Redtail Rise But She’s Always a Woman to Me.

In the wake of the brawl, Lilia had been obtainable by both @Relic and @Ancelin, having chosen not to shun the latter for his loss. With the birth of the children, she felt her own responsibilities grew- so while she avoided neither of them, she did focus her time and energy on patrolling the borders.

She did not see much of her father, and wondered if he was just busy tending to Avicus. His scent faded along the borders but as his dutiful daughter, she replaced his scent markings with her own. 

The past few weeks, she’d avoided drama by focusing on her work, but it grew lonely and boring. So she set off, leaving the maintained borders to seek out some attention, from whoever she could get it from first.

his aunt had given him a task,and ancelin was resolved to carry it out as soon as possible.
food. patrols. he could do both. however, he wanted to see one other individual before he departed, and she happened to be darkening the path ahead, a lithe shadow.
the young man who had recently aspired to greater things now lifted his head and chuffed toward her, tail flicking as he padded into earshot. his eyes wondered what lilia sought.

Lilia became aware of how much she’d missed being with her peers when she felt her heart jump at the sound of Ancelin’s voice. Childhood lad left them behind, bestowed upon the next generation of youth. Still, she felt young at heart as soon as she saw her childhood friend again. 

”There you awe,” She said with a light smirk, tail waving. Her gaze flicked past him and she sniffed the breeze, ensuring that they were alone, before she looked upon him smilingly. The light that danced in her eyes flickered lightly, to see his wounds healing. Admiration beat out her concern. 

She gave him a flick of her muzzle. ”C’mon,” she invited, before she lopes past him, intending to lead him somewhere less exposed.

lilia seemed to take pains that they remained undisturbed. he followed her, matching speed as they sought a portion of the rise that was not so inhabited.
when the air emptied of most scents, ancelin faced into the breeze, shoulders riffled by the teeth of the a flowing wind that flattened his pelt against his hard body.
"gonna be gone a bit more, at least for a bit," he murmured, seeking her eyes with his own. "but not a stranger. not — absent."

She would have gone on longer, and taken advantage of this time they squirrelled away together, had he not slowed his pace. Eyes simmering, she thought he might make an advance toward her, and her tail flicked in anticipation but stilled when he spoke.

Her eyes squinted. ”What?” This was not what she’d expected, and it certainly wasn’t what she wanted. ”Why?” Bewildered and disappointed, she charged him with the questions, expecting something pretty damn good as an excuse.

"sapphique, on the coast. avicus asked me to go help them out a bit." he didn't elaborate, mostly because he didn't know what was appropriate to share when it came to allies. "what?"
she seemed upset about it. ancelin didn't get that, mostly because lilia was part of the inner circle, close to the pups.
and relic, that bitter little voice piped at the back of his mind. it was a new development.

She closed her mouth when he mentioned the pack on the coast, and frowned. She didn’t mind them, but she certainly held a grudge against Quennell for ditching her. She also knew they’d had quite a devastating loss from the bear attack. Strangely she felt lightly relieved to know he was going somewhere, for a task that Avicus had given him.

She felt flustered when he questioned her for her reaction. Her ears flicked back and she tilted her chin up; her frown persisted, dropping into a pout. She shrugged unhappily, and looked away. ”I thought you wuh gonna tell me you were leavin’ again, like before. That you wanted to.” The thought had clearly shaken her. She arched her brow and cleared her throat. ”Thorry for jumpin’ down your throat,” She said, albeit quite defensively.

ancelin smirked a little, tentatively at first and then with more confidence. "what, leelee," he teased, using her old nickname. "did you miss me?"
for a long moment he thought of he and his father on the trail, in the wild. what he had learned. what he had earned.
ancelin had noticed her prettiness before, but it seemed smoother now, a beauty that was unfurling against the hard plains of the taiga that had shaped them both. she seemed carved of the landscape, a curving tree that would reach high one day.
"same," he grunted, not wanting to be captured by his own emotion. he pushed off, heading on.

She did not receive his taunt well, rolling her eyes and turning her shoulder to him. ”Fuck off,” She responded thoughtlessly. Admitting her feelings? No way. She was still shaken from the thought of being left behind again. 

He too turned away, leaving her with some minor consolation that perhaps he might not be so keen to depart again. She paused, and then followed after him.

