Dragoncrest Cliffs i was born a dreamer

@Eske

Arlo has been thankful they have been allowed into the cavern despite their rank, not sure how they’d survive the outside world without proper protection. His coat is thick enough for winter but there is still a bite that numbs his limbs every time he steps outside. The window blows at the entrance, causing a whipping sound every now and then and a puff of snow will tumble in. Arlo mostly keeps to the back when they are not sleeping, wishing to go outside and stretch his legs and make the most of his time but the damper that has been put on them keeps him in place.

Tired, and bored, he shuffles down on a dead patch of grass and tucks his feet beneath him. A little wiggle tells him they are still there but he closes his eyes and lowers his head to the ground. With nothing else to really do, he allows sleep to overcome him for the time being—at least until something better comes along.

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Restless did not begin to truly cover explaining how Eske felt. True to her early infancy days Eske was all but crawling out of her skin and fur to finding herself trapped in the cavern and her great reluctance to have to rely on the other members of Drageda for added warmth. The storm outside was little short of vicious and though she ventured out only long enough to find a frozen corpse to eat on (of which there was an unnerving abundance) she did not linger about in the elements long as she didn’t particularly want to end up like the corpses of ungulates that littered the forest of the Cliffs. The cavern offered protection from the worst of the storm but still the cold seeped in and chilled her. She spent her time pacing, telling herself that it kept the blood flowing, that it used energy and was keeping her warmer and while there may have been some truth to that the fact was that she couldn’t stand not doing something.

Pacing only got her so far and when the chill from the mouth of the cavern became a little too much for Eske whose coarse, winter coat protected her only so far she let out a loud huff and retreated deeper into the cavern supposing that she better join the others before her toes fell off. Thunder boomed over ahead and her ears slicked back against her skull as she skulked deeper seeking out her clan. “This is so boring.” She grumbled in Trigedasleng. Not to mention besides being bored out of her mind — for the cavern was very much like the birth den: a prison to her — she was cold and these made for an annoyed Eske who was tired of sleeping. She wasn’t Sleeping Beauty — she had prey to kill and ass to kick … though she took some comfort from the fact that it was highly unlikely anyone would be trespassing in this weather and if they did they would be wolfsicles by the time the storm let up enough for the Drakru to find them.

Her steps slowed as she neared Arlo, one of the two brothers to come from Seageda and one of the two closest in the kru to her own age. She still wasn’t sure what to think of the two boys. He appeared to be sleeping and studied him with scrutiny for a few moments wondering where his brother was and then decided that she didn’t care. She wondered for a second if she should wake him, though it seemed unfair. Why should anyone else suffer her extreme level of boredom? “Arlo, laik yu stomba?” She asked him after a moment. She wanted to explore the cavern a bit more, see where it led figuring that would keep her occupied for a few hours but if he was asleep or didn’t want to adventure with her she would venture by herself. As it was, she wasn’t exactly sure why she wanted his company — Eske told herself that it was because sometimes doing things by herself got a bit lonely and though the warrior princess was not overly friendly on her best days she still craved company from time to time.

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Arlo isn’t down for long before he hears the beginning of Eske’s pacing growing closer and closer to him. The sounds of her repeated footfalls against the frozen ground kept him from falling in to slumber but he doesn’t seem to mind it too much. The rhythm feels calming, or so he’ll tell himself, and he focuses on it in order to pass the time. When she complains about the situation, he struggles to keep himself composed and fight the laughter that bubbles beneath his lips. He clenches his jaws together to keep from exposing himself and retightens his limbs inward.

Eventually, he hears her take a few steps outside of the pacing and the crunching is louder. One ear twitches as she speaks. “Yes,” he mumbles through a half-dozed off state. Slowly, he opens one golden eye and then a second, followed by picking up his head as his gaze settles on her face. What little he knows about Eske is enough to give him the conclusions he needed. Her impatience can hurt her in the field. He knows little about her training and what they’ve accomplished so far and still she is young. Arlo is far from ever considering her a mentor but, maybe, they can share a few things.

