Broken Antler Fen The air around me still feels like a cage.

For @Praimfaya. Please allow @Opalia to post first.  :)

On reuniting with his sister, he at once brought his discovery of Eske's Fos Goufa to her attention. He shared with her the contents of this thread of which I'm really sorry but it's 7am, Rebel hasn't had coffee yet and she's too tired to go into detail.

The Drakru siblings discussed the situation at length that evening, weighing up the pros and cons of accepting Praimfaya's very tempting (and terrifying) offer. Would the coalition consider them natrona for Wintering with a traitor's daughter, for their aid in the founding of a Roangeda? He could understand how it might offend Heda, but would they rather their eyes and ears in the Teekon perish to
the cold season? 

Dacio wasn't sure how he felt about it, but with the shaking earth and the disappearing herds he felt increasingly uncertain of their fate. They were Gona, warrior wolves, destined to die gloriously on the battlefield. He would not stand by to watch his sister succumb to starvation - not for his pride, not for anything.

"She wishes to meet you," he told Opalia, "I suggested we sleep on it, and travel to her fen at dawn to deliver our decision."

So that's what they did, though the uncertainty remained. The brother-sister pair ventured South and, upon their arrival to the edge of Praimfaya's turf, Dacio lifted his pastel gaze to exchange a glance with Opalia - keen to gauge how she might feel on the matter now that they were so close. He then turned his dark muzzle skyward to announce their arrival before settling to await the Wanheda's approach.

Though the very earth shifted and trembled, chasing the herds away and crumbling parts of the mountains, the pair of Drakru had forged on then into what could be their next opportunity; she couldn't say for sure yet how she felt besides.. willing to see it out, and investigate while she could. But maybe because of their various upheavals, both large and small over the last few months, there was some trepidation in her heart about such a move--for really, it sounded almost too good to be true, until she considered the deeper implications of what it could do to her future. Could she ever truly shed Drakru in favor of.. anything, let alone Eske's plans for an offshoot all of her own? Right now, Opalia could not say.

But, for here and now, winter was looming and the yearlings needed a more proper home--hopefully one with a leader with a spine to follow, as otherwise, their loyalty towards themselves came first, always. In this, she was taking Dacio's words for this one, and trusting that he would not lead them where their interests could not follow freely. She agreed to meeting this young wanheda, then go from there.

They went south, then south even more well into uncharted terrain for her. When it came time to raise their voice and announce that they had come, as promised, she joined in after Dacio got the first note started. At her most confident beside him, it seemed right to say and plus, she intended to be clear in her stance here. And with a deep exhale, she waited what was to come.

as it was promised to her, the morning follow her meeting with dacio his howl rises into the chillingly crisp morning air that hangs refreshing over the fen, joined shortly after he began by a femme tone that praimfaya can only assume must be the still mysterious opalia. praimfaya quickly adjusts her course from the borders she's been marking to the east of their position and quickly makes her way towards them. soon, the duo crest the horizon — dacio a familiar sight to her and standing beside him is a petite pale gold and cream-colored woman that strikes praimfaya immediately as pretty.

hei, she calls as she approaches, her steps easy ...if not a bit more gangly than she'd like. unbeknownst to praimfaya, puberty is about to make her life a bit of a living hell for a bit and the gangly youthfulness that she couldn't hide as she begins to fill out and grow towards her adult height and figure is only the beginning. her tail gives a few amiable wags behind her despite the slight imperious lift of her muzzle as she eliminates more of the distance between her and them. she is happy to see dacio, despite that she is uncertain with what news the two approach the borders of roangeda with. she hopes it is favorable — for her own personal reasons as well as for roangeda ...but time was wont to tell at its own pace and did not, she knows, enjoying being rushed.

dacio, she greets him before turning her frostbound silver gaze to his sister. you must be opalia. praimfaya addresses her next. i am praimfaya and this is roangeda. she introduces with a small gesture of her muzzle to the lush land yawning vastly behind her... or the beginnings of it, at any rate. it gives her more pride than she'd care to admit to introduce broken antler fen as roangeda; but this is not the time for pride. she gives the pair her rapt attention, waiting to hear the news the bear and ready to answer any more questions if there are any.

