Neverwinter Forest skies and thrones and wings and poetry and things

For Hydra.

Dawn was slipping nearer, lighting the sky in indigo. The comforting blanket of stars that warmed Ira each night was lifting, and in a reverse metaphor, he knew that meant he could likely not stave off tiredness for much longer and would need to bed down. It had been a couple of days since he and his son had split up to cover and explore this new country, and he missed his company more than he’d anticipated. When Ira had originally intended to set off from his family, he had figured it would be alone. And of course, that was not what had happened. And, with a touch of co-dependency, he had come to rely on his son’s presence as a grounding effect.

Their plan to rejoin at the coast was comfort enough to keep him from feeling too strained by the absence, and after all – he was the parent here. Surely he could be just fine on his own. Looking about, he assessed that while this forest certainly didn’t offer him the views he required for star-gazing, he nevertheless liked it. IT was dense, comfortable, and it did not take him long to find a nurse log that would have been suitable to create a temporary makeshift den against. He started to nose around in the moss, scraping at it with a forepaw, before he realized he just wasn’t tired enough to settle. He hopped up onto the log instead, surveying what was near to him, and feeling utterly lost. Well, he thought, Jupiter has just entered Scorpio. My next cycle of learning begins now. And I must feel this feeling, not flee from it.

Rian's scouting expedition was taking him some time, and she worried for him now that he had not showed face to Moonspear in some time. Hydra romanticized him, and thought him capable of taking down that nameless scoundrel if need-be, but decided this day to seek him out. As per her fathers recommendation she went this day with @Alya who also desired to find Rian, and meet him for herself. Hydra decided that their best course of action was to start with Neverwinter, where both Rannoch and Cypress had been born. 

They split up, and it was not difficult to remain within earshot of a wolf. Still, a rustling sound captured her attention, and Hydra snapped to utter attention. She sampled the air with a brief sniff, though could detect no trace of Rian or any other. Many had passed through here, but none had stayed. Still, perhaps this had not been his path—she made way slowly, carefully, toward the source of the sound she had heard. Her heart fluttered in her chest as she anticipated seeing the yearling she had always been smitten with, though the uncertainty grounded her as she equally prepared for the worst—that this might be the enemy she had been searching for, the pale and tan wolf with detached eyes. She dreamt of him, that boy. Dreamt, because she destroyed him each and every time.

His living sickened her. But the day they had let him escape with his life was for the greater good—Rannoch's life. 

She kept herself hidden, hoping to catch sight of the wolf she had heard before she appeared before him. Hydra remained in the shadows as best she could, but there was no telling who this wolf could be before smelling him, seeing him. Though she had been working on her tracking and her stealth, she could be among an expert for all she knew, if it was not the wolves she hoped for.

From even the slightest elevation that the nurse log provided, Ira had a better view of the forest. It was thick, the trees here were wider and taller than most he'd ever seen before, and yet down here, it was surprisingly open. Underbrush did not thrive under trees with branches as thick as these, but neither was it completely sparse. It was a rainforest so unique and old that he felt cradled by the Earth. The sense of comfort did well to balance out the sense of anxiety that encapsulated him at present. He wrested it from his mind as best he could, turning on his feet so that he could continue to look around him, and felt a jolt in his stomach.

There was something – or someone – nearby. With no leaves and very few sticks to trample on down here to alert him of anyone moving about, it occurred to him that he may not have been alone for some time. But the rustle of ferns was not a breeze, for he felt none, and he ducked his shoulders, bending at the elbows, to get lower against the log. He was not so foolhardy as to call out to a stranger in a place already so strange and foreign to him, but neither could he tell if the sound were made by predator or prey. The anxiety in him melted away as he shifted into preparedness mode, his entire body changing into fixed and fiery energy.

She had been watching, but in little time the other discovered her. She was fortunate enough to see that the furs upon him were not the same as those on the wolf she had attacked, and so was he—it would have been an unnecessary scuffle for the both of them. Hydra emerged from the woods, seeing his readyness and meeting it only with a wan smile. Sorry, she started with, I thought you might be... someone else, she settled on that. Her ears flattened atop her head apologetically. He is not welcome here. While there claim was not to this land in particular, his banishment extended to the Wiilds surrounding the "close enough" vicinity of Moonspear. Her protectiveness equally extended to her now only sole friend outside of Moonspear (Rannoch was among them, Rian soon would be, and Cypress, too, she was sure).

You are a warrior? There was something to the man before her that suggested this to her. She was most interested—lessons from warriors outside of Moonspear were things she treasured, if they were willing to impart some knowledge prior to to their meetings end.

Quickly as they had tensed, Ira's shoulders relaxed. An apologetic tone floated his way through the darkened wood, and the wolf that had announced herself came into focus. She had a youthful look about her, perhaps a touch of naivete, but certainly no innocence. She looked to him the same way he would regard one of his own children - already equals to him, just a few years behind in experience and learning. Unwilling to trust blindly, he accepted that there could be more about her that was an act that she was letting on, but Ira caught her blue gaze and judged - until proven otherwise - that she was sincere.

"I had not expected to find anyone in here," he responded honestly. "It has been a few days since I met anyone." There were certainly no shortage of wolves around here to meet, but he truly had thought the forest to be an empty one. He cast a look about him in case the wolf that she was expecting to have met were, in fact, nearby, but the two of them were quite alone.

"I'm Ira," he answered her, though his name was not the question she had asked. He sat on that one for a moment, allowing his muscles to straighten and stand in full view of her rather than couched against the log. His posture was non-threatening, but still alert. "I have not seen much need for fighting on my journey," he finally mused. In fact, he had been too intimidating and/or respected by the wolves he'd known in his past for any to have challenged him physically, and had held his own across the lands from there to here. "But perhaps that is because no one has sought fit to truly test me." He quirked a brow. A warrior's experience he did not have, but authority? Sure.

His answer neither denied nor confirmed her question, but there was no disputing that what he spoke of, she could see. The presence he carried was an authoritative one. I can see why, she responded without shame. Hydra could appreciate what stood before her, and it looked to be a strong man that she would rather not quarrel with. Even now, fit, well-fed, and healthy, he looked difficult to take down. But Hydra could not deny she wanted to try—not in a fight where they sought blood, of course. Something to warm their bones, as falls chill was erring toward one that felt more like winters cutting knife; it could wedge its way into the marrow of any creature in the wilds.

Hydra cocked her head. I don't see it fit, per se, but I'd like to, the girl lowered herself into a play-bow, quirking her brows at him before she rose, her tail waving in a friendly, inviting manner: what do you say?

Ira did not at first know why her appraisal of him caused a flush of pride, but as soon as he recognized the emotion, he almost laughed. It had been so long since someone had been around to stroke his Leo ego. He wasn't about to solicit daily compliments from his son, and his spirit had been languishing as a result. For the moment, he only smiled. It felt good to be acknowledged for who he was again.

As the girl sank into a bow, Ira drew his body upward, ears tall but pointed to the sides. His tail began swishing back and forth, indicating that the tension pulled into his body was superficial rather than offensive. It was the classic "oh, are we doing this?" salute to an initiation of play. He had only this moment and his instincts to guide him on whether or not a physical advance would result in altercation rather than the posited play, but he chose to err on the side of goodwill. She was young, her signalling did not seem insincere, and -- unless they were ambushed by wolves known to her, he certainly could stand his own if things were to go south.

So on that note, he dropped the front half of his body, returning the bow, grinning. "Well, it certainly wouldn't be very polite of me to turn down your request," he invited.