”Tho,” She began, once she had caught up. She thought of Sapphique, and remembered meeting mostly women. ”What do you gotta do over at Thapphique?” She asked, hoping he might be a bit more loose-lipped about his assignment than he was about his feeling.

ancelin snickered, but twisted an air to anxiously ensure she followed. when he heard her step behind him, he slowed and aligned their gaits. "hunting. patrolling. never been up there."
lilia traveled. and she'd come from the beyond. he wondered what she had to impart; wondered if he was even able to learn anything other than how to be more frustrated.
"good to get out for a bit, you know. with a goal."

She recalled the scent of briny air, the breathtaking view and the frightening yet fascinating tunnel that led through the cliffs and down to the beach. If she thought on it long enough, she knew she would find herself yearning to go too. 

Instead, she shrugged. ”It’th alright. I been there a few timeth, thcoutin’,” She said. She didn’t want to get his hopes up or make him too eager to go. She flicked a rock with her paw, sending it tumbling. She wondered why Avicus was sending him now. The bear attack had been some time ago. Surely he was more useful here, with his hunting skills.

He seemed optimistic, and she preferred to see him looking forward to something, though she didn’t particularly like the situation. She recalled how good she’d felt, to go scouting, and shrugged. ”I gueth.” She said reluctantly. ”We don’t owe them anything, tho make sure they treat you right,” She said, almost ruefully. ”How long you gonna be gone for, anyway?” She asked.

ancelin wanted to invite lilia along, not only for her expertise with the area but for her companionship, which she had always given to him. even after he lost his fight with relic, here she was, seeming as though she felt some sort of way about his pending departure.
but it was for those reasons that he also didn't want to ask her. ancelin wanted to do this alone, without the expectation or eyes of pack on him.
"not long, i bet. enough to scope things out. i don't plan to sleep there or anything. figured i'd be back and forth for a while."
maybe long enough to see warmth truly spark spring in the taiga or along the coast. "you gonna be okay?" he asked next, purple eyes trying to catch the sky-blue of her own gaze.

Lilia likely appeared indifferent to the timeline he gave, her brow arched and lips pursed, but she cared truly, deeply that he would not be gone long. She was encouraged, even, to know he planned to return nightly to the Rise. She simply tried to make it look as though she was not as effected as she was, so she might not seem too attached. 

She felt his gaze, and looked up to meet it. Shrewdly, she scrunched her muzzle and tipped her chin up. ”Uh, yeah,” She blurted, her tone skeptical, but her gaze dropped. She flicked another small stone away. Her voice grew quieter, though perhaps a bit more toneless when she spoke again.  ”’Courthe I’ll be fine. I alwayth am,” 

It was her way of saying she didn’t want him to go. 

Secretly, she dreaded the thought of him finding some reason to stay in Sapphique. She wondered if some night, he might not come back. Maybe he’d find another girl there, and forget about her. At least this wasn’t his choice, it was Avicus’ doing…But the way Lilia saw it, her chances with Ancelin might become jeopardized. She needed to insure she would not be easily forgotten. 

She veered toward him suddenly, without looking up and clumsily tried to press head into his chest. ”Jutht don’t be gone long,” She warned, a light hiccough to her voice.

there was something off with the entire conversation now, but ancelin had neither words nor emotions enough to decipher the atmosphere and ask. so he pulled his eyes away, not wanting to stare. "course i —"
but his words were ended as lilia came forward, sinking against his heartbeat as she had never done before. or maybe anyone, for that matter. his pulse immediately quickened, and for a few stupid seconds he didn't know what to do.
and then his foreleg rose; he gingerly lay it over her withers. "hey, it's okay," he tried to assure her even as his own voice shook and his gut clenched with nerves and surprise and delight. "i'm home. this is just a — mission. a quest."
sometimes when knights came back from quests, they married princesses.
sometimes they came back to queens.
but this wasn't that sort of journey, was it?

Like an aged tree he did not immediately bend in the sudden gust of her emotions. It wasn’t until she felt him drape a limb across her shoulders that she felt embraced, and moved closer. 

She could accept him going because he’d been assigned to do so- and it was a mark of his importance and skill that he had been chosen by Avicus to go. But Lilia wanted something as a consolation from him; a token, perhaps. Maybe she could give him a quest, also. 

”Bring me back thomethin’.” She said, tilting her head up. ”Thomethin….Blue. Like my eyeth.” she liked the idea of her eyes remaining in his thoughts while he was away.

his pulse raced. her eyes seemed to yawn like the morning heavens as clouds cleared. "sure, lilia," ancelin whispered, thinking ahead of all the possibilities. "i'll make a special trip back, just for you."
he pushed his muzzle into her withers, drawing in the good scents of her and the riseland.
home.
the only one he had ever known.