Their song faded, but the duo did not have to wait long for a response. Praimfaya made her appearance swiftly, a long-legge silver form that loped across the grass in their direction, and Dacio eyed his sister curiously. He'd told her Eske's daughter was a child of the recent season, but had she anticipated her to be this young? A corner of his muzzle tugged upward just slightly in the hint of a smirk, amused, for Opalia was sure to be surprised.

Grey-green gaze swept over the petite Wanheda, who greeted him with warmth. He dipped his dark muzzle politely, returning a "hei," to her to acccompany the gentle sweep of his tail. 

Praimfaya took charge of the situation, eager to introduce herself to his golden littermate and present to them the territory she intended to claim. Dacio followed the girl's pale gaze out over the vast land, a place that he and Opalia might soon call their home. It wasn't quite the rugged shores they'd been born to, the only place they'd ever truly known, but he felt oddly hopeful as he turned back to look upon his sister. The ball was in her court now and he smiled encouragingly, sure that she was keen to ask questions of the Fos Goufa that he himself had been unable to answer.

When a sleek, silvered wolfess comes to greet them, her ears perked up anew and the glance she passed to Dacio is fleeting, but searching. All of what she knows comes through him, so now, she turned her attentions towards the young leader with first impressions properly underway so very soon afterward. Hei, she greeted, not used to wolves smaller than her--but she remembered seeing Sunny's offspring not so long ago who were roughly close to the same age as well as she could tell, scared and reeking of urine--how even at first glance, they paled compared to this girl. To have this contrast be so marked was.. good, but the gona wasn't ready for her new potential lead to be this young, no, but they were still new here.. I am, she confirmed with a nod, and her stance maintained its quiet confidence, her innermost uncertainty absolutely aside then (she stayed determined to keep this so--for Dacio, and her too).

Following introductions, and as suggested by Praimfaya she could not help but track her mismatched stare beyond--into Roangeda's claim. Before, Opalia had only ever intimately known and loved Dragoncrest, and her home in recent months was wherever she could make it. Attachments have been painfully few, and far between but she breathed deep, contemplating it; there's no seasalt--the Drakru siblings are honestly the saltiest-smelling things here, she notes, but... it is the girl's hint of pride for the place that keeps her interested enough, and with the winter not yet here, there was still time to adjust. It is more south than I have ever known, truthfully, she offered, after another flick of a glance to her brother. She felt truthfully out of place, yet. Since he seemed at peace with this for now, she could try to be too still. But I am curious--my brother speaks highly of this, and that it may be worth our winter, Opalia said, watching Praimfaya carefully, for what exactly did she know? Where did her expectations lie? Tell me about what you have here, and what else you want it to be? she asked.

praimfaya keeps the drakru siblings both in her sight as opalia presumably takes in what of the fen they can readily see. there are plenty of secrets yet to be discovered even by praimfaya who though has spent ample time marking borders has tried to spread her focus towards assessing the resources readily available to roangeda and recruiting. her next step — while still recruiting — will be to reach out to the packs that also call great bear wildnerness home ...if only to alert them to roangeda's presence. she isn't so sure she's interested in alliances just yet but having established packs on friendly standing does not strike her as a bad thing.

truthfully, she is playing this all by ear: how she thinks it should be done with linkoln's vague wisdom. praimfaya tries not to let her inexperience or her tender age cause her confidence to crack; nor to feel entirely lost without blodreina's guidance ...and thus it does not go unnoticed that she is in need of a klikalida. her gaze goes briefly to dacio before flickering back to opalia as the woman spoke once more. according to what blodreina has told her of drageda: it had not originated on the coast but rather a place called sleeping dragon and it's original iteration had been co-led by praimfaya's grandmother, gyda.

