Northstar Vale Yestertempest

Warbone moved away from the pack, his purpose unclear as he left them all resting, huddled near one another against the chilling drizzle that had begun. It was early afternoon, though difficult to tell against the swirling, heavily overcast sky looming across the vale, making it seem later than it was. The season was at war with itself, unable to decide if it wanted to snow or rain. The water came first, but with quickly dropping temperatures, it would be no time at all before snow began to stick for the onset of winter.

It would be beautiful in the vale -- this time, and throughout the year too, no matter the season -- but Warbone had no true love for scenery. He had adored the willows, which did not exist here, but his admiration for this place would grow in time and his indifference towards it did not affect his protectiveness of it.

A scent, nearly hidden by the aroma of an oncoming storm, tickled some distant memory in the back of his head. He couldn't pull the thought forward, but he knew it was from a time before he had ever set foot in these Wilds. Warbone followed, eager to discover its source.

@Calliope

The icy drizzle did little to hinder Calliope’s trek across the mountain. Her silvery-white pelt, plush and thick from winter’s approach, was ruffled by the frozen wind that blustered past from time to time. She was not deterred by the inclement weather, but having lived upon mountains for most of her life thus far, she was privy to take her time when the ground was made slick.
 
Her sense of smell was compromised somewhat by the thick moisture within the air, but her eyes roved the unfamiliar terrain relentlessly. When she spied movement up ahead, Calliope crept forward cautiously, ears turned forward atop her svelte skull. Through the foliage in front of her, she could begin to make out the form of a large, bronze-colored wolf. His scent struck a dim chord of remembrance within her, but it wasn’t until his scarred face flashed into her line of sight that her assumptions proved true.
 
Intent on putting him on edge, Calliope growled lowly in his direction. She waited with baited breath to gauge his reaction.

His company stood inadvertently on his bad side -- so he heard her before he saw her -- and the goliath's vile reaction was instantaneous; echoing his name to all those who had never heard it. His fur rippled to stand on end as he rounded towards the source of the noise, his teeth flashing and wet as a snarl tore through him and vibrated in the direction of his aggressor...

Except, as his eye took her in, the dauntless slim figure of silver and white, he was struck suddenly by long-forgotten visions of a mountain, and its valley. There was a girl, too young for him to care about, hardly out of her juvenile ungainliness, but with a spirit tenfold of those who harbored her. Those mountain wolves had been weak, but from their soft kiln they had managed to produce something hard. A diamond, he would've known, if he had ever earned the knowledge of calcified minerals.

Warbone's teeth quivered into the sheath of his lips, and his expression hardened even as his body lost half of its viciousness; staved by a memory he should not surely have. It was her eyes, mostly. An unforgettable lagoon shade. He remembered them peering up at him, and he remembered not knowing what to do with her unwavering attention. Much like he didn't know now.

"Get out," he said quietly, suddenly afraid of the uncertainty she'd colored him with. He didn't seem to mean it, feeling manipulated by her gaze, but it was all Warbone could say in that instance. He needed to be rid of her, lest he recall fully who she was, or why she was individual to him. The once-adoring fangirl turned wholly into woman. A siren surely meant to be the end of him.

He responded to the sound she’d made to announce her presence much in the way Calliope had thought he would: teeth flashing, fur rigged along his spine, his single eye flashing with malice. She skirted to the side as he whirled to face her, bright eyes gleaming as they studied his aggressive features while her expression remained decidedly neutral.
 
The girlish crush she’d developed for him long ago had been a juvenile appreciation for his warlike strength and fearlessness he embodied. That was long ago, when Calliope had been a teen. She hadn’t pined for him when he’d left – such was not Calliope’s nature – but being in his company once more stirred up a long-forgotten veneration, one that was colored with a keenness her ascent into womanhood had created.
 
“Why,” was her simple, flat response to his quiet demand. His hostile stance had deflated, but his face remained as hardened as ever. Calliope’s tail began to sway in slow circuits against her heels and she shifted sideways to remove herself from his blind spot so that he may view her without hindrance or threat.

Why?

The fact that he couldn't answer her was more frustrating than her actual presence. Warbone had never felt anything towards young girls except for contempt. Most of them were spoiled and whiny, but from the moment they had met, that had not been her. He'd thought that she always looked right through him with those eyes, and for all his brilliant power, he had not been able to shake the penetrated feeling she gave him, whenever their eyes met.

Nothing had changed, it would seem, except the fact that she was now fully grown and capable of manipulating him a way she hadn't been able to before. It made her a threat, but it also made him... He wouldn't even think it.

The titan sighed. He had no true reason to dismiss her. He should be doing the opposite, he realized; and he tried not to think it was too late to rescind his first words, his automatic apprehension at her being here. Warbone was not a man intimidated by others, so it would take him a long while to realize that his uncertainty of her came entirely from his uncertainty of himself; unsure if he could forever resist the call of this silver druid.

"Do not growl at me again," he warned, remembering himself, and taking a stiff-legged step forward. "This vale is mine, and you will respect that." He seemed to have forgotten his initial decree, or at least didn't intent to enforce it. "I know you..." he said after that, quieter as well.

