heph first plz then all welcome!
rodyn had said sapphique was a place of women, and it was very true! chakliux was surprised. he had brought the haunch of a deer, and moved where
@Heph directed, having been sent on this errand with her.
the air tasted of salt. the pines stood black against the sky. the seal hunter put down his burden and looked toward his leader, wondering if her voice should be the one to call.
Heph had not had much time to visit Sapphique since that initial meeting, but it was intriguing to be back. They had mentioned a hunt and she meant to also let them know of Hljodrfell's move and hunt as well, and changes in Moontide. Reaching the borders she tipped her head back in a call. While anyone from Sapphique would be able to receive their gift and relay the message she remembered
@Mireille and
@Chacal and hoped that they might recognize her.
hope u folks don't mind me >:)
A call at the border greeted Sapphique today, and the seawoman was colored intrigued. A leader she was not, and yet she answers anyway with a stifled windsong before she flickers through the brush. She wished to meet the strangers along the crux of the cliffs.
Her grief seemed to now be manifesting in a reaching desire for belonging. She took a sense of pride in being able to do this once more, to have her scent swept along the borders; her cliffs, her home. She approaches with a proud tip of her chin.
Dis be Sapphique,
seafoam eyes narrow not in malevolence, but curiosity. A man and a woman, and both are given a pass of inquiry. They bring what must have been a gift, and her lip curls upward. who are you? I 'ave not seen you before.
<3!
the woman she knew, the man she did not. rodyn was the only male of moontide yet tolerated by mireille; thus when she slid to her sister's side to regard the two, heph was given a graceful, inviting smile, and the pale man was ignored.
"it be good to see you again, heph," the obsidian said toward the moontide woman. "dis coraline, sister to myself an' chacal."
what was the visit's occasion? her eyes asked, pleasant enough so long as the man did not speak.
the warmth of the sapphique pelts was contrasted with the coldness from the scarlet woman who joined them. chakliux, who had been eyeing the first with a charming grin of his own, now sobered and looked in vague confusion to heph.
perhaps this was normal. there were many, many women here, after all, and suddenly he was eager to see what other beautiful faces lay beyond their well-guarded border.
With Tousaint quietly meandering along at her heels, Chacal showed the boy the outskirts of the pack along the forested edge, treading in silence as they neared, and passed the Tangle. The boy didn't have much to say, and Chacal didn't mind his quietness at all. He listened, bobbing his head occasionally as she pointed out landmarks, and drew his attention to scents. She wanted him to know the land, so that he might know to stay within it.
So when the call came from Heph, she decided she may as well bring her nephew along for the learning experience. Like last time, Chacal was the last one to arrive, having come from further inland, and with Tousaint taking every opportunity to avoid getting his paws muddy.
Coraline too stood alongside Mireille, and she realized that when she saw the two together again, that they had indeed been missing something when Coraline had left. They looked so naturally matched, side by each, as they had been in their youngest days.
Her eyes strayed to Heph who had brought along a striking man, who stuck out instantly by the hue of his eyes and the markings on his face. A haunch of deer was present, though the wolves of Sapphique starved so little that it drew very little notice from the Tanzanite. He was kind enough to have brought a gift, but she (like her sister) preferred to hear from the woman who bore moonlight upon her cheeks. To her, a warm, inviting smile was given.
"Welcome again, to Sapphique;
it 'as been some time since we 'ad de chance to speak." She toned.
skippable! I may post now and again for his reflections, but please do not wait for me <3
Being given a task was actually kind of flattering. None of the others were chosen for it, so he followed his aunt quietly, meandering through the woods and toward a very bushy area that was full of prickly sticks that immediately gave him a bit of the shivers. He could tell when his aunt fell reverent and silent that they passed through an old battlefield, and respect was paid by both as they lingered a moment. He thought of wolves he didn't know, souls who had died so that the rest of the pack could live on.
Noble- but not his cup of tea.
Also, some of the forest areas were starting to smell, when the dew melted and the leaves began to decompose. It wasn't a
bad smell, necessarily, but he certainly didn't love it. It wasn't as pungent as the reek of drying kelp, but musty wasn't appealing. In the places where the sun didn't reach the ground, the earth was soft, and squelched underfoot, which he dreaded. He listened to Chacal, but fretted more about his footing. Maybe he could carve his own path for patrolling if he could find higher ground.
A call came, and he had half a mind to come up with some excuse to go back to the lake where he could wash his paws off- but he was summoned along. He sighed softly, and obeyed, but he made sure to go the long way around each and every puddle and patch of mud they encountered so that by the time they arrived at the borders, he was still immaculate.
He nosed his mother's flank before he went and settled at Coraline's side, content to observe whatever sort of meeting there would be had with these wolves who smelled of fresh pine and mountain air.
The first wolf who met them was new but curious, before Heph could answer fully Mireille appeared and Heph greeted her with a tip of her head and a smile. "Thank you, it's good to see you again and well." Though brief her impression of Sapphique had been positive, level-headed and friendly she had been hopeful of seeing them again and hunting more. Though the news she would share weighed on her she was glad to see her and Chacal.
Giving a nod to the introduced Coraline as well she noted that the younger male who had joined had not been introduced nor introduced himself. It had been less noticeable with Rodyn last time but she could see more clearly now by what he meant when he said the pack favored women. "And a pleasure to meet you Coraline." She turned her gaze back towards the older pair, if only because they were those she was most familiar.
Her voice was warm, though a slight tension threaded through it as she tried to formulate the words to say. "We come with a gift and news." Chakliux had carried the haunch and already set it down, but she noted it anyways if only because he had not offered it himself and neither had they asked him directly. The first tiding came more easily if only because it was more business-like news to share. "The pack to the west of you named Hljodrfell plans to move south and organize a large hunt. When we last spoke we considered the possibility of a larger hunt?" She let her voice slide up into query, after all they had not been much for organizing it and it had been awhile since they spoke. But if they were still interested then the fall would be a good season.
