When he found his way to the glacier, the temperature colder the further he’d gone in, he’d noticed a scent that was unmistakably familiar. Even if it had been months since he crossed the path of his younger sister, but it was there, even if it was faint. Gavriel clung to it, trying to find the way he led before he managed to get a little turned around and losing it entirely. With a huff of defeat, he settled back on his haunches and glanced upward at the dark sky. The thought to call for the woman lingered in the back of his mind but afraid to scare her further away remained. Surprising her wasn’t something he desire. If she were ready to take the helm again, she would have returned, that he hadn’t prepared himself for any other option.
It was a night he’d been able to successfully wrangle both
@Vercingetorix and
@Seregrýnn to stay put for the night long enough for him to expand his search. He knew he couldn’t count on either one of them to obey him and so he turned to return back to where they’d called camp that night with what he’d come across and how close they were.
The glacier was a stunning sight and not one that Gyda had ever allowed herself to lay eyes upon so up close and personal. If she climbed high enough upon Sleeping Dragon she could see it but seeing it up close was so very different then glimpsing at it far away. It was still breath-taking, still ethereal in it's presence, nevertheless. The shield-maiden turned from it, her tail swaying to and fro once, twice and then a third time as she inhaled deeply and let it out in a heavy exhale. It had been a while since Thuringwethil and her had actually held a conversation with one another — at least since their argument over her desire to have children. Gyda did not broach the subject when they did speak, though she (and she suspected Thurin) had far from forgotten it.
Gyda knew what she wanted and she knew how to get it; but Thuringwethil had thrown a wrench in all of her careful planning. Gyda hadn't been lying when she'd ground out her excuse: she was picky when it would come to the male that would give her children; because of her preferences, because she didn't want attached strings. She had little doubt that the few males in Sleeping Dragon would turn her away if she asked them to sire her children but about the only male she trusted was Hush and ...she didn't feel right asking him to sire her children and then, more or less, forget their existence despite that he would be forced to see them day in and day out.
She did not want it to be messy; but Thurin seemed determined to make the obstacle nearly impossible for Gyda to scale ...or work around, even. Gyda admired Heda for it, no matter how frustrated the Commander made her feel at times, and the viking queen still cared very much for her Heda, unconditionally even, despite that they had hit this ...bump in the road. Her heat season was rapidly approaching, already Gyda could feel the shifts in her mood, the change in her body but she wondered if it would be for nothing. In truth, she had felt worse disappointments, worse emotional wounds in her life and she doubted that this would be the last time.
She glimpsed at Sleeping Dragon's peak in the distance. She would need to return soon, she knew, but for now she enjoyed the small venture outside the territory she had come to call home and the labyrinth of her own thoughts despite how troubling they were. It as she turned away from the distant rise of Sleeping Dragon that she noticed him. He was unfamiliar to her — simply another lone wolf. For a moment, she hesitated, torn between she wished to be friendly or alone with her thoughts. Given the recent elevation in her mood she decided to approach him. Her pace was steady and she stopped while there still remained good distance between them and let out a low chuff of greeting.
Having been set upon returning to his two charges, the chuff caught him off guard. Focused on the disaster they’ve likely created in his absence, he’d nearly jumped when she’d made the sound. He jerked his head in her direction and quickly gave her a once over. He’d already stepped on someone’s toes earlier in their own home by not paying enough attention and he certainly didn’t want to do it again, not when he was so close. The other wolf hadn’t help many answers, but that wouldn’t mean this one wouldn’t.
“Moba,” he quickly offered, ears falling back on his head. He doesn’t make any indication to close the remainder of the distance but he doesn’t disappear from her presence either. “Am I too close to your land?” is all he asked, knowing there is a pack somewhere east of here. Why Thuringwethil’s scent lingered so close to theirs, he remained uncertain, but he can only hope for a little insight.
The male, Gyda observed as they drew nearer to one another for easier conversing, was tawny, a mixture of colors that reminded her, pleasantly of earth and sand. Not unlike the coloration of her mother and brother, Gunnar. He was larger than her, broad (at least what she could see from the shadows of night and limited light allotted by the moon) — boasting a strong warrior's build that remind her a bit of Thuringwethil's own; but such things were far from uncommon to the shield-maiden who had become quite accustomed to being surrounded by hulking men and women during her time in Odinn's Cove. He offered her a greeting in a language she did not quite recognize, though there was something frustratingly familiar about it. Gyda could not place and therefore knew that it was neither Norse nor the common tongue. “On a bad day I would say yes,” The Viking Queen offered with a simplistic honesty held in the accented tones of her soft voice. Despite that a part of Frostfire Ridge, Qeya River, and Permafrost Hollows (on both directions) lay between the Dragon and the Glacier it was not enough to call it “plenty far away”.