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Arlo responds to her question that he was, indeed, awake though the groggy undertones of his voice led her to believe that it wasn’t entirely true. It was almost enough to make her feel bad but not enough simply because she assumed he hadn’t been entirely asleep (as unaware as she was about that particularly fact sort of being her fault). The thought did cross her mind that perhaps she should let him to his sleep but she bid it back, for now. She watched as he peeked a golden eye open at her and then another and her ears smoothed down to linger at half mast against the crown of her skull for a few seconds before they perked, alert. As he stared at her she returned the favor, clenching her jaw for a moment as she studied him, shifting her weight ever so slightly. “I was wondering if you're up for a little adventure?” She asked him smoothly in the next few seconds, breaking the silence that followed his response to her first question; after a few seconds a smirk began to tug at the corners of her lips. “But, I mean, if you’d rather get your beauty sleep then don’t let me keep you from it.” The warrior princess teased him.

Eske didn’t often let her humor show (and frankly she wasn’t sure what inspired her to tease him in the first place); mostly those kind of teasing jabs were saved for her siblings. As it was, Arlo was not her sibling and she was aware of that. Perhaps a little too aware of it and there was no telling how he’d react to her playful gibe at him but she went out on the limb as fearlessly as she did anything, really (which was bound to get her into trouble at some point in her life).

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She mentions an adventure and his attention piques though he is slow to show it. His ears lift forward and a few seconds later, she teases him. The smirk across her face causes his brow to rise and he begins to pick himself up off the ground. Whatever they could find to do in the cavern to pass the time is certainly a plus in his book and with a little company to boot while his brother is off doing his own thing somewhere else.

“You might go blind if I get any more beauty sleep,” he comments with a smirk of his own and a point of his muzzle for her to lead the way.

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Eske lets out an audible, amused snort as he mentions that if he gets any more beauty sleep that he might blind her but she does not comment. One dances on the tip of her tongue but as she is not sure if it would offend him or boost his ego and she is not willing to take the risk either way so keeps it to herself. The amused snort would just have to suffice. He gestures for her to lead the way and she takes it, pushing herself into the darkness of the tunnel, taking in a deep breath of damp rock. She is not particularly thrilled with the idea of being so far away from the mouth of the cavern, of not being able to see daylight: though the tunnels are wide and spacious she feels a creep of claustrophobia all the same. As she does not wish Arlo to pick up on her unease she steels her shoulders against it and combats it the best she can: by pushing herself forward. “How far do you think these go?” She asks him to help occupy herself and keep her mind off of the unease she feels in her breast.

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His jest only gets him a snort but she seems to like it anyway. It causes his tail to shake a few times behind him as he stretches out the stiffness in his joints. He’s young enough that he shouldn’t be having problems but the cold weather and lack of movement has settled in to give him trouble after lying around for long periods of time. He doesn’t have the borders to go check like he should but he doesn’t suspect many wolves will really be a problem and those that come to their borders won’t find anything but stale scents. Heda doesn’t seem too concerned about trespassers when they are all safe in the cavern, for now. When the weather changes, he suspects things will turn around.

“I don’t know,” he confesses after a moment. He hasn’t explored as much as he probably should have but he wonders how much the others really have covered themselves. They tend to keep in a smaller area where heat can be shared with everyone to ensure they didn’t lose any limbs or digits and worse. “I guess there’s only one way to find out,” he says with a gentle bump of his shoulders to hers as he began to walk side by side into the darkness. It is difficult to see but he can make out certain shapes that he’s able to avoid. Eventually, however, he feels himself constricted and he has to back up and stand behind the gona when the tunnel becomes smaller and forces them into a single file line.

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Eske does not expect him to have an actual answer for her when she asks her question but it is a question that she cannot help but ask anyway if only because it helps, some, at taking her mind off of the constricting walls around her. The bump of Arlo’s shoulder against hers startles her some and she struggles between wanting to be her rude self and moving away sharply from his touch or hesitantly accepting it as a sign of companionship. She could easily claim that she does not like being touched by wolves she does not know well but that isn’t true. She welcomes Kendra’s touches and she does not know her very well. At the end, Eske accepts his shoulder bump of comradeship with low noise instead of trying to pick it and how she feels about it apart. He is only trying to offer her comfort for she does not doubt that he can feel the tension rolling off of her in waves. She makes no attempt to hide her unease and discomfort at the confined space but she is the captain of her own ship and she is determined to stare down her fear and attempt to conquer it even if it is only for this moment.

