Noctisardor Bypass everyone's a murderer

@Mahler im doing this with the assumption he doesn't get murked by Merrick/Aventus!

okay so he had learned super fast that this land was fucked up.

the dudes down south had scared him straight and...well, he had not planned on attempting to group up so early on but he imagined he'd die if he didn't. which was good enough motivation to try and group up as quickly as he could, right?

unless this group would be a bunch of bear warning bloodletters too.

he stayed far enough away from the borders to get a head start should another dude like the last appear before he let out a short call for attention.

the call was short.
mahler was grieving somewhat, for it seemed that heda did not intend to return to rivenwood. he knew it was the age for it, if a little early, but nevertheless he ruminated on it.
the season would be here in a matter of days.
secretly mahler did not feel the same dread as he had before. nevertheless, the man was upon alert for rogue males, and doubled his patrols.
the brief summons had the gargoyle's attention, and the great man, height undiminished by illness or age, soon stood in front of the stranger with an expectant look in his lavender eyes.

he didn't really know if this was a better greeting.

this man did not bleed freely, nor did anyone seem to be breathing down his neck suddenly. no warning about bears.

yet Ålesund still felt his skin crawl and his tail tucked tightly between his hind legs. brown ears flattened and his scarred muzzle pointed delicately away from the man's direction.

erm...are you guys...a... out with it!

are you guys safe...? i ran into a crazy pair of wolves down south. if you're going to like...chase me or scare me off, can we skip that and i'll just leave?

the stranger spoke in a thoroughly confusing combination of words. mahler stared at him, frowning. but the mention of down south sharpened his stoneflower eyes. "vas it a valley?" he asked gruffly.
he thought of laurel.
he thought of ursus.
the scar on the younger man's face was not a fresh wound. "did they harm you?"

he had set off some sort of reaction and suddenly he felt very guilty. that kind of guilt that coiled up in his stomach and threatened to bleed out of his mouth.

maybe he should shut up forever.

maybe he should turn around and go home to the forest, beg for his mother's forgiveness and call all of this a bad dream.

erm yeah? i guess it was a valley and they didn't but they...warned me about bears and chased me off. one of the guys was bleeding already but he didn't seem concerned about it?

the anxiety — guilt — was probably painted pretty clearly on his marred face.

mahler nodded. "that is more than likely ursus. stay avay from them. they have killed."
he gave a once-over to the stranger. "this is rivenvood. i am mahle, its graf. are you only carrying a varning or do you seek a role here?" 
mahler wanted to return to wylla. the instinct to linger close had strengthened in him. but he only watched the nervous younger, feeling a pang of pity for the horror experienced.

ursus.

they have killed.

had they planned to kill him? he had only once been under such a threat and he had not imagined he would be back under it again. it made him feel dizzy.

now he had been placed with a question and he had, at least he thought, knew the answer to that. except now he was uncertain — of himself, of these lands, of everything.

i...

what do you recommend, uh, graf?

this was turning out to be a particularly strange interview. "you are a young man. if you intend to begin your own pack this year, then find your own territory. but if you vill hunt and vork inside my borders, i vill give you a place here."
he studied the other. "vhat are your skills?" perhaps fighting, despite the shaky look of the newcomer now. was he steady enough to serve as a night watchman?

my own?!

words gasped in response. how did he — why would he?

then he got asked about skills and suddenly all at once Ålesund was very certain he had made a grave mistake. he had no actual skills. could he do the basics? could he skirt by? yes, certainly.

skills?

i don't...have anything specific.

his face went blank and he stared at the great big man before him. although truly it seemed as though he was staring through him.

the boy did not seem so much younger than his own phaedra. indeed, with a pang, he realized that this one must be the same age as thade. wherever he was. "can you hunt?" mahler grunted. "vhat is your name?" too many questions, but now he was curious. 
he had already made his mind upon the matter, but waited for further revelation until the newcomer gave his title. perhaps it would tell more of him than was already known.

he felt —

stupid, embarrassed, anxious.

there was a familiar itch to bolt again but the man was not the same as the ones in the south. this man, although he loomed over the younger male, did not act with aggression.

small stuff.

his voice suddenly meek as his body subconsciously worked to make himself smaller.

Ålesund.

"very vell. i vill take you in as a pinne. a newcomer. small game is better than none at all."
here in the safety of the bypass, the gargoyle felt that the other might expand upon his skills. "if you are injured, i am a healer. the pack is small. it is my vife, our daughter, and two mothers vith their children. we are tightly knit and do not invite conflict."
"just north of us is duskfire glacier. they are our ally." that was all that was necessary to know for now. mahler watched the boy inquisitively.

a pinne.

it sounded like something they'd call someone back home but Ålesund was no fool, he knew it wasn't his mother language.

and his gut churned some more with the knowledge that the pack was filled with woman, mothers. except he could not ghost now. Mahler had opened his wings up and Ålesund could do nothing but scurry under his protection like the child he was.

he nodded with silent understanding.

what should i do first...?

"you might find a den."
mahler led the boy beneath the stone archway, veering to the right and thus toward the pine-encircled lagoon. "this body of vater is called birdsong lagoon. it is a good place to seek breakfast in the mornings."
he passed into the evergreens, inhaling their fragrance. "the place where rivenwood resides is called noctisardor bypass. there is plenty of hunting and useful things here. quite rarely do we have to leave for anything."

this was not at all like the south.

still he glanced behind him every now and then. expected someone at his back, expected eyes on him, expected anything besides the stonewarmth of Mahler.

okay. soft, absorbed the knowledge that was placed in his mind by the graf.

will i see you a lot?

and perhaps in that question he was asking to be the man's shadow as he adjusted into rivenwood.

"you can see me as often as you vould like." what an odd question. mahler pointed across the lagoon. "that vay is the pharmacy. it is vhere i keep and mix medicines." he flicked a charcoal ear. "i am often there. you are velcome to join me and learn if you vould like."
thus far he had met no one with an inclination to carry on his knowledge. it had not perturbed him until lately. had something else happened to this boy, he wondered, remembering how terrified and stricken thade had been after it all.

he wondered if Mahler knew what he had agreed to with such an offer.

Ålesund now felt inclined, welcomed, to be the shadow to the man in these first few vital days at rivenwood. it would help too, to avoid the mothers and perhaps pace himself in introductions.

i'd like to learn. he decided then. i can come by tomorrow and start?

was that too soon? too fast?

mahler's lavender eyes shone with approval for the newcomer's initiative. "i vill see you then, ålesund," the man rumbled. he had been alone in the larder of dried leaves for too long. it would be welcome to have some company.
he had given a good account of himself. with a nod, he dismissed the pinne, preparing to put a patrol around dawnleaf and the great tree before returning to his beloved.