Permafrost Hollows watermelon

here on the cold expanse of snowsheets and permanent ice, the dreamer's coat had grown thickly once more. 

he trotted easily through the rocks shining with frost, tongue lolling as the black eyes searched for prey.

and all around him the swelling threads of life thrummed a violin's sonorous voice.

obsidian prince smelt of wolf and cougar. though he longed for a pack, he had opportunity in the wayward wandering of late. slender legs propelled handsome shadow, stark against the embrace of white. his mind wandered, and he settled upon another ritual of his people - but he'd need to gather ingredients for it.  
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and then his paws stopped. 
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traveler. he dipped his head, body light. where do your paws take you?

"they take me on a hunt, my friend."

thousands of gilt shimmerings lifted from the rich dark coat of the stranger. wolf dreamer saw how hale he was, how proud.

"will you come with me? i haven't found anything quite yet. maybe two of us will be luckier."

indeed the prince's pelt glimmered, never one to allow a hair to stray and bathed as often as a cat. slim but not overly so, i would be careful, Hunter. the land and prey here are court of a cougar. perhaps your paws could steer you in a safer direction. was the simplest he could put it. he'd tell how to avoid her wrath if asked nicely, but he looked a brutish sort, this hunter. she didn't take kindly to brutes, either.
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neither did he. call it unprincely.

cougar, said the other, and wolf dreamer paused. his face grew steadily more concerned, and he stopped his hunting-stance. "thank you. i guess i won't go that way. i'll find another. you're still welcome to come."

shifting his trajectory, the dreamer gazed at the brilliant strands of light leaping from the other's body, up up up to the star web. he knew by now that only he could see these things and so offered no comment on them, only a smile.

mm, yet iz rhude to depart wi'zout, 'ow you zay... kuh-ztomz?

the queen was down among them with a thud, with all the weight of regal accoutrements, her posture swift to right itself.

chin lifted, she studied the loup, small smirk in one corner of her lips, amused glint in the eye matching it.

ee forgive zhis once, boot a queen's law must always be hon-ored, n'est-ce pas, monsieur imeut?

small lash and a light nod in the direction of her ebony companion.

~Kai is at fancy dinner :> ~ 

~ please skip Immie shall just stand there and watch for now. After all, it isn't his queendom~

where fear should have occupied the heart of mortal man, the dreamer's eyes only widened in surprise. he stepped back quickly, examining the threads of gold which too lifted up from her lithe body into the skies above.

her heavy accent was hard to parse, but he remembered the caribou hunter man and his wife. patience shone where shock once stood. she too was part of the great starweb, not in opposition to him despite the threat she posed to his flesh.

"you're a queen. i'm a dreamer." his deep black eyes drank her into his pupils. "i'm no threat to your kingdom."

a feminine laugh, her hand rising to delicately cover her lips.

oh, non! ee'd never zhink un loup could threaten moi. see, loup rêveur,

the queen sat herself, tail left to gesture as she spoke.

we return from a viz-it to ma winter palais and, a' iz expected, we return to a 'ouse full ouf ver-meen. what nous need from yeau, petit loup...

her regal head lowered to the natural line of his vision.

... ies to spread a messa-zhe. un décret royal.

she leaned forward, emeralds into obsidian.

zhis land zhey kno' a' dusk-faya gla-ceeh, et all wizhin eet, et all whiz border eet, ies domain ouf moi - la Reine de Feumont, très haute, très puissante et très excellente Queen.

a decisive lash, a whip's crack. her smirk sharp and eyes crescent.

et all must kno' eet.

"you want me to proclaim you queen to others i meet," wolf dreamer responded calmly. "won't this endanger you?" the more wolves knew she was here, the more chance there was that a hunt might be banded for the feline royal.

he watched her. "if we're your subjects, what does that mean for us?" he did not look at imeut, suspending for now any disbelief that the glossy prince and this queen were in cohorts with one another.

this laugh was higher, unobstructed, the lady of the mountain raising her head high, hand on her chest.

oh, but who would zare? punctuated by flexing of the raised hand, five alabaster blades revealed as a show of power, of status, of right.

ah, but non, ee am not un tyrant, mon cher rêveur. she lowered her weapons. ee simply wish ma claim be respect-ed, as ee shall respect ma neighbors'. tell zhose wizhout a, ah, pakh that only radi-ont deazh* awaits zhem 'ere. tell zhose of lesser kingdoms, zhat la Reine du Feumont is a good neigh-bour.

does zhat please yeau, loup?

*radiant death

[small]prince of shadow followed the exchange between the Dreamer and his queen. indeed. it drifted through his mind that he may not be able to explain away his alliance with her greatness, or why he chose her company over the companionship of wolf.
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in short, most wolves were not of noble blood, and most wolves were not his piece of bone, so to speak.[/q]

"do you mean to say you will kill those among us without pack, la reine?" wolf dreamer asked in the same steady calm. "i can pass on your message."

an odd thing. the golden threads of her coat mingled with those of the dark imeut, intriguing the dreamer's eye.

the web of power uses many lives, Wolf suddenly spoke, dust spokes wheeling through the proverbial cave dug deep into the pit of the dreamer's mind. see now? a fly. a spider. one wise enough to outwait the other who thinks himself too smart to fool.

Wolf breathed laughter. are you spider? are you fly?

oui! indeed! she rose suddenly, pleased with the mental cohesion of the wolfish dreamer. iz zhat not 'ow yeaur kind do'z eet, hm? laws of tress-pass?

the queen stepped aside, leaving the path clear for her herald.

go on, zhen. many ears to 'ear, non? she purred.

he thought of wilwarin and the boys they had raised together. of guille and her far-seeing eyes. he had little fear only because he saw the same tendrils of gilded light extending from the cat herself. but he must also protect the ones who followed him.

wolf dreamer knew enough than to walk by the cougar. he offered her a placid look and then turned sidelong to leave in another direction, away from the hollows where wilwarin waited.

assumin wd is outta the thread <3

she scoffed, but only after he'd gone far down his path.

barbares. her eyes rolled, now coming nearer to monsieur imeut. ee expect zhis won't be, 'ow you say, smooth? we 'ave much work, ma perle noire.

indeed, my lady. wolves are a testy bunch, and the brutest of the lot will only threaten claim of your land. 
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he looked toward the dreamer as he left. and felt a sinking in his stomach that it would only be a matter of time before a pack were to launch an invasion.
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after all, neither cat nor wolf acknowledged the claim of the other. work will need to be done.

mm, oui.

and she had them both head for the palais.