Blackfeather Woods and yet i am, and live—like vapours tossed

for @Maegi. set at nightcaller temple.

it had been a handful of days since relmyna had surrendered herself to the rock of tongues; the transparent stone she carried wherever she went now, in anticipation that the hiss of the chaotic ones would sound again. gladly did the evoker give herself over to the trance; she had found it was quite strong near the temple. the one named potema had affixed offerings and fetishes there, and shyly relmyna came to worship among them, peering back alongside her shoulder to ensure she was not followed.
the woman was not yet ready to reveal what she had learned to any wolf. 
but war bloomed wildfire along the horizon, and quickly she must work. settling herself along her belly, the scarred woman placed the stone between her forepaws, newly smeared with blood from a small kill, and pressed her lips to its surface. night mother, she whispered within herself. night mother, i am here to serve you. the words had lost their oddness the more relmyna thought them; she was fully given over to her verve.

The white figure near the temple unnerved her, for she thought it was her mother. Thinking she may be driven away by the woman once more, she hung back, watching for a silent moment. Then, little movements here and there tipped her off. This was not Potema--but, rather, someone new.

Essaying cautious steps forward, Maegi warily stared down the snowy-pelted female, noticing her reverence. She knew what she was doing. But she had not yet seen this woman before. The only other non-Melonii white wolf in the woods was Kove--could this be a relation to her teacher? She was keen to find out.

"Hello," she called out gently, not wanting to disturb her prayers yet needing to get her attention somehow, without drawing so close as to startle her. Her tail wagged. "Are you praying?"

She was here, She was drawing forth through the stone; relmyna found her breath held fast — i am here—
footfalls, soft sounds on the snow nearby. the ragged creature shook in thrall, but broke with a gasp from her reverie, turning the burn of her turquoise eyes on the pale little girl with the odd purple eyes so common in this place. no — one purple eye. relmyna was disappointed to have been torn away from the night mother, but perhaps it was for a purpose.
pulling the transparent stone into the protected place between her forepaws, the evoker gathered herself to a sitting position and regarded the child with a growing warmth, nodding at the question. praying, indeed, but sometimes it was to no avail, she found. tattered ears swept forward; what was this one's name? she suspected that this one was in relation to the other two, the spy and the twisted boy, but would hold her suspicions still.

Maegi resisted the urge to hop backwards as the woman gasped, obviously startled (something she had been trying to avoid). Her turquoise eyes seemed almost blinding, and she blinked, twitching one ear in nervous response.

Thankfully, the woman relaxed after a long moment, with a nod at her question. Curious, Maegi drew closer, touching her nose to the cold stone in a brief, sort-of kiss, before looking at the stranger once more.

"Sorry to interrupt," Maegi said sweetly, giving her a tentative smile. "I. . .well, I'm just glad you're not my mother, really. You look like her, from far away." Her head canted slightly to the side, regarding the woman. "I don't know you."

relmyna was surprised when the child lifted two-toned eyes toward her own ruined face, but did not recoil. unsure what to make of this, the evoker's ears threatened to pin back against her delicate skull, but she did not evince a territorial nature toward the clear rock — the girl meant no harm.
relmyna was not willing to return the little smile given her — the first smile in recollection — for fear she would frighten the cub with the macabre smile dawning over her twisted features, but her gaze softened in response. who was the child's mother? in answer to the child's statement, relmyna sighed and rolled her shoulders, lifting a paw to her throat.

Perhaps another girl would recoil at the woman's disfigurement--and certainly she would in the future, when she became more worldly--but Maegi had grown up alongside Ramsay, the strangest wolf she'd ever seen. Strangeness was normalcy, for her. And how could she judge, with her ugly paw?

Still, she did not talk, instead lifting a paw to her throat as if in answer. Perhaps her injuries had taken her speech, as well.

"I'm Maegi," she introduced herself, the smile remaining on her face. "Potema and Cicero are my mother and father." It still felt strange, to utter that sentence, but she knew it to be the truth, a fact she could never run from. Besides, it would help the woman, to get a sense of who she was.