i know that roangeda and my claim as wanheda goes against what our people have known, it is not a decision to be taken lightly and she respects both of them, regardless of what was to come, for at least coming to her and considering it. i know that my mother was natrona — the word feels like poison in her mouth as she speaks it. to call blodreina a traitor when she has absolved her of it feels wrong. — but i believe her vision for me and for roangeda is good, despite her faults. i would see roangeda be a pack of strength, of tight-knit kru; a place where we can build our own traditions and re-solidify what it means to be kru.

she would see roangeda a name to be feared, but also as a name that inspires hope and sense of family in its people and those who might seek it out with interest of joining.

Dacio remained to the side, observing the interaction between Praimfaya and his sister in silence, and as the young Wanheda shared her vision for the pack her mother intended to create, the more he felt his worries melt away. He let his pale gaze linger a little longer on Opalia, hopeful that this could be the opportunity to find what they'd been longing for: a place to rebuild and make something for themselves.

Drageda was gone. While the coalition had took in its stragglers and gave them a place to regroup, what had they truly done for the kru? They should've come to their aid as Heda, Eske and the others had done for them so that they could maintain claim on territory, yet the cliffs were not lost to them. Only Dacio and Opalia remained, desperate for vengeance on the Rusalka dogs who'd wronged them, without a shred of support from any other geda.

Should the golden warrioress look his way, Dacio would lift his brow to communicate what do you think?

Well enough to her own sights, Opalia can find her satisfaction in the answers. Nothing goes against her grain, especially so soon and above all else, it is offering some hope where nothing else really has been able to lately. Besides wandering aimlessly and chasing some distant expectation until she simply couldn't anymore, what else did she have to do? 

Knowing what she did from her brother about how the young leader had need of an advisor (a role he could probably grow very well with), she nodded with a soft sigh. It was all tempting. They needed something, some structure, and some place where it was more than just them and each other--regardless of whatever faraway family and support may or may not come for them in times of need. We need something worthwhile to protect, a leader we can trust to stand with us, too. she said, eyes sharply serious to say that she could align to whatever fulfilled these needs. So far, she wasn't turning her nose up to what Praimfaya had here either while their distant goal for revenge on what had made Drageda suffer had to be shelved in spite of themselves. This one was.. truthfully, probably the better move for the pair. Do you have kru here with you already? she asked, curious of who they could be. Gathering their own loyal, determined followers had been difficult for the pair of Drakru before.

praimfaya takes note that dacio remains silent, allowing the choice to rest upon the shoulders of his golden sister; and it makes sense to her. after all, dacio and her had spoken at length the day before: her, doing her best to placate the worst of his concerns. opalia's desires of what she seeks in a kru: something worthwhile to protect, a leader they can trust to stand with them ...they are far from unreasonable in praimfaya's mind. is that not what every wolf seeks in their own way? a pack that gives as much as it takes, a leader that looks out for her wolves? your desires are more than fair. praimfaya speaks and while she doesn't speak that roangeda could be that ...that she could be that leader ( for the sake of sounding too arrogant ) it is heavily implied.

yes, praimfaya replies to her question in regards to gathered kru. my father, ingram and a woman my mother recruited before her death, henwen. we're small yet but i am actively recruiting. as they could see, confident henwen and ingram holding down the fort for her. praimfaya never was an idle child and finds use for her grief of blodreina's death by fueling her determination of seeing roangeda become a reality.

"We attempted to recruit some time ago," the ashen warrior shared when the opportunity presented itself. His pale eyes flitted from his sister to the aspiring young Wanheda. He understood the difficulties that were sure to lie ahead of her, considering he and Opalia's own failure with attempting to build Stegeda. Thus, it came as no real surprise to Dacio when she shared that her numbers were few: "it was difficult to find others willing to support what they don't understand."

Perhaps Praimfaya could be a better teacher than Dacio was, as she'd already demonstrated a far greater patience at her tender age than he could ever hope to achieve.