As the tunnel constricts and forces the pair into a single follow line she draws in a deep, ragged breath of damp earth and stone but she pushes forward, keeping her pace steady and quick but reminds herself not to step too quick. The stones are slick with slime moss and condensation and as they are untravelled by herself and Arlo she is not sure what awaits them or how treacherous they might truly be. “I hope they lead to a back way out of Drageda.” She comments to Arlo though it is mostly because she desires to see the light of day again and breathe in fresh air before she is forced to go back the way she came. “It might be helpful if we are ever in a disaster to have a …safe, secret way to evacuate.” The eruption of Sleeping Dragon has left the possibility in Eske’s mind. “but,” She draws in another breath, this one harder than the last as she tries to power through the feeling of suffocation that she knows is only in her mind. “it might also compromise Drageda…if other wolves would happen to discover it.” Which presented a problem, admittedly.

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Eske begins to speak the same thoughts that go through his mind. He would hate to get to the end of all of this only to find nowhere to go. If kept secret, a good hiding space, but the last thing he wants is to be trapped down this tunnel with no way out. And are they really sure they hadn’t missed an opening or branch of the tunnel, which on their way back will further lose them? The anxiety suddenly eats at his mind but he brushes it off just as the faint hint of light hits Eske, shining off her silky brown fur.
 
He heaves a breath of relief.
 
“If no one knows about it, then it’s no danger,” he says. Of course, someone can stumble upon it, but surely they wouldn’t think much. They’d also find them at the heart of a pack and rarely is the cavern empty at any given time. “Bet we could find a way to cover it up?”

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Eske sees light and her relief is a palpable thing as if it has been given skin and flesh. Her shoulders loosen and sag and she does not realize how tense she had been until she realizes that they were not trapped in here. She hears Arlo’s sigh of relief behind her and she is glad that she is not the only one that shared that fear. She does not like being so vulnerable in the presence of others but she does not think there is a way that Arlo could use it against her nor that he had any reason to. Still, she tries to downplay it, act like it hadn’t happened hoping that her companion will not capitalize nor ask about it. “Can we take that risk, though?” Eske asks Arlo, her tone implicating her opinion on that without her having to actually say it. She was not willing to risk the assumption that no one knows about it. “Even though they’d be following it into a lion’s den, even if we tell Heda and the others about it if a wolf or wolves find this tunnel they can take us by surprise. They could ambush us.” They could slaughter us. The cavern does not provide much room to fight and in the chaos they would be easy targets. She thinks this way because it is a tactic she was not above using herself on enemies. The element of surprise was a huge advantage. “Maybe,” Eske contemplates his suggestion, as she exits the tunnel, shrugging through the underbrush that mostly concealed it. “A heavy boulder or two might do the trick if we can move them,” She suggests glimpsing around her. “but that would entirely block any emergency exit we might have had.” She frowns, her ears slicking back to rest at half mast atop her skull as she contemplates it.

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Arlo begins to wonder if blocking it with brush is enough as Eske verbally doubts his suggestion. His lips purse together as he thinks it through and tries to wonder if there’s any way that they could use it to their advantage that someone on the outside can’t. Unfortunately, he continues to come up empty handed and for several seconds, he walks in silence until they near the end and a few more feet they will be out. He holds his breath for a long moment until finally, the two of them slip out of the other side. It doesn’t widen too much: enough for Eske to wiggle through and Arlo has to work a little harder but it doesn’t take much. Anyone bigger than he can get through it but will find quite a tight fit.

“If we can move a bolder, that means someone else can. Even if we get the whole pack to help move one, it’s not going to be a few wolves that come for us and they’d likely be able to do the same,” he says, humming quietly to himself for a moment. “And brush might be too obvious if not done properly. I’d noticed something haphazardly placed.”

The train of thought pulls him away and he moves in another direction away from the tides. If he were going to use this spot, where would he come from? His head turns away from the ocean to notice how secluded it is and the only way is over the dunes ahead. He rushes forward until he’s higher in elevation, turning to see Eske and the opening. "I have an idea, but we'll need my brother," he explains, looking to her longer should she have any more ideas.

