Bramblepoint Blue spotted tail

The sun had fallen and draped them in darkness before they had reached the edge of the forest. 

Crowfeather ached from his neck to his paw pads, which he was certain were cracked and bleeding. When he had set his sights on the rough shelter in the trees, he resigned to it immediately. Slowly plodding to it, the shadow sniffed for danger and wearily sought the eyes of the soldier. 

@Germanicus needed his wounds dressed and cleaned before either of them would be able to rest. Crowfeather thought it fortunate that the forest was so dense. It would mean an easy search for webs.

germanicus took in the tight twisting of the weald around them. "no watches tonight," he informed crowfeather.

the shadow was heavy with exhaustion. germanicus lowered to his haunches with a wince. "i will wait. then we will sleep."

a slumber, awakening to hunt, and then return to dreaming. a cycle to replenish. the eagle did not think the beast would follow them here.

The words were unquestioned and nearly unregistered. Crowfeather was already sniffing at the earth for cobwebs. The water had washed their scents and Germanicus' wound. It already looked healthier to the shadow's untrained eye. 

Into the weald without a word. When the seer returned to the eagle, it was with a sigh. Crowfeather's fur still held signs of his traipse through spiderwebs. He had obtained more than a few bites from the unappreciative residents. 

No flowers, he offered apologetically. 

How had they gotten so close?

germanicus crouched down as crowfeather went into the woods and was gone from sight. he shut his eyes for a long moment, not straying toward sleep. it was a tactic to relax the body and still the mind after their long trek.

the soft tread of the boy's step brought the sun-stare open again. germanicus saw how downcast crowfeather seemed, how the spider-webs clung in patches to the shadow's coat.

the eagle shook his head. "it is all right, crowfeather."

Fearful that he was losing steam, the dark figure gazed at the man's wound with a crinkled snout. The blood had been washed with water in their journey. It was cleaner than it had been a day prior. 

These reminders pushed him through it as the shadow wrapped the foreleg in webbing. When he had finished, it was with a cold touch of his nose to the man's breast. 

There, Crowfeather hummed softly. Ready for rest. The appraising of his dressing was swift. The seer wondered if Mothwing had not been killed, would she have taught him more about her arts?

the chill wove through germanicus. he was at once cool, then warm, too warm, near perspiring. whatever crowfeather had said must wait, for the eagle had stepped just beyond sensibility.

this time, however, he raised his own head above that of the hunter. germanicus wavered, breath warm and touch careful as he plucked a spider's-wrap from along the shadow's earlobe.

and then he separated himself from crowfeather, a breath spurred through his nose. in the scarce light that filtered through the thornwood, germanicus lay down, a stretch of something like moonlit forest.

"it is not your pretty glen. but perhaps we will find the beauty of this place in dreams."

The dark shadow held his breath at the touch of the man against his ear, pulling webs away from his dark cloak. The familiar throb of tension in his neck and shoulders, held still by his breath trapped inside.

Then Germanicus was gone, away from him. Crowfeather exhaled softly and drew his ears toward the man’s words.

No, the weald was not as nice as the glen. There were no stars glittering around them. The seer did not think that it lacked in pleasurable things. The trees allowed him to feel safe, at peace. The thickness of the foliage was a small comfort in the wake of the feline’s pursuit.

Will there be forests where we go? Crowfeather asked quietly, settling onto his belly to rest his head on his paws.

"many forests. perhaps they will even be at the feet of mountains." his mouth still remembered the texture of crowfeather's fur, and ran dry at the recollection. 

germanicus lay his own head down, willing that the young hunter not hear the loud canter of his heartbeat. he did not want distance between them, not to sleep.

but germanicus kept tight his control, and forced himself into a state like relaxation.

the scent of the forest lulled him, but his sleep would not be dreamless. and it would not come swiftly to him.

one ear twitched, wondering if crowfeather would speak again.

Many forests, Crowfeather repeated to himself, thumping his tail against the dirt.

The dark wolf thought of many different places they would find. He thought of the mountain they had trekked along the base of. The glen with glittering stars. Crowfeather thought even of the lake where Germanicus had instructed him how to swim.

These thoughts rested his figure and released the tension he had held in his thin frame.

Crowfeather rolled to his side, hoping that his back might reach where Germanicus rested, hoping that he might feel the pleasure of the older man’s touch against his body… just once more.

Do you think you would like to have your own pack, Germanicus? the seer asked sleepily.

the shadow draped against him. beyond the startled and immediate tension, germanicus had no apt reply for either. "i was not made to be a ruler." that had been tiberius' world. and now it belonged to servanus, and their estranged brother here in the teekon wanted no part of it.

cautiously, he arranged his limbs so they lay more softly beneath the smaller weight of his cohort.

"et tu, crowfeather?" germanicus murmured in the darkfall wood, imagining a thousand things and damning himself for each of them swiftly after. "would you lead a pack of wolves who followed starlight?"

I think- I think you would be-

Voice thick with the weary weight upon his body, Crowfeather struggled to keep his conversation with the silver guardian. He did not wish to let this moment escape him.

I think you would be a good leader, he finally breathed, yawning wide once he had finished speaking. A good leader, a good father… Crowfeather did not allow himself to think on this for much longer. The tightness in his stomach had returned.

When asked the same question, the dark wolf tilted his head so that he could look upon the older man’s face in thought.

No, he finally answered. It is not my fate to lead, but to aid.

germanicus gazed upon the pointed sable face. "only one between us knows his fate," the eagle murmured. it was only weariness that turned his voice into a rasp, so he insisted to himself once more. the contagion of the yawn swept the man into his own.

crowfeather thought highly of him. germanicus did not want to fail this sentiment with ambition or desire. 

"the strongest rulers come from the halls of those who do not want to lead."

he allowed himself the image of setting his muzzle across the sinewed arch of crowfeather's shoulder, coaxed it away again. "tomorrow," the eagle went on pointedly, "we will continue our talk on this matter."

Crowfeather might have asked which one he meant were it not for the drowsiness that had swept his dark body and lulled him closer to sleep.

The dark shape wished to ask why it was that those who did not want to lead were oftentimes the best leaders. He wanted to understand why there would be a need to push fate upon another living creature. Crowfeather sought to know why he had been made an oracle when he had never had any desire.

Tomorrow, he whispered in repeat, eyes falling still. Sleep overtook him quickly.

That night, Crowfeather dreamed of the eagle again. It soared above the water of the ocean, talons grazing the surface. Crowfeather was there too, swimming beneath the waves. As he rose to meet the bird and broke through the water, he vanished to seafoam.