Swiftcurrent Creek waiting star

for @Akavir, @Arlette, @Arric or some combination of leaders, @Morwenna, & @Ice Diver, other tags for ref no posting order<3 backdated to midmorning dec 3

"i go to bring my s'aa here." this statement might come of particular interest to the saatsine woman intended as his war chief, for until this moment he had not mentioned morwenna by her name to any save @Sulukinak.

his niece, @Meleys, and @Ridgeback were staggered at intervals through the nearby territories, within earshot if they were needed. by hierarchy, the bloodhunter mated to the chosen war chief would oversee what portion of the saatsine needed his eyes, but sun eater did not predict it to be so while he was away.

still, knowing that the powerful caribou hunter stood for them soothed some edge inside the chieftain. gathering ice diver, he made small work of discovering trails held by swiftcurrent, and came along with strong intent in his long stride.

he had decided to carry two fine hides and an offering of fresh caribou meat, still bloody and veined with good fat. gifts had never been something into which he had placed much emphasis, but he saw the importance of them to these teekon wolves.

a man who did not treasure preambles, he threw down the hides into billowing richness, took stock of the rich creek and its many, many inhabitants with two great breaths, and called with loud pride for its leadership.

i come for morwenna.

He prepared. The grounds froze over the weeks—the falling snow serving only a reminder that the blazing colors of autumn had been far removed by the glistening ice and frost of the longest season. And there was much to be done.

The beckoning from the border was one that drew a cant of his head—the Mayfair drawing up and considering this strange voice—and even more, the demand—that went with it. A tick in his jaw was the only give away of thought, and placing firmly the winter-furred weasel he had caught at the den step of @Suzu for she and her children, the Alpha made a quick route to where the other waited.

Large—cloaked in unmarred black, with a pile of caribou hides displayed unceremoniously before him. The caribou hunters—the ones he had requested Morwenna to gather information on.

Stoically, he studied the other—uncertain if the man remained a threat or not yet, despite the assumed offering of gifts.

More importantly, what was it he wanted with the Creek’s diplomat?

“Greetings,” he drawled, his own tail curling lightly in the cold winter air. “What brings you to our borders?”

Arric heard the call and bitterness filled his mouth. Wasn't it always the women that came for Akavir. He wanted to chase Morwenna from the lands right now. Before she had a chance to hurt Akavir, but it may have been too late already. So with a defeated sigh. He licked his kids heads. Told @Arlette to keep them inside as he didn't know what to expect and he headed towards the borders.

He came on the tail end of the conversation. And took up a stance beside Akavir, but just a little behind to show his position. And he watched with icy blue eyes. Narrowed in observation. And he watched for Morwenna with a darker, deeper feeling of mistrust than he had before.

morwenna arrived swiftly upon hearing the call, her heart fluttering as she saw sun eater's unmistakable silhouette at the border. he stood proud and commanding, his gifts of fine hides and fresh caribou meat displayed before him—a bold declaration of his intentions.

her gaze softened the moment she reached him, a gentle nuzzle of her cheek to his broad shoulder as she greeted him with quiet reverence. her touch lingered for a moment, a wordless gesture of trust and respect. these are good gifts, she whispered, her voice low, meant only for him, her eyes glimmering with approval as they swept over the offerings.

straightening, morwenna turned to face akavir and arric, stepping aside slightly to give sun eater the space to speak. her pale eyes met akavir’s first, then shifted to arric’s guarded, icy gaze. though she felt the tension in the air, her stance was steady, her expression calm.

this was sun eater’s moment to present himself to her leaders, to show them the strength and sincerity she had come to know in him. she trusted him to carry this meeting with the same pride and conviction that had drawn her to him. and she trusted herself to stand firmly by his side, no matter what came next.

