Broken Antler Fen mutuus

gosssh

set for the 29th? <3

the more that the mesa fell behind him, the more freedom the eagle experienced.

that crowfeather had been left behind in their clutching did not rest well within him. but the shadow had chosen it, had he not? and the man had been all too happy to leave at once.

it was a cold morning when germanicus arrived a third time to speak with @Eljay and teya. the fen pack remained as elusive as ever, and his call died slowly above it.

the soldier arranged himself with layered control and waited, a tender piece of meat from gilded deer resting at his paws.

after his last successful ( at least it was successful in his mind ) trip along the borders roswell feels emboldened and thinking that he has more tools in his arsenal since listening and observing how teya handled pyr; his steps mime the confidence that he feels. it settles in his chest, buoying him. a stranger's scent hangs on the stretch of borders that roswell approaches, and call rises through the air. shivering with excitement, roswell hurries forward with the hopes he'd be the first to intercept the stranger.

feeling like he's in luck, he does not note teya or eljay or anything else having beat him. thus, he lets out a low chuff of greeting; golden champagne gaze studying the dark pelaged stranger; trying to play it cool, calm and collected.

it was not long until an attendant of brecheliant showed themselves in the form of a gangly young youth. their movements were rather feline. teya was nowhere in sight.

the eagle let himself be observed. measured. "hail, little fen-keeper." the borders were sunny enough despite the frigid air, and he meant no threat. yet he watched for others yet to come.

roswell keeps his chin up; a posture of confidence that was mostly bluff. he is still learning and anyone can likely tell. he's young — perhaps too young to be wandering the borders by himself but he feels safe within their confines. hello, roswell returns; finding the way the stranger talks as unusual ...but liking it all the same. i am roz, after his rather abrupt decision that names held power and that he'd rather be known by a shortened version of his name than the full name, he introduces himself as such now. how can i help you? likely, he couldn't because his call had been for teya and eljay but roswell would do what ( little ) he could until one of them appeared.

She wasn't a Raven any longer, but she didn't feel like it was out of place when she answered the call for Eljay. When she saw Roswell there she smiled and slowed down, her ears pricking to hear his very formal, very official greeting. Well, then! With this guardian handling it, maybe she wasn't needed!

She did come close enough to back him up and to make it obvious that she was listening, but she didn't want to interrupt just yet. Roswell was handling things perfectly and she wouldn't undercut what he said by taking over. Instead she just gave a friendly nod, then waited for an answer to come.

a boy, and then a woman. she resembled the plumage of a bird. germanicus watched her a moment and then returned his attention to the youth. "i am germanicus. i am known to teya. crowfeather and i hunted with her once. i have come with news for your pack."

it was a message better borne by grown ears, but the eagle wanted to see what the young patroller meant to say in return. he kept his gaze and figure polite.

the footfalls of another approaching from within the fen draws roswell's ears back as he determines the exact location; only briefly goes his golden champagne gaze leave the stranger at the borders to glimpse over his shoulder. maia waits; visible but does not interrupt and roswell assumes it to mean that he must not be fumbling things too badly.

his gaze falls back upon the stranger, listening to his introduction. germanicus mentions that he knows teya, that he and someone named 'crowfeather' hunted with her. even so, does it mean he should be trusted? roswell debates with it for a moment before offering a contemplative, ok, leaving it to hang in the air.

if he is impatient to hear the reason why this germanicus fellow is on the borders ( he is ), it shows it the slight twitch of his tail despite that he isn't left waiting for long. he brings news. mom? he calls back to maia ( having not asked maia and eljay if he could call them 'mom' and 'dad' but just took to doing it on his own ); thinking that is more of her area than his.

Maia was full to the brim with pride, watching the visitor address Roswell as the proper guardian he was, but it also accentuated just how big he'd gotten. Time was flying by faster than she could track it.

She waited until he looked back and asked for her, then smiled (a little sheepishly - hopefully they didn't think she was rude).

Hello. I'm Maia. I'd be glad to hear it, and I'm sure Roswell could take a message to Teya too? She smiled at him and gave his hip a gentle, subtle bump, hopefully letting him know how well he'd done.

