Even though she had branded Luke a clueless (but handsome) young fool within minutes of meeting him, she still took his advice - sort of. Rather than knock on the doors of the packs within reach of the Kintla Flatlands and openly question them, she auditioned them by observing. The caldera in the south already had an alpha pair - and pups, if her nose did not deceive her. The mountain kingdoms on either side of the plateau were under the care of women, at least in part, and therefore not a viable option.
Her first instinct had been correct - as usual.
Shar-Kali approached the Plateau from the south, skirting the edge in search of some place where a native could descend to greet her. When she found it, the older wolf set up camp, taking time to preen and fuss over her coat after a solid night's sleep in the shadow of a stunted tree. In the cold light of a cloudy morning, she tipped her elegant head back and howled for Dante - or one of his compatriots. Needs must.
tension thrummed in his dreams; he had been unable to sleep. images of tartok running with sure step aong the ridges of their mountain, siku at their helm, reverberated in his mind, and adrenaline answered with a surge in his veins. he had rested fitfully at the rendezvous site with eilidh tucked against him before rising in the early morn in search of the plateau's creek and breakfast.
he had scarcely lifted his dripping muzzle from the water when a call arose, for dante or another leader. removing himself from the bank, the dark beta trotted in its direction, eyes settling upon the well-primped and pleasing form of a pale wolfess, her eyes gilded as summer's moonlight.
"hello. i am taltos, beta. what brings you here?" his tone was inviting but he did not yet relax his stance as he appraised her.
The Plateau was quick to dispatch a wolf to answer her call. He picked his way down to where she stood - a tall, handsome wolf, clothed in an unusual coat of dark brown. The colour reminded Shar-Kali of a grizzly bear - a creature she had always been fortunate enough to spy from afar and duly avoid.
"Taltos," the queenly woman repeated, dipping her head respectfully. There was tension in the Beta's shoulders, and he scrutinized her carefully with calm, wise eyes. Shar-Kali folded into a sit, tucking her tail tight about her hind quarters. "I'm Shar-Kali. I come here to pledge my services to your pack. I met your Dante some twists of the moon ago." The older woman smiled slyly. "It seems the Plateau is not short of handsome gents."
shar-kali. as she settled, relaxed the beta, and he smiled gently at her. "it is flattering to be complimented by a star surely fallen from the heavens," he rejoined. the woman was quite charming, and he was pleased that another had come to grace their dwindling ranks, but was careful not to be swayed by the pale vixen -- not immediately. "what can you bring us, shar-kali?" he asked of her. he played a little game of wondering what skills were beneath her proverbial belt; a healer, perhaps, or a shamaness. or perhaps she was a watcher of the stars, as aether, peregrine's father had been.
whatever it was, lasher would see that the plateau benefitted first and foremost.
Shar-Kali touched her nose demurely to her shoulder. Who, me? it said. She had more or less stayed true to Amon for the duration of their mateship, straying only when it served her to do so. Those gentlemen callers had not been so charming, but a lady did not breed for wits - she did so for strong, virile offspring. Amon himself had been a sweet but utterly simple creature, very unlike the wolf that stood before her now. He was charming without being trite, and quite a looker.
"As a woman of a certain age - a little of everything. I was a formidable fighter in my youth, but these days I would serve you better as counsellor, midwife, or winter-time tracker." Finding food where there was none to be had was something of a sport for Shar-Kali, and it was a skill that had served her well in her near year as a lone wolf. "If nothing else, I am a hardy old woman. A full year alone did not kill me - now it is high time I put my twilight years to good use," she finished, regarding him with her clever eyes.
witch, his mind whispered, and his eyes beheld it. that glissade of awareness alone readied the man to admit her into their sanctum, but he knew that his own affinities were not a basis for her joining. a winter-time tracker; would she be with them when the cold winds blew? or would shar-kali disappear, called by an invisible zephyr of her own? while aged, she was spry and lovely, her eyes bright with unshed secrets and an almost palpable intelligence.
"walk with me," he intoned finally, gathering himself and gesturing that she should cross the borders before him, making a small leg of it. lasher could admit he was rather smitten by her confident elegance, but he would get to know this mysterious pale creature before he named her as one of them.
when shar-kali had presumably joined him, lasher moved beside her beneath the green canopy, across loam sun-dappled and warm. "i would wish to hear of your year alone," he said in tones still softly accented by the gaelic glen, "of what spirits blessed you with life outside the protection of a pack."
in his heart had the beta made his decision, but shar-kali was much too interesting to simply rank and turn aside to find her own way.
"Walk with me," he invited, and Shar-Kali did as she was bid, unfurling herself elegantly and standing to follow. She was in. Her success did not surprise her - the formidable matriarch was not a woman accustomed to failure. When she put her mind to something, it would come to pass - in one way or another. A wolf did not survive for near upon seven years without an iron will, a dragon's hide, and the tongue of a snake.