CLAPS MY HANDS TOGETHER LIKE A SEAL

a collection of things descended upon her mind. the fact that she was being given her first war chief-like task. more pressing was the fact that he had come for a woman. she had no words for this brightening news, only a near girlish look before her face smoothed back over.

she would not have pinned the chieftain for romantic.

although perhaps taking a wife was no different than taking over a clan, for him. it would explain why she had been brought along.

she did not offer to carry any of his gifts. this was his proposal, he must be the one to lay them down for...whoever. a father? a brother? maybe even mother? she would know rather soon after he called.

ice diver let herself stand near sun eater's hip. here as presence, as support. she looked at none of them too long as to be disrespectful but made quick note of each of the creek wolves. the woman was presumably the one sun eater wanted. a large man with a circle around his eye. a stocky man who spoke first.

she hoped this one might be a quick one, if only to return to ridgeback and the caribou.

a man answered. sun eater watched him with no submission, only a respectful lowering of his own defenses on what would be neutral ground for now. the creek wolf's greeting was punctuated by the arrival of a great mountainous warrior with a closed expression and then morwenna herself.

to see her inspired a birdlike fluttering in his chest that was disallowed from display upon his face. ice diver to one side, morwenna upon the other, the lanzadoii man nodded brusquely at the other males. "i sun eater, chieftain of the saatsine. ice diver, she is my war chief," he further went on, addressing her as such for the first time.

"others of clan, they wait near." it was not a threat — but it could be taken as such, and the single slate eye left to sun eater flicked between the dark-coated pair, and the words he chose with caution became laborious sentences through which he persevered with his thick accent. "i bring caribou hides and meat. but i come for morwenna. she say she will be wife to me. but first, she say we speak to her chieftains."

finished, he did not glance toward the star-marked nor the saatsine war chief; he kept his gaze even between these men, one of whom was akavir.

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Arric—his presence solid, as always, was quick to be summoned as well.

His eyes would only barely skim the two strangers before Morwenna also appeared—and if the Mayfair had been expecting her to heed the side of her leaders, he was sorely mistaken as she fluttered to the one-eyed man, greeting him with a reverence that drew the suspicious eye of the Creek regal. She quietly whispered something him—pleased, clearly, and Akavir leaned closer to his Beta, the saccharine grin and flash of his teeth conveying the dark amusement that bubbled within. “How quaint,” he muttered for the Beta’s ears only, in turn, his head notching higher.

The caribou man only studied him with his one good eye—his own features equally as masked as the two leaders who stood side by side now. Sun Eater introduced himself—Ice Diver, a war chief.

His calloused grin only widened at the not subtle threat the man uttered then—backup brought, in case what? Things had gone awry?

This chieftain all but ignored Morwenna now. If Akavir had the potential, he might have even slow clapped in the moment. Instead, he was met with bitter disappointment, and yet a brush of relief. Like many he knew before her, the words she had spoken had been meaningless.

‘They’d have to tear me limb by limb to remove me from your side.’

Had their friendship meant anything else, she might have come to him, rather than send an entire unknown pack to surround them. Instead, she had presented them with grand standing.

“I would ask why, given Morwenna is here of her own accord and can leave on her own will,” he began, the rumble of his voice dipping an octave. “But I find I don’t care.”

An asshole statement—but again, he found himself out of fucks to give, at this point. He stalked closer now—muscles coiled—panther-like, as he closed the distance between him the this eater of the sun. “But you will find that surrounding my pack in threat will not go well for you, sealgair caribou.”

And there it was. The momwnt he'd been waiting for. Why were so many women so freaking fickle in these wilds. He had been a man that gave chase. Shared in more than on3, but he also knew how to be loyal and stay true. 

A smirk danced long his maw at his friends whispered words and his own head lifting and a twitch in his shoulder, wondering. Waiting.

But the next moment he was immediately pushed over the edge and a small warning growl left his mouth. The threat was not subtle and he was not happy in the least. As a matter if fact he was sort of pissed off. A fight, a pissing contest over a woman. What kind of age old bull shit was this.

morwenna's heart raced, but she did not falter as she stepped forward, placing herself adjacent to sun eater, face to face with akavir. her voice, though soft, carried weight as she raised it over the charged silence. toilsome, she reared, her pale gaze sweeping between akavir and sun eater, then lingering on arric and the war chief. this is no place for malcontent.

turning her attention to akavir, she met his gaze with a quiet plea for understanding. i am doing the respectful thing, she said, her tone firm but laden with an undercurrent of regret. we leave with gifts at your door, to supplement my departure.

she shifted slightly, her posture a quiet defiance against the tension in the air, yet her voice softened as she continued. we will be gone with the wind, legs ripping from our bodies across the snow. her words carried a bittersweet finality, her gaze lingering on akavir for a moment longer before dropping to the ground.

a memory resurfaced, unbidden, of something she had once told him—an oath of sorts. they will have to tear me limb by limb to remove me from your side. the irony of it now burned her, and her chest tightened as she realized she had become the one to sever the bond. but this was her choice, her path, and she would walk it, even as the weight of it threatened to break her.

i hope the winds will be kinder to us all, she whispered, stepping back to let sun eater speak for them, her presence steady despite the tempest raging in her chest.

