Seaki
There was so much happening in the pack lately. It was rather late in the year for pups to be arriving, but the whole pack was busy preparing for the coming cold season. Soon enough the Hunters Moon would come and they would feast until they could last the winter. They'd be able to store foods in cold-dens as well. Frost bitten food was better than none after all. She could see the artisans busy making new cloaks for everyone.
But most importantly, there were not one, but two weddings coming up with the coming cold. Maziwa didn't mind the cold so much - her fur was thick. 'From your grandfather,' her mother used to say fondly.
Today was a pretty calm day. Her kids were out either with their mates or studying their crafts, so she spent most of the day alone so far. The air was already getting cooler, and she did her best to find a sun-soaked spot to bathe in.
Mtanizi was warming to the pack. It seemed a friendly place, and although skepticism still lingered in his mind, he was slowly becoming more positive. Mataka, his mother, was enjoying every moment. He spotted the alpha lounging nearby and made an effort to be more social. She has given them a home after all...'Hello there!'
Maziwa hadn't expected to hear a voice come from near by. Her ear twisted in the diection of the voice - not quite familiar as it was, but one she knew. She turned her gaze to the voice to find Mtanizi. She had a knack for remember faces and names to go with them - she wouldn't be a good leader without that skill after all!
"Good Morning!" she greeted in turn. "What brings you out here today?"
"Just decided to find a few faces to say hello to" he said truthfully. "I cannot always just talk to my mother..." He chuckled and made a face gently. He knew Maziwa had some grown up children so perhaps that could be a good conversation point. He knew he could be a little better at socialising but his attitude hadn't made it that easy in the past. He found it hard to like and trust others in honesty. "How are you and your children" he gave a little bit of a cheesey grin. It didn't entirely suit him.
"Well, the pack is growing quite a bit," She mentioned. It had near doubled in the last few months or so, and her own children were grown. It was likely they would start families of their own already, and her son's mate had been working on bringing them children to raise on their own.
She was starting to feel old, honestly.
"My children are grown, they barely have time for an old card like me anymore," she gave a small chuckle. And she truly only had one litter! She couldn'timagine how her mother felt. Her children and some of her siblings were nearly the same age, and her mother was even talking of more!
She tilted her ehad a bit. "How are youand your mother settling in?"
"You're not old!" He blurted out. In truth he fond the alpha rather pretty, and certainly more youthful that she found herself. Mtanizi wasn't exactly as young as he had been once, and he had barely anything to show for it. He was still tagging along with his mother for goodness sake. Mtanizi had known that she had children, but had not met them yet, they seemed to have a lovely reputation preceding them though.
"We're settling in good." He felt unease suddenly. "Though, it may take a little longer for me, we've had a little bit of a... rough history I suppose." He chuckled.
Maziwa gave a grin, near teasing. She might not be that old - she was old enough to have adult child at least. That was old enough for her, thank you!
"Oh? I'm sorry to hear that," she frowned. "Is there anything we can do to make you feel more at home? Or at least more at ease here?" It was always her concern to make everyone comfortable. The pack was small - half the pack was related in one way or another so it was like a big family sometimes. But when new members joined, it could be pretty hard, or so she'd heard. She had always been within a family group, so she couldn't know the full extent of the feeling after all.
Mtanizi was slightly taken aback, but pleasantly. He hadn't thought that his words might be taken as a plea to find more comfort in the pack, and hoped that the Alpha didn't take it to heart. She didn't mean to, and he smiled gently. "It's great here, don't worry."
"I think it's just that sometimes, we just don't know what is going to happen." He looked serious for a moment, almost stern as he looked back on what had happened when he was a pup. "I was very young then, though. I suppose I just have trouble being comfortable, or maybe even trusting others." He shook his head. "I certainly didn't mean to bring any of those issues into the pack, and it's not going to effect anything!" He was trying to repair whatever damage he had done.
Mtanizi could feel heat radiating towards his ears. It had been a long time since he had opened up to anyone at all.
Maziwa gave a little grin. "I just want everyone to feel comfortable here," she told him. "But in your own time, I suppose. No sense in rushing anything," she knew that more closely. Trying to rush an emotional wound healing. She'd experienced many, though the ache in her chest that all her children grew up without their father grew rather than diminish grew with each passing day. She'd never really had anyone like that after all, and she'd seen what her mother went through with each so-called mate that promised her the moon and then ran off as soon as her stomach was obvious with pups.
She didn't want that, and it scared her constantly. "Though I have to finish my rounds now - you can join me if you like?" She left it open ended, and offer really, though she didn't expect him to join her.
"I do feel comfortable" He reassured her, and himself, although it was a growing truth. She seemed in part to empathize with him slightly, although that could just be her doing her job as Alpha. As a pack leader he suspected that social skills were a bit part. Something Twawa would have known nothing about. He scowled internally. To be asked to accompany the Alpha left him slightly on the spot. "Erm. Sure?" He wasn't exactly sure what that entailed, but no doubt he would find out, and perhaps it would mean he could be even more social today. Surely he was on a roll! Besides, what did he have to lose?
