Dragoncrest Cliffs mortality

he's here to help so put him to WERK

sapphique was not far at all, he found, only separated by a twisting maze of thorny branches that curled nigh above his head and stabbed at his paws. so ancelin chose to go around it, heading northwest.
the crash of the ocean awed him. the blackpine sentinels stood strong against a gusting wind. he could smell the brine mixed with the scent of tree and earth and stone and women. many women.
clearing his throat with a sudden shyness, ancelin pressed carefully toward the nearest border and paused, letting out his voice. he was here to hunt, from the rise. if there was no answer, he would simply go about acquainting himself with the stretch of beach below the clifftops.

Another wolf was being sent to them. Word had spread, in the wake of Mireille’s last visit to their neighbours, to the pack where Requiem lived and belonged. Ruefully, Suzu wished it was her brother that they would send, returning to them so he might rejoin their family, but she’d been disappointed to hear it was some other wolf, instead.

She didn’t often patrol-frightened by the possibility of danger- but she did every so often, as she was instructed. The howl of the stranger caught her attention and she was drawn toward the Tangle, even though she now associated the place with devastating loss. 

The closer she got, the more she felt a lump rise in her throat. Her Grandmaman and Sobo slept here. She thought it was as somewhat callous of the newcomer to approach them from this horrible area, even if it was where the packs came closest together.

She had not expected him to be the same age as her. Another boy, who would likely tag along with Theo and Étienne. Selfishly, she’d hoped they might send a girl, someone for her to bond with. He would have to do, for the time being, she supposed. It was a step toward improving their relationship with the wolves from the Rise.

”Welcome to Sapphique,” She greeted, though she lacked some enthusiasm. She felt unsettled being in this area, and scanned the Tangle for any sign of danger. ”Come.” She said, keen to get him clear of the borders altogether.

the girl who came to greet him was pretty, like muted fog against chestnut wood. she was striking, but ancelin sensed some tension, which distracted him. he followed the line of her eyes into the brush and then glanced back, wide-gazed, and followed at once.
"uh, i'm ancelin. avicus is my aunt," he explained, stumbling over a root as the scent of the ocean struck him full in the senses. "i'm, uh, sorry for your loss. losses." wow. "she said to hunt and patrol. i figured i'd come by first and see what was needed."
"never been up here." he was rambling.

He moved after her, obediently- in spite of his wild looks and the intensity of his gaze, he seemed willing enough to follow the command of a complete stranger, even one as young as she was without any question. Suzu was not one who moved with much haste, but her dislike for the area quickened her step, and her breath soon came in little puffs. 

”Suzu,” She said in response, over the huff of her breath. His legs were much longer than hers, and it made her quite aware of the difference in their physique to see the grace with which he moved in comparison to her short, choppy steps. She envied him for his sporty build. 

Her breath hitched when he expressed his sympathies, and spared him a glance at that moment. He seemed earnest, but fumbling. Perhaps he was in over his head, coming here to a pack which still reeled in the wake of their losses. She coughed, softly, and cleared her throat. She nodded. It was as close as she could come to talking about such tender things with a stranger. 

She did, however, enjoy the fact that he would get to see Sapphique with fresh eyes- and that she would get to see his appreciation first-hand. ”I will show you. Come; we will go dis way,” She said, veering toward the South, so she might save Bluepeace Meadows, and the tunnel down to the beach for later. She could take him toward the freshwater lake, first, past the scraggly woodlands and thickets. 

”So you are a guardian, den, ah? You will like my brot’ers. We be about de same age, I t’ink; my brot’er, Theo, ‘e is training to be a warrior. Perhaps dere be somet’ing you can learn from him.” A small jab, accompanied with a light side-eye, to see how he handled the joust.

suzu. ancelin slowed down for her, keenly cognizant of his gangliness and floppy paws next to the compact curvature of her own figure. the expression in her wildflower eyes suggested she understood more than he let on, or she did. 
or maybe he was just imagining it. wasn't often that pretty girls looked like that at him, or even at all. 
his eyes drank in the landscape, and he was so fascinated it took him a moment to answer.
"a guardian, yes, but i wanted to be a warrior." he took her jest lightly, nudging her back. "i'll learn and trade what i know, then."
did she want to pass him off on her brothers? ancelin hoped not. "how long has sapphique been here?" the aspiring diplomat asked, wondering if suzu would let him glimpse her eyes again with another of those looks.