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Arlo is right, she realizes as he points out the gaping hole in her plan. If they can move a boulder or two so can anyone else desperate enough to get through. The Drakru’s frown deepens and she lets out a low huff. Not because her idea has flaws but because that leaves her empty pawed. She has learned to acknowledge that she will not always be right and she accepts Arlo’s criticism, his ability to point out what she cannot see. Eske uses it to better herself, next time to look at all the angles before she suggests a tactic. If she was going to be a tactician she needed to have all the bases covered and covered well. “Right,” She says as she turns from him as he disappeared up the nearby dune to get a better look. She remains close, examining the opening. Ideally, she would like to have it for Drageda to use and keep it concealed so others could not but she is out of ideas. It is concealed enough by vines and roots that obscure it. From far away it might not even look like an opening but up close it is obviously a tunnel to somewhere. Unfortunately, that somewhere let right into the heart of Drageda. Her ears flicker and her attention turns back to Arlo as he declares that he has an idea and that it involves his brother. “What’s your idea?” Eske calls to him, willing to hear what he has to say for she has nothing useful to offer (as much as that stings her).

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She doesn’t add anything before he goes so he stiffens up a little, scanning the side of the rock. Vines already grow along the side but they aren’t big or wide enough. It is obviously not something that can fully survive in the harsh winter they are having, something that could mimic the lands of Seageda, but he’s certain Melchior will know just the thing. “These vines aren’t enough but I bet my brother knows some that we can relocate here that will thicken up, and some that will survive in the winter,” he muses. “If it’s thick enough, you won’t know there’s an opening here unless you know it’s there.” Unless, of course, you happened to try and touch the right spot but he supposes that idea is less likely. Most of the time, you don’t find what you’re not looking for.

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Arlo makes a good point and puts forth a good idea. Eske nods her approval as she pokes around the entrance again, before she looks at him over her shoulder, eyeing him for a moment. She cannot help but wonder if she has competition in him for Wanlida. It sets her teeth together with a sharp click and a flare of her nostrils as she thinks of it. Her competitive nature will not let her lose what she wants easily and she wants to be Wanlida. “Portia might be able to help with that too,” Eske offers. Not because she doesn’t think Melchior can’t handle it on his own but she thinks that perhaps two minds might be better than one. It certainly proved true here though admittedly, Arlo came up with the best plan so the victory is his alone. She is struck by a rise of familiar jealousy but she tampers it down until it ceases to exist. It is ridiculous and she knows it. There was never any harm in healthy competition but she is surprised that she has not lost it with her siblings being estranged and banished from Drageda. Competition can only make her better because it encourages and pushes her to better herself. “Not that I doubt Melchior’s abilities because I don’t doubt he can do it on his own,” Eske offers in explanation though why she bothered she isn’t sure. “They say two heads are better than one.” She offers with a sly grin and a lofty roll of her shoulders but then her face falls after a beat. "Except she is pregnant so she may not be able to help." She corrects herself, twitching her nose slightly.

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When she offers the idea of Portia helping, Arlo stiffens. His brother needs to prove himself to Drageda just as much as he does and if he helps with this, it'll be an additional notch on his resume. However, if Portia is involved, she can help see the work his brother puts into it and so he eases some of his own tension. After a moment, he nods and wags his tail. "I'll talk to him when I see him again," he says, feeling the chill run up his spine. The wind is biting at every part of him and he can't stop the shiver that takes over. He gives her a glance to see how she's handling the chill of being out in the open before he takes a few steps closer to her and the cliffside.

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Arlo does not seem overly enthusiastic about her suggestion but Eske does not take real offense to it. She brought it up as it was: just a suggestion. If anything, Portia has been in Drageda longer and can vouch for Melchior’s abilities to Heda but Eske does not speak this. She understands why he might be hesitant. Melchior does need to prove himself and if Portia is there is might take away from his abilities; but at the end of the day they are a clan and it is their job to support and help one another, wasn’t it? It is an ironic thought as she thinks it. Especially given her own drive for independence to prove herself without more experienced Gona’s lingering about her, but she has learned that she does not need (nor should she be) a one woman show. Perhaps that is the tactician blooming within her speaking. She sees now the benefit of being a cohesive unit which she was blind to in her younger months. “We should probably head back,” She speaks as Arlo draws near though the idea of going back through the tunnel is enough to make her visibly cringe. “I’ll inform Heda of what we found and what we plan to do about it while you speak to your brother.” She offers as they head back the way they came. Eske keeps her pace even and a bit faster than she had the first time through now that she is familiar with the path, eager to get to the cavern as she is. Those walls are harder to imagine closing in on her. She keeps her footing sure as the pair make their way back to Drageda.

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