaned everything up while Dayja and Selena and Ruben retired to the den beside the fire. Ruben was happily situated between arguably his two favorite women, and Kreston and Volvo soon joined them while Taqu'un made some flimsy excuse to leave and he disappeared likely to go back to Ellen's home.

 

[heartofcourage]

"When you find a mate of your own, love, promise me that you won't hide from me." Selena said with a grin as she looked down at her son. "We're here to celebrate and enjoy one another not to hide. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

 

[KieranSoares]

Ruben nodded but scrunched his nose at the idea of girls, making his father laugh aloud. "You might think they're bad now, wait til they get older," Kreston warned him with a smile. Ruben only shook his head at the idea.

 

[heartofcourage]

"Just give me a few more years of having a little boy before you go and find a girl that takes your heart." Selena murmured, hugging her son tightly against her side, laughing at the look upon his face. "It's true! Your Dad was a scoundrel before he met me. It just takes one moment before everything changes."

 

[KieranSoares]

"I wasn't a scoundrel... just a handful," Kreston protested with a smile.

"According to Grandma, you still are," Ruben commented, making his father laugh and sit back.

"I knew you'd be on her side when we got here. Grandpa and Taqu'un and I just seem to be at the mercy of the women."

"As it should be," Dayja nodded resolutely. Volgo rolled his eyes but gave Dayja an apologetic smile when she tweaked his ear.

 

[heartofcourage]

"He was too a scoundrel." Selena said to Ruben as she kissed her son's cheek. "Never let him tell you otherwise."

It was nice to spend time with family. Selena felt safe with Kreston's kin and soon she found herself drifting off in front of the warm fire with soft conversation drifting around her. It was safe. It was home. She had finally found a real home after all of those long years.

 

[KieranSoares]

As time marched peacefully on, Ellen became a real member of the family and she and Taqu'un decided quite early on to live together in Taqu'un's home. She was made a member of the tribe and make leaps and bounds in learning the language while Taqu'un, a little slower, put his heart into learning German so he could tell her he loved her and how beautiful she was in her own native tongue. As Selena drew near the end of her pregnancy, it was quite the sudden shock when Ellen announced she was expecting. There was no wedding, as there simply wasn't any need considering the tradition of mates. They'd use it as an excuse to celebrate another time to lighten the tribe's mood in a low spell.

 

[heartofcourage]

Selena sat outside one summer day, sewing Ruben a shirt as Taqu'un sat beside her cleaning the rabbits he had caught in the woods that morning. It was quiet and peaceful. The family had gotten together and determined that Selena shouldn't be alone until the baby was born. It was her brother in laws turn that morning as Ruben was in school and the others busy with other tasks.

"So, are you excited about being a father?" Selena asked, looking at him with a smile. "It's a little scary for someone's first time."

 

[KieranSoares]

"Terrified," he answered honestly with his own unsure smile. "But yes, excited. Ellen say..." He paused for a moment to translate his thoughts from German to Lunar to English. "Says I will do just fine. But I can't help worrying."

 

[heartofcourage]

"Watching you with Ruben I know you'll be a good father. And Ellen loves you so that definitely helps the process." Selena commented as she saw the nervous smile on his features. "Look at you growing up, Taqu'un. First a mate and now a child on the way. Your parents are very proud of you."

 

[KieranSoares]

"Growing up?" He chuckled. "I'm older than you." He leaned over to kiss her cheek. "I grew up long ago. But warriors have no time for family." Being the warriors' captain, he had even less until recently when he'd brought on two other captains to help him.

 

[heartofcourage]

"You're too sweet to not tease." Selena said as he kissed her cheek gently. "And you make yourself an easy target. You're so nervous when it comes to Ellen. She adores you, Taqu'un. You can see it when you walk into the room and she lights up."

 

[KieranSoares]

"I'm nervous because I want to give her everything she deserves," he reasoned. It wasn't that he worried he wasn't good enough. He just wanted to treat Ellen right.

 

[heartofcourage]

"You need to relax." Selena said, taking his hand in her own and holding it tightly. "You are doing everything right for her."

 

[KieranSoares]

"I hope so. I worry about her like you worry about Ruben." Taqu'un wanted the best possible life for his new mate and their children, especially considering all the changes she had gone through and was still dealing with in order to be with him. Taqu'un's changes were comparatively smaller. She wasn't unlike Ruben in that sense, everything changing all at once and finding the happiness and good in it all rather than letting worry or doubt get to her.

 

[heartofcourage]

"Are you prepared for the possibility that your child might not be a wolf? We were never sure what would happen to Ruben until he changed." Selena said softly, knowing that mating with a wolf was exciting, but it also brought new heartbreaks.

 

[KieranSoares]

"I don't care about that, Selena," Taqu'un gave her a kind smile. "Wolf or no, it's still my little boy or girl. If I cared about it being a wolf, I wouldn't have chosen Ellen." It was one of the many things that set Wolves so far away from humans in either society. Humans liked to keep to their own, while Wolves tended to keep the company of anyone of any race with a good heart. Their werecat cousins, centaurs, drakes, and other werefolk were all welcome, and good humans too.

 

[heartofcourage]

"Then I think that you are ready to make an excellent father." Selena said with a smile as she finished Ruben's shirt and set it aside to sit in the sun and enjoy her day. "And Ellen will make a lovely mother. You just keep treating her well or else you'll have to answer to all of us."

 

[KieranSoares]

"She'll be bullying me too like the rest of you before long," he mused, joining her side once his own work was complete. "She already teases me about being a big puppy."

 

[heartofcourage]

"You are a big puppy. A puppy in love with a beautiful woman." Selena said as they sat side by side and enjoyed one another until Kreston returned and Ruben was let out of school.

 

[KieranSoares]

Kreston soon appeared from around the bend, Ruben close behind romping with his best friend Kalka who attended lessons with him and had been his first friend in the tribe. As the two boys fell in the grass at Selena's feet, both grinned up at her and Kalka spoke up politely, "Hi, Mrs. Maliar." Most people who didn't know her personally in the tribe referred to her as such. Everyone knew she was with Kreston.

 

[heartofcourage]

"Hello, Kalka." Selena said with a grin as she watched the two boys before Kreston came to her side. "If you're staying for dinner, go and get washed up. We'll eat soon."

Once the two boys scurried off, she tilted her head towards her mate and smiled as he kissed her gently. "How was your day?"