Redsand Canyon matrimonium

with him he brought a duck.

the imperator was a fine hunter of small game, though he preferred greater beasts for the opportunity to challenge himself.

at nightfall and after he had seen the last soldier off to their quarters, germanicus entered the forest and came straightaway. the yew tree was very large. the den here was without stone walls. the roots were a pretty curve.

he had found it a while ago but had not sought it out again. the elements were becoming harsh though he would have continued to sleep in their embrace.

germanicus inhaled and glanced around for @Fennec.

It took her a bit to find the place, even with his clear description. Finding a single tree in a forest by feel and sense alone wasn't exactly easy, but she sorted it out. She hadn't noticed in passing the way the tree's roots were constructed but now she was glad that was the case. It would have made an amazing hideaway garden, but it made a better sleeping place.

Something was bound to fuck this up. It had never been this easy. This wasn't something she just got to have. Fear of dens collapsing... fear of her. Fear of commitment. She was waiting for something to drop.

I didn't know you had trees this big here. She set a paw on the roots, then sniffed at the base. It was, immediately, one of the better dens she'd ever encountered. She liked it even more than the hideaway her mother had used back in the Caldera.

Do you carry me across the threshold? Or is the ceremony more what we do inside? She asked, hiding her own nerves. There was bound to be some kind of catch, or some kind of mistake. It couldn't be this simple.

"it is the only one so large. only a single tree of this size could survive inside a canyon."

germanicus found he enjoyed the seclusion of the forested den. he glanced toward fennec with a vaguely amused expression. "we walk inside." there was nothing else to do. their marriage vows had been a discussion of love's lowered importance in their mateship.

he watched her face and sought a word for what she must feel.

"tomorrow i will bring skins to line the floor." quietly he picked up the duck and went inside the shelter. it had good and solid walls, with a system of darker areas that could have been other rooms. there was enough room for both of them to circle and to sit upright, the doorway a dome where he thought leaves might grow again.

quietly he took pleasure in the fact that she appreciated the space. "what did you do after we parted ways earlier?" germanicus inquired, sitting down with a sigh of relief and rolling his shoulders with closed eyes.

She wondered if ravens ever roosted in it. Fennec still didn't understand how they'd chosen a cage for a home, but she'd at least managed to find pieces of it to like. First her gardens and now this.

Her ear flicked as she heard the brush of roots that signaled he had entered. She followed carefully, picking her way around the tangle and ducking so she wouldn't risk being caught. The opening seemed fairly large.

So did the inside. She circled around it, brushing the walls to take the measure, before coming to his other side and lying down with her side lightly pressed to one hip. She did warn him. I found a few new plants for the gardens. One was poisonous. She wondered if Towhee had told him her daughter was keeping poisons within his territory. If not he knew now.

The soil here doesn't grow the same things the forest did. But if I take what I find nearby, they seem to do fine. She'd have less time to garden when she started to focus on soldiering, but she wouldn't leave it behind completely. You gave a lesson?

they sat together in easy warmth. he placed the cooling bird where she could touch it. "have you considered transplanting your more dangerous plants to another area?" he glanced out at the velveteen shadows which enveloped the rootwinding of the den he and fennec had chosen as theirs.

"we could have another garden in the forest." perhaps a locale away from any place where children might access the items. a secret plot of land.

"yes. i took the crown prince up the wall. she was nervous but did quite fine for a first exercise. all soldiers learn to climb. and when winter comes we shall climb again."

he paused and lingered in the quiet after his words had faded, the way that their mingled warmth slowly filled the earthen cave. he cleared his throat and reached his hardened paw to gently cover fennec's smaller one. the connection delivered a vague jolt and then a shimmering of equally muted shame.

germanicus would not allow it to take over this moment.

Fennec smirked. But then how would I trick anyone into eating them? I have to test them at some point. She left it a moment, then relented. If he didn't know her humor by now he'd figure it out soon enough.

Of course I separated them. I'd like to find something better when I can, but the poisons are hidden by brambles. There's no reason for anyone to try moving them unless they know what's behind it. He'd married a witch, and she knew how to hide the things she wanted to keep hidden.

She. That was unexpected. Fennec thought again about her mom and her feelings around Mereo and Akashingo. Maybe it was a bit early to find out how much rope she had with Germanicus. Then again, would she be Fennec if she didn't?

Fennec flexed her paw beneath his thoughtfully, but didn't move it. This was... nice. I know what Akashingo gets from us. We send them soldiers and they send us trainees. What do we get from them? The trainees didn't stay - they used resources and they left. The soldiers they sent remained longer and, while they were gone, Mereo went with less defense. She was interested to know why they would sacrifice their own safety for a pack that seemed entirely it's own entity.

germanicus was aware that his decision to touch fennec was conscious and stemmed directly from the importance she had placed on such things. it was odd to have gone without it at all, to have been completely bereft and then in a consistent situation.

he wanted to continue speaking. he wanted to stop speaking. his lips curved at her morbidity. it was not something he might have said. but it was an insight into the guarded woman who had decided in a moment to marry him. "very well. you are trusted. i will make no more comment upon your poisons."

her question was unexpected but he was prepared.