The corners of her ebon lips twitched into the beginnings of a subtle smile. “I hold nothing but respect for you, Warbone,” her calm, eloquent voice assured. She was fairly certain he’d always known that, though. Perhaps as a child she had been overly insistent on earning his affections, but entering maturity had resulted in a shift in her ideals.
 
Warbone embodied the type of wolf that she wished to see at the helm of whichever pack she belonged to. His utterly rugged, bear-like physique, combined with his demeanor and fierce nature commanded respect. She hoped to lead alongside a wolf like him someday, to find someone who would sire her strong, healthy children to carry on their legacy.
 
But she was not so naïve or wishful enough to believe it would be him. To expect such from someone who may as well have been a perfect stranger to her at that point was foolish. Perhaps, though, she would be able to realize her full potential under his rule. Perhaps his vale harbored others who shared similar characteristics.
 
“Calliope,” she reminded him after a beat of silence.

Even as she spoke his name and uttered her own in tones deeper, more sultry, than he could ever remember her having, Warbone became stricken by the memory of her and her father -- the man who had seen threat in his daughter's infatuation with the mercenary temporarily among them, and sought to sever the bond before it was forged. He imagined things would have been different had he truly wanted to stay there; a life of waiting for her to come of age, for surely Calliope wouldn't have let another woman near him who had the intent of having him sire their litter.

He wondered suddenly if Saena was this way, and what she would allow him in terms of breeding stock. Would she insist her womb be the only one used, or would she simply demand that any pup born to him be raised by her? He pushed the thought aside, realizing belatedly that he was putting the cart before the horse; that sex had risen to his mind the moment he'd laid eyes on young Calliope.

Warbone hid his inner turmoil well -- his face trained to stoicism, even more so now that it was scarred. "Calliope," he rumbled, tasting her name and finding desire there. A desire he had to think to ignore. He decided then that he wanted her, in more ways than one, but he could not tolerate her presence if he could not also control her... "You will stay with me." It was spoken as decree; and should she refuse, she would be forcibly removed.

He smelled of others, leading Calliope to believe he was not the only wolf who lived within the vale. There were others’ scents which clung to the earth, the trees, the rocks, but his stood out most distinctly to her, if only because she had been exposed to it previously. She was curious to see what – if any – kind of following Warbone had.
 
His deep baritones rumbled her name followed by a command that left little room for argument. Calliope felt a sense of completeness spread throughout her then; she sauntered towards him, tail stirring through the air as she moved to sweep her tongue against the coarse underside of his chin. She accepted.
 
Still, her ears remained thrust forward atop her head. She did not cower before him or tuck her tail feebly.
 
By default, Calliope was not a submissive creature; she knew her strengths, her potential and would not allow those weaker than her to stand above her in their hierarchy. She would submit willingly to Warbone, however, because he had garnered her respect what felt like ages ago.
 
“This is your home, then?” she queried, gesturing to the vastness of the vale that sprawled beside her and her companion. Sea green gaze sought his weathered features once more. She wondered if he planned on remaining there or if he would strike out on his own again whenever he tired of it.

She strode forward, graceful and confident, barely yielding to his presence, though enough for him to accept and relax with. Warbone saw that she knew her place was beneath him, but that was about as low as she seemed to think of herself. He wondered idly how Saena would handle her -- if there would be hot, sexy, steamy violence or a symbiosis between them that would soon earn Calliope the secondary rank she seemed apt to take.

"Yes," he murmured, giving her a companionable nip at her scruff. "This is the vale -- Duskvale," he said, finally using the name Saena had given to him one evening, before motioning towards the direction from which he had come. "Let me introduce you to it."

“Duskvale,” she echoed, tasting the name of her new home. She rather liked the way it sounded. “Please,” she implored in response to his offer. They were somewhat exposed where they were in that moment, but perhaps deeper into the vale would offer more cover. Calliope could tolerate the icy drizzle of rain for the time being, but the weather was quickly deteriorating. Perhaps snow was in the forecast.
 
She sauntered alongside Warbone, peering towards him occasionally but for the most part keeping her gaze trained on the unfamiliar terrain. “Are there others?” she asked after a few beats of silence, anticipating his answer but hoping he would elaborate on who they were.

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Nostalgia came in nauseating waves as Calliope took place at his side. This time had been  nothing like it had all that time ago, but that didn't make Warbone any less reminiscent of it. A companionable silence stretched between them, and he only returned to the present at hand when she asked if there were others. "A few, yes. You will meet them all in a mile or two." Thinking about all those he and Saena had gathered to them was enough to make him forget the strain of his memories.

He needed to remind himself that none of that mattered, and that his future here in the vale was the most important thing to him. He hadn't known what to expect earlier -- following her scent as he had -- but nothing foul had come of remembering the adolescence of the woman beside him, and if anything he should count himself fortunate that they had known one another a lifetime ago, as it had garnished him another member to their ranks. He could only look forward now, and his pace quickened in his eagerness to introduce her to her new home and packmates.