Wolf RPG

Sakari picked her way down from the bluffs, descending past the canopy of massive sequoias and into the dark forest below. From her vantage point atop the bluffs, she had spied her destination: a smattering of islands in the surf, barely visible in the gray light of dawn. She would make her way to a sliver of beach the peeked out from the sequoia forest, which seemed like the best staging area for her swim out to the islands.

the keeper tends to the borders and then the beyond borders, what he's mentally named the neutral territories that he can visibly see from the shores of blackwater. it is during one of these patrols that he follows the sandbar raised partially from blackwater to the sound; swimming the rest of the way.

when he emerges upon the sound, it is soaking wet and with the frothing jetsam and flotsam, picking pieces of seaweed tangled 'round his legs impatiently off of him with his teeth. he tosses the last one hindering him with a gross 'splat' onto the damp sand, stepping 'round it as the tide surges forth to reclaim it.

a dark figure catches his eye and he lets out a low chuff upon his approach.

Sakari lost sight of the ocean as she descended into the sequoia forest, and so she followed the sound and scent of the sea as she picked her way through the trees. Eventually the soil loosened and gave way into sand, and the beach was visible through the treeline. 

A dark figure in the shallows cut an imposing silhouette against the tide billowing around his ankles. He seemed distracted by something in the water, but not so much so that he managed to miss Sakari's emergence from the forest. He chuffed a greeting, and Sakari waved her tail. He made his way toward her, and Sakari met him halfway, her own approach an easy, graceful slink. His drenched fur clung to a well-muscled frame, which Sakari eyed appreciatively. 

"Good morning," she purred, pulling her eyes away from his attractive form to study his face. "Did you, by chance, happen to swim in from those islands?" She nodded toward the ocean, indicating the Blackwater islands.

though her appreciative glimpse does not go unnoticed by the keeper, he chooses not to acknowledge it. there is only one whose attention he craves: and she is currently back on blackwater island. with a flare of his nostrils, he takes in her scent; noting that there are faint wisps of familiarity. a face he has not seen for some time on blackwater: fury. nyra. whatever name she went by these days.

the urge to lie, to protect the druids as is his task as the keeper is strong. instead of falsehoods, he decides to redirect: neither confirming or denying. for what reason do you seek the druids of blackwater? he asks; though the directness and bluntness of his question may very well give him away as one of them.

Somehow the man was able to intuit Sakari's intention from her question about his swimming habits. He was perceptive, then. She would file away that bit of knowledge. 

"I'm on an errand for my chief. I have an inquiry, but it's only for the ears of the Listener. Or in her absence, a man with stripes and a curled tail." 

Sakari studied the man. Was he the Speaker? Fury had warned her that a wolf by such a title might stand in her way.

there isn't many reasons that ingram could fathom why anyone would be inquiring about blackwater islands: if it wasn't to be about the wolves that called it home and as their iron guardian he is intuitively prickly and unsociably guarded in his plight to protect them. he is their keeper. keeper of secrets and keeper of the druids.

a title he saw as something of an umbrella title. it was simple but it meant many things: shifting roles as needed.

who is your chief? the keeper demands, the directness of wanting to speak to the listener not going unheard. neither does the request to speak to alduin; but he largely ignores that request; guard hairs damp with saltwater prickling at the secrecy.

he weighs the pros and the cons for a moment, weighing how much he trusts her ( not at all, truthfully ).

i am the keeper. anything you speak to the listener, you speak to me. whether she was insistent or not matters little to him: there were no secrets between the listener and himself. still, after a longer moment, he calls for @the listener, deciding that unless trikova sent him away herself, he would remain firmly rooted.

"Fury, Warchief of the Saints." 

She spoke directly and rather boldly-- perhaps too boldly, knowing what she knew about the reputation of the Saints. Surely Fury would not have sent her here if there was some danger of Sakari being harmed for her association.

"Anything you speak to the listener, you speak to me." His words betrayed him as either excessively nosy, or excessively stubborn. After a long moment, he lifted his voice to call to @The Listener. So he was not excessively stubborn, then.. just a little obstinate. 

Sakari was careful to keep her smugness from her features.

the listener answered her summons quickly, drawn from the islands by the voice of her keeper. even so, distance delayed her arrival. half of an hour had passed before the prophet appeared.

she looked on her keeper with silent expectance, a mere glance spared for the newcomer. it fell to ingram to explain his purpose in summoning the prophet.

though some time passes between his call and the listener's appearance he holds the messenger of the warchief, once acolyte, in his stare. the listener makes her appearance and ingram reads the expectation, the quiet pass of what she wants in her look.

this is a courier of fury, warchief of the saints, ingram explains to the listener. she has not given me a name by which to call her, but in all fairness he had not given his either. common for him, very used to introducing himself simply as 'the keeper' for his role has very much become apart of his identity.

she claims to carry a message for either you or alduin. but as ingram was not particularly fond of the listener's executioner ...and as the listener was the law of blackwater, he'd made his choice in who to call.

then, he turns to the courier. before you is the listener. so speak.

Sakari wasn't sure what she was expecting, but the scrap of a wolf that appeared in response to the keeper's summons was most certainly not it. As the diminutive woman approached, Sakari's citrine gaze darted to her companion's features, searching for any indication of whether this was the so-called Listener. 

He was unreadable, but soon enough the woman was introduced. Before you is the listener. So speak. 

And so she spoke. "Fury sends her greetings." 

Incited, Sakari flicked her tail. She found she rather enjoyed the submitting to the keeper's commands. She reluctantly pulled her thoughts back to her mission. 

"She is missing two children, newly born. We believe they may have been swept downriver, and they could have ended up as far as the coast. I am seeking any information you could provide as to their possible whereabouts." Sakari fell silent. 

The woman was called the Listener, but did she also speak? Sakari waited to find out.