The Sunspire and you will witness what the fire can undo

AW!
70F, early afternoon, partly cloudy

even from the base of the canyon, the sunspire was always visible in the distance. when renard had thought ravensblood forest was what they were meant to defend, they hadn’t paid it much mind, though they knew better than to think of a mountain range as a wall. a temporary hindrance, maybe.

now that they had moved, and now that the sunspire mountains rose up all around them, what they held became a question about survival more than curiosity. whether they were missing the shade of trees and the cool that came with not living in the bottom of a canyon was irrelevant. obviously.

their path took them out of the depths of redsand, and the first saints conflict they’d had the pleasure to spectate, and up into the cliffs. the sunspire was kinder around its base than they’d thought; the sheer stone outcrops were fewer and farther between, their space given to a gentle slope upwards cloaked with aspen and pine that dappled sun along their fur and masked the tread of their steps. birds sang and wheeled overhead; insects buzzed. nothing like the baked earth and sandstone where even flowers struggled to cling.

it would be a long climb, but the summit was bare and snowcapped. if the weather held, it would offer an unmatched view of the rest of the peaks and the valley floors to either side; one free of pack squabbles.

leaving redsand now wasn’t entirely to their benefit – there was a wealth of information, not to mention entertainment, to be found in who snapped at each other, who was kind to each other, who stood away and watched it play out. simple pleasures. the tension was palpable even within the canyon, to say nothing of the world they had by all accounts thrown into uproar. the saints were a fire, even as people hurried to halt their spread, and as with all fires, they would be put out at the source, or they would grow until they ran out of chaff to consume.

Auriel picked her way to the highest peak, delicate paws expertly placing themselves on the best footholds. She was being much more careful since she had fallen into the wild flowers back at Redsand. Just as she was nearing the top, she smelled him. The strange male with the cute curled tail from before. She was weary, perhaps he had come here to be alone.

Steeling herself for the possibility of causing another upset, she picked her way up towards him, to bump against his shoulder in greeting. "Hello. Renard, is it not? You can call me Auriel." She had a rather stiff way of speaking, her accent originating from across the sea. "I apologise if I caused any annoyance earlier." The she-wolf gave him a long, studying look. He did not have that bestial power that Donovan poessesed, but the tail suggested they were the same kind of dog.

renard hadn't climbed the mountain expecting to find any other saints here, though it wasn't out of the question. donovan and derg, they knew, were as miserable as they were when it came to the heat. the one who had gotten into the fight with their esteemed cannibal co-leader, though, seemed the most suited to the canyon, so it was with some surprise renard turned at the crunch of pawsteps to find themselves face to face with the wolf in question.

"renard, yes," they confirmed, watching as she moved closer, bumping her shoulder against theirs in a friendly gesture that mirrored what derg had done to her back in the ravine. curious that it happened twice. was this a gesture favored by the saints? 

her accent was likewise one renard was not familiar with. their experience was limited, coming straight from the far north. they returned her studying gaze with one of their own; she was no shorter than they were, with short tan and white fur that matched the canyon better than renard's thick black and brown. another who seemed to lack any dog in her.

they tipped their muzzle down. "auriel," they echoed. there was a faint smile curving their lips now; one half of their permanent expressions. "not at all. i can't pretend my only meeting with her went any better."

The she-wolf had not expected to find anyone either, she loved the open sky and high places, even though she was not the most sure-footed of canines. She loved the heat too, as even though it was cooler than her homeland it still warmed her right through to her heart. That burning feeling of the sun on her skin was to die for. 

She mimicked the way Derg had bumped shoulders, assuming it was a normal wolf tradition. Being raised in a sanctuary her socialisation skills were quite off. "I believe respect must be earned. If anything she has done the opposite." Her tail gave one angry lash, before she settled down on her haunches, gazing out at the open world before them. "You are different from the rest. You feel almost...sad. I would like to get to know you better, if you do not mind." 

renard couldn't disagree, of course. nemisis had been nasty the first time they met her, when their invitation for a spar had been...well, they weren't sure if she even knew what a spar was. or how to fight anything without ripping it apart. which was a shame, since ripping people apart certainly had its place, when tempered with common sense. vicious creatures like her weren't alien to them, or even something they disliked. it was everything else about her that was the problem.

but they kept that counsel to themselves.

and just managed to rein in their laugh at her next words. if different from the rest meant capable of restraining themselves -- well, yes, that wasn't wrong. if sad meant thinking before speaking, that wasn't either. if they'd fought, and if she was worth what they hoped -- her display in the canyon had been fascinating -- she would have known that wasn't true, but renard hadn't yet had one on one time with every member of the saints.

as it was, their smile grew a fraction wider. "can't promise i'll answer everything, but all right." they canted their head. "what do you want to know?"

