Whitebark Stream luftschloss

rivenwood grew.
before dawn, mahler muttered a word to the night watchman and set off for the stream with a pair of curious red flowers he had not seen before.
it would not yet be lightening when he arrived, and while only a trio of hours were left to him, mahler set them down and gazed around the pretty watered place, thinking that @Iana might be here as he watched the curve of the stream bend gently before his paws.

Not me stealing all your threads :3c

A momentary trip away from the familiar glacier she called home.

She was in the water, down stream, that the land held within it. There was no intent besides to be soaked in it’s cool refreshing sensation and see what it brought down its streams in the shallow parts. She had seen a fish or two pass by, wary of her legs like barricades in the water.

Unaware that he might have been near enough to see and be seen.

do it forever literally please :D

mahler moved on, passing beneath the silverbirch stand. here he meant to drink, but was halted by the sight of iana's small figure, standing in the stream as if she meant to conquer its inhabitants.
he sat to watch her with a bemused look to his lips, silent; he would not disturb her skills by entering the water, and mahler meant to see how well she could keep her poise with an audience.

She did nothing, head occasionally dipped to nose at the rippled surface. Half a mind to pluck a smooth stone and bring it back with her for nothing in particular. Perhaps as a keepsake for the memory of time well spent alone.

Only to turn her head and glance down stream. Hoping that she might find something better else where in the water. A fish stuck in a pool or —

Mahler.

The lavender fields of a man watching her. She had half a mind to scold him or strike him with words of humor, but her brain failed her as her heart beat heavy in her chest. Unsure for how long he had watched her in the water as if she was some sort of loon.

I did not expect company at this hour. Called out to him as she began to move towards the dry land he claimed.

you get Iana's 100th :D

woo congrats!!!

"vhat about admiring company?" he tossed back as she approached, and the cling of the water to her slender hips forced a polite harrumph to his throat, an averting of his eyes as he pretended to glance beyond her to the stream.
"they evaded you," he commented, full of a warm trepidation as he gestured to the clear surface through which iana had cut. "i blame the ospreys that have recently come to nest in this area, and in rivenvood."

Her whole being grew warm at his comment, a soft huff and tsk given with a kind smile. A gentle shake before she neared him so as to not soak him thoroughly with the droplets of her morning wade.

They are smarter than I would give them credit for then if they learn from the osprey. Honest, as she glanced from the water to Mahler.

Surely you did not travel all this way just to watch someone swim?

"that vill teach me to underestimate the fish." a quirk of his lips, and then iana coolly unravelled him a second time. mahler wanted to say that he had not come for it, but had been pleased by the sight all the same, until the crush of guilt and of awareness careened into his mind.
"i brought a plant," he said softly, nosing at the pair of odd red flowers with an orange center. "i vas vondering, first, if you vere here, and secondly, if you might know vhat this vas."
would iana be disappointed to know he had only come in the guise of a doktor?

Unacknowledged for the best, lest they get themselves in a tangle of silence again. Some selfish part of her wished for it, wanted to melt them together here in the secluded place they met in. Allow him to cling to her as the water did but —

A deep breath, silent her selfish desire in favor of the words he spoke. Eyes left him in favor of looking down to the pair of flowers. Red with an orange center. A closer look (and careful smell of them) revealed nothing of note to her.

Shame.

No, She whispered in response. I am afraid not. A slight shake of her head to follow as well.

Where did you find them?

"growing between two mossy stones. i found them vhen i came down." he had discovered the flowers after deciding to set out for the stream, a fact over which he was sheepish but would not hide it.
"vell," mahler chuffed in the air of a man setting hands upon his hips. "it might be a good thing to test it, ja?" he inquired, for there could not be a safer place to run such experiments than in the presence of another physician.
he lowered his muzzle, aware of her wet pelt and its clutch along her hips.
mahler would not allow himself to look, and lipped a single petal into his mouth, chewing. "bitter," he admitted, "but not overly so."

Oh, so he had...not come for her knowledge on the plants. It seemed his first reason held the most weight for his decision to be here.

She was still clipped on this realization as he lipped a petal into his mouth. Too late to stop him out of any concern that she might have had for foolish testing.