"we receive access to all the information that akashingo gathers. they are constantly traveling with emissaries and having lavish parties where all are invited. i do not have the time for such things."

"it is how missing persons are found. or how talk of war comes through channels to us. lady qiao of the palace also established a trade route. pelts, medicines, and honey are traded to our larders."

he was aware it was not a great deal. "prince makono will be the first woman of her line to ascend as pharaoh. she has a good deal set against her. she considers me high in her favour and has made overtures of something like treason against her father. what this means is that mereo's efforts have the potential for a good return upon our investment."

You are trusted. He just said it. Was it because they were married that his attitude seemed to do a 180? Or was it her attitude and she was just now seeing it? It was hard to tell. She appreciate the blunt way he delivered it, like it was a fact that shouldn't be questioned. It made her optimistic for the first time about a future here.

That optimism set her mind going while he explained the inner workings of the pack's ties to one another. It was a trade deal of information and resources, something that hugely appealed to her. When she'd been looking at forming a pack of her own, trades like that were meant to be at the heart of it. She'd wanted to be a source of information and of knowledge, just of a slightly different kind.

Now we can add the gardens to the trade. If they are superstitious, there might be other things we can offer. But that'll depend on if you enjoy the idea of being married to a witch. She dropped the title to gauge his reaction. Fennec hadn't elected to use it much since coming, but maybe she could reclaim it and draw some use from it again.

They were an army, and Germanicus didn't seem like the kind to have much patience for improper trades like that. She wouldn't consider it entirely off the table even if he shot it down, but she would pick her battles to start. This one might not be worth it yet.

a witch. the last time that he had heard such a title, his army had been mired by a band of howling mud-caked heathens.

in all his routine talk of compatibilities he had not considered this. fennec had given no outward sign of paganism. but then again he had not known her so well until this very day.

he was perturbed by the prospect of her beliefs and the idea that she might desire to pass such antiquated things onto their children. 

but he was surprised by how swiftly she offered it as a training gambit. if she was such, she balanced it against her own fierce sense of objectivity.

the imperator relented. it was not something which which he needed or wished to argue. and he suspected fennec would deal him more surprises in the future as they got to know one another. "i enjoy being with someone who knows more than i about such practices." 

they could inform one another. his interest was genuine if guarded. perhaps his new wife might teach him how to soothsay. and he might teach her how not to be a heathen. "i am unfamiliar with witchery." his lips moved to a gentle smile. he looked at the touch of their paws and was again blessed with that soft semi-comfort.

He didn't shoot it down. Instead he surprised her again by wanting to know more. She didn't recall anyone ever asking her to explain the way her trade worked before - she'd done readings, but never revealed the practice behind it. In some ways it ruined the magic.

She wondered if Germanicus was more like herself than she even realized at first. If he was going to consider allowing her to offer her skills to others, he should know the benefits and the risks involved. She wasn't even sure she'd be offended if he chose not to take them.

Witchcraft is about expectation. She settled herself more comfortably against him, noting his body language silently as she did. It's about seeing what a wolf wants and then making it clear you have the answers. But what you give doesn't need to be defined, or even a clear path. Fennec's smile grew a little. She liked to think she'd gotten better at this portion of it. That's the magic in it. When I give fortunes, I read the "signs", but I also read them. Then I decide what I "see".

It was a dangerous game at times. If she was too specific she risked giving something that could be easily debunked. If she was too vague then she might reveal herself as a fraud too. Sometimes I get something clear enough to guess. Mostly I tell them what I think they want to hear. Or what I think they don't. The second was decidedly more fun. Despite how littered with darkness her time in the Glen was, she'd never not laugh thinking about the way she'd nearly incited a mutiny among the brothers.

fennec brought herself closer. this was an intimacy that had been missing from their earlier interlude. that had been many things. the moment now was much softer and he found himself caught off-guard by how unsure he suddenly felt.

the eagle thought, as usual in these moments, of ruenna. he listened to the principales detail the workings of a craft he had never considered and in the liminal spaces the unsaid mourning continued. he saw how fennec smiled as she spoke, how she was at once both warmer and more accessible than she had ever been.

germanicus wondered if it would last. he would not think himself or she fools for this choice made in knowing mind.

but choices had repercussions. and like fennec he too was worried about what those might be. she revealed that there were two paths to fortune-telling. "do you favour the latter? telling them what they do not want to hear?" the first seemed as though it would exhaust its speaker, to be so jovial each time.

after a moment's hesitation he lifted his forearm and put it carefully around her slender shoulders.

germanicus wondered if lady meadow had wanted him to do the same that day.

