Razorback Ridge until it was all torn away

@Awenfen

the morning air of the vale as tzenno steps out from his cavernden, blinking out the last spiderwebbing vestiges of slumber is tumultuous. it has been for a while, the rōnin considers; electrified by goingons that he doesn't know about, wasn't present for. a few scents led from the borders and did not cross back into them at any point, which leaves tzenno to wonder if they left voluntary or were chased from their home. there is something in the atmosphere that the pack gives off, though he has met few and fewer yet to confirm his odd suspicions, that feels too tense. it is what drives him from his patrol that clear, humid morning and into one of the nearby territories; not far. easy to find his way back when he was done consulting the night skies as if they might hold answers. surely, the cosmos had plenty answers but none that tzenno, an earthly being, could interpret. a soft sigh departs his lips as sunflower gaze studies his path along the razorback ridge, mindful of his steps in this unfamiliar and treacherous terrain.

The irisvar was reluctant to linger upon the thin, treacherous peaks of the ridge but the anxiety attack had sapped her energy and she needed a moment to recuperate. She'd rest for a time, she'd decided, in the cool hours of the dawn; when the sun had risen and the day called, Fen would pick up the next leg of the journey. 

The healer'd been just lucky enough to locate a small cavern - a dark cavity hidden in the side of the mountain - but Razorback Ridge was a veritable desert in regards of life. Traveling herbs were her dinner, numbing the needling of hunger. 

Despite the hart's typical cave-inspired claustrophobia, she found herself too tired to be overtly agitated - resting sphinx-like by the mouth of her temporary shelter, pink tongue rasping over her chafed pawpads while the wind tugged at her pale wisps and made the remains of her herbal meal dance. 

Occasionally, her argent gaze rose to the view beyond the thin ledge of the mountain pass - and this was how she spotted him. 

A dark blip, he appeared suddenly - a passerby. If he were moving quicker, he might have seemed a trick of the eyes, a shadow in the peripherals. 

Her rosy lips parted in a silent gasp, for fear of startling him, as she drew back ever so slightly in surprise. 

The scent of the Empire was strong on the stranger's coat, which pierced her heart with poignant homesickness and a dash of fear. Was Takeshi so mad as to send pursuants after her?

"I vill be leavin' soon," the milkmother would murmur sincerely, diffidently (assuming the scout spotted her and stopped). 

"I vill keep me vord ta Emperor Takeshi." The last were said almost bitterly, the title delicately spat (as if the girlish druid wasn't accustomed to spitting often), and a soft scoff burst from her lips to punctuate exactly how she felt about the supposed Lord of the Vale.

tzenno keeps sunflower yellow gaze studious; observant. he doesn't expect to come across dispersals but narashi taught him to never expect anything. it opens to surprise and being caught off guard was a surefire way to untimely death. thinking of his deceased master brings with it an unrestrained tidal wave of sorrow, endless 'what-ifs'; useless. tzenno locks those thoughts away carefully, with sure deft fingers. they didn't matter now.

the sound of footfalls that he was drawing ever nearer to perks stilted interest coupled intimately with caution. he is not too far from the empire nestled in the vale to let his guard down. i vill be leavin' soon, the pallid elfin woman speaks. vaguely, in the way a stranger recognizes another stranger that they've seen either in passing or in a photo some sort of dull awareness dawns on him; strengthened as she mentions the emperor.

her words are bitter; cutting like the sharpened and deadly glint of a katana's edge. she is mistaken about his purpose out here that is clear to him, but he is reminded forcibly of the palpable tension he has felt invade the air of the empire since his arrival. is she the catalyst for it? or a casualty? what tribulations lay between you and the emperor is your own. i have no part in it. he informs her simply; clearly. he was not out here on orders ...privately confused by the perceived hostility at the notion that he was.

She had shouldered Hui, Wördronna, again. 

Hunched tensely, spine pressed against the wall as if it could absorb her, gaze intently studying the dark paws opposite her, auds pinned but listening forevermore as her quickened pulse seemed to fill the space between them. 

"Apologies, ser," the botanist rasped, uncertain of whether or not she believed him - best to apologise, just in case it was the truth. Her hostility wasn't really meant for him. 

"I suppose I'm just nae very fon' of Takeshi," Awenfen tried to explain, something wartorn quirking at the corners of her lips.