Stavanger Bay how does the wolf sing each night, of the dominion of his heart

700 4 boo @Skellige

deirdre paused before the borders of the bay for what she prayed was the last time.

she thought of skellige, often. she had journeyed away and when her eyes closed and all there was was darkness, his face came. she missed him fiercely, but had needed to tend to donnelaith, and then to her family, before tending to herself and her own desires. but this, in itself, was for donnelaith, was it not?

deirdre wondered if he thought of her as she thought of him--frequently, unexpectedly, without reason and without regard to things that were meant to be priority. when she arrived, she was flustered--never before had she thought so much about something, and, after waiting a beat and feeling the reassuring breeze of ocean air mingling with forests breath, she called to him.

 
Her call sounded overhead, and the brute shuffled from within his den. The inky creature drew his ears forward and breathed heavily in the air that carried promises of winter. A nervousness seemed to enter the irreverent beating of his heart. Brows furrowed, the brute turned to exit his home and turned toward the summons that had echoed across his lands. The depths had grown quiet and the leviathan began to fear that his pack would not survive well enough with only five members – one of which was carrying his children. The thought of sharing this news with Deirdre left a burning ache in his gut and he breathed heavily through widened nares.  
 
When he caught sight of the pale healer of the wood, Skellige lowered his head slightly and stepped forward so that his muzzle could move to brush against her own. "How are you?" He inquired of the girl with a rumbling voice. It felt as if it had been years since they had last talked. He could not help but to notice the changes in her shape and the size of her figure. She had reached her adulthood.  

he came into her sights, and deirdre felt a great warmth spread all over her, like the summer sun when it first rose casting each of its rays upon her. his touch caused her stomach to flip within itself, and deirdre moved to nuzzle into him with very little thought to anything bar the butterflies that simultaneously took flight within her stomach. they erupted from their coccoons, and deirdre felt herself smile as she removed herself from him, loathe though she was to do so.

better, now, deirdre hummed him, the heat of her breath against the chilled air taking shape to something like mist. and you? how are you? and rannoch? she wondered if the boy had taken her words to heart, though had taken her time to find out; she did not wish to disrupt skellige or the chosen prince from lessons she knew were important for them both. she would swiftly get to the real reason she had come today--but truly, his wellbeing was her hearts priority in the moment.

 
Better -   
 
The word resonated with him until he could not bare to hold it. Better that she was there, he realized quietly to himself. She brought a peculiar calmness to his heart and he could not stress enough how worse off he would be without her. The burning of his gaze lingered on her slender features for an extended amount of time before he forced himself to pull away and breathe in the saline air. The brute's chest tightened and he offered a ghostly half-smile toward the woman of the flowers. She had inquired about himself and the boy he had taken in and adopted – the boy he was slowly considering to be his own son.  
 
"I am still recovering. My limp has not subsided but I hope it will not plague me much longer. Rannoch - " he smirked softly and flicked his tail upward, "he's doing well. You have created some great magic with him. The boy has taken the blessing of the waters and has embraced his future as a prince of the depths." Nothing had made the leviathan prouder than to witness such a remarkable transformation from a child stolen in the wilds.  

it is more subtle, now, she said, witnessing his approached. it certainly existed, but it had once been more pronounced. deirdre nosed him. i hope the waters rid of it soon, though it made the man no less powerful, she knew what he thought of it. she drew closer to offer her gentle healers kiss to the afflicted limb, before circling and moving beside him again to listen to the rest of his words. his joyous expression caused her own features to lift in a smile, the smirk causing a strange unraveling within her. how strange her limbs felt! and to lean into him, even slightly, did not seem to help! a giddy little laugh came from her charcoal lips. oh, this pleases me greatly! i should like to see him, soon, for she knew he trained with skellige, but when time permitted she would seek the wildling boy.

deirdre drew in a breath. i came not simply to see you, deirdre admitted, but because of our plans made long ago, she was certain he recollected them! but she was silent to see what he thought for a moment, for what if his interest in them had gone?

