Winds of Change Ch. 02

Sage went around marking the kills with the correct person's mark, she sighed when she looked at the big male wishing it had come after her instead of her sister; it was going to be a great trophy but her sister deserved it. She tied Alanna's mark around the neck of the monster; it was easily nine feet long from shoulder to rump and at least a thousand-- pounds of flesh, not an easy beast to take down.

Is the child...? Alanna started to say.

Is absolutely fine, I won't let you go hunting the moment you start to show but for the moment it is well protected and you took no direct blows to the stomach. Susan reassured. "Now sit still, your leg needs to heal a little more before we go."

Sage made a sled appear and Susan helped stack the kills in it, Alanna's monster went first as she wanted it to be dramatic when they pulled him out. Once the load was secure Susan checked Alanna's wounds again but no teeth had snapped or chipped off into the wounds, they were now more superficial. They all jerked as they could hear a horn being played.

"That's da calling the hunt back." Sage said as she tucked the monster's tail into the sled as well as several of the others. She walked over to her sister, "do you need help?" she asked.

"Nope I'm good," Alanna stood and walked over to the sled with only a slight limp. The monster could be just made out beneath the other bodies. "Fuck me... he was huge."

"Yeah I am surprised you didn't go down the second time he charged you." Sage replied.

"Sent me back a foot." Alanna reminded.

"True, time to go or we'll get our butts kicked." Sage said and willed them and the sledge back to the keep. They appeared near the other hunters, several displaying their kills.

"Back empty handed Sage?" Mich taunted as he held the juvenile he had caught by the tail. It took him a moment to see the scratch marks that marred Sage's body.

"Only one... and a juvenile killed by an arrow..." Sage shook her head as they lifted their kills out. Sage laid her four out, side by side. Susan's went next and finally Alanna's, none of the beasts they had killed were juveniles or even young adults, no, all twelve were old adults. Men gasped when Alanna and Sage lifted out the large dominant male. They looked closely at the kills, but none had a single scratch on them.

"Close combat?" Mich said as he noticed the way the heads hung lose which meant the necks had been broken.

"Yep... and a breeding nest, we left six adults and a dozen young." Sage boasted, she was really pleased with herself, she could have flown with a wing but her sister and aunt hadn't hunted Grayatha before so she had chosen to keep them out of trouble. No one would have wagered on them coming back with this haul.

Word spread and soon almost half the keep had come to see Alanna's Grayatha.

"Tanners... you better get to work before they start to bloat." Dominic said which was another way of telling everyone it was time to go, they would get to gawk at the size of Alanna's kill when the hide was preserved. The tanners walked forward and started to put the kills into the sled Sage had willed into life, it had wheels so it would be easier to get the kills to where they needed to go.

They hesitated when it came to Alanna's monster; they had never seen a Grayatha that big.

"Just what are we going to do with all that meat?" The head cook said as she saw all the animals.

"I have an idea," Sage said as Tarval finally came to see if the hunt was successful.

"Another?" Alanna teased.

"I'll have you know I do have good ideas." Sage argued. "Granted they don't happen very often but I do have them." She continued.

Dominic smiled, "tell us your idea."

"Single serve pies, we can sell them at the markets tomorrow and make a profit as well as use up some meat so it isn't wasted." Sage explained.

"We've never done anything like that before." Araha replied.

"I have made small pies before, let me get cleaned up and I'll meet you in the kitchens." Sage said as she turned.

"Okay." Araha left to warn the kitchen that Sage would be joining them. It would be a first for them as Sage had never come into the kitchens to cook, only to beg for food.

"So... how did you do?" Tarval asked, his eyes finding every scratch and bite, none had been near her stomach and having witnessed Keira's last hunt before Nathanael banned her, he knew that as long as she wasn't showing and Alanna was careful, the little one was safe within their mother.

"Four each, I got the big one." She told him as she gestured to the biggest one.

"And it was quite a fight," Mather said as he approached. "You had some of my men very concerned Alanna."

"We didn't step off the cliff although Sage was concerned that we had to go down so far." Alanna replied.

Mather grinned, "no... they know you are pregnant and women of my kind don't fight when they are expecting."

