Northstar Vale needleblush

aw, tag for ref!

she had found a densite for herself and @Arsenio.

perhaps they would move again, but for now she poked around the outside of the small cave. its entrance was lowslung and peppered with small yellow flowers. it was near to one of the lakes. 

tamar crept inside. her husband was away and kallik was patrolling. she would explore this place alone.

he had found himself somewhere new, somewhere uncertain. fresh scents popped up all over the lands, the beginnings of something he didn't understand. admittedly he hoped to float on through before anybody caught wind of him.

except there was a firebranded woman.

and he figured it would be impossible to get around her without her knowing.

tamar soon sensed she was not alone.

like a doe her head flung up. her pale eyes searched. she found the stranger: a craggy, life-worn man with a scarred face and half a plume behind.

he was larger than her, though offered no threat for now. tamar's ears adjusted from where they had flattened against her skull with a bristle. "this is epoch. well. it is going to be. are you passing through?"

oh, uh, yah. he supplied awkwardly. it was not as if he had not known there were markers. the scents fresh, not yet aged into the earth. but he had known others would be here.

i dun really wanna be a bother. he told her, staying respectfully away. hoped it would make him seem...not so scary.

he knew how he looked.

wus an...epuck?

tamar shook her head.

"you are not a bother." this time the little curve of mouth she gave was genuinely inviting. the girl was excited at the prospect of recruiting a first member for their pack.

"epoch will be ... like a school. to discuss great thoughts." philosophy. art. the natural world. arsenio was a great orator. 

she paused. "do you need a place to live?"

a school.

great thoughts.

he grimaced, but it wasn't really at her. more at himself as his face screwed up in thought.

i do but, uh, dun really gotta...lotta great thought in me. this said with more of a humored grin now. in case that isn't obvious. loosely gesturing at himself with one paw.

perhaps he could teach a class of humor.

tamar smiled.

"it's not just certain thoughts. it's all of them." she regarded the man. "i am tamar."

the redgold of her shoulders smoothed. she relaxed somewhat in the other's presence. "what are you good at?" the girl asked. if he did not find thought a strength, epoch would still need guardians and hunters.

they spoke, and in time, parted. she passed him a well-wish and hoped to see him once more.