Dragoncrest Cliffs (for young is the year,for young is the year)

@Thuringwethil ! this is short and crappy im asleepy

the incessant itching is putting everyone on edge - or at least drageda's fiery guardian spirit, who'd spent the last day pacing in circles near the border, trying to resist the urge to chew her toes til they bled. furi'd gone off somewhere, artaax is.. artaax (and she's still sort of trying to avoid him), and bobby is - not very high on her list of considerations, to be frank, which means she's no one to distract herself with. 

abruptly the gona lets out a frustrated groan and flops onto the earth, defeated. she needs to suck it up and go to portia. right after she lays in the dirt and contemplates the temporary misery of her existence for a little while. at least the snow feels sort of nice on her irritated skin.

Searching for Wildfire had offered them a feeling of togetherness. They had one thing to do and they worked together, for the most part, but now... now she just feel tired. She knows where Wildfire is and they simply feel like they exist. She doesn’t see her children as much as she likes as they have their own things going on. One day becomes the next and now...

The winter is fast approaching, with already dusting of snow on the ground. It seems much too soon but the days have become and stayed cold. Thuringwethil enjoys the cool weather. It is in her bones just as much as Drageda is but it seems to make things difficult these days. If it comes as quickly as it has been, she may not see her mate until spring. Luckily she hasn’t had to talk about it to the children, as they cling to the hope she’ll be home soon.

Thuringwethil licks her lips as she loves, catching Blixen’s scent and absently following it along to find her lounging in a patch of leftover snow.

 from her desolate earth-bound throne, blixen's attention is momentarily enraptured by the snow - she knows what it is, logically, but it is novel anyway. normally she thinks she would hate this wet and cold feeling but it is a fantastic distraction against the everpresent irritation of her skin, at least right now.

she smells nomi's approach before she sees her and twists to look up at her, still prone. "hei," the girl greets, smiling - she hasn't gotten to see nomi much lately, not since briefly at the borders when artaax ... did the thing. "it's cold," blix adds, though whether she is complaining or not is somewhat ambiguous - finally the ginger rolls to her feet and shakes slightly, trying to rid her ruddy pelt of the lingering snow that still clings.

“Sha,” she answers when Blixen states it is cold. It is her first winter but she is old enough, and big enough to get through it. The winters here are nothing compared to the farther north but it is their first full winter against the ocean. “It is going to get colder,” she mentions a beat later once Blixen has stood and shaken out her pelt. After a moment, she points in her nose in one direction that she begins to walk in.

nomi tells her it's going to get colder - blix's brow furrows momentarily. she's known that of course, but thinking about it compared to the cold she's currently experiencing is a whole 'nother story. the gona falls into step besides her nomi easily. her side itches. she resists the urge, though her expression is twitching faintly. "what was it like last year? winter, i mean," she asks curiously. it's a trite line of conversation, even for her, but it offers distraction from both her itching and from - all of the rest of it, artaax's kill and mother's staying at the caldera (she'll be back before winter, right? blix's heart seizes in her chest at the thought). her mouth is set in a thin line, expression distant, unsure if she wants nomi to bring anything up or stick to the small-talk.

Thuringwethil thinks about where they were last winter. Things have already begun to cross over since they moved near the end of the season. Still, they did not really suffer through either landscape beyond the quake of the mountain. They had an elk to welcome to winter before they were torn from their land and relocated. “It was a good season. We relocated a few months before spring but we pulled through. Prey was easy to be found,” she explains though she does not go into great detail. The prey had lived here prior to them, giving the opportunity to surround them before they realized their own lands had been encroached on. She can only hope they will be just as lucky this go ‘round.

 

it's a very nomi answer and she smiles despite herself. having grown up with her tendency to be - brisk - with answers, it's almost reassuring at this point. 

that said.. "will mother be able to travel back in the cold?" she asks, though she already has an idea of the answer. no one's talked about it (and of course there is still her deepest fear that mother died after they left, though surely hux and eljay would return to tell them and they haven't -- yet) but mother's condition was bad - crossing the teekons in the snow would be dangerous, she thinks. but maybe she's wrong - maybe nomi will reassure her otherwise.

She has not spent a lot of time with her children as she should have. Bringing them back to Drageda and leaving their mother had been in part to keep both of them safe, and together. It is not easy, alone and with a pack to rule. She hadn’t realized how much Wildfire had done, especially once she’d stepped down. Most of Thuringwethil’s day to day hadn’t been interrupted as their lives had been quiet and she had been able to separate Heda from her family. Thankfully, the lot of them are old enough to start taking care of themselves. Artaax and Blixen have already earned their place in Dragedakru. They hunt for themselves, fight and defend. They kill. They can’t be swayed with false comfort and lies, especially when they know her will enough, and as Blixen (as expected) asks about Wildfire and her return.