"Try telling that to a Were." Susan said as she paced around Mather to get a good look at him. "The primal side of their personality doesn't care that there are risks with hunting because if they can't hunt they can't provide food and that would jeopardise the development of their young." She explained. "I'm..."

"Susan, Amy's adopted sister." Mather injected quickly to let her know he knew who she was.

"Dominic sure is chatty." Susan surmised.

"No, I share Thais's talent for seeing the future although I am not nearly as powerful as him." Mather replied as he held out his hand for a shake. Susan took his hand and gave it a firm shake.

"I've seen Centaurs but never a Santaur before." Susan said as she released his hand.

Mather grinned, "We are unique to this world. I am surprised that you haven't seen me before, I went to Alanna and Tarval's bonding ceremony."

Susan nodded, "Yeah, I was still in the navy at that point in time, I missed the ceremony."

"You are a warrior?" Mather questioned as in his mind he had a clear image of her tending to a child, like a healer would.

"Medic, I became a doctor and a healer after I left the service." Susan replied, "Do those fall off?" She asked as she pointed to his antlers.

Mather grinned, "No, we can cut them off if they become entangled in a fight but generally we just leave them alone."

"Are they heavy?" Susan asked.

Mather chuckled, "Quite but you get used to the weight as the antlers grow."

"Thank you for answering my nosy questions," Susan said, she turned to Alanna, "When you are all cleaned up come to the clinic so I can run my scans."

"You know I feel like a guinea pig." Alanna stated as she glared at her aunt.

Susan shrugged, "It isn't my fault, you are in the early stages of pregnancy and no one has ever documented with ultrasound an accelerated Da'Vaila pregnancy before."

"I shouldn't count, I'm Were," Alanna reminded, "Our child may develop differently to a pure Da'Vaila child."

"And I have every intention of doing the same thing to the next dozen or so pregnant women who come into the clinic and if Sage manages to hook up with her soul mate and is a man then I will be waiting for her to get knocked up to do the exact same thing." Susan replied.

Alanna sighed as Tarval wrapped an arm around her. "Fine..." Alanna replied.

Susan grinned and walked off.

"So what brings you here Mather," Alanna asked.

Mather grinned and gestured to two of his men who were carrying a big chest, "A gift for all your children to come." He explained.

"Mather you didn't have to," Alanna said.

"I know, but I wanted to." He explained as his men put the chest down.

Alanna knelt and undid the latch before opening the lid. Inside the chest there were little wooden figures, she carefully pulled out a Santaur then a Nephalim. There were little trees and pieces that could be turned into a Keep and little houses. There were more and more pieces in the chest as well as a figure that looked exactly like her mother in full cat form.

Tarval grinned as he saw what was in the chest, "How long have you been working on this?" He asked as he recognised Mather's handy work as he had made a snow leopard for Sage when she was younger.

Alanna glanced up, "You made these?"

Mather grinned and nodded, "Yes, and since you married, I've made one or two pieces a week for the last fourteen years. There are almost a thousand pieces in there."

"Mather!" Alanna complained.

Mather grinned, "Alanna... this is for all of your children. I will replace pieces when they are broken and occasionally add a piece but that is it... I promise. Besides it has been a pleasure to make them, there is a figure in there for every person in your family a whole flight of Nephalim and Gephalim as well as a whole oracle of S'ephalim and the Primes."

"Oracle?" Alanna questioned.

"A group of three or more S'ephalim," Tarval explained.

"And Gephalim and Nephalim as a group are known as?" Alanna asked.

"A Mass for the Nephalim and a Mess for Gephalim." Dominic answered as he picked up a little figure that looked almost exactly like him.

"A Mass of Nephalim," Alanna said aloud, she liked that term and she could understand why a group of Gephalim would be called a Mess.

"A group of outcasts we call a Crew." Tarval added.

"More names to remember," Alanna said aloud.

Mather grinned, "A group of Santaurs is called a Chase," he added.

"Dominic said herd," Alanna stated, she clearly remembered Dominic saying herd.

"It was a term I knew you would understand," Dominic replied.