"I came here to pray, too," Maegi continued, drawing a little closer to the rock. She had not brought an offering today, armed instead only with incantations.

the girl's smile remained; she introduced herself as maegi, daughter of cicero and potema, and at once relmyna felt the cool wash of relief knowing she understood a mystery that was perhaps common knowledge among the other wolves of blackfeather. maegi's foot, ramsay's stunted body, euron's unnerving countenance — these were the traits of a forbidden pairing, and relmyna recoiled, for maegi had said cicero. was it cicero that had done this thing, or the monster sheogorath?
it was no matter — to pray was to know the gods, and the evoker's ragged ears cupped forward with interest. so here was a young priestess, aspiring like herself, but with a mother who knew the dark ways. a warm nod was given; relmyna pushed toward the girl her clear stone, wondering if the child would know its use.

The woman, still nameless, pushed her stone toward Maegi, and the girl looked down, staring at it for a brief moment. "Is this your offering?" she asked, cocking her head slightly to the side. She glanced back up at the other white-pelted wolf. "I usually bring a dead rat or mouse. Not today, though."

She felt sort of guilty, at the admittance, as well as inadequate. Here this woman had come prepared, while she--the child of the Woods!--arrived without gifts. Her ears cupped forward, toward the stone, trying to listen for any chastisement from the Daedra; she was satisfied to hear no complaint thus far.

"Do you know my mother, my father? How long have you been around? Why haven't I seen you here before?" The questions, even in the heat of the moment, seemed useless; Maegi didn't envision the woman speaking anytime soon. Perhaps, though, the queries would bring forth words in answer.

sensing maegi's consternation, relmyna gave a slow shake of her muzzle, placing her paw over the rock of tongues. how could she explain such a thing with no words; the thought was forced to pass as quickly as it had come, for the child was asking questions. relmyna, this time, was more prepared to answer them; she settled upon thin haunches in the snow.
she drew a short mark in the snow, seeking to indicate maegi's first question, and followed it with two nods. yes. she knew cicero; yes, potema. a second mark, punctuated by two dots for two years. and the last mark for the last question. here she did not deign to show maegi her tongue, as she had with ramsay; relmyna merely lifted a paw to her throat and gave a low croon to evince her lack of speech..
if the girl did not understand, the evoker would attempt to explain again, but she prayed that mephala give maegi sight to see what it was that she sought to communicate.

The white priestess gave Maegi too much credit, for the girl saw the marks drawn and had nothing--no intuition, no sight--with which to interpret them.

But the Blackfeather babe was too bold--too arrogant, even--to let on any sort of ignorance. She asked her teachers questions, true, but to admit shortcomings to a woman that had been a stranger a moment before? Inconceivable!

"Okay," she said, with a short nod. She had drawn her own conclusions, anyway. The scent of the dark woods clung thick and heavy to the woman's white pelt, which gave the child the impression she had been here quite awhile. And if she had, she certainly had to know her parents: Potema, before her birth, had been someone of importance, and Cicero was an ever-present shadow in the Woods.

As for her third question, it likely had something to do with the fact the woman couldn't speak. Perhaps she'd ask Kove later for clarification. Nevertheless, she seemed friendly enough, and Maegi felt at-ease in her presence--something she rarely felt around wolves she barely knew.

"So, the rock," Maegi continued, glancing toward the stone. "Can you tell me. . .what it's for?" She hesitated mid-sentence, knowing the woman had no voice. But there were other modes of communication outside of speech. The pups had talked to each other since birth, in various, subtle ways.

there was a wistfulness in relmyna's turquoise stare as she regarded maegi, and watched the child search through the only answers the evoker had been able to muster. so fiercely she wished to recall what had become of her voice, but such thoughts dragged the threat of a skull-throb out of some recess, and so she dared not consider it further.
the girl was quiet before turning her attention to the rock of tongues, and relmyna followed the line of maegi's gaze to its odd surface. what was its purpose, after all? the damaged woman had not fully considered this, but in the dreams that followed her trances, pressed against its surface, she spoke aloud.
and so relmyna settled herself into her usual pose, belly pressed to the snow, forelegs outstretched as she had been when the child arrived, and to its transparency, she set her lips, the jewelglint of her eyes closing.

Even without her voice, Maegi liked this woman. She thought of her mother, who had spoken to her in such awful tones. Relmyna was worth a thousand of Potema, that was for sure, and the girl hadn't heard a single word from her mouth. She didn't need to.

She watched, fascinated, as the white-furred woman pressed her nose to the stone, eyes shutting in deep, meditative concentration. It was similar to what she sometimes did at the Altar--with her muzzle kissing the cool rock, she could better hear the whispers of the gods, and respond in kind. She had lain kisses upon its surface even more often since Potema had challenged her, as if to say--

Mother, they chose me. I belong here. Even in death, I will not be forgotten.

