Cerulean Cape winterlied

the music of springtime dawning led mahler along the coastline. here, frigid winds sliced through the air and into his pelt; the rangy creature hunched his shoulders against the stormy teeth of the winterbrine breathing.
before the sun reached its height in the sky, mahler beheld the curled cape, and knew was a gentle shelter that would come alive when the warmth returned. mentally, the musiker denoted this curving bit of seascape as his favorite area thus far, or so he would if mahler had any idea of how favorites worked. in his straightforward mind, there were only things to be liked or disliked; that he enjoyed something made it a favorite. 
unplagued by analysis of his rather robotic thought processes, mahler sat down and began his daily examination of the sky, his translation of birdsong to songnote.

After Maia left the rude boy well behind her, she wracked her brain trying to remember where her parents had told her Moonspear was.  She hadn't been about to ask him, after all.  But she couldn't.  It was a mountain, right?!  How hard could it be to find?

Apparently very hard, because somehow the DiSarinno girl skipped right on by and kept north, actually hitting the Silvertip peak instead.  When she saw it, her excitement grew; his had to be it! But there was no pack there.  Either this was the wrong mountain or her mom's old friends were gone.

Fudge.  She wasn't sure what to do or where to go next.  These wilds were unfamiliar and confusing, and finding her family here was turning out to be worse than a needle in a haystack.  She was now trotting along the coast, her large paws sinking somewhat uncomfortably in the unfamiliar sand, but enchanted by the distant ocean.  Her da had told her about all this, but she hadn't thought to see it.  Was she near their old packsite?

Then she spotted him and was instantly distracted.  "Oh, oh!! You!"  She called out rather loudly, likely shattering whatever thought process he was in at he moment rather jarringly.  Please be someone who knows something about this place, she silently begged.

thank you for joining! i love maia already <3

he was counting the measures when a strident voice sounded, shattering his concentration and thus composure. mahler gathered himself slowly to his broad paws, turning a baleful stare on the wolf who had called, some insipid amalgamation of beige and silver. the she-wolf appeared lost, but the dappled melodist had no intention of helping her rediscover the way that had been lost.
instead, as if in answer to her shrill demand, mahler stalked across the sands toward the girl, muzzle pointed and plume stiff. what could she possibly need that was more important than his own tasks?

thankyouuu I was so excited to finally bring her in <3 couldn't resist hopping in here!

Blissfully oblivious to his demeanor, Maia only saw initially that he responded by rising.  Hah, maybe finally someone who could point her in the right direction!  "D'you know where some mountain that had some moon name is?  I'm trying to find my siblings and I'm pretty sure they are there, because the last place had some rude..."

The words came bubbling forth in a veritable spray, but as she noted his expression when he drew closer, faded away.  This was followed by a slightly embarrassed giggle, the awkward and uncomfortable sound direct result of realizing she'd been babbling to a wolf who didn't seem to be enjoying the deluge.

<3!

mahler blinked slowly as the girl assaulted him with a barrage of words, the iron of his gaze growing more cold the longer she went on. that the labertasche finally stopped, her words ending on a a strangled chuckle edged in a note of shame, did little to appease the man. he drew himself to his full height and regarded her with a long and scornful look.
he would have his fun, he decided; the grimnismal brute rolled his shoulders and stepped away to regard the girl down the imperious slant of his charcoal-speckled muzzle. "why?" he inquired; perhaps he knew what she sought but would withhold; perhaps he knew nothing. mahler gave no indication of either.

For a minute she thought he was gonna walk away, and she started to get huffy with his staring.  What? Was it soooo odd around here to be lost and have to ask for directions!? From the last two encounters you'd think she was horribly wrong.

He asked why, and she thought maybe that was an invitation to finish.  She wasn't sure what else to do, she'd already kinda asked her question.  "Some rude boy told me they weren't at Redbird Caldera, and so that means they are probably at this moon place."  She frowned. "Why is everyone around here so grumpy?  No offense."

mahler did not pause to glean the details of what she babbled next; he was focused on the next annoyed words she spoke. grumpy? the man appraised her a second time; she was young, and he supposed rather foolish, which would answer the girl's own question — if she would apply but a bit of rational thought.
he gave a noncommittal grunt and swung his muzzle toward the teeth of the distant peaks. "there?" intoned, ignoring her question for a moment; had the yearling searched in that direction. presently the musiker flicked his plume. "bored." it was a correction of her assumption everyone in the land was addled with an irritated nature.

She eyed the direction he pointed out, and seeing peaks she had not in fact explored bolstered her.  The fact that it was directly in the way she had come? Less cool.

"Crud."  She said, then huffed out a sigh at his second word.  This guy wasn't a talker, was he?  Bored? What the heck was that supposed to mean?  If she wasn't exciting enough for him that wasn't her fault; she just needed directions.  "Sitting here by yourself did look pretty boring, lucky I came along."  She said with a bright wave of her tail, mood much improved.  "Hey, you aren't from Donnelaith, are you?"  That name rolled easily from her, unlike any of the others; it had been a feature of childhood discussion.  The rest had been highlights.  She knew it was around the coast, and how cool would it be if he knew it?!

mahler's ears swept forward with some small quiver of derision; he had not merely been sitting, but composing. yet he felt such a distinction would be woefully lost on the frenetic little beast; he let go the temptation to correct her and rolled his shoulders in a smooth shrug. she came alive with delight in the next moment, which perplexed mahler.
"donnelaith." he mulled the syllables over in his tones, rolling them across his tongue like small smooth pebbles. had he been alone, mahler might have repeated the gaelic until it became nonsense in his mouth; however, today he was not. fixing the girl with the stony lilac of his stare, the musiker let the silence prolong until he proffered "no." it was a generous day for speaking, by mahler's standards.

"Hmm."  She said when he had finally answered.  He drew it out so long that she had hope, so when the no fame, it was double the disappointment.  "You aren't a whole lot of fun to talk to, but thanks for the directions anyway."

Her parents had always said she was too forthcoming for her own good, impressing manners that never seemed to stick.  So she moved to depart, flicking her tail idly as she did so.  If he spoke she might stop, but at the moment, she wasn't particularly interested in him and was much more interested in what the mountain he had pointed out had to offer.

gonna pop this in the archives! thank you<3

mahler made no move to stop the girl, nor to redirect her in any way; the trail of his lavender gaze followed her trajectory along the beach as mahler hunched in an ugly manner against the biting wind that raked along the sands. perhaps she would reach her goal; perhaps not. it mattered little to the man, who did not soon quit the landscape for grimnismal, but in time returned to the sea-lashed place.