"I would wish to hear of your year alone," he said, "Of what spirits blessed you with life outside the protection of a pack." His voice was a song, and it soothing quality did much hinder Shar-Kali's flinch from surfacing when her least favourite word made an appearance. "If there were spirits involved, they certainly did not contribute much to my labours," she answered smoothly, flashing the side of Lasher's face a rueful smile. If his brain was addled by mystical beliefs, so be it - she was out of choices. "I tracked my daughter to this place. Her scent died away a number of sunsets ago, but she was here once. Between your wilds and the North, where I came from.. there is not much but devils and the country they have forged."
They moved at a leisurely pace through the thick greenery of the plateau. Shar-Kali navigated the roots and crevices on deft paws, floating among the trees like a ghost. "I endured what any wolf endures when they travel. Food was scarce, of course, and the bandits many. On one occasion, a fellow traveller attempted to poison me, if you would believe it. I made short work of him, of course," she chuckled. That feat had been achieved with the stuffed corpse of a freshly caught rabbit - a necessary sacrifice to escape, and it had worked. She had amassed a thousand stories over the course of that single year, and no doubt Lasher would hear many more in the days to come. "And you, Taltos?" the regal spirit returned, slowing their pace so that she might look upon him. "How did you end up in these woods?"
oh, if only she knew how deeply his beliefs in the mystic and supernatural ran! she might not have deigned to walk in the eldritch light of the forest with him. she would come to see this, however. shar-kali commanded his rapt attention with her direct tale; the idea of poisoning was one that had often intrigued him, though blue willow was too kind to dabble in such arts, and lasher himself ignorant of the plants and their ratios needed to concoct such vile substances.
her grace was not squandered on him; several times did he turn to behold her comely movements, and the sound of his name upon her sly tongue caused his ear to twitch with a sudden pleasure at the aesthetic. "i was born in donnelaith, in a glen. a witch reared me into being, and since then i have surrounded myself with those who can speak beyond the reach of my feeble mind, so mortal in its limitations. i came here to live when a man named peregrine ruled. we became lovers, but an ambitious woman, girl, really, ensnared him, and he abandoned us here to found a home and family with her." a small sigh.
"dante is our leader now, deft, fair. handsome," he added with a gentle grin. "our beta female, my love and the mother of my children, is our healer. there is not an iota of malice in her heart." he did not know how he had come to spill the tale of his heart to shar-kali, and was convinced anew of her power. "i think you will fit well here."
Donnelaith. It was a not a place Shar-Kali knew, but then, the land beyond the frost was largely unknown to her as a whole. She was irked by the soft, summer wolves and their verdant land of plenty. In her day, the North scratched winter-hardened machines from the earth the likes of which this country beneath her paws had never seen.
Shar-Kali listened as Lasher had done, nodding in all the appropriate places. The deeper the reached, the more obvious it became that this was a wolf of her grandfather's ilk - though tempered, it seemed. She wondered if he consumed any herbs, or prayed to crossed sticks. The very thought of such vile silliness was enough to put her off the mere thought of lunch.
She was rather more interested in what he had to say about Dante, Blue Willow, and this Peregrine. Unlike her daughter, Shar-Kali was unperturbed by the idea of two male wolves engaging in sexual play. No harm could come of it, though she thought it rather pointless. "Handsome?" she chided gently, allowing her slim shoulder to bump against his. "Does your Blue Willow know you think so?" If she was a syrupy sweet as Taltos claimed, then in all likelihood she was just as simple.
lasher would have been wounded had he known the true thoughts behind the woman's silver eyes; as it was, he was left blissfully unaware of her inner monologue. the touch of her slim shoulder against his own, coupled with her sly voice, brought a soft chuckle from him. "oh, yes. blue willow and i have -- an arrangement, if you will. we are not exclusive to one another. she is not of the same mind as i, and content to be only with me, but that may change. and i have been with no one since we sought our union."
he fell silent then, feeling rather sheepish at how easily he had told her of such things, then decided he did not mind. shar-kali would know of them soon enough; taltos need not be ashamed. "i will rank you as our eta. for now. you will find that we are closely knit but fair."
he gave her a lingering look then, the murkwater of his eyes vying with the silvery leap of her own. "have you any inquiries for me?"
Shar-Kali nodded slowly - there was not a trace of judgement in her eyes. She thought it a peculiar arrangement, but if Lasher had managed to convince his mate to enter into an agreement which did not benefit her in the slightest, then he was a clever man indeed. Shar-Kali could respect such a creature, though she doubted Taltos saw it with such stark terms. Perhaps he thought Blue Willow would one day take a lover, and relieve him of his guilt. Shar-Kali guessed not, based on what little she knew of the pack's healer - by all counts, she was the model of a traditional wolf.
Eta sailed over her head. Until she headed up the pack, the elder would hold no title - at least not in her heart. "No - I will save what few I have for another walk in the woods. Thank you, for a warm welcome and for your time," the wintry queen offered, bowing her slim head without averting her eyes. Packed ice and forest gloom.
last post for me! <3 great thread we will def need another
lasher was taken by her, and gave her another gentle smile, returning her respectful bow. "come to me at any time. i am easily found." with that, the beta turned to leave shar-kali to what she would do. intending one day soon to return and see how she fared, the beta glided into the forested shadows in search of his children.