Northstar Vale beseige me

maybe @Towhee? though no obligation of course! <3 :D

though leaving stavanger bay wasn't high up on kjalarr's list of things to do, right as it was beginning to draw traffic and attention ...he nevertheless feels confident leaving it in the care of tove and those else who have pledged to its cause. confident that the building foundations would not crumble with a few days' trip, kjalarr set out.

it feels good to travel again, even if it was not quite the journey that it'd been from odinns cove back to the teekon wilds.

nevertheless, the soft ache of his left hind leg lessened the more he walked it out — at least on this particular morning despite that the vale was shrouded in a curtain of fine mist and the sun was kept at bay by thick clouds. soon, he suspects, it will not be as such: but until the ache became persistent kjalarr was determined to ignore it.

It was probably overkill to chase it this far, yet Towhee relished the morning jog as she pursued a thieving fox beyond the canyon into the neighboring mountains. By the time it finally gave her the slip and she stopped to catch her breath, she was somewhere near the vale.

Thinking about her recent conversation with Alys and Arsenio, she peered down into the misty valley. She felt like a bird of prey on her perch up above, orange eyes hunting for movement below. A little thrill went through her when she spotted a pale figure slinking through the sunless pall. Perhaps this was Alys’s mate?

When Alys awoke, she had no idea anything was amiss. She left Kailoh's side, giving him a gentle kiss upon the brow, then exited the caverns into the usual mist. The sun was invisible behind layers of thick, pale clouds. She started her usual patrol route, heading first for the twins to quench her thirst. It was then that the wind brought a scent her way - strange, and very close. The Matriarch gave a swift, piercing howl, alerting @Kailoh Saya of the intrusion. then she rushed off, a sharp pang of anger bubbling up in her chest - who had the gall to pass straight through her markers and delve down into the valley?

She found the male, her normally happy, sunny yellow gaze narrowed in suspicion as she approached him, tail held high. "You'd best explain yourself before my mate gets here, stranger. You are far beyond trespassing in my home." Her words were hard, and cool. She would not be a pushover.

His mate's call had him on his feet and running before he even knew why. The scent awoke him completely then. Stranger. The urgency of Alys' howl reverberated through Kailoh's head as he raced to her side. 

She stood directly before another, one that hadn't been invited. Kailoh approached Alys' side, baring his teeth at the other, his dark auburn eyes watchful, waiting.

kjalarr realizes, rather suddenly, that he has miscalculated.

perhaps it was ignorance or perhaps it was a simple lack of caring that took hold of those who traipsed through his bay despite clear signs of marking that grips kjalarr tight and manifests itself with a pettiness.

or perhaps it was the northman in his blood: born of battle and commander of raids.

regardless, consequence alerts him with the woman's piercing howl and the shape of two wolves closing in on him: cerulean gaze noting the shadow cloaked woman watching from on high.

though not elderly, he is not as blessed with the rebound he once had in his youth. to risk injury now, so far from tove and his bay might very well insight death; and while kjalarr does not fear death he is not ready to yet welcome it, either.

still, apologies do not come upon swift wings from the northerner.

a big home for two wolves, a lot of land to occupy, which was why he bit back the worst of his prickly nature when he came across wanderer trails in the bay. nonetheless, kjalarr breathes. i mean no harm. i'm only passing through.

Alys herself materialized, moving toward the stranger in a way that definitely did not indicate an intimate relationship. Towhee watched with interest as the matriarch confronted what appeared to be an interloper. Hmm, she thought, eyes narrowing as she wondered about him. Another wolf appeared on the scene, standing beside Alys. Now this must be her mate.

There was absolutely no way for her to lipread from way up here, though Towhee could tell a lot about the situation just by the body language involved. She crouched, staring shrewdly at the scene unfolding below from up on her perch above.

Kailoh joined her swiftly, and she breathed a silent sigh of relief. The stranger told them he was only passing through, but this only made Alys bristle. "Passing through without calling at my borders? What do you think gives you the right to enter my land uninvited?" She had the whelps growing in her womb to worry about now - she knew she was pregnant, even if it was early. Even so, Alys conceded, "Perhaps you don't mean any harm, but I cannot allow you go any further. I would ask you to leave the valley, and go around it."

Kailoh stood still as a statue next to Alys, waiting, watching, if the male were to heed Aly's warning Kailoh would follow the male from a distance to ensure he left their valley. Alternative. he was prepared to give the stranger one final warning before he would to seek Alys' approval to act in aggression.

mine, mine, mine, as if the two of them that he saw before him — not including the watching stranger — were enough to defend the whole vale. it grates on his nerves but the northman bides his tongue: because he does not want to fight. he is outnumbered and knows his age gives him a disadvantage that even his brutality when fighting cannot entirely make up for. nevertheless, age allows him to see that it's not worth it.

though he is not comfortable turning his back upon her or her mate, he keeps a keen eye on her mate out of the corner of his eye as kjalarr allows himself to be escorted back out. backtracking annoys him even further, but it's not as if he'd been into the heart of the territory.

once out of the territory ( though, perhaps not out of the stern gaze of the male ), he looks in the direction of the watchful stranger in the distance; noting that she does not bear either of the pairs' scent upon her.