”Good.” She sniffed lightly, content that at least he’d made her some kind of promise. And any wolves in Sapphique who noticed him looking for something so unusual in hue might also want an explanation. She intended for her name to be known, and for it to be clear that while Ancelin wasn’t strictly courting someone, he was certainly going through the motions of it.

For now, she would lean into him, enjoying the moment of attention and intimacy she was being given. She desired for him to be hers, only- and couldn’t even fathom him ever holding another wolf like this. 

She’d learned some of what boys liked from the time she’d spent with Quennell. She reached up to nibble the lower corner of his ear, where the fur was soft and thick, to see what sort of reaction she might merit.

her reward was a full-body shiver, a shutting of his eyes, a surprised, low sound that stuttered in his throat. it was nice, as much for the closeness as it was for her, for lilia.
she smelled like relic but he pushed that away; they all smelled like each other, what with the eternal hunting and path-crossing and marking.
soon he'd come back tangled with other scents, other stories for her to read.
for now ancelin licked her forehead, unable to keep a wide smile from slipping over his face.

It worked; she noted the sound he made, and hoped it was a sound he might reserve only for her. Perhaps he might now seek to please her, hoping to be touched that way again- which was exactly what Lilia wanted. She crooned softly as he licked her forehead, closing her eyes and tilting her muzzle up, as though to ask for more. 

Her heart was not divided between the two boys- not was it shut away from the possibility of others. But while she was with Ancelin, Lilia wanted for nothing else, and it was a divine way to feel.

for ancelin, lilia was coming to represent something complete for him. he did not yet have the words with which to convey her importance, but one day — maybe.
one day.
his heart galloped eagerly; he sent his teeth in a questing nibble along the base of her ear and down her cheek.

Lilia had been trained to spar, guard and fight. In these areas, the notion of keeping her throat protected at all costs had been drilled into her like a routine. Soft and vulnerable, both windpipe and artery were essential and yet so exposed. 

And yet when Ancelin nibbled along the edge of her ear and down the side of her jaw, she surrendered fully to the sensation and tilted her head back, uttering a soft moan that surprised her, and made her blush. There was something wickedly stimulating about the way he’d feathered his teeth along the side of her throat, and the way it felt to allow him to do that. 

”Anthuh,” She whispered hoarsely, leaning into him. She knew the feeling of want, but had no idea what it was she wanted. The fur along the nape of her neck flew up, leaving a ridge of bristled fur all the way down her back. ”I want…” She said, simultaneously ravenous and frustrated by not knowing.

"yeah," he mumbled, half-sensing, half-instinctually, fully confused. her hackles rose stabbingly and he ran his cheek along their bristling tips, seeking all touch, all sound; wanting that tone to come from lilia again.
ancelin knew and yet he did not — he exhaled his frustration and pressed his hip against her own, wanting to replicate his caress on her other side.

She uttered a growl when he moved closer, and felt something primal awaken with her, though it felt deeply uncomfortable and new. She bared her teeth and flicked her tongue over her lips. 

She wanted Ancelin- all to herself. But what of the feelings she had for Relic? She’d planned to have them both desire her, but now, she felt herself brimming with a deep shame to know how it felt to actually care.

She was flirting with heartbreak; it’s taste was metallic, like blood. She would swallow, and ignore it. But like a cat, petted one too many times, she was over-stimulated and had nowhere to direct the rush of feelings but out.

She placed her head against his shoulder, but her teeth continued to chatter, her growl softening to a purr. Wild-eyed, she did everything in her power to stop herself from simply ripping him to shreds.

they stood like that, trembling with their own unknown frustrations. ancelin had no words to speak of affection or love, or even if he meant it that way — he knew only that lilia had grown into the wild places of himself where coldness and feral light ruled instead of his heart.
with the greatest difficulty he peeled himself away, clearing his throat, shaking out his ruff, stretching, anything with motion and activity that would dispel the electricity that seemed to cling to his very pelt.
"we could spar," ancelin suggested, more hoarsely than he meant.

His suggestion broke the tension and while her smile was more a grimace than anything else, she managed to convince herself to quell her trembling. ”’Utheth violenth ath a coping mechanithm,’” She uttered a halting laugh that was coarse, though it helped her shake loose some of her stiffness. At last she could look at him again. 

”Shure,” She said, rising onto her paws, grateful for the respite. ”Bwing it,” She goaded him, though she stood still on unsteady feet.