As it was Phoenix Maplewood was too close for Gyda's liking (never mind that the Maplewood had decidedly been there first) but as far as Gyda was still aware the truce still remained between their packs and so long as it was stuck to there was no cause for unnecessary hostility. “but I am feeling generous today, so no, you are not too close to my land.” Spoken with a small smile tugging at the corner of her lips. “I am Gyda, Viking Queen of Sleeping Dragon,” As she gave her introduction she gestured with her muzzle in the direction of the looming Dragon visible in the distance. “And who might you be?” She inquired.
Gavriel found relief in her words that he had not encroached too close to claimed land. He’d always been used to space between one land or another, making it easy he might not recognize the woman standing in front of him. His relations to neighboring packs were limited to those only of his clan. The diplomats and leaders dealt with the neighbors and he was only there as brute force in their army.
However, when she spoke her name, his ears immediately lifted upon his head with a new eagerness. Her face he didn’t know and Gavriel wasn’t that high up on the hierarchy to warrant being anyone important, to being someone Odinn Cove’s (former?) leader. Confusion streaked across his face, Gavriel tilted his head a little to the side. The relationship between his younger sister and the former queen was lost to him.
“Gavriel kom Seakru,” he said; a test, perhaps. If it wasn’t not the woman standing in front of him, she’d likely not understand the full extent of his words.
Gyda noted his eagerness when she spoke her name to him, studying him once more, trying to deduce if she knew him before. He was not one of her wolves from Odinn's Cove that much she did know. She had known the vikings that inhabited it and it's sister Freyja's Moor very well; and though there might have, perhaps, been a smidgen of familiarity to him she drew no conclusive remembrances of every meeting him prior. He spoke to her in words that she knew, recognized from her frequent visits to Thuringwethil before her ascension to the helm of the Cove (and perhaps Thurin's rise to Heda?) had localized their meetings to being less informal and more business. Dagrun had never agreed with Gyda's fascination with the Heda; but then again her uncle would rather be a lone berserker as opposed to having an ally. His belief had been old and, in Gyda's mind, wrong (but she was a bit biased). It had been her closeness with Heda that had inspired their alliance despite that now she saw no need for alliances with the other and numerous packs of the Teekon Wilds.
“Seageda,” Gyda spoke the name of Thuringwethil's past home aloud and gave a dip of her head in acknowledgment. “It is good to meet you,” The viking queen spoke sincerely. “You are far from home,” Gyda observed. “What brings you to the Teekon Wilds?” She inquired with a small cant of her head.
She recognizes the words from his lips and speaks the name of his home, causing a little shake in his tail that is mostly by the night that surrounds them. Gavriel nods his head to confirm his home and dares to take a step a little closer. His posture remains neutral, then; if Gyda is so far from their home, and he's able to catch his younger sister's scent, then maybe...
"I am," he offers, keeping his gaze upon the silvered female. "Though I'm hesitant to call it home anymore." It had been months at this point since Seageda had seen the light of day in the wake of their leader.
His stomach churns with a weird, displaced excitement for what he might find. The search he and his younger brother, and now niece, could come to an end. "I'm looking for Heda." Short, simple. He didn't have time to beat around the bush anymore and if this Viking knew anything, he'd take it quickly and go.
“You are not the first,” Gyda murmured though his admittance to his reluctance to call Seageda home anymore had not truly required a response from the viking queen. He spoke that he was looking for Thuringwethil and for a moment Gyda hesitated unsure if she should speak to him the truth: that Thuringwethil was with her, leading beside her or not. There had been a reason Thuringwethil had sought to distance herself from whatever remained of Seageda. But if it was trouble he sought he would have to go through Gyda and the warriors that Thurin and her had amassed. She would lead the slumbering dragon's wolves to protect her Heda ...at any cost. “I know where she is,” Gyda spoke, guarded despite the smile she gave him. “May I inquire as to why you seek her?” Perhaps her hesitancy was unnecessary but she was curious and she felt she had a right to protect her Heda even if this male before her posed no threat and had nothing but the best of intentions.
The comment struck him as odd but he pushed it back to let her finish to find out more of what she knows. Nor does she disappoint and every ounce in his body is put toward diminishing the sudden excitement he felt. His travels would finally be over and he could, potentially, return to tell the others. His future resided in Heda then, and this woman, and he ignored how strange it was she did know something.