"Mephala, ñuha dāria, ñuha muña," Maegi whispered in her halting Daedric, stumbling over a few of the words in the process before switching to the common tongue. "Watch over us here. Help me hear what she has to say, even though she has no words." Her bicolored eyes were fixed on Relmyna, as if her gaze could singlehandedly draw speech from the woman's maw.

the words the girl spoke were muted, and filtered down into the veil that now hung o'ertop relmyna's consciousness — she felt their sensation, rather than heard their tones. but she knew it was to the great ones that maegi lifted her voice, and thus relmyna sent her own into the rock of tongues, seeking the child's pure awareness.
maegi.
within the chaotic whorl of the stone, relmyna spoke the child's name, and felt the hot presence of sithis curl close. a power in the little body, the evoker knew, and did not drag herself from her trance; not yet. let the other speak; let relmyna hear her. a great desperation now welled in the woman, and she was forced to fight for composure even as she called to the little one through the unwavering pulse of energy in the stone.
maegi.

Maegi.

The name fluttered through her mind like a raven's feather caught by the wind, settling deep in her consciousness. It was not the voice of the gods, nor her own self-awareness, so she knew it to be the woman. The stone. . .whatever it was. . .had given her the power of speech, and it was with a wag of her tail in joy did Maegi lower herself to Relmyna's level, gingerly touching her nose to the stone.

Maegi. It was cool and warm all at once, and it pulled her forward, into a swirling vortex of chaos and serenity all at once. The dulcet tones of the daedra danced round them, some louder than others, some more sinister.

"I hear you," Maegi whispered, breath fogging gently on the smooth surface. The fur on her pelt prickled, though an odd sense of calm had overcome her. "Tell me your name."

oh, to come alive —!
relmyna felt the lovely consequence of her long hours' training culminate in the sound of maegi's voice, and though the evoker was held by the stone's trance, relief and a deep delight skimmed its surface gently. maegi. she had heard the patchwork wolfess, and relmyna paused to gather the remaining tendrils of her strength, breath cutting sharply from her nostrils with the effort.
rel —
your other name, the half-asleep girl-shade whispered.
what name? relmyna wanted to ask, but an answer must be given. and so she gave the only title she remembered, that one given by sheogorath and consummated into her by cicero: my name is relmyna.
the threat of another writhing loomed, but the woman disengaged herself from the rock of tongues quickly, gasping for air and turning her eyes upon maegi with a soft look.

Relmyna. More than a name. An answer, an evocation. She was no longer the woman with the twisted face, nor yet the woman who spoke through a stone, she was--and would always be, to Maegi--Relmyna.

Her face alighted with a grin, growing bigger as she stared at Relmyna, the two of them having disengaged from their newfound source of communication. She wagged her tail, tilting her head and looking inquisitively at the woman.

"That was. . .wow," she trailed off, her words grossly inadequate. "Can you--can you teach me more? About what that was?" For clearly the woman had magic in her; Maegi wanted to capture some of it for herself. She hadn't ever heard about this from Kove, nor Miraak. It was special, something they shared between the two of them only.

fade after another round? we will need an updated one!

the child exclaimed, and her wonder was a balm to relmyna. over a year had passed since sheogorath had given her the name; maegi was perhaps the first to have deciphered it through other means. the flush of success and pride was open on the evoker's face; she wanted to lean forward and touch the girl's cheek to convey these emotions, but kept herself at rein.
a confident nod was given maegi. relmyna herself was just learning these secrets; she would be delighted to impart them to the girl, along with whatever else she was able to glean. gathering herself up, the evoker stretched lightly and took up the stone into her mouth. come, relmyna's eyes invited; she would lead maegi to the glowing cave and show her there the magick that could be wrought beneath the earth, stone returning to stone.

!! this will be my last post here

She was glad to see the woman so happy. Clearly, the connection had given her as much wonder as it had given the girl. They were bonded by the stone, now. And she was glad to have someone else to talk to, especially when her brothers and mentor were so distant and with war on their doorstep.

With a wag of her tail, Maegi nodded in answer, padding along beside Relmyna as she led them to their next destination. Whatever awaited them there was likely beyond her wildest dreams.