Northstar Vale vitiosus

this is for any epoch members, those tagged are pertinent to the situation! <3

when @Maxim moved, germanicus followed.

he had not been to the vale in a long while. and he wondered if his presence would be welcome.

epoch thrived. "will you tell them that i am here?" he asked gruffly of the man, refusing entry until it was given by @Arsenio.

he hoped that @Reyson did not suffer. and already the eagle felt he knew the answers he sought, but he must hear them first.

Reyson knew it would be long before Germanicus came calling. So he had settled himself near the borders to wait and watch and because his paranoia was paramount. He was absolutely convinced in the moment that the Pharaoh had sent someone after him, it gave him a bit of a wild eyed look when he thought too deeply of it.

He saw Maxim coming from a distance and moved. His body protested, the muscles tired and heavy from the battering they had taken. The wounds on his face and around his ears, beginning to scab and tighten. He licked along the seem of his muzzle and moved into a resting attention. Ever the soldier in his commander's presence. He dipped his muzzle.

Imperator.

tag for NPC reference! if not okay, let me know :)

the journey back was not one of grandness. the cold winds were their conversation, both carried worries he felt.

as they arrived, it seemed reyson had not been fit to stay still in a trusted place under watch. he wondered at once if the man had panicked again. if this was not his friend but the frantic soldier he had met in the willows.

but familiarity touched the rugged man with the sight of germanicus.

if you two are to meet here, i believe it best to wait here as well. his gaze fluttered between reyson and germanicus. he trusted both but he knew it was epoch that he called his own now.

but a patrolling @Leona could be spotted on the fringes. the soldier's training of mereo had never left his daughter it seemed. he motioned for her to go and gather those needed. trusting her to find some sense of comfort in being included in this, tasked with important things.

She left Tamar and all but fled to Reyson. She found him—her own face wet with tears as she boldly moved between the men that gathered, her eyes only upon the tawny form of the wolf who she had promised herself to. Maxim and Germanicus near—she looked to them only for a moment with apology in her eyes, but it was Reyson she focused upon, and not caring if she interrupted something important between the soliders of Mereo and Epoch, she pressed herself to her soldier’s arms, burying herself into his scent and trying to hold her emotions together.

There was a gathering upon the edges of their claim. Arsenio had smelled the Mereo wolves when their distinct scent had been brought to him on a cold wind. He had waited only a few minutes for a call before he began making his way to where he believed they were. Meadow’s pace offered him a fresh scent to trail, when he happened upon it.

Drawing near the wolves, Arsenio offered a warm smile to Maxim. The other man looked like their guide. Though, when the Arche looked to who had come to the vale, he knew that a guide was not necessary. Germanicus knew his way. It was still surprising to see the imperator on the edge of Epoch. Their last conversation had been less than appealing, in Arsenio’s opinion. He had walked away with the feeling that he had lost a friend. After months without contact, he wondered if his relationship with the Roman had been a friendship, at all.

You Mereo soldiers always come in pairs, he mused aloud, chuckling. How can we assist, Germanikos? Arsenio did not pry into Meadow and the Mereo soldier's reunion. The Arche had no intention of inserting himself into their personal affairs.

maxim's daughter came and went.

reyson came with lacerated face and heavy steps. "praefectus." the yellow eyes were calm but germanicus was concerned.

the lady meadow arrived next, and before the roman could offer a greeting, she embraced reyson tightly.

she had been crying, a detail he noted along with the unexpected flame of jealousy that licked under his breastbone.

arsenio was last. germanicus smiled quietly and dipped his head. "it is good to see you well. maxim came to me in mereo with news of reyson. i came myself to see to him, but before we spoke privately i thought it best to see you first, arsenio."

that last for them alone. he too did not know where he stood with the red greek man.

A soft oof left Reyson's chest as Meadow pressed into him. Though a smile twiched across his lacerated face. He lifted a heavy leg to lay around her and pull her tighter, repositioning his body so that he could hold her as tightly as she pressed into him.

He nuzzled her head, a brief affection for her and her alone, despite the prying eyes. he really didn't give a shit. His woman was crying, and well it sort of pissed him off and now he wanted everyone to leave.

However, he dipped his head to Arsenio. Sorry to intrude Arche Arsenio. Reyson Ebonywood.

skippable unless addressed! @Arsenio has permission to PP as needed for now (seeing as maxim would follow his word!)

the gathering had grown in a way he found...uncomfortable. too many bustling bodies, too many sudden shifts of mood between those gathered.

arsenio, a polite dip of his head to the leading man present, a warm smile. it would be best for maxim to be nothing more than a silent figure here. prepared for whatever he may be needed for.

even if that meant leaving.

While she sought comfort from Reyson, pressed in his embrace, there was a feline protectiveness that presented itself as well—graceful, sinuous and daring as she pulled back from his arms when her leader presented himself, eyes studying the others in their vicinity—heart hammering at the vision of Germanicus—before falling to Arsenio.

