note mainly for self but also u too! <3
going to reference internal territories base off of a combo of WGI description and old packs (
1) since i believe those remain canon!
he lead them onward.
the sights were vast and endless, he made sure he did not lose
@Heda in their travels. up the coast was fastest and offered bounties for their hunger.
then they would wait for the strand to become visible. time was precious and he would lead them across with long strides. some part of him felt prepared to see abraham, but the island was empty. nothing waited them but natural beauty.
when they made it safe and sound to the shores, he sighed with great relief. head turning to look to the young hunter.
<3
it was not like anything she had experienced before.
the only thing heda had to compare with the sea was remembering the endless herds of caribou the winter before. but this was unfathomable. several times she lagged behind to simply stare in pensive quiet at the vastness of the waters.
heda had not believed bartholomew when the man told her that the waters would part and they would walk upon land. she scarcely breathed as the ocean receded and there was indeed a trail of sand.
unthinking she pressed close, breath harrowed and golden eyes wide with the surprise of a young hawk. she was still there when bartholomew looked around for her: close behind his haunch and glowering at some unseen thing she was sure had followed them over.
she stayed near still and he found relief to have not lost her. although the look on her face caused his own brows to pinch tightly.
the island is beautiful, isn't it?
he hoped to redirect her glower. perhaps turn it into a look of awe, or at least intrigue. there was plenty to be seen here and the prey was bountiful. untouched by the mainland but thriving here for the intriguing shift of the land.
if she wished to be hunter, she could do so here.
heda unfurled from him. she forced her eyes away from the sandbar and back to the island itself. the very land seemed to gleam. birds she had never before seen swept overhead she and he, and then headed out to sea.
she couldn't find a smile, not yet, but her face softened somewhat, into a wonderment that heda had not felt in a long while. "you said you lived here?" saying his name felt intimate, too much so. she chose to trot at the edge of their sentences. "what's it called?"
he listened and watched.
noted how she did not comment on the island's beauty, but instead wished for knowledge about it instead. at least, he thought, there was a glimmer of some appreciation on her face. perhaps her soured heart was too fearful to be softened by the beauty of God's work.
it does not have a name yet. i did not think one man needed to name a whole island.
he told her truthful. do you have one in mind, heda?
gold eyes fixed to her face.
the way bartholomew looked at her flicked a stuttering light on behind the barred window of her chest. heda quickly looked away.
"no." her voice felt weaker. she suddenly realized where she was, how far away she was from her pack. they weren't even within earshot. and here heda was, on some island with some man whose voice had not frightened her once.
and how easily she'd gone away.
her own gaze was challenging. suspicious. intrigued. "i'll have to look around more before i decide." the ocean filled her ears.
she was wise.
a thinker and a doer. he wondered if she would thrive for the peace and bounty of the island. briefly he wished there were more present, bustling bodies worshiping the great lands.
such a thought was short lived. hunter heda's company was enough. there was still plenty more to learn about her as well.
do you care to see a place to rest? or rather sights of wonder?
this time she laughed. it was a small sound and more than a little hollow. "i've never been here. you have."
on impulse she leapt onto an outcropping of rock above them both. heda faced into the sea air and inhaled. the scent of lavender was heavily laced here, though she did not know the name for that flower. "show me your favorite things," heda said, seconds before an ungainly descent that dropped her into a heap.
he was ready to do as she wished —
but then she was a heap and he found himself in a near pointer position. only if you promise to not do anything so drastic,
and there was humor in his voice.
however he did examine her with a gaze of soft concern, wondering if she had hurt herself.
she looked up at him. he looked down at her. heda pretended that they were in rivenwood, just for a moment. what would she show him there?
"deal," she said sharply, rolling upright. heda shook off debris and placed herself firmly beside him. her spine was sore but that was her own fault, and she wished the concern in his face would go away.
she stuck close now and he set off at a casual pace. no longer in a rush to get anywhere when they had finally arrived here.
he knew exactly where he planned to lead them too, but there were things to see along the way.
like the field of lavender flowers that he had not witnessed in the earliest of spring. this would not be where he stopped, but he certainly slowed, content to let her romp through them if she truly did wish.
there was relaxation to be found all over the island and he would not deprive the young hunter of that.
her legs trembled when she saw the field upon field of lavender flowers. heda stopped deadaway in her tracks, pale muzzle suddenly questing. yearning.
she stepped out into the meadow, first at a walk then at a canter. the iota stopped to nip petals from their stalks and toss them into the air. she moved faster and faster, until she was galloping back around toward bartholomew. "aren't you coming?" heda cried, windblown and bewildered.
he watched her.
calm, soothed. peace found his heart. the young hunter was bathed in God's beauty and bartholomew hoped that she found healing.