Her words hesitated over the threshold, but it was something she had come to share, to inform them of. "And...one of our alphas has passed in childbirth, Roidyn's wife and one of Moonwoman's daughter."
Coraline grew quickly aware this was not a conversation meant much for her. When addressed, she gives a tilted smile. It be nice to meet you too.
The man lingers upon her with a darkened scarlet gaze. Had the season been colder, perhaps she would have been more receptive — but today she offers only the slight raise of her eyebrow in passive acknowledgment.
A woman of Moontide has passed, and two other coastal packs propose a hunt. Was this the business of Sapphique? Perhaps that was not her decision to make. Instead, she exchanges glances with her sisters, searching wordlessly for their opinions.
a third woman slid like the shadow of a knife to join the other two, and chakliux goggled at her from where he stood polite, silent. their collective coolness toward the seal hunter did not dissuade or anger him. instead, he found himself thrilled by their deepening mystery.
pleasantries were exchanged. heph shared the saddening news of samani. suddenly his interest in their beauty dampened; the man looked away from their speaking, a muscle leaping along his jaw as her remembered smile filled him with a sharp pain.
rodyn suffered far more.
he said nothing, noticing at last how the two ruddy sisters matched one another. a young boy had come with the last woman; he stood alongside the first, and chakliux grinned as if to say we are outnumbered, kangiak!
mireille was pleased when chacal approached, tousaint in tow. she offered her son a little returned brush and then set her attention on heph once more. the emerald eyes softened in shared anguish as the moontide woman described the death of a daughter.
"you will take some food home wid you," she decided swiftly and affectionately, stepping forward to offer heph a gentle touch if she so wished. "it be a hard thing to lose someone so beloved, an' we see your grief."
she offered a small smile in that pause. "i myself have not heard of dis hljodrfell," and it was a credit she scarcely stumbled over the name, "though perhaps my sisters have," mireille went on, looking to coraline and to chacal. "what sort of wolves do they be?"
her eyes moved toward the silent whitefurred man once, but it was the end of her attention for him.
"Dis be news to me," Chacal intoned, her light voice musical but optimistic. The pack mentioned had not come to Sapphique, and word of it had not travelled in their direction either. Another pack looking to cooperate for large, winter hunts was perfectly acceptable, especially if they were willing to rotate their hunting grounds regularly so that one area did not end up being exhausted. They had their ties to the Rise, of course- but she looked forward to a bountiful winter should they have this many wolves willing to hunt with them.
The prospect of a large pack hunt earned a nod from Chacal. Mireille communicated more effectively with outsiders, considering the fact that she could speak without singing, and so she nodded, thumping her tail in agreement.
Grief was something the wolves of Sapphique knew well, and Chacal gasped softly at the mention of a daughter lost during childbirth. She too wished that the Moonwolves would take something back with them. Food could not ease grief, but nourishing the body was an important part of nourishing the soul. She wondered about the children, but thought it best not to ask.
The man had looked to little Tousaint, smilingly. Chacal blinked, but her gaze was amused.
She returned her gaze to Heph, wondering what she might have to say of the wolves of Hljodrfell.
"Thank you." Heph received the touch with a shaky and small smile. She might have wished to appear more level-headed but she was glad of the moments of sympathy. It was important, in a way that was difficult for her to grasp, that Samani and Moontide's noting of her absence, was not merely some inconsequential blip.
At the question of Hljodrfell she paused, gathering her thoughts. She had met now Solveig and her daughter Thyra and Gryfalcon as well and all individually had made a positive impression upon her. While Dreven and Atka no longer resided there she had known them as well. But the pack as a whole she felt less confident about making an assessment. "They seem fair and friendly, all of my meetings with their number have gone well. Their leader Solveig is new after their previous went missing. Solveig is, I think, more concerned about safeguarding and strengthening the pack's borders and hunting, their previous leader led them spiritually. I'm not sure what they will be like now, but they hope to grow their numbers. I met one of their pack on a recruitment mission." It was not overly odd although she had not heard of many other packs doing similar things - wolves who wished to join or met members of the pack by happenstance might call at their borders or be recruited, but to purposefully go out and seek to bolster numbers was different.
forgive me for being so late omg SOBS. can be the last post from me!
I t'ink it could be good for us to at least meet dem,
Coraline chimes, a pointed nod given then to Chacal. see what dey be about.
This was not her business, nor did she particularly care about these unseen strangers of Hljodrfell who were no family to her — but admittedly, selfishly, being part of the conversation gave her a warm feeling of pride. Of importance. Her return to her home meant something.
She falls upon the red-eyed man once more. On second thought, perhaps he could be useful come winter; though she did not care for the way he leered from sister to sister.
Decidedly, however, she had given enough of her opinions. She leans back on her haunches and passes a sympathetic look to the woman Heph. She, too, knew grief — all those of Sapphique did. Perhaps this was merely a way for the Moontide wolves to distract themselves.
heph gave them good information. chakliux remained silent. one sister watched him, and now he pulled his eyes away from them all.
and still, he was elated!
how often was it that a man found a place of so many striking women?
he must come back when spring touched the earth once more.
mireille approved of this convocation of women, even if the man lingering with too much attention on her sisters provided a slightly sour edge. she turned her eyes away from him pointedly, offering a nudge to heph as she seemed to lean into the affection offered by the saltwolves.
"i would like to meet dem also," she decided, her gaze moving now to chacal.
she felt they were well-aligned in this, though a growing part of mireille wished to lean forward and bid heph not bring a worthless man to their shores again, with a wink and a grin she hoped chakliux would see!
in the end, she did not.