Her brow arched, but she gave him little more than a fleeting side-eye. In her experience, men did not make warriors. Men fled in the face of danger. Perhaps he sought the title without knowing what a real battle was.

The scars on his face indicated otherwise, though. It looked as though he was still healing. Whatever fight it was he’s gotten into, it had likely been recent. 

”You can per’aps learn to fight from my Maman. Women make for excellent warriors.” She said, her voice tinged with pride.

He asked about her home and she sighed. She noticed that he’d slowed their pace slightly, but she didn’t appreciate it. She pushed forward, her gait becoming bouncy again. ”Two lifetimes,” She answered, though the response, she realized, was somewhat vague. ”My gran’mot’ers founded Sapphique, though it went by a different name years ago. My Mot’er an’ Auntie be de leaders now.” She intended for this to come across as a flex of her own potential.

something was here, but ancelin forged ahead with no analysis or reflection. "i agree. my auntie avicus, she runs the rise. one of the fiercest women i know." it was through her leadership that ancelin had been molded to follow she-wolves first, why he had not questioned anything when suzu had commanded him.
the jaunt returned to his own legs.
"that's a long time," ancelin commented redundantly, trying to measure it in his mind. "so that means, like, you could be leader someday?" maybe it was like redtail too in that.

She gave him a bit of a side-eye when he yet again dodged conflict by agreeing with her. Was he actually this much of a try-hard, or was he just completely terrified of offending her? 

Her defences raised slightly, to have met someone who seemed to revere and appreciate feminine power while living in a pack outside of Sapphique. Suzu knew very little of the world, and of other packs, but for some reason she was surprised that this belief didn’t belong only to them. She found  the thought oddly uncomfortable, simply because she’d felt hell-bent on finding some sort of red flag in his mannerisms so she could send him back and ask for a girl to come instead. 

”Wait until you meet my family,” She responded, proudly. ”Den ou will learn what fierce is,” There was a light, jovial warning in her tone- confidence that had been passed down from one generation to the next, flowering early and eager as it was passed on from one woman to the next. 

”Leader? Me? Non,” She laughed. ”It be too much work, too much drama.” She said. ”I do not want dat for myself. I want to just study de ocean, ‘ave a million fierce little daughters, grow fat an’ live to be twenty four.”

technically both! but ancelin had little reason to doubt the ferocity of suzu's family, especially when the strength of their lineage was all around him, constant feminine reminders that he was a boy.
the idea that she already had her entire future mapped flabbergasted and intrigued ancelin, who barely thought a couple of days ahead. "twenty-four, huh?" he teased a little, indigo eyes gleaming. "what happens at age twenty-four?"
he couldn't even fathom a wolf that age, and how did suzu already know she wanted kids.

"What?" She asked suddenly, turning her lilac gaze to him, pupils widening and narrowing in surprise. She blinked. "You mean, no one 'as told you what 'appens when you turn twenty four?" She asked incredulously. Her eyes roved over him, and one eyebrow lowered. She frowned lightly, as if disappointed, and looked away. She chugged on ahead, as though trying to put a little bit of space between them. 

"Dey teach you so little in de Rise," She called over her rounded shoulder. "When you turn twenty four, you turn into a crab."

ancelin stared at suzu, dumbfounded. she'd said that with such confidence that for a minute, he believed it! "wait, no way. nuh uh," the boy insisted, lolloping after her with what he thought was a winning smile but was more of a confused look.
he paused then, growing solemn. there were more things out there than he knew. "i've never met anyone who was twenty-four," he said, now doubting himself as well as her. "does that happen?"

She kept a straight face, though she very much wanted to burst into laughter. She was reminded of the time she had literally scared the piss out of Stingray with a mix of guilt and intense gratification. It was perhaps cruel to lie, and take advantage of his gullible nature...But this was too much fun. 