Fennec didn't consider how much she'd warmed to him in just this short conversation, or how she'd gone from considering him a nuisance to caring about his opinions on her craft. From wanting to remain a ghost in this place, with no title or attachments, to actually wanting to participate in it's growth.

She'd felt invisible and ignored for so long that his genuine questions were like sunlight on a withered vine. Suddenly the things she was talking about didn't feel so meaningless.

Fennec had never liked romance. Bronco's gifts had always made her uncomfortable, and his words never mattered once the comfort of his touch was denied. The only things she'd ever cared about were guarantees, and the only gifts she'd ever appreciated were the ones that showed she was being heard.

She wasn't going to make the mistake of falling for this man. But she was feeling better and better about the decision they'd made. Fuck... her mom had been right. And she's going to be so fucking happy about it too. Fennec couldn't even be mad.

It depends on who is asking. Sometimes it's fun to mess with a stranger. But sometimes the things they want are important, and it feels like they need something real. That was a little sentimental, even for her. She'd blame the arm he draped over her for it, and the fact that she was more comfortable here than she could have imagined stepping into the den at first.

And if she comes back. What then? Then she'd be out on her ass in a heartbeat, back to her haunts on the fringe of the territory. But maybe she'd at least have a friend out of it, when all was said and done. She'd take what little she could.

germanicus was objective in his consideration. but he did muse on whether or not it cost fennec to lie. 

his wife's face filled his mind. he recognized the unfairness of not having immediately replaced her visage with that of the woman beside him. the thoughts billowed and roiled and the eagle felt himself facing a descent.

fennec's figure grounded him. he looked out again toward the nighttime world. "at times the definition of those things change. i imagine a craft such as yours is flexible enough to account for those nuances." his heart felt as though he had swallowed the darkness lurking on the opposite side of the moon.

but the tangible parts of germanicus were in appreciation of fennec. the amount of himself that he was able to hold in the moment was placed toward her in the automatic devotion of roman man to roman wife. it was rote and satisfying and allowed him the ability to relinquish words for acts of service.

the eagle sought her now, reaching with the same caution to trace the edge of her ear in a meandering way. the energy had shifted once more. he would follow her reaction.

Fennec felt the danger of giving herself to this, too much too quickly. When it inevitably ended she'd find herself with nothing left again. But she didn't care. She was tired of being alone, tired of being afraid, and tired of holding herself back.

Her breath caught momentarily as he traced her ear, and she smiled and lifted her chin as the feeling between them shifted tangibly. This was the main root of their agreement. She'd already decided she was riding this ride until it decided to throw her off.

She let a rumble purl from her throat, then shifted so that she could throw a foreleg of her own over his broad back. This gave her the leverage she needed to reach his jawline, exploring until she found it and could set to teasing it. Trailing until she managed to coax him into relaxing enough to overbalance him onto his side.

germanicus knew the same sensation. he put his head down and walked deeply into it as he had done with all terrain, with all battles, and with all missions of diplomacy.

he supposed in a myriad of ways these moments engaged him similarly. he and fennec still did not know each other and they had made a pact directly after a time of great contentiousness. it was almost foolish and would have been if they had each lacked the experience to know very much was desired from such an arrangement.

he allowed himself to be guided and felt the good cool earth of the densite beneath his cheek. now the sungold of his eyes searched through the alabaster of the countenance she wore. and though he knew she could not see him, he knew that he was seen.

there was no longer a need to perform stoicism in this space. it was one of the sweetest parts of marriage.

Mature Content Warning

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The participants have indicated the following reason(s) for this warning: suggestive - aka sexy times

He let her take the lead this time and she took the opportunity to map him. From his jaw to the hollow of his throat, chest to flanks to the angled curve of his hips. Muscles, fine fur, the lines and edges between. She felt them, plied them, and learned what it was he wanted from her. Whenever she seemed to catch him she drew him further in, coaxing him further until there was nowhere else to go.

Eventually he would turn the situation and pull her beneath him instead. Until that moment she took whatever patience he offered.

Now she knew more of what he looked like. And that picture contained a variety of colors that might prove useful as their marriage continued to blossom.

can timeskip or fade here! <333

he shut his eyes.

the world wheeled and so did his flesh. he was shocked in a visceral and then rapidly delighted way. it was a different concept, to be the universe traversed by someone else so carefully. he had operated in one role, gentle and masculine in his dealings with his wife.

his silence prevailed until it did not. his control held too until it did not and he moved her easily. not for his own wants but to find the expanses and points which brought a response. 

she made of him a yielding atlas. and he would show her topography through the lens of tactical approach.

he held that event upon the horizon as long as they both could bear it and then twined his voice with her own for the voyage.