Alanna smiled and stood, she placed the pieces that had been removed back into the chest before she closed the lid, and she tapped it and willed it to the nursery although she had planned to turn one of the spare rooms into a play room, but she had plenty of time to do that.

"Oh to be Ancient," one of Mather's men said and the other nodded, bringing that chest up here had not been easy.

Mather grinned at his men before he turned to Dominic, "I have a list of items I would like you to try to get from the markets."

Dominic nodded, "right this way then please gentlemen. I believe Alanna needs to get cleaned up before going to the clinic."

"Right, coming?" Alanna asked as she turned to Tarval.

"I will meet you at the clinic in half an hour," he replied before he walked off as if he had an important errand.

Alanna frowned at Tarval's actions; he knew that she generally liked to make love after a successful hunt. Yet there he was, walking away from her again, in fact he hadn't touched her since Thais told them all she was pregnant. She shook it off and willed herself to her room; she glanced around for a moment before she turned to the bathroom. The bath called to her so she walked over and opened the taps, immediately steaming water started to come from one tap and cold water came from the other.

Alanna put the plug in and turned to the bottles of oil, rummaging for a moment until she found the vanilla oil. She frowned as she noticed it was labelled with three scripts, and all three she could make out, one was clearly English. The second was using a flowing script somewhere between early Aramaic and what kind of looked like Dhivehi but the third was made up of some kind of runic system that she had never seen before. She had seen a lot of scripts in books and scrolls over the last few years as she learnt what it took to be Ancient. But she hadn't been able to read it only the translations.

Sage? Alanna called gently.

Yep, Sage replied.

Why can I read the other languages on the bottle? Alanna asked and showed her sister a mental picture of what she meant.

The language after English is called Saih, the Da'Vaila written language and one under that is called Mugra the Santaur written language. Sage explained.

Why can I read them? Alanna asked as she tipped some oil into the water.

Because I can, Sage said as if that was the most logical answer in the world.

Genetic memories, Alanna surmised. Your genetic memories.

Yep, and that genetic stuff gets passed on to everyone in our family through ma and da's blood and our mates through our own blood, Sage explained. Mind you it sucks that you don't have to be reminded to be able to read it.

What about Aunt Susan? Can she read it? Alanna inquired as she turned the taps off having deemed the tub full enough.

Yes, but that is because during a fight she managed to claw ma and cleaned the wounds.

And ingesting ma's blood, Alanna surmised. You know anyone can get this if they lick some fallen blood. She stripped and slid into the tub with a sigh.

Nope, I had that thought and took it to Mryddin shortly after Ash joined the family, so he spilt my blood left it for a few seconds before testing it. Sage began, anyway the tests came back; our blood loses its ability to transfer any of the funky Ancient stuff the moment it leaves our body. He hasn't been able to figure out how we transfer what makes us whatever we are yet.

Does ma know? Alanna asked as she used a sponge to clean her arms.

You know Mryddin, he told Taliesin and they both went to ma. You know that globe she never lets out of her sight? Sage asked before she moved on not needing an answer as they all knew about the green globe their mother always had in her pocket. Well she finally let the merlins take a look at it, I was there when she showed them all that she had compiled in that other universe, stuff the other Merlins hadn't even thought about looking into like Crystal, Destiny and Vlha's genetics and way much more. She let them copy it and copied the stuff they had. I suggested that they link one of the Atlantian computers so that the two devices always sync to each other and all the information will be kept up to date.

Another good idea Sage? You know you are going to damage your reputation for stupid ideas this way. Alanna joked.

Sage chuckled; I told you I've been known to have good ideas. The merlins however took that idea one step further, they gave ma a new globe and told her they have synced the globe to the Ancient mainframe, she transferred everything to the new globe turned it green with a yellow stripe and stuffed it back into her pocket.

Hm... Alanna hummed as she took the sponge to her legs. It might be wise for all of us to have a globe like that, just in case.

Never thought of that, Sage replied, got to go, we're starting to get the moulds lined.

Have fun, Alanna said with a grin.

Always, was Sage's quick response.