Seageda didn't often deal with Odinn's Cove but it wasn't impossible and the relationship she had with their leader is lost upon him.
"Because she still has wolves that follow her. Just because Seageda is gone, doesn't mean we are," he explains with a slight swish of his tail. Gavriel didn't know much but knew the problem was more or less eliminated. If Thuringwethil wanted to return and rebuild their empire, she could. Safely. Or so he hoped. "Seageda's threat was destroyed. She should know, Gavriel hesitated then, wanting to spill more information but he waits instead.
“I see,” Gyda drew when Gavirel explained that Thuringwethil still had wolves that followed her from Seageda. “The decision to what she does with that knowledge is hers,” But Gyda did not see Thuringwethil uprooting what they had built together to return to Seageda. Of course, she could and would not speak for Thuringwethil. “Heda and I have built a home here, the mount in the distance is called Sleeping Dragon. It is where we rule together.” Gyda divulged to him, studying him for his reaction. Gyda knew that Thuringwethil was not accustomed to sharing the helm of the pack. Gyda did not have any problems sharing the responsibilities, and enjoyed having Thurin lead beside her. Even if they did not always agree; but that was expected when you put two women on the thrones. Two strong women with cultures that were different but in their own ways similar.
“I will take her to you if that is what you wish.” The viking queen offered him simply.
Gyda seemed to take his words without much of a problem but she didn’t judge what he offered; it wasn’t her place to do so. However, when it was announced she led beside his
Heda, he couldn’t help the strained reaction smeared across his face in confusion. His jaws parted to question it but he held it back and waited, shaking it off for the time being. There was likely a good explanation, if his leader had been willing to share the helm for some reason, or some other motive Gavriel isn’t able to comprehend in that moment.
“Yes, but I have two others with me—one she’ll definitely want to see,” he explained, unaware of how much she understood of their ways, how much she understands the risk of sharing the responsibility with someone not of their own. And what would their sole Fos Goufa take to that potential?
Once he’d been given the clearance, he took a few steps away to howl something urgent for both
@Vercingetorix and
@Seregrýnn to come to him.
I have permission to PP Seregrýn since Java is a way but if you want me to PP Verc, Rem, at least through this process just let me know. I'm starting a thread after this to include Thuringwethil (I hope it's okay if I at least PP them into being there) to get them settled.
Gyda's brows rose in slight surprise when Gavriel spoke that he had two others traveling with him. She supposed if she'd been paying closer attention she might have smelled them upon him but even if she had noticed it was likely that she would have paid no true mind to it since he was a loner. “Two others,” Gyda repeated to herself in a soft murmur. For a moment she was swept up in quiet contemplation, her ears slicking back to rest at half mast atop her skull, her tail giving a soft wag to and fro before her ears cupped forth, alert and the viking queen lifted her muzzle slightly. “Call for them.” Gyda encouraged him, fueled by her own curiosity as to who this stranger was that Thuringwethil would most like to see (all the while wondering if she should maybe be jealous or not).
She had been away from his side for only moments, it seemed, when a call rose forth; even though he had instructed her to stay put, it was not what she wanted, so Seregryn had slunk off in to the night. His call was not far from their camp - in fact, she had only walked for a few minutes away from it. It was enough to irk the petulant girl, having spotted a strange bird through the shadows, which she was intent to track in to the wilderness. The call had caused her to raise her head sharply, breaking from the game she eagerly played with the long-tailed thing; and her movement spooked it, causing the bird to go racing off in to the wilds. Seregryn huffed a small breath, ears fanning in every direction as she listened to the retreating target, but eventually she did as she was bade --- if only to find Gavriel and chastise him.
Upon emerging from the undergrowth, she spotted Gavriel. He appeared to be conversing with a stranger - a woman. Sere's bright eyes narrowed, but she slunk closer and closer, until her petite body was level with her watcher. She cast him a small side-eyed glance, but settled her red gaze upon the woman for the time being, wondering what was going on. Before anyone could speak, Seregryn plopped her rear end down and began to clean her paws, as if meeting this imposing woman was of less importance.
Once the call had been made, he waited around awkwardly with Gyda. He’d asked so much of her already, even if it is so little, but with the cusp of their future waiting on her decision, he couldn’t spare. Thuringwethil would want to see Seregrýn, would want to store her away wherever she lives to keep her safe should something happen. Their home is already in chaos, confused and torn between Trigeda.
The Fos Goufa shows up first and he peers around, looking for his younger brother, and he trots along a few minutes later. He explains the situation, that they’ve found their heda, and Gyda would take them to her.