Jade Fern Grove Stop swaying when they move or shake it down

Doesn't it look beautiful? Says Anna's sweet voice by his side, and he smiles. Beautiful! he agrees as he sits down to admire the scene. Don't get it wrong, the waterfalls were a spectacular view on their own, with the Jade green surrounding everything and the specks of light reflected from the water and the overall calmness. But his piece of art made the whole thing feel much closer to what he thought the spirit world looked.

He'd spent days carefully stacking up rocks. Days. But he was just that enthusiastic when he focused his mind on something. He wanted it done and he got it done, simple as that, and the results couldn't be more pleasing. You were right, this was just what this place needed, he added calmly as he admires a curious swallow flutter around one of the several cairns Keelut had managed to stack up before finally perching on top of it. The cairn holds, and Keelut laughs as he sees his hard work pay off.

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he does not understand his master's intentions, but he watched nonetheless. silent and piqued, he watched. the fat coil of his long tail wrapped around itself, and his black tongue darting occasionally from a maliciously pointed muzzle.

perhaps on one, or possibly two occasions, tizerhuk might have pushed a carefully placed rock down while his master was looking for the next stack. the world would not know, for tizheruk spoke nothing of it and was always conveniently a believable distance away when keelut returned, and of course he denied any cupability in the rock's sudden and mystifying displacement. truly it was a mystery, one worthy of inspecting at a later date, and surely they would get to the bottom of whoever the culprit was, tizheruk was sure of it.

yet his master's works were done, and tizerhuk coiled lazily around the base of one constructed temple as he watched keelut stand back and proudly inspect his assembled wares. his flat eyes danced upward as a bird caught his attention, and hungrily he lunged towards the feathered creature with fangs bared.

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it is the swallow she follows, headache building behind her skull as ruined eyes focus all they have on the tiny, flitting bird. she loses it more often than not, and twice has she began to follow an entirely different creature, yet she does not give up until the swallow, swift and nimble, leaves her vision well and truly to investigate the cairns she can not see. 

she follows behind, distantly, pushing delicately through ferns and undergrowth, the distant din of a waterfall becoming her new guide. still, the going is slow. it is only when she turns a corner and the sun blares into her gaze, ultimately blinding her, that she pauses. tall, thin shadows are thrown across her vision, and her intuition prickles along her spine. shapes dance as she tries in vain to sort out what lays before here; unknown to the girl, Keelut stands just a few meters before her, white fur lost amidst the glare of the sun.

A cold blue gaze watches in curious silence as the long, dark shape of Tizheruk slithers up the current to wrap itself around a cairn. The swallow that held Keelut's attention just a second ago was now the reptile's target, and he lunges without modesty to catch the helpless bird with ease. Keelut chuckles, he never imagined that his shrine would ever find a use other than worshiping higher entities, but suddenly, just as though she'd been summoned by the completion of the stacks, a pale spirit walks into the clearing. The way she was hit by the light and how the waterfalls' mist enveloped her got Keelut believing she was truly an otherworldly specter. She gazed at her surroundings as though it was completely foreign to her eyes, closing in to him as though he was invisible. Keelut stays still, silent, admiring her as she makes her way through the clearing. Eventually the pull becomes too strong to bear and Keelut advances to her as well. His paws are careful as they step into the cold stream that it the only thing separating him from the angel and from there he whines to catch her attention. Can you see me? he asks, still convinced that Witchhazel was somehow not yet fully in the mortal plane and that he was not worthy of her sight. Maybe he was too... Mortal...

the brief flash of life and death, the hunter's catch and the prey's passing, were entirely lost on the girl save for a brief prick at the back of her skull. it is the stream that has her pause, sensing it before her, it's whispered roar threading through the glade somewhere just before her. she is stilled too by the canid before her; scented now, and heard, the edges of which are visible as ruined gaze adjusts slowly to the sudden influx of light. head cants, twisting a fraction, seeking the outline of the pale stranger through the patchwork of burns and scars that pattern her retina. 

there is silence a moment, after he speaks, and her answer comes as if delivered on a breeze, soft and lilting. "sometimes." there is a glimpse of a ridge that must be a shoulder, and she constructs a vague outline with all the pieces of him she pulls together. she takes a step near, gaze finally settling somewhere just beyond him, where she can see in the fringes of her vision a face, blurred and incomplete.

From up close the woman did not seem as ethereal as before and Keelut realizes that he's not in the presence of a spirit, but by the way she moves and the sound of her voice she might as well just be one. Regardless of her mortality Keelut is fixated in her eyes. What colors, so subtle, yet so intriguing. He can see the damage they have suffered and stares perhaps too long, but she cannot see him.

Can you see other things? he asks then, curious to know whether her impairment was also an asset. The witches at Hag Fen had told him many stories about wolves who'd given up their eyes to Vaermina in exchange for the sight. He had considered doing it, but the witches said he didn't need to. They said his eyes and ears were already gifted.

the boy's question floats out casually, and her lobes dip in thought. "sometimes, I see again."  there are dreams and half-waking ones that bring things into sharp focus; and she sees the trees of her childhood, the ocean, yet they are always changed, somehow. she recounts the lake, the burn of the reflected sun into her optics. "and sometimes the light shows me things. I know that I must cross the mountains." jagged peaks, burned into her vision, her mind. brow creases in mortal worry, and her muzzle sweeps in the general direction of the peaks; her predicament obvious. this it smooths and stills, and she asks. "do you?"

Keelut stares into her eyes, finding them fascinating. The way they moved, longing for every last ray of light was magical, as though she could see things in the emptiness before her. She claimed she could sometimes see again, which told Keelut that she hadn't always been this way, and he wonders... What had this angel had to go through to get her powers? And also, what kind of things could a blind wolf witness in the darkness. He figured only fascinating things could come from such gift.

The mountains were to be crossed, she says, and Keelut turns around to face the way she pointed to find none of these mountains she mentioned. Funny thing, though, he knew there were mountains in that direction, for he had once felt the same pull she described and those very mountains had been in his way. Turning to face her again Keelut meets her concern with a smile as she asks back.


I had a vision of this place before coming. I believe I'm in the place I'm meant to be right now, he says, convinced that their encounter wasn't just a matter of chance, I'll take you across the mountains, he announced gently assuming she could use help navigating the wilds. At this point his pale blue eyes seek @Tizheruk, who slithers their way with curiosity. He looks for Keelut's consent through dark eyes, and given a nod does the reptile crawl closer to the pale angel to taste her aura with his inquisitive tongue.