Well, I would join if not for the fact that neither of us know the plant. She assumed one of them had to remain pure should any side effects rise from the flower. It seemed it was her job to watch after him now as they patiently waited for...something. Maybe nothing.

You trust me greatly. She pointed out for no reason other than to do so.

"you are greatly trustvorthy," mahler quipped. "no tingling of poison. no sour taste."
he moved toward the water, meaning to wash the bitter red from tongue and throat. both somehow still dry in her presence when the man turned back and sniffed at the plant again. "yet, i cannot tell if it is meant to be medicinal, or only decorative." rote rambling, the chunner of a man grown squeezed and breathless with his own unsaid things.

All of it she was grateful to hear. Worried that she would have had to rush to mend him should ill fall him by a damned flower. She wondered if she would have done enough, if she truly was as trustworthy as he claimed.

She would swallow those thoughts as he did water.

There is another way to test that, Some soft humor in her voice as she watched him carefully. Wondering if he might egg on her plan of how to test its best use.

a flout of his eyebrows, upward. "oh?"
truly questioning in a medicinal way. iana surely had seen things that he had not. they had come together to learn, after all, and he meant to see that through, determined in spite of himself.
he waited for her to share whatever tidbit she held, glancing down toward the scarlet blooms in quiet contemplation.

Delicately she plucked up the other flower, the own that had not had a petal plucked from it. Then, if not stop, sought to delicately place it into the thick of his fur.

A red flower secured by his tufts of lilac.

Decorative, perhaps. She hummed softly with humor alive in her eyes.

he held still at her touch, and when iana drew back, he felt the blush of the bloom against the granite pelting of his ears.
suddenly shy despite his years and fickle past, aware of the almost-moment, and still staunch in his heart's protectorate over wylla. "do i look more beautiful?" dry, matching her own bemusement.

It was a comical question. One she did not expect him to ask. It almost seemed like the kind of thing she'd mutter to someone, breath tight in her chest.

Only she was not the one to ask and her breath still held tight.

Of course, Soft even if the small sway of her tail betrayed her coyness.

No side effects besides elevated appearance?

a chuckle. "none." elevated appearance, indeed! "ve vill add it to the list marked 'potentially helpful.'"
rivenwood beckoned.
but he was not ready to leave, and so racked his mind for thoughts of anything else he might say. "perhaps it might rid me of this cough." lavender meeting the spring-grass hue of her own eyes.

Any sort of playful spark melted into a soft concern in her eyes, as she met his own in a gaze. Did he know the way her heart yearned to heal the things that plagued him?

Does it still bother you, Mahler? Some push in her voice that she hoped might coax an honest answer out of him.

mahler saw her concern. he had not meant to put it there, and loathed himself for it. momentarily. the jeweling of her words sounded again.
"it does."
a hesitation.
"i had thought it vas only a lingering cold, but it has not left me."
healer's heart knowing that the extension of a symptom could mean few promising things, laying it before iana in a sudden grim solemnity.

We will find you honey, soon, if you have not done such already. Despite her hushed voice, they were pointed words. She did not wish to hear arguments on it.

Even if she could not have him, she did not wish to lose him either.

Does anyone else know?

She wondered if he hid it at all or if anyone had noticed it had not vanished.

honey. speedy had done that for him, but he agreed with a dip of his head. perhaps iana might find one made from another fruit, another clover. perhaps it would be stronger.
"they have heard me, coughing. but i am trusted as a doktor to tend myself."
therein the danger, he suspected.
"it remains just that, stronger vhen i exert myself."
a reassurance, if iana would take it.

Of course. She exhaled in response. An answer to both sets of words from him. He should be trusted, as doktor. It would flare up when he exerted himself.

Of course.

Let us have an easy day till we need return to our places. She paused, unsure if she had told Mahler the news already. Duskfire has me as beta now. You're not the only leader doktor anymore. Humor in her voice and a glint in her eyes.

She hoped she could coax him into the waters, or a lush patch near the bank somewhere. Anything to unwind for a while.

figure we could maybe fade this out and have something newer sometime soon? :D

absolutely <3

mahler brightened from their dour conversations. "vell then, a congratulations is in order." smilingly, he allowed himself to be patient for a while, content to simply exist in the beautiful place, forget the clench of his throat and the way the year had weathered him.