Cameo, couldn't help myself.

Arlette had nodded when Arric had said to keep the pups inside. She was curious though. And eventually she couldn't help but wanting to have a peak at what was happening since it also involved Morwenna. She had found some kinship in the female, she didn't want her to be in trouble. Arlette told the pups to stay put for a brief moment, and would come back with a treat. While getting the treat she took a detour. She stepped closer to group to hear but kept her distance behind Arric and Akavir. 'Her departure?' Arlette looked at the male and then to the female. She was going with him?

Arric had been right. She was not to be trusted then. Arlette instantly blamed herself for being too trusting, too open. Hurt filled her eyes as she looked at Morwenna. She didn't need to hear the reasoning. She had made a promise to her children and they were more important. It seemed Akavir and Arric had it under control, not that she could add any fighting skills to this table. She quietly stepped back and trotted off.

As she did, she couldn't help but feel that this garden and gardening in general in Swiftcurrent was cursed.

- exit -

what exactly is going on?

she stayed still and silent. a rigid thing of frozen stone against the odd men and their even odder words. in truth, she had half a mind to think that sun eater should have simply side swept them like he once had qeya. yet she did not think she wanted that to be her first decision as war chief.

bitter men. whatever their relations.

her gaze only shifted away from their fanfare to look to the woman briefly. then to sun eater.

whatever churned between him and this new woman was best left to bloom away from here. she gestured with her chin for saatsine to take leave. perhaps north and through the wetlands down again. perhaps straight south and then cut along. any path that would not be so direct.

these things not said to his ears yet. she only hoped that he would heed her advising moment.

let these soured men have their moment.

sun eater had his s'aa.

consternation became irritation became a challenge, for sun eater had not cultivated himself in such ways. when the men rose he met them with a hard snort of air misting around his teeth, the remaining eye unbowed in its frayed socket.

whatever their number, they had children among them. young ones. liabilities beneath such a posturing, and he told to this man with his stare that he saw it.

beside him, ice diver cautioned, and though sun eater wanted to make vocal his threat, he saw its wisdom. if this creek harried his warriors, he would crush them. in irony, it was not morwenna's voice which stilled him; it was ice diver's negotiation.

the broad shoulders relaxed. "pack have leaving gifts from my woman," he said in a lighter voice devoid of humour. "now we go."

he had only glimpsed the snowfurred wolf with the many scars, but it did not matter now. 

"you are right, tendezlakkak." for the lanzadoii alone. sun eater stepped back several paces and turned his contingent north; he did not glance toward the offerings of departure, only nipped softly at morwenna's flank, sending her ahead of himself and the war chief.

his tall frame turned after, triumphant gaze upon the creek wolves; if they struck he would rise but if they did not move, he would only move to join the others.

Morwenna swung ‘round, gaze upon him as she stood solidly by the caribou hunter. She chuffed—‘toilsome’—as if belittling children, and his lip curled upward, a flash in the champagne gold of his eyes as he realized now how he had been had by the starkissed woman.

“Then don’t bring malcontent to surround and threaten our home, Morwenna,” he deadpanned—the woman who had, above all else to him, claimed a level of diplomacy.

The gifts were worthless—but he did not state as such. More than enough members on the creek could do with them what they willed—pups could shred caribou hide—feast upon the meat. Piss on it, for all he cared. This was not a supplement to cover loss but an attempt for show.

To what purpose—he was not sure. Again, he found himself not caring.

The man dismissed himself and his hunters. Morwenna herded in the front of them before they took their leave, and Akavir watched with stony consideration. To Arric, his voice lowered, muzzle swinging to the large Beta. “Take @Frederick and do a sweep for the alleged hunters on guard toward our southeast side. I’ll tale @Lestan northwest. I want a number count of how many you scent or find.”

If the Chieftain thought Akavir would be cowed into accepting a threat to their pack because of the young within their ranks… the one-eyed wolf would soon realize it was the potential threat the man had implied that would stir the creek to action, if only to protect their young.