Shadow Mountain sulum

im so sorry i just have so much muse lol, this one is set at shadow mountain and can be an RO if yall dont want to do too many travel threads! <3 but if so, figured we could fade the other with my next reply

by midday, the sun had climbed high enough to affect all wildlife on their side of the mountain.

the mist of greenery along a tiny plateau caught his eye. the ranger went toward it, pausing long enough for @Wren and @Akavir to notice his detour before he set off into the cooler shadows.

here there was a pool of water fed by fierce rivers flowing from even higher above them. he drank downriver and alone, devoting all his mind to the following hours.

until evening he would not hunt, conserving his strength for a nightwalk or an early rise. meat and rest and back to the march.

germanicus predicted it would be afternoon on the second day before the traveling party reached the treacherous stone bridge which separated shadow mountain from the lower slopes of the spotted eagle apex.

peak where eagles soar.

his heart broke on those windswept slopes.

upon a cliff above the plateau, germanicus meant to keep sitting vigil through the toil of afternoon to dusk, a faint wetness to his watchful stare as the light shifted over his features.

I am allllll for it

Stony silence as they walked. His pale eyes kept to the horizon—the stretch of landscape in the distance a reminder to the distinct beauty of the Wilds, but drawing little appreciation for the man when so much ugly resided within them.

In days, they would come to the flatlands. In days, they would come to a land who felt the use of others—particularly women—were for property of those within a higher rank. His regret of taking Wren flared to life… She should have been left safe, in the creek. Away from the prying eyes of whatever misplaced noble they would encounter.

They slowed. Germanicus still upon the stone—Akavir paid him little heed. He could barely stomach to look at him. Instead, hardened eyes remained to the distance, his voice finally breaking the quiet of the settling day. “Akashingo is to know nothing of Rising Sun Valley and its inhabitants,” he spoke—his tone gave no room for argument.

If they had to, they would lie about where they came from. And if they had to, they would cover their tracks, and lead any scout who tried to follow them home through an arduous, and misplaced journey.

gimme all the germ threads <3

Wren was not lost on the monotony of travel. She remembered it well, the way she came to Swiftcurrent. Difficult paths through the mountains, getting up from breaks with feet just that little bit more angry than before. Sore muscles and boiling late June heat, heads ducked under crags, and all the while it is somehow more quiet than if she had done this alone. 
It's unusual for her to be this silent. Save for the occasional snarky comment, or an insult in foreign tongue spoken beneath breaths, she said little. To Germanicus, to Akavir, to anyone. And that was for the better. 

And now, as they come upon a crested overlook with dry eyes and clammy paws, Akavir is the one who breaks first. 
We should bathe, get rid of the Valley scents, she remarks, a wariness to an otherwise solid voice. just in case. 

She thinks of Silvertongue as her gaze is cast downward. Wren did not know how she would handle taking the steps she had among Akashingo's paths, knowing what she was there for; the image of her burning little body in the hands of tall men and women, the grease of their touch, an oilslick feeling she imagines she wakes in the night remembering.
And her jaw clenches with the desire to be wrapped around Germanicus's throat. And he would deserve it. But there is no pain that Wren or Akavir themselves could put him through that would ever be suitable enough. 

<3

"they will know me and my face," germanicus spoke as he came down among them once more. the eagle gave a dip of his head to akavir, a nod to wren.

hearing.

and for some small part of him to be satisfied with this, to be hiked toward some unknown fate in some wellknown destination — it did no credit for the man to deny.

"you might choose false names for yourselves," germanicus said quietly.

and if there was nothing more needed of him, the ranger would move off into the water seeking soaproot which might grow here and there upon the bank.

germanicus kept himself alert, attuned to their location in the sunspire he knew well.

It had never been divulged if Germanicus had shared with Akashingo his current residence. Akavir studied the man, offering him only a brief nod at the suggestion of choosing false names—it wasn’t the worst idea.

It also didn’t warm him anymore to the man.

Germanicus drifted further, wading to the water, and Akavir turned, nose down and out to patrol for a quick catch for a meal to sustain them all, if it could be had.