Never before would she dare interrupt as much—but like a lioness unfurling, the silver waif would beckon to Arsenio with a gesture, her eyes looking to hold his own gaze with a certain meaning. “Arche,” she offered, the display of assertiveness she offered now far from how she felt. Tamar was a mess of tears and forgiveness—there was no way to know Arsenio would simply throw her out in that very moment once he knew. But it felt impertinent he heard from her—and not from another—about her misstep.

“Forgive my intrusion here. I came to greet Reyson… he’s just returned from Akashingo. I wanted to check on him—I tried to see him in Akashingo, briefly before, but the Pharaoh had insisted on my company instead.” Her side remained pressed to Reyson—her meaning, hopefully clear, to her leading pack mate, that there was an underlying meaning to what she meant. Surely, he would put two and two together.

Many things happened in a short space of time. Germanicus spoke, saying that Maxim had gone to him about Reyson. Arsenio did not know about this, but he was not the keeper of the other man, he was only his leader. As long as Maxim returned to Epoch and served it with his knowledge, he was free to do as he wished. The same went for Meadow, who appeared to speak up about her worry for the scarred soldier. She said that she had gone to Akashingo to see him, and that the Pharaoh had requested her – insisted that she provide him with company.

Arsenio flashed back to his time spent in the Pharaoh’s home.

Everyone else vanished from his eye. The soldier, the Roman, the quiet Maxim. The Arche stared at Meadow with an unreadable expression on the red of his face. His eyes were like ice, fixated unblinkingly upon her.

Did he touch you? he growled.

Nothing else mattered to him, in that moment. Germanicus could go to hell for all his political babbling – if he knew that this was what had happened to Meadow, Arsenio would not look kindly at him.

kick me if its not my turn!

as arsenio's eyes sharpened upon meadow, so did those of germanicus.

he did not know the young healer had gone to see reyson.

but he did know well the renowned appetites of the pharaoh.

and now something else climbed to mind, something shared only by himself and arsenio: the memory of belen.

At the arche's words Reyson's entire body went taut and a slow angry feeling slithered and slunk up his chest and deep into his throat. It ached and burned, and he blinked. The anger boiling. He felt it then again, that gnawing pit of paranoia and irritation that could press on all sides and break his brain. He fought against it though, fought hard.

His grip upon Meadow tightened and he tilted an ear forward. If that man touched his healer, he would rip him apart with teeth and claws until there was nothing left of the man but fur and flesh as unrecognizable as a prey beast.

He pressed his muzzle into he head. Then he met first Arsenio's gaze and then Germanicus they would see the dangerous fury there. The absolute hatred for what the pharaoh was and exactly what he would do to the male were he to get a hold of him. Quickly averted. Then his eyes burned into maxim, his friend, to ground him. And then the ground. Because Reyson was on the verge of letting go. And he needed that reminder that he couldn't. And thus for a moment his friend was the anchor he needed. He and Meadow both.

Granted, revealing this news to Arsenio during what was already a small moment of chaos likely wasn’t the best of times—nor was it when the fur of her cheeks remained wet with the tears she had allowed before trying to center herself before the men around her. So when the Arche’s face stormed with dark clouds—she flinched outwardly—already imagining the moment when he all but threw her on her ass from her home for putting them in danger.

She hadn’t known! But it had happened. And there would be no taking it back—not the fear her she had brought upon her dearest friend, or the potential trouble she had placed Epoch.

His words were a growl—dark, as threatening as the hot summer’s thunder. When she registered what he said—was that concern for her?! She only then realized just how tight Reyson’s grip had become on her. Berserker, her mind whispered, and instantly her worry for herself all but melted to worry for her soldier, her silver form pressing closer to him, hoping to ground him in that moment.

“No! No.. Nothing like that,” she faltered, her tongue sliding across her suddenly dry lips. This was a mistake—she should have ushered him to the side—insisted on privacy. She was surprised by Arsenio’s instant concern—that such possibility could instill such wrath in him. “But he had many questions. I think… I think you should find Tamar…”

I'm horrid with group threads. Perhaps we could break this down into some more one-on-one private threads? <3 Let me know if this works for you all.

All eyes were upon Meadow as she answered his question. The Pharaoh had not sought her romantically – a great relief to the Arche. His mind had been filled with many Fellahin, all ready to answer to the spoiled ruler’s wishes. He thought of the Pharaoh’s gaze and felt himself writhe with anger. Arsenio wished that he had killed the man, before this moment. He wished that Akashingo did not exist.

Very well.

There was a moment of pause, of thoughtful consideration for the situation in front of him.

Maxim, will you show Meadow and her- he cleared his throat, - and Reyson into the vale. You may show them something to eat, if you have the time. If not, you are welcome to find a place to rest. The Arche nodded his head to them. He could meet with Meadow after she had an opportunity to find her place in Epoch, again. He imagined that she wanted to be with the soldier more than she wanted to stand around and speak of her time in Akashingo.

Germanikos, he addressed the Roman with a curious gleam in his eye. Come into the vale. We have much to discuss.

germ out! <3

it was good that pharaoh had not demanded meadow's attentions.

but the tactician and imperator did wonder what this meant for epoch as well as mereo.

when arsenio firmly suggested that they speak, he gave a single nod, dipped his head in meadow's direction, and turned to accompany the red wolf.