A billion questions buzzed in Maia's head - who was this stranger? Where did they come from, and how did they know Teya? He talked so formally, and his name was so different, but something about it felt familiar. Why? She couldn't immediately recognize the echoes from her father's recollections, as few and far between as those were. And she didn't want to completely overwhelm him (or herself), so she stuck to just letting him speak and clamped the lid on those. For now.

the child was charming. germanicus was reminded of his brief time at whitebark. that boy had gone missing, however. 

"hello, lady maia." she was beautiful in the way of good country, lush and welcoming. "allow me to make introductions. i am germanicus julius caesar. i am an auxillary, a traveling mercenary who has chosen to stay in this region since late summer. i am known to ruenna redfern of redhawk caldera. beyond the caldera, a new group is forming in the flatlands."

"i am sorry for the length of this report," he said, pausing to give both the noblewoman and her presumed son a moment to gather his details. "the saints of the dying light have attacked this pack, which is called akashingo. one of theirs may die. the saints have been said to be violent war-mongers, and now loom closer to brecheliant and the caldera. it is important you know this."

"lastly, akashingo intended to make new allies for itself, and is still determined to do this. pharaoh ramesses and lady satsu invite any of your emissaries to join them later in the season for a wedding feast."

it was a great deal. "i will say again anything that you need to commit these messages to memory."

just realized I skipped <3 sorry! Lmk if I need to remove

Oh wow, that was a lot of news. Maia's warm smile of welcome melted into consternation as she tried to follow it all, but she'd never really even heard of a few of the things referenced. Interpack conflict? Between two groups she'd never heard of? She'd been more worried about home and her own troubles of late, but it was worrying that apparently they were being drawn into this. This wasn't Eljay, was it?

It's, um, nice to meet you. She said, drawing the words out somewhat slowly while she processed the news. Do... do they have a medic? We can maybe send someone... She would be hesitant to offer Eljay, especially if there was danger. Selfishly she wanted him to stay here if she couldn't go with, but maybe Bridget? Or someone from the Caldera?

It was so weird, to hear that someone might die and then to be invited to a party. Maia wasn't sure what to make of that and definitely wasn't sure on the names, though they sounded fascinating. She noted them down to ask Eljay about later, but for now she could only address the one thing.

posting to keep this moving! we can wrap up in a round or two <3

germanicus gave a single shake of his head. "we have a skilled physician among us, lady maia. under better circumstances he might have accompanied me here again."

he did not like to think of crowfeather there alone. with satsu. with ramesses.

"i thought it only best that you be alert. brecheliant and the caldera are not so far from akashingo."

germanicus looked toward the boy. "you are a true guardian. your mother is lucky to have such a protector at her side."

Lady Maia. Maia flushed a bit at both the formality of the title and how oddly it felt like it fit. She liked it quite a lot but it really felt like he was speaking to someone else. Oh! Of course, yeah. Good. Thanks. That was a little worrying. They hadn't seen a single sign of trouble since forming here, but would that last? And with so much trouble from just chance, it wasn't really fair to dump more on.

I am. Maia smiled in a big, genuine way when he complimented Roswell. He was so right! Thank you, again. That was... all she kinda had. Unless she should invite him in or something? She dithered awkwardly on the thought but didn't voice it. He was probably in a hurry.

last for me <3

germanicus dipped his head.

"when again we meet, i hope it is under more auspicious skies."

he turned then, striding off into the light with a practiced step. she had been pleasant. he would think of the woman and her son when again he considered brecheliant.

Umm, yeah. Thanks. She replied, a little lamely, as he left. As a storyteller she could absolutely appreciate the way he spoke, but it was a little disconcerting running into someone who seemed to have stepped out of one of her mom's old stories on their border. Wow, yeah. She totally should have invited him to stay.

You did amazing, sweetheart. Can you go find dad and Teya and give them his message? Maia's expression was full of fond pride as she watched Roswell take off eagerly to play messenger. She'd check in quietly later to make sure all of the details actually made it to both of them, but she wanted to be sure he knew that his part here had been important.