“I don’t know,” she says, and sighs. There isn’t much she can offer in comfort, even if she is to lie. She can tell them that she’ll be home soon all she wants but they all know it may not happen. “If she does not, she is with family and they will take care of her,” she adds, for that she is certain. Having Wildfire out of their lives for so long to come, when she’d been gone for so long before has been like missing a limb. The longer they go into the winter, the more likely they’ll have to wait for spring to see her. Thuringwethil slows to a stop then, turning to look at her daughter while her words remained unspoken. “I miss her, too. Sometimes I want to go back to see for myself,” she trails off. It isn’t an impossible task but there is a lot here she is needed for the winter.

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 it is what she expected, but not what she wanted. sometimes blixen thinks all the not-knowing is worse than either other choice, and then feels guilty, but - but it's so hard. her stomach has been in knots for months. nomi does say something reassuring, though; she thinks about towhee (who was studying for her mastery!) and feels a bit calmer. and eljay is there, too, and she didn't spend any time with her aunt and uncle but they seemed kind, too. "you're right," she says quietly, almost a murmur - not soothed but steady-sounding. if anything, she wants nomi to know that she's grateful for the open dialogue, especially after she was so patient with blix's tantrums before.

the next thing nomi says does take her by surprise. not because she doubted nomi's feelings, but because it feels strange to be told them so obliquely. is this one of those things, the shifting of boundaries between them as blixen grows up? it speaks to - a kind of trust the gona worries she hasn't earned yet. "you could," she says tentatively, "eske and tirgatao - and dio, they'd all keep watch for you. and me and artaax, too." already the ginger knows her nomi will say no, because heda is a special thing, and blix gets that, but still. lord knows if she'd be allowed she'd be halfway back to the caldera already - dragging furi with her this time, of course.

She is glad the comfort of the caldera is enough to relax Blixen to accept it. They have no reason to assume that her family will do any harm and she’d been given a promise from Finley that they would hear word one way or the other. Her mouth parts and she is about the explain more but instead, Blixen gives her a blessing to go after her mate. Her ears twitch upon her head and fall back, glancing away. As long as I can go doesn’t follow after the words, either, but the promise to watch over Drageda in her absence. The invitation is too good to accept and she sighs, retreating back a little. “Finley promised to send someone if she cannot make it back before winter. Perhaps I will decide then to go,” she decides to say. The chance she misses Wildfire (even if she doesn’t think it possible) is still a possibility, for the time being, but hopefully soon they will know.

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 to her surprise, nomi does not rebuke the offer. immediately she regrets volunteering to stay and help watch drageda - okay, yes, duty is important and she doesn't actually like leaving drageda's borders if she can help it but, but! she didn't think nomi would just go along with it. "sha," the gona says - well, she's not gonna go back on her promise now. "but - if she can't come back, i wanna - i'd like to go in the spring. i can - take furi." blix is careful to phrase the request as politely as she can manage. surely nomi won't object to that - spring is safe enough for travel, she's a gona and so is furi (whether or not furi would actually want to tag along is not a thing that seems worth considering). her expression turns slightly pleading - how can nomi resist these patented puppy-dog eyes?

She can see her daughter age when she makes the request to leave Drageda in the spring, even temporarily. It was only a few months ago that she’d barely been able to hold herself up and now she wants to make such a journey. On her own! The thought tears into her but she nods, wishing to deny the request altogether and keep the girl as small and innocent as possible. Thuringwethil sighs softly and offers her a weak smile. “We will see in the spring,” she says with a wave of her tail, hoping to satisfy her desire temporarily. With any luck, Wildfire will be back sooner than that and she won’t have to watch her daughter depart on such a journey.

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wrap? :o

nomi agrees - well, sorta - and blix can't help the wide grin that overtakes her, even as she finally gives in and scratches her demandingly-itchy side. "mochof," she says, voice warm and pleased. for a beat she focuses on addressing the crop of itches that sprung while she talked and finally shakes her head and fixes nomi with a slightly sheepish look. "nomi, i think i gotta go find portia," she admits, a bit embarrassed, "or i'm gonna chew my foot off."

The tension in Blixen Thuringwethil has noticed had been chocked up to the lack of their mother, and having to have the talk, but as she starts her departure about chewing off her foot she furrows her brows curiously. She opens her mouth to speak but nothing comes out, instead nodding her dismissal after a moment. The sudden burst of scratching makes her wonder if it’s all connected but she decides to save it for another time as it appears she really needs to go see the healer. As her daughter turns and leaves, she watches her disappear into the woods before she continues on her way.

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