As she spoke, he listened carefully to the manner in which she regarded the young Rannoch and her careful nose felt almost lovingly as she checked the wounds that had been inflicted to his body. The swarthy king followed her movements with a watchful calmness. While he was touchy when it came to his newly acquired scars of war, he knew that she was nothing more than a tender breath of the wood against his salty and gruff figure. Deirdre truly was a nymph of the forest and the flowers that grew against the grass beside the sea. "You may visit the boy at any time," he spoke in a slow exhale with his words.

When she had finished her inspection of his frame, she moved forward to a matter that he was not sure he understood. Skellige quickly struggled through his memory for a deal that had been struck between them, but there were too many that emerged. With furrowed brows and a slight cant of his skull, the sea wolf frowned. "I recall more than one," he remarked with a quiet "wuff" and flicked his ears forward in a swift motion. "Elaborate."

deirdre smiled at his words, glad she would be able to see skellige's prodigal chosen prince whenever she so wished it. and when next he spoke, succinct and blunt, deirdre smiled. i would like to open our borders to one another, so that she could come to see the man before her whenever she desired, and so he could come and so he could do the same. so she could visit doe at her leisure, and use the medicines of the shore that did not come to donnelaith's coast; doe, too, could utilize the healing powers of donnelaith and the limitless offerings of the forest.

The woman of the wood smiled on him in spite of his gruff and short response to her opening words. She had always been patient with his nature, and many would say that he did not deserve such a thing. Still, the pale healer continued on and explained the nature of what she wished to have happen – that deal that they had struck very early on in their relationship. The inky man nodded his head slowly and glanced toward the thickly cut trees that she had grown to claim as her own. He could never imagine himself wandering the tangled roots as she did. Skellige knew that he would not find a comfort there, but their promise to open the lands to each other was one that he had been intent on keeping. Still, there was another vow that had weighed heavily on his mind… that of their bonding. She was growing swiftly into an adult and he was an impatient fool who sought to solidify the deal and take her as his own.
 
“Ah, yes,” he rumbled softly. “Then let it be so – the wolves of Donnelaith are welcome on my shores so long as my own brood is welcome to your wood.” A swift bow of his head showed that he was genuine in his words and the hulking brute attempted to push the thoughts of marriage aside. They could not quite be silenced, though.
 
With a quiet exhale through his inky nostrils, Skellige peered at her with a curious glint in his gaze. “And what of our other vow? That to be wed?” the question fell from his lips without warning, but once it was stated he did not shy away from it. There was a nagging within him that caused him to believe that she had changed her heart on the matter and that they would pursue other paths. Still, he wished to hear her speak her mind.  

deirdre smiled warmly toward skellige at his assent, and she nodded. i will inform my own, she responded to his own words warmly, her tail waving--and as she noted his thoughtful look, deirdre's lips moved to form a question. but his gruff voice came and took the wind from her words, and her emerald eyes at once feel anxiously toward his saltridden paws. she marveled at their great size, and though deirdre was no small thing she did not hold his exceptional mass. 

the queen of flowers and trees spoke, her voice strong as it began, her eyes now looking for his own as she felt a surge of bravery. it is a vow i intend to keep, to be wed! she thrilled at this, but realized the question--she drew an anxious breath, and asked, ...is it still... something you desire? oh! what if he did not? she had only recently learned of why it was he occupied her mind so, why he resided in her dreams and in her heart; but of course she was young, and the birds sometimes sang of the young being foolish when it came to love! but she could not look away from him after she spoke. she drew even nearer, not wanting to miss the word, not wanting to be uncertain. what if it was not she that he loved?

A vow she intended to upkeep. He felt his chest thrum proudly at the prospect of their arrangement still having grounds. At first, he had thought her to want to abandon the plan. Her words were enough to soothe his anxious mind. For all his doubts, she could not be one of them. He knew he would have to trust her promise to uphold. It would not be long before they would be able to be mated. Still, it seemed like ages. 

"Perhaps, then... you should begin plans for that arrangement. You are coming of age, are you not?" he prompted with a lift of his skull and a slight frown downward. He was hoping his wandering thoughts would not carry the conversation too far. Skellige knew that he dreamed of her true adult years, but they were a ways from that yet. Still, her one year was upon them and he would wish to know her plans.