"Well, you 'ave never seen a twenty-four year old wolf for dat reason." She said. "Though I hear sometimes if someone is particularly salty....Dey turn into a crab at twenty-tree." She explained. "But I am too sweet for dat; I will live to be twenty-four." She stated proudly.

ancelin was awed. and though he shouldn't believe her, he hadn't ever been far from the rise by himself, and he'd certainly never met someone like suzu.
"well, what do crabs do? i mean, auh, what kind of crab?" he liked her talking; the way she said things. like music.
ancelin wanted more of it. "what color of crab, too?" he grinned, eyes shining.

At this point, leading him along felt more like telling a story- a piece of history- rather than making a game out of his gullibility. She liked the idea of coming up with stories, and trying to have others believe that they were true. Perhaps she could tell her newest siblings such tales- and maybe they might believe her as easily as Ancelin had!

"Why don't I show you?" She asked. They'd passed through the Bluepeace Meadow, and ahead loomed the dark tunnel that led down to the beach. "Come- follow me!" She said, and she broke into a lope, heading for the ominous cave. She cast a glance back over her shoulder only after she had passed into the shadows. 

"My great-great-great-Grandmère is usually down at de beach- I will introduce you to 'er!" She called out, her voice vibrating inside the tunnel, as she held back quiet laughter.

helplessly enchanted, ancelin followed. suzu was like no one he had known before: round and laughing and confident, not hard like those of redtail but certainly not soft!
if anyone was going to be twenty-four, it would be her.
he laughed as they approached the cave, though fell silent in consternation at the darkness of the tunnel. "you guys just, uhum, go through there? like all the time?"

He hesitated and she took delight in the faint trace of apprehension he exhibited. ”Normally,” she said, turning around for a moment to allow the light to highlight her face faintly, ”We leap from de cliffs an’ straight down, forty feet into de ocean.” She said. ”But you are new; so we will go the easy way, hmm?”

he didn't want to go in that dark damn place, but ancelin wasn't about to embarrass himself in front of suzu.
and he believed her, one hundred percent, about the jump. so the blanch on his face was real, as well as the way he hurried to keep himself in contact as he entered the tunnel.
pitch black; his breathing hastened.

While she wasn't normally a bully, she did enjoy sensing his hesitation. It gave her pride to know that her homelands made inland wolves quake with fear. Between the danger of the surf and the long, black tunnel that led through the earth, and as it twisted and wound its way down, the light fell away leaving nothing but darkness, smell and sound. Suzu licked her lips, flicking her ears back slightly in annoyance as she felt his breath at her flank. 

She could bolt and leave him behind, and perhaps he would turn around and go back...But her mother might hear, and be disappointed in her. Instead, she chose to be more like her mother- or more like the idea of her, anyway. 

She stopped and sniffed. "You cannot likely see it, as you are not from 'ere," She said, "But just ahead, dere be a landbridge. It is...A small, very narrow path but on either side of it, is a drop dat goes down into darkness no one has ever emerged from. I believe dere be water down dere, but we can only 'ear it at high tide and....it is not high tide." She informed him. "Wid babies, we get dem to 'old onto our tailtips an' we lead dem across. You t'ink you can follow me or do you need help?" She asked.

babies! ha! ancelin was suddenly very grateful for the darkness which hid the burn of his face. "i'll watch my step," he said, not boasting but truly feeling harried by the blackness and wanting very much to escape it.
a landbridge? a steep drop? ancelin's stomach lurched, and this made him feel quite babyish and stupid. he flexed his shoulders hard.

Well, he wasn’t a complete coward. But he was gullible enough to believe that she could see in the dark better than him- and that they were truly about to cross a bridge of land over a yawning pit below. This diffused some of her plotting, though she wouldn’t give up on the ruse just yet. 

”Straight forward, you can just follow my voice,” She said, and began to hum a lullaby from her youth, enjoying the natural reverb of the tunnel.

and so ancelin did, trying not to flinch at the lack of light nor what he took to be teasing in suzu's voice.
the song comforted him, and as the young man walked, he felt himself less afraid, less taut.
and still, ancelin longed for light.