**

Alanna chuckled as she and Tarval walked into the great hall for dinner. They were both in high spirits after their appointment in the clinic; they had heard the rapid thrum of their child's heart. Susan had explained that the development was fine and nothing seemed amiss. She had given them the first look at their child and explained at although it had only been three weeks at most since conception the child looked to be about six weeks old to her training, and the wings hadn't started developing just yet.

They walked to their seats at the head table and sat, they waited for dinner to be served. Alanna wanted to cuddle up with him, bask in the joy that was the life growing within her. But as he had done for a while he kept his distance.

Before Alanna could question him on his behaviour dinner was being served. It would have to wait until they were back in their rooms.

"So..." Sage said, "What do you want to do tomorrow at the markets?" she asked her sister.

"I should start looking at baby things; I won't be buying much, not until I know what I have gotten from the baby shower Michelle is organising." Alanna answered.

"That is if you need to buy anything." Sage commented as she grabbed some bread, "be afraid, be very afraid." She continued.

"Shut up..." Alanna said as she nudged her sister.

"Don't say I didn't warn you that Michelle can be a little over the top when it comes to parties." Sage replied before she became completely engrossed in her meal.

"Okay I've been warned... are you going to do the girly thing with me tomorrow?" Alanna asked in between bites of food.

"In your dreams..." Sage replied. "You know I don't do girly."

Alanna hooked a finger under the gold chain around Sage's neck and yanked on it to expose the very locket she had given Sage for her birthday fourteen years ago. "Yeah... don't do girly my arse."

Sage grabbed the locket and stuffed it down her shirt; she hadn't taken it off since she had been given it. All four of her parents lived inside the locket, each person had a panel just for them and the chain was just long enough to sit level with her heart as that was where they lived. "Cut it," Sage said, the locket was the only thing Sage wore constantly that was even remotely girly, she owned all of her mother's jewellery but never wore it, she even owned a few dresses but again she rarely wore them and if she did it was under protest.

Sage simply wasn't a girly girl, she was a War Lord, the men had to respect her and follow her orders and they wouldn't do that if they considered her weak. Sadly the men considered most women to be weak, Alanna was one of the exceptions, no person who had endured what her sister had would ever be considered weak. The men had even changed around her when news had spread that she had endured eight lashes without blacking out or uttering a sound, most of the more sexist members of her race had become more respectful.

"The locket doesn't count, people rarely see it." Sage mumbled before she focused completely on her meal, for several minutes they ate in silence. "Fine... if Michelle doesn't claim you I'll do girly... but just this once."

"You make it sound like I am torturing you instead of simply going shopping." Alanna complained.

"Shopping is torture," Sage replied.

"Come on, you don't mind going to the mall with your friends." Alanna replied.

"That's because there are other things at the Mall besides shops." Sage answered. "You know I am far more interested in the food then in shopping."

"And what will happen when you find your mate?" Alanna asked.

"He better accept me for what I am because I ain't changing." She said firmly.

"Ah... for a while there I thought you were gay." Alanna replied with a grin.

"Yeah... well..." she said with a shrug, "you were wrong." She stated, she could understand why people thought she went that way but it simply wasn't the case, she was interested in men but she knew she had to be careful as she could cause trouble within the ranks. "He is a man... has a really weird scent though, brimstone, moss, wet stone and Meki flower."

"Meki flower?" Alanna questioned.

Sage nodded, "it's a flower that grows in cracks of rocks, really hard to find as the petals are grey and the leaves look more like moss but its scent is very distinct. Da used to hunt them down and give them to ma before she died."

Alanna hummed as she ate her dinner, like Sage she went back for seconds but unlike Sage she went back for thirds. Several people watched her, amused, but they knew from Bianca that pregnant Were were ravenous and would go ballistic if someone tried to take their food.

Tarval watched her once he was done. When she pushed her plate away she yawned a little sleepily but she listened to the conversations until she drifted off. Dominic nudged Tarval and nodded to Alanna, Tarval grinned and stood. Carefully he scooped her up, she woke but decided she liked being in his arms so snuggled in.

"Ah... would you like me to put you down?" He asked.

"Nope." She was actually thinking that this was perfect, once they were back into the relative privacy of their rooms she was going to kiss him until he could think of nothing besides making love to her. It would really round out an almost perfect day and fulfil her need for his body.