Lasher had given her a simple task - to serve them. And serve she did. The tall woman wasn't stocky, she was lithe, built for speed more so than the travelers stamina, but still she made the rounds to mark the borders early that morning. She paused at the base of a tree, a sensation running over her that beneath the earth there was something and she had to investigate.
There, beneath the surface of the earth, was a little seedling. Tiny and frail, a secret to all, but Rowan could feel it. A few moments of intense thought, of effort given to such a tiny little sprite, and she didn't leave it's side. She could feel that energy changing, growing, getting stronger. She could help the pack, if she could help the tiny little bud. She took a few more moments before she continued on to the heart of the Forest, feeling more optimistic about proving her worth to the dark druid.
nightly, with the encouragement of her father, deirdre spoke to the woods and created her circle. she prayed and she sang and she dreamt of life returned. as she moved through donnelaith now, humming lowly an ancient melody, deirdre swore she heard a rejoinder; the tiniest, frailest whisper upon the wind, an eager beckoning from ones awakening.
the witch moved toward it, her frame trimmer than ever 'twould be when she was well-fed. though of all in donnelaith, 'twas she and emaleth who were best fed given their status, and so she was not so guant as to look ghastly. her beauty had become elven in its variety, curves that would typically be soft sharp and pronounced. always her loveliness had been cherubic, but as a wolf that now looked unquestionably woman in contrast to girl, she looked ethereal.
deirdre moved from out of the wood and toward another who had found the slumbering seed first, and was given pause for a moment. this was a face she did not yet know, and the grown seven month old regarded the wolf who had the looks of both a man and a woman with fascination. and she moved behind a tree, not sure if she had been seen, her shyness preventing such a thing although she did wish to greet the other.
Rowan had no training. She had no invocations, no proper words or whispers to offer. No knowledge of what she should have done, but what she lacked she made up for in spades in raw talent. She was doubled many lines over, she had the blood to back the power that ran through the Mayfair line. Rowan licked her lips, only turning her eyes from the small plot of land to peer at the other pale woman who approached. She could feel a power in her too, different wholly than Lasher's was.
She ducked behind a tree and Rowan gave the faintest smile. She could feel the young witchling, even if she couldn't see her clearly, and had she not spotted her she would have felt her all the same. "I won't bite." She said with a small smile. "Come here - you.....I can feel it. Can you?" She asked curiously.
deirdre tilted her head at the others words. in hearing them, she understood she had undeniably been seen, and so the attractive girl who looked to be a woman moved toward the other, albeit slowly. to those intuitive enough to sense a witch, there was no hiding her own power; she was too young to know how to do so, but more than that, her strength and the amount of it she held was great. there was something deirdre sensed in the other, too, but it was different from what she so obviously felt from her own sister.
feel it?
deirdre asked, truly innocent in the query--she did not know what she meant, and so as to not leave the other absent an answer, she hummed, i feel many things. what... what do you feel?
If properly raised Rowan's prowess would have far surpassed Emaleth and Dierdre's at that point. She was older, she would have learned more - had the time to cultivate her natural talents into so much more. She breathed out a soft sigh, looking to the youth with a gentle smile. "Life - promise." She admitted quietly. "I feel you too." She admitted. The girl was strong. She had promise.
"Life will come back to the lands soon." Rowan said. "I have always felt life, always felt death. Could feel the swing of the two, that careful balance." Rowan had not admitted such a thing in so very long, not since she was a child and had been told to her mother; she was quickly ushered away from the rest of the clan to be sequestered. Taught to repress. Well. She would do so no longer.
deirdre smiled at the others words. life. i feel that, always,
she hummed, her words warm. even with the plague, she had felt life laying dormant beneath the slaughtering. life rest beneath them now, she could feel it in the gentle hum of the earth. 'twas in a restful lull, but soon its vibrancy would return. the other admittance was something she had heard from no other within donnelaith--not a great many could feel things on such a unique level, though perhaps they simply did not allow themselves to. there is something i sense in you, too,
and it was a strange thing, different from the strength of emaleth and herself, a unique concotion that felt stunted, but unfinished still. it withered, but was not dead--it could yet survive and grow.
deirdre knew what rowan said to be true, as she felt life even as it was in its restful slumber. even after its devouring, there was no trepidation in its return. yes,
she agreed, her tail swaying in a lax, pendulum like motion. though i have never felt death. i have felt sickness,
she informed. no, she, so young, had not yet felt true death; the earth had not truly died, after all, and though the leaves had disappeared they would soon, like the flowers, fall into blossom again.
deirdre stepped nearer to this woman, her eyes curious and tracing the fair features upon the others face. you...
there was a familiarity, there, but she was unsure, and let rowan complete the thought if she wished it as she herself wondered at what it was she wished to express.