Auriel much preffered speaking peceably with another canine rather then coming at them full-clutch with lips raised and fangs glinting in the moonlight. Yes, talking was the sensible option. "Why do you smell different from the other males? Have you faced the cutter? Are you also a wolf-dog?" 

Her questions may be too many too soon, she knew this. But Renard was the most interesting member to her thus far. So intriguing, with his curled tail and quiet attitude. "How did one so silent such as yourself come to join the Saints?" 

caught somewhat offguard for once, renard blinked back at her, but the barrage of questions she offered were all…harmless, so far. not even they could find any hidden motivation lurking in the words. she really was trying to... get to know them.

how cute.

“one at a time.” brow raised, they took an unnecessarily prolonged moment to consider. “i’m not a male,” they were surprised she had noticed, but they kept that to themselves, “i have no idea what that is. and…” they turned their muzzle pointedly over their shoulder to the curve of their tail, ”that should be your answer.“

the last was a little more of a minefield. only in the sense that there was no fun in giving away such information. what was the worth if you didn’t work for it?

“donovan made an offer. i accepted.” they shrugged, smiling. “not much different from you.” not that they knew that. incredibly vague, and thus almost certain to be correct – a favorite of theirs.

also avoiding the actual question. another favorite of theirs.

The she-wolf's jaw worked as she thought about his- their- frustrating answers. "I see, the cutter was a No-Fur who came and removed the manhood of a dog. It was to stop unneccisary litters." It was true that Auriel wished to know more about this wolf-dog, though her intentions may not be as innocent as she led people to believe. 

"I was raised around dogs more then my own kind. I much prefer them, wolves can be so vicious." Auriel's ear gave a betraying twitch, she was anxious. "So can dogs, but they would always give warning before they tore into me." A light blush stained her pale cheeks, her mouth twisted to nip at her shoulder. Faining an itch. "Your another of his...personal friends then?" She did not see an issue with same-sex couples, she quite liked females herself. Though, it was troubling to understand why Donovan liked so many different canines. Males usually had a 'Type'.

“the –” oh. caught mid-word, renard's mouth fell shut. they eyed her. they’d heard human stories, everyone had. it wasn’t a leap to connect no-fur (how fun) with that. “i wasn’t raised by humans.” the curl of their lip somewhat disturbed their smile. being ordered around by humans, of all creatures? and like that? might as well bare your throat to open jaws.

“but you were?” it was not a condemnation, just a question. it could be, with time. “if you prefer dogs, you chose an interesting place to run off to.” donovan’s dog blood hardly made him less vicious. if it had, he wouldn’t be the one ruling. maybe some of them just had more to prove – he’d been so eager to see another curled tail, back on the coast.

renard felt no such thing.

at her next question, the curled edge of their lip dropped straight back into their catlike smile. theoretically, renard had no problem either; it was the donovan portion that stuck. “i’ll leave him for you and nemisis,” they said, in a voice that betrayed nothing of what they thought about that conflict.

Auriel had enjoyed the No-Fur affection as a pup, they way they had carressed her, the males had taken her hunting. She was greeted with 'Pretty girl' and 'Good pup' whenever they saw her. But as she outgrew their home they had cast her outside to live with her mother. Having been hand-reared by the No-Fur's this she-wolf had been as foreign as the sea to her. At not at all motherly. Yet, in all her time with the strange creatures she had never submitted to their control.

"Yes." Her answer was guarded, she had noticed the raised lips and hint of a snarl. "It is quite intesresting, is it not? I like it here. I was never the prissy royalty type." Shamlessly she reffered to Nemesis. "She believes he is hers. She is sorely mistaken. Males like him do not settle for just one, when they can have them all. Good day, Renard." With that she had turned and picked her way back down the steep slope, not even giving a glance back to the wolf-dog.

renard had plenty of thoughts about donovan and nemisis and auriel, but they were all ultimately irrelevant and not worth the time it would take to speak them, even if they did have any effect. auriel was apparently incapable of picking up on this reluctance – though, admittedly, it did save them from another list of inane questions.

interesting how the conversation had devolved into something entirely centered around donovan. apparently they couldn’t escape that even on top of a mountain. and what exactly made her think she needed to give them a rundown of her feelings on the matter?

maybe everyone here just needed to get laid. then, if renard was lucky, they’d all start using the correct brains for the situation they were in.

unimpressed, they watched her go; as soon as she’d vanished behind the trees, they turned back to the peak and resumed their climb. they had come here for a reason, and that reason certainly wasn’t listening to the saints’ thrilling relationship drama – it was a thankless task, being the only fucking person here who was paying attention.