He observed the girl quietly before a corner of his mouth tugged upward in the hint of a smile. "Drageda should have been your birthright and did not deserve to fall the way it did, so I ask that you aid us in bringing war to Rusalka when we are able. We will help you build Roangeda, in memory of those lost to us, so that we might someday seek vengeance on the dogs who robbed us of our home. We will join you," Dacio decided, gaze lifting to gauge his golden llittermate's reaction as he continued to seek her final input: "as long as we are all in agreement?" 

Since Drageda had dissolved around them, she had wanted something to validate her in that right way since. Just between her and Dacio, there was only so much. They could adhere to their old ways, adapt accordingly, and run rampant as the Drakru they fundamentally were all day long but it always just boiled down to them in the end--and a strong pair was not the same satisfaction as an entire kru.

Simply enough, that was something the two of them had not managed to gather up in the northern taiga, or even the coast and something she already had the starts of here in Roangeda. So indeed, as her brother mentioned their past attempts at gathering up their own, she saw this opportunity present itself and understood with increasing awareness why Dacio thought this way worth the trip all the way down here.

As he brought up the last point that Opalia valued enough to even consider, she had well enough made up her mind, too. Short of complete offense in the scenery, or full-stop to their eventual goals on revenge (because so long as the two of them could still walk, she believed it would be happening one day), she was willing to give this a go if Dacio was agreeable to it and Praimfaya able to function as a leader worth their loyalty.

Since it seemed very well to her that it was going to be so, she answered with a nod alongside her brother's words. I agree, she said, and unless anything told her otherwise, they were about to potentially change course considerably for the time. However, it felt like.. it was in their best interests. For here, now, and today, it definitely was.

last post for me & pri. feel free to reply once more or archive as is.

the condition of dacio and opalia's joining is spoken: that, when the time comes: when roangeda is strong enough they will go to war for the memory of drageda, for revenge. can their revenge become hers as well? should it? this rusalka is the reason that blodreina was named a natrona and they'd wronged kru. hadn't it been her that said that kru was family? jus drein jus daun, praimfaya murmurs. i accept. when roangeda is strong enough we will stand with you against rusalka. better to put to end a once-proven threat before it had the chance to pop up elsewhere.

providing there were no other questions or concerns, praimfaya welcomes the pair with a warm smile and a wag of her tail. come. i will give you the tour. she invites with a gesture of her muzzle towards the fen's heart.

Oddly, he felt the stirrings of anxiety in the pit of his abdomen in those quiet moments following the announcement of their conditions of aiding the girl's growth of a budding kru. What would they do if the girl rejected his offer? What would become of he and his sister should they turn away? He'd allowed himself to be hopeful, and was suddenly kicking himself for daring to dream.

When an acceptance came, Dacio exhaled a breath of relief he hadn't realised he held. The tip of his dark tail twitched, a little shrill of excited anticipation tingling in his toes as he mustered a small smile - one of accomplishment. This, he was sure, was the first step he'd ever truly taken out with his comfort zone. It meant the release of chains that bound him to a fallen Drageda, the shedding of a name he clung to so fiercely, and a new chapter to his wild tale.

He looked briefly to Opalia, before dipping his muzzle respectfully to Eske's daughter. "Wanheda," he said out loud, vowing to himself then and there that he would protect and serve her for as long as he was able. Praimfaya's success became his priority, for her rise would act as a driving force behind his need for vengeance. When she gestured that the siblings follow her into the heart of their new home, Dacio went willingly.

Opalia dipped her muzzle in a knowing nod, only further solidifying her acceptance with the silent gesture. Jus drein jus daun, like she had hoped it could be, and now with all of this said and done, her priorities were new and different going forward. It came with a strange sort of feeling deep in her gut, but just like all things, the young gona would see her way through it--whatever that may entail, precisely.

She glanced to Dacio one more time out of sheer habit, then without another word from her, she stepped forward after the invitation Praimfaya laid down for them to meet the territory for themselves.