Sleepy Fox Hollow but a part of me knows I'm growing too old

For @Sialuk to post first and then looking for @Mahler.. though AW!

A myriad of emotions played within the man’s mind over the course of their travels. Fear, that he would not find Mahler of this earth still… Relief, when he had caught the faintest scent of the man… and now apprehension, as he considered how this might look to the man, as he stood upon Paleo’s borders, bringing home a girl who was not really his girl… In the throes of the type of relationship he had been warned against, given the fatigue and deterioration of his father and his own multiple lovers and responsibilities.

Still, none of this played upon his stony features—spare, perhaps, the coiled tension within his muscles, should the little paramour at his side be privy to such things. “He’s here,” he offered, his tone quieter than normal as his icy eyes assessed the borders of a home Mahler had built. Tipping his muzzle back, he called for the man—a twist in his chest from the fear of the unknown, and that he did not know what to expect of this reunion.

Quiet, and carrying across her back a gift for the man who was taatax̂ to Argent. It was a soft, white fur of a rabbit. One she had kept for several months, waiting for the right occasion for it to find its place. What better time than the meeting of kivinik's kin. By blood or not, Mahler was important to her lover, and she wished to make a good impression upon him.

She sensed the tension in him, and Sialuk nestled herself against his shoulder, sharing warmth between them on an already warm day.

The wolf who met them first was not Mahler, but Wylla fancied herself ruler of Paleo still. She arrived promptly and with body language laced with suspicion.

Two younger, hale wolves stood upon the borders of Paleo, one chased in silver, the other pale as snow with a skin slung across her back, quite reminiscent of Kukutux. That they had summoned Mahler specifically was the only thing stopping the thorny little Sonnenwasser from meeting them head-on as a threat. What else could a young pair like them want from a small family pack, if not to test the strength of its leaders in a bid to take the hollow for themselves? Mahler had done the same himself once.

If she had met either of these wolves before, even Argent who had come and gone from Mahler's packs in the past, she had no recollection of it. She was as brusque and unapologetic as ever in asking, what do you want? Maybe a touch more brusque than usual; paranoia and worry were constant companions these days as spring reached for summer and still Wylla was not receptive.

two winters had passed since he had seen this man. argent had grown into himself. mahler had aged.
the pair was indeed young, healthy in a way that too ticked a box inside his mental cataloguing. he was not too old to fight, but was too old to mend, he felt. but he did not think argent had come for his home.
"it is good to see you again," mahler said gruffly, stepping to wylla's side with a brush of his shoulder that confirmed her rulership whatever her title. "and it is good to see you vell, argent."

They would not wait long, it seemed—no sooner did Argent begin to explain that the last he had seen Mahler was a pack just off the mountainside when a thin she-wolf came to view, her brisk and unwelcoming nature allowing the words to die upon his tongue.

“What do you want?”

He regarded her—a coolness masking itself to his features and his shoulder brushing gently to Sialuk, who carried a gift for the man they came to visit. “We’re looking for—“

But again, the words died upon his tongue when frosted eyes lifted to the movement in his peripheral vision, and the man he sought strode forward, easing his side into the shoulder of the brusque guardian. “Mahler,” he greeted, the ice in his voice melting as he tipped his muzzle downward to both—relieved, in truth, that he had not gotten the man’s whereabouts wrong. “It’s good to see you.”

The presence of the salty woman kept him from greeting the man with an affectionate embrace—and instead, he glanced down to the gentle Sialuk, his smile widening. “This is Sialuk of Moonspear. We were in the Sunspire and I wished to visit and see how you were.”

skippable unless addressed!

The woman who greeted them gave Sialuk the sense she had seen many hardships. She allowed Argent to speak for them, as this was his visit, and Sialuk remained close to him. There was a closeness between the woman and the man called Mahler, and Sialuk presumed—rightly or wrongly—that they were husband and wife. As for the dappled girl herself, she remained inquisitive and quiet, though polite in her manners. Her ears splayed and she kept herself small even against the physically smaller woman who led here alongside Mahler.

A gift of goodwill from village Moonspear, she said, pulling the bright white of the rabbit fur from her back. Sialuk placed it at the older couple's feet, then stepped back, letting herself melt into the background for the reunion.

Ditto, just tag me if I'm needed. ^_^

It was Wylla's inclination to bristle and bare her teeth when a wolf on her borders acted as dismissive of her as Argent did, but Mahler's arrival stifled her reaction. The touch of his shoulder to hers appeased her, but her black ears tipped back in a clear indication of her displeasure.

At least his companion seemed to have some sense to her. Wylla focused on that, attempting to shake off her irritation at yet another cocksure man looking down on her. Argent and Mahler were familiar, so for her mate's sake, she would try to be nice. Thank you, she said to Sialuk in a voice that was still frosty, but considerably less unkind than it had been moments before. She plucked up the rabbit pelt and tucked it away, and like Sialuk, stepped back to give the men room to talk.

But her bright yellow eye would remain fixed on Argent throughout. Weighing. Judging.

mahler noticed this too, and watched argent for a moment. was this the unconscious posturing of a young man who was to be mated? that he could understand, though the next moments would be telling.
"ve are vell, vylla and i," he told the youthful pair. "paleo is a place of utter peace." his eyes moved to the newcomer at his side, and he offered a small smile. "thank you, sialuk of moonspear." ah. moonspear.
the mountain had provided a fierce backdrop to mahler's earlier years, and he was a bit taken aback to think of such faces now. his stoneflower eyes were warmer now on argent. "and how do you find yourself these days?" he asked with humoured tone intending to soften the moment for them all.

The Paleo she-wolf remained sharp—the irritation she held clear upon her in her posture, and the frostiness of her clipped tone as she took the offering Sialuk had graciously given. It rankled him—but he withheld—smoothing a stoical mask upon his facade—so ingrained upon him from his youthful days and into early adulthood, he felt a keen sense of surreality. Before, the posturing and unkindness of Mahler’s companion had been something he expected and assumed—Sialuk and Moonspear had introduced him to a different view on life.

And he found with rising clarity that he much preferred it.

Prior, only moments before, the silver guardian had desired nothing more than the wisdom the man before him could impart. Fatherly advice on the options that weighed heavy on the Sandraudiga’s mind—but he now found himself unwilling to leave Sialuk alone in the presence of the border viper—and he hesitated.

Mahler’s response was quick to include the she-wolf in regards to his own wellness—a clear tie between them, and idly, he wondered how the patient Mahler had come to meet her.

“Paleo,” he tasted the word on his tongue, pale eyes drifting from the man to look upon the woman who stared him down—peaceful, indeed. He turned his gaze back to Mahler, intending their visit to be cut much shorter than he had originally anticipated. “I’m glad you found your peace Mahler… I just wanted to see how you were doing. The mountains are still home to you, I see.” And, only for the sake of the man who had practically raised him, he turned to Wylla once more, attempting to remain neutral at her stiff presentation. “And you are his mate? It’s nice to meet you. Mahler was an important figure in my youth...”

oof i missed the skip notes and then lost track of this thread @Argent, do u wanna go another round or wrap here? <3

once an important figure.
he supposed another time that those things might have barbed, but it did not. seeing argent with the woman at his side pleased mahler; it suggested the boy who he had once thought of as son had made a way of his own.
"peaceful, yes. and for you both, i hope the same," he said in warm gruffness. "vill you stay a vhile? i vould like to tell the story of vhat happened after rivenvood."