her cry caused him to smile. he stretched tentatively and then set off a lope, hoping to give her a chase. if she wished to be a training hunter, then certainly she would be willing to work on her pace.
he would keep them in the flower field a while longer.
they slowly romped up the side of the island. heda was pursued. she raced away and when he came close, she kicked flowers at his face.
soon she was littered with a thousand little petals and coated in lavender perfume, her alabaster pelt even smeared in small patches of purple. she was panting and pleased, solemn as she turned to look out across the sea and to note the position of the sun.
why had he chosen her for this?
bless her, Lord.
he so badly wished to bring good, once more. to spread happiness through his belief and not live in such darkness and gloom.
he wondered if she wished the same for herself, with what very little he knew.
his legs gave out, exhausted with his sudden physical efforts. but he found himself in an elated mood, dropped and rolled onto his side. petals found home in the wisps of his fur. framed his face and his legs.
from this sacred spot, he laughed with his whole heart.
he was laughing. she turned back to him with tongue in a loll, and then her own chuckling began.
at length she sank down beside him. she was not sure she had ever seen anyone else laugh so deeply, safe for druid perhaps.
his joy went on. hers own grew subdued and reverent. on impulse she reached to untangle a petal from his chin.
eventually he hushed, breathless and worn. felt her untangle something from a wisp of his fur. near his chin. a delicate place but he did not feel the need to protect himself.
she had once spoke of broken necks.
he found such a thought far away now.
she too was tangled with petals and some had even painted her their vibrant hue. he batted a flower and hoped to send its petals into her.
the flower broke softly across the bridge of her nose. she laughed and pawed another stem toward him.
she was at once self-conscious, for it had been aong, long time she she moved with such abandon around anyone else. heda could not very well remember playing or the point of it.
she sank down to one shoulder, and looked out across his chest toward the ocean again. "do you ever spar, bartholomew?" heda asked without conviction, unable to look at him as she mumbled his name.
she wanted to run, not just from him but this god he served. maybe that was who had followed him to this island.
"do you ever spar, bartholomew?"
his chest heaved as he attempted to catch air and his gaze followed her own, out to the ocean.
it was a near barbaric question to the holy man, but for the first time in his life he considered it. spar. refining his flesh as he did his soul.
should i learn, heda?
he asked her in a near mumble. tired for the moment, but soon he would find himself with energy once more. there was still much he had to show her after all.
"yes." she took the moment to look at his ear and jawline. he was not all wolf. he was also like that creature she had attacked in the tuktu.
guilt washed over the back of her head.
"and i can teach you."
bartholomew was tired. his energy drew a refractive yawn from heda. she nestled her nose against her lavender-scented ankles, ready to rise when he did, but in danger of napping if he did not move quickly.
the birds called. the sea lashed below. she could hear his breathing and the whistle of wind through trees. the summit felt very far away. mahler felt very far away.
some part of her eased.
very well,
he agreed without complaint. he supposed if he ever wished to truly care for a flock, he ought to learn how to thrive in the wild. including how to spar. the word so natural on her tongue and foreign for him.
young hunter, young barbarian.
perhaps the purpose of their meeting had been more faith based than he had thought. she might find purpose and refine her skills in teaching such a man like himself. God's will was not yet whispered to him like how it once did.
without a word, he rolled back onto his stomach and raised himself to a stand.
his path would cut them into a cavern (cerulean cascades) soon enough, if she followed.
when bartholomew set off, heda followed. her eyes were attentive to all she saw. but when they began their descent beneath the earth, she started.
perhaps he would see it for what it was: a subtle balk, and for reasons even she could not understand. sheepish and defiant against her own mind, heda stepped down before worry had a chance to shine from his eyes, and slipped past him into the blue depth.
"you lived down here?"
she was attentive and for once he missed whatever she may have made of the place. instead he admired her willingness to plunge into the depths.
the cavern a welcomed break for the summer sun, as the sound of water lapping at stone lulled his mind.
for a time,
he confessed softly. voices traveled easy in here and he remembered a time where he confined himself to the dark. so ashamed of his sins.
now he wished to rebuild from all of that.
i will likely stay out in the open now, but this place still remains a favorite.
heda touched the ancient pillars of the place. she dared to peer deeper into the shadows. bartholomew's seeming unwillingness to go further or even return piqued her interest. she made a mental note to come back alone.
"i'm really not used to anything else besides mountains." or their features. heda kicked a rock down into the cavern, ears straining to hear the click of its drop.
she looked back at him, diligent and somber. "did something happen down there?"
he frowned and it seemed like they had switched places. he was now the somber one, dreary as his eyes drifted to look down at dark water. brows briefly pinched.
i was a different man here.
a loose explanation. when i left here, i was convinced i would not return, but i think my spirit lives here now. maybe a part of it.
it was a talk too heavy for the young hunter, he felt.