Larksong Grotto cranberry

wolf dreamer traveled carefully. the sky's light shone down from the entrance which had led him into the grotto.

his steps were unhurried. he found each stone trail and tested it before continuing.

birds called here, and flew to and fro.

one landed upon his shoulder, seemingly unafraid of his teeth. the dreamer was quiet, traveling with the lark at his sedate pace.

he did not like to be away from wilwarin or the boys for long. but this place had called to him, and now, dreaming, he had answered.

hide.

her mind went on incessantly with the thought. startled and weary with all that had happened she sought shelter. hard reaching, unforgiving, even desolate places were all she searched for. somewhere far away. arletta was scraped up, sore, and tired; her mind pained by the remorseless and thieving strangers and she'd ran      far, far away.

find some stupid place to die. ain't nothin' out here for me no more.

her mama might've told her she was being silly, that she'd always had a touch for the dramatics. the woman was right, arletta only had a few scratches and sore limbs. inconveniences had usually been the end of the world for her but now, she surely thought it couldn't get worse. everybody was fucking dead and she was alone.

her avoidance of others ended in failure. her head lifted from the stony ground where she lay curled up and pitying herself beside the pool. dusky ears swiveled each direction and attempted to tune out the bird song. someone was here.

Wolf clattered naked teeth in a bare jawbone.

those boys. born in blood. boys in blood.

i don't know what you mean.

no boy born with his mother's blood in his mouth avoids power.

wolf dreamer stopped abruptly in his tracks through the grotto, wincing as behind the black and staring eyes there came the replaying of images; wilwarin's horrible shining anguish, the death she had experienced over and over before her sons breathed.

he held it inside himself, a tall and slender figure standing on a small natural cliff within the recesses of that cavern, surrounded by winging larks as he stared at absolutely nothing.

what the fuck? is he like- posing?

that was a thousand yard stare if she'd ever seen one. he was draped in mahogany and dusky, earthen colors; arletta even thought he looked a little beat up. she gazed upwards at him, eyes narrowed at the harsh sunlight behind him. she remained laying down, scowling and afraid. arletta had absolutely corned herself. how could she be so stupid?

"listen, mister, i don't want no trouble but i'll give it to you if you don't get on yer way!" she shouted upwards, believing he'd already seen her.

he was scary alright, dramatically tall and dark.

like a frightened feline she shied in on herself and her lips pulled back to reveal a ready set of teeth. regardless if he'd meant any harm, she didn't know who this was! this land was new and she'd placed herself in a cavern of little exits.

the lark on his shoulder sent tendrils of gold leaping up toward the star web. wolf dreamer felt his soul inside the bird for a moment, felt the warm confusion of the creature, its wonder, its acceptance.

Wolf laughed.

those who shout are drawn to power. never question it.

the lupine skull snapped in the direction of the voice, and when the dreamer came back to himself, he too had turned, albeit more softly, now staring at its bearer.

in truth, he could not see her with the clash of shadow against sunlight.

"have i invaded your home?" he called calmly. "it was an accident, if so. i can go."

the lark kept its perch. the dreamer turned, looking hazily toward the path he had climbed.

the stranger seemed just as avoidant of conflict as she was. she blinked harshly into the sunlight as he spoke. 

does he have a bird?      on his shoulder...?

arletta leveled out her unsteady breaths and moved to stand. he meant no trouble, clearly. it didn't mean he wasn't weird though, or at least arletta thought so.

"no- no it's alright. just thought you were... ya know." he likely didn't know.

she simply didn't want any teeth to her skin and she'd threaten and argue with all her might to avoid it despite the possibility that'd only encourage the events. arletta didn't understand such things. she shook the dust and stray twigs from her coat and hoped the raised hairs of anxiety would settle as well.

"i'll be on my way, mister, uh?" his name and conversation. yeah, that's always polite, right? right. nice and calm greetings, or exit. yeah, exit. 

the girl was still rather uncomfortable and decided her size would not match his. if it were a battle of speech, she'd always had a fire under her tongue. arletta did not for see any situation where that would turn out in her favor. especially now, with her attitude making a turn on itself.

when the woman moved, he saw her. wolf dreamer inclined his head. "there's a path up to the entrance. i'll show you."

quietly he moved along the narrow, silent track, which arced upward toward the exit from the grotto.

the birds called around them, flying, flapping, landing here and there up stone structures.

sunlight gleamed above.

he tried not to look back at the shimmer of gilt lines which reached up from the woman to the star web, only continued walking on their stony, rising slant.

when he'd turned his back with calmness and trust anger had bubbled up within her. she wondered how nice it would be to have the privilege of it, security.

"thanks, you're?" she trailed off again, a second attempt at his name.

arletta knew of the exit, moving towards his direction slowly and dividing her attention to scaling the stone and watching him carefully.

"oh. i'm — you can call me dreamer."

he continued up the rockpath until buttery golden light fell across his scarred face, then barred him in broken glow as he emerged from the mouth of the grotto.

"i apologize. it has been a while since i was around anyone new." and he had become accustomed to it, to wilwarin and sunchaser and lightning shell acting as the center of his world.

at last wolf dreamer allowed himself to look at the woman. her spirals of gold thrummed with hard emotion. was it pain he saw? or was it only his own?

she'd relaxed a bit, thinking his oddness was sort of endearing. they walked up the treacherous exit and it was there his fur was lightened by the sun showing rich touches of red. her brows and nose furrowed at his name.

he only gets weirder.

"that the name yer mother gave ya?" she responded, hints a smile pulling at her lips through wrinkled confusion.

"n' yeah me too i guess. everything's... ya know- big and scary when you don't got yer whole crowd." arletta worried it was a bit to much to say, but if the enigmatic man had ill intent she decided it would have been acted upon already.

when he looked at her in the span that silence had settled, her eyes pulled away from the exit and she stared back at him. his eyes scared the shit outta her, but they held a gentleness of sorts when they each rested in each others gazes.

"i got somethin on my face er what?"

there came a smile at last, the scars along his face pulling somewhat. "no. there's nothing on your face."

the lark at last lifted from his shoulder and flitted back into the grotto. "i don't remember the name i had before. i don't remember my mother."

wolf dreamer was quiet, but not sad. he looked down over the slopes which led away from the place.

"are you heading somewhere?"

arletta didn't want to answer. she wanted to prolong the moment.

"i don't where i'm goin... what you doin here?" she pulled her gaze away from the distance.

teekon wilds seemed friendly to her. a place to give her everything. a place that could have given her family everything.

"someone is waiting for me," the dreamer said softly. 

three someones.

he looked quietly at the brash young woman. "i came from the coast. have you ever been there?"

"was supposed to be goin there. things uh- things changed mister dreamer." arletta answered, finding herself unable to keep his eyes in view and looked outwards towards far places.

"who's waitin on ya?" she should be going, like she'd said but the question left her lips rather fast.

the meeting of this stranger was soft enough to ease her mind from the cruelty that she believed all held here. it was something to convince her to back away from spiteful words towards those unknown.

a quiet look warmed the scar-twisted features. "a woman. she took care of me when i lay dying and feverish. now i take care of her."

it was the way of things. the dreamer still did not think the stranger had ever given her name, but it did not matter. names too were part of their great illusion.

he did not want to say more. instinct warded the man against revealing anything else about wilwarin or the boys. "what changed?"

his obsidian eyes seemed to drink her in suddenly, the dreamer searching for the truth behind her eyes.