The confrontation ended with the trespasser backtracking and exiting the vale. Towhee momentarily lost sight of him and, with the show over, she licked her lips and straightened, deliberating whether to head home. Alys and her mate clearly didn’t need her help, though she was curious…

Trotting down the mountainside, she made her way toward where she supposed she might find the stranger. Indeed, she spotted him among the crags somewhere between Razorback Ridge and Sheepeater Cliff. Towhee rumbled a note to announce herself as she swept toward him.

Mind telling me what that was about? Towhee asked tonelessly, pausing before adding, Why you were trespassing in my allies’ territory?

I assumed his general location, just tap me and I can edit those details. :)

this is the last from me!

Alys saw to it that the man left, and as he disappeared from sight, Alys turned to her mate. "Now I'm wondering whether our borders are secure enough... I'm going to patrol." She would first reinforce the borders the stranger had crossed, and she loosed a long, low howl in addition to her marking.

This will be the last from me as well.

Kailoh eyed his mate with a worried frown, eyes lingering towards her abdomen and the life she carry there. He let loose a howl of his own, a warning to any who may mean them harm. He would patrol too, securing their borders even more.

all in all, it had been resolved rather diplomatically, which spoke volumes of kjalarr's growth; at least in that aspect. the shadow that had been watching the altercation from above swooped in on him; a rumbling noise lingering in the air.

ah, so they were allies.

so many reasons pulse through his mind then: because two wolves was hardly enough to hold a territory, because perhaps age was beginning to affect his sense of smell, because of his writer's adhd. the possibilities were endless even if the last weighed more heavily than the others.

kjalarr takes a breath, turning his head so she remains in clear sight of his good eye. he wasn't keen on being a broken record stuck on repeat. a mistake, the northman speaks. i respected their wishes and departed their territory without fuss. thus in his mind: it was done.

He declared it a mistake, pointing out that he’d left peaceably when asked. Towhee wondered if he’d somehow missed the markers, or if perhaps their allies’ claim wasn’t strong enough to deter passerby. She stowed the thought for now.

What’s your name? And your business in the area? she asked, her expression projecting more inquisitiveness than interrogation at this point.

the usual questions follow: and because kjalarr does not feel like he's being interrogated, he is willing to answer them. i am kjalarr. a man of many names, who has seen and lived through much history of these wilds. perhaps he is even the last of his father's children still alive. it had been much time since he'd last seen his siblings, after all. it was the only logical thought.

looking to recruit loners. from experience, he knew loners tended to roam all over and he acknowledged that he would only limit himself greatly if he stuck to one region. plenty of recruits had found their way to the bay on their own ...but he could only rely so much on the intervention of the gods. some of the leg work had to be his own doing.

Recruit them where? Towhee pressed with a slow lash of her tail. If he was working on establishing a pack, she knew Germanicus—and the rest of Mereo, for that matter—would be interested in its location. She could only assume it was somewhere close by, so she would gather as much intelligence as she could about their prospective new neighbors.

stavanger bay, kjalarr offers. on the coast. a good distance away and not in danger of encroaching upon these packs ...or this pack and the pair trying to build one. a contemplative breath is given, fixing the woman in his good eye. not anywhere near here. because, he couldn't assume that she was familiar with the coast.

She couldn’t be sure if she’d ever heard the name of the bay before, though her head reared back a little when he revealed he’d come all the way from the shore. Maybe this Kjalarr—she didn’t know if she’d caught that name correctly—was having trouble finding interested parties on the coastline?

Now that he’d established he posed no threat to Mereo or its ilk, Towhee’s interest waned. Forgetting that she hadn’t bothered to properly introduce herself, all she said was, Well, you’d be better served looking around the flat lands or something. You aren’t going to find any loners around these parts. We patrol this section of the mountains pretty religiously.

edit: you get my 600th post.

a soft noise, bordering caveman-esque grunt of acknowledgement than anything else is given to the suggestion. though it is a bit disappointing to know that he may not have luck finding loners in this area — mostly because he was already here — he nevertheless appreciates the knowledge. to know that regular patrols tend to chase off wandering vagabonds was useful.

i'll readjust my course. he'd already done it once; but while this hadn't turned out how he expected, he walked off with useful knowledge to share with those pledged to the bay all the same. thanks. should there be nothing else to add: he was eager to be on his way.

Congrats! I’ll wrap this for us. :)

She didn’t hear the grunt, though it didn’t matter. Towhee caught his spoken words and received them with a nod. Only then—and for no reason in particular—did she abruptly realize she’d never introduced herself. It seemed kind of dumb to mention it as an afterthought, but what did Towhee care about optics?

I’m Towhee Redhawk of Mereo, by the way. Good luck out there… guy, she concluded, making no attempt to pronounce his complicated moniker as she nodded a final time and the two mutually departed in opposite directions.