Qeya River Clover leaves and dandelions

Two children kept him quite busy, as he doted upon @Ash Star and her growing children who were becoming more and more mobile each day. They grew and so did their demands, and Ksura felt fulfilled to be taking care of them. 

He did not forget, however, about the wives who had also brought two litters into the world. He gave them space, but once before had left a slain rabbit in their vicinity, hoping they would accept it as a gift. 

He felt ashamed, for having not brought it right to them. He guilted himself for a day, and then slew another rabbit- and with a bit more boldness this time, he sought out @wren and @silvertongue, hoping they might be appeased with his offering.

ksura caught silvertongue as she was returning to the sunlit den against the qeya. "hola," she greeted with waving tail and appreciative glance for his offering. "i have just met with our neighbors," she said. "wealda and gavrel, of the rise. there are many of them. they offer us hunters. and i said we could help to train their healers." she eyed the man; bringing him into her council was important for riverclan, she felt, whatever they might become.

Silvertongue looked well, and effortlessly made him feel both comfortable and overwhelmed all at once. He’d figured there might be some stiff small-talk, and had assumed that once he’d given them their gift, he’d be kindly waved off so that he could go back to hunting. It seemed instead that she wanted to talk of the pack’s affairs with their neighbours, and he was surprised.

”Oh?” They would have hunters to help, but were expected to help train medics. He shrugged. ”’Fraid I personally can’t help with that much, but uh, I’m assuming one of you knows something about medicines, yeah?” Ash Star might, he thought- he knew so little of Silvertongue and Wren that he had no idea whether they specialized in that knowledge or not. 

Obviously, if she had made that arrangement, one of them must be capable. 

”I’d be glad for more hunters though. Where did you say they were from?” He asked, for clarification.

a laugh; "i know nothing of it, but i remember the basics. i can learn, i think," she said, her eyes traveling to the small white flowers and the tufts of dark green that interwove beyond the denmouth. "and i can teach." in the palace she had learned that ambition did not operate on hesitance. they needed hunters. silvertongue would ensure it. "northwest, i think. they just called it the rise." she considered ksura. "it is more open here in the taiga. i think — i think i am unaccustomed to the lack of shadows in this place."

It seemed perhaps she would not have much advice to offer; he wondered if the neighbouring wolves would be satisfied with the trade of basic knowledge for help with hunting. Surely, though, Silvertongue would not offer more than what could be expected. He chose not to question her reasoning- she seemed resourceful, and confident that their exchange would be fair. 

Some reason, he felt a twinge in his belly when she spoke the words ”And I can teach.” He was swift to dismiss the sensation, and felt lightly guilty for the path that his mind had gone down, even if only for a second. Silvertongue was an attractive woman, even if she didn’t intend to be noticed that way. 

She reiterated the location of the pack she had negotiated with, and for a moment, his expression went blank. He tried to recall if those were the wolves that the tongue-less woman had belonged to, but the name didn’t ring a bell. He suspected it was, but he didn’t feel it would be an issue. 

The woman hadn’t liked him, but she hadn’t really seemed to like anyone, anyway. 

”I kinda like the plains,” He said, with a light shrug as he tuned back into the conversation. ”I lived a bit in some foothills, near the mountains…It was pretty open there, but.” he shrugged again. Enough about him. ”You grew up in the woods?” He asked, curious to learn more about her.

a shake of her head; "the desert. the flatlands after that. the coast. the mountains." she flashed ksura a pretty smile. "i have been everywhere. this is my first time in the taiga. a new adventure." meandering a little, she glanced at him again, this curious man who kept close to ash star but remained rather unattached, as was her co-lead. "what did you enjoy about the plains?" the warmth here was glowingly welcome; she shut her eyes for a moment, leaning into the sun-rays.

”Huh,” He was impressed. ”You’re a world traveller then, huh?” He commented, his brightened gaze curious to know more. ”I haven’t seen real desert,” He said, musing momentarily on the shrubby, rolling hills of interior British Columbia. 

His head tilted when he was asked of plains, and he gave her a toothy grin. ”Sheep.” He said. ”Hundreds and hundreds of ‘em. An’ they’re stuck inside these big fields lines with hard, thorny brush that they can’t seem to jump over.” He said. Not too high for him, however. 

His grin faded lightly, and his ear tips lopped- a sign of guilt. ”Learned my lesson though. Those sheep belong to someone and that someone has a stick that can spit pain faster than a shooting star.”

"a world traveller, yes. and the desert is as hot and far as you can see, ksura," silvertongue said of such a place, refusing to think of germanicus or his brats in this moment. she had no intentions of returning to the naaghai either, repulsed by the very notion. more interested in hearing the details of this experience, she kept her gaze from being touched by memory when she reopened eyes to watch ksura once more. "a stick that shoots pain. i can see why you went, though. so many sheep would be hard for anyone to resist."

There was a warmth in her words which he assumed had come from time spent in such a place- though he found it hard to imagine that a desert could be hospitable enough to earn such admiration. He decided he must not know enough to make such assumptions- he didn’t doubt Silvertongue’s judgement. Somewhere within the arid desert, there must have been something quite beautiful. 

Surprisingly, though, she didn’t seem perturbed by his penchant for killing sheep, even when the risk was so high. He sat back slightly, lips relaxing as he blinked at her. ”My family didn’t feel the same,” He said with a brittle chuckle, and a sheepish shrug of one shoulder. He was quiet for a moment; his family…Wherever they were now. 

He wasn’t quite as deft at conversation as she- who could both sun herself, relax, and talk seemingly without much premeditation. ”How’ve you and Wren been doing since you had your kids?” He asked. He’d heard, once, that it was important to ask mothers how they were doing, rather than just placing all the attention on the kids, though he was tempted to ask of them first.

"we have been well. settling. it is my second time," silvertongue explained, "and i think that has been helpful to us both." his question had caught her off-guard in an intrigued way, if only for the simple fact that she was unused to such intimacy from men. "they grow fast. soon they will hunt with us." she watched ksura. "there is only one reason to go for such easy hunting, and it to feed yourself and others. who can be angry for this?" and while it was rather rhetorical, he was indeed free to answer.

Ksura was not capable of hiding his surprise. His head tilted and his ears pricked as he interpreted that Silvertongue had been a mother once before. Alongside his curiosity came a mild sense of dread. He assumed she was only old enough to have had two litters, and deduced that any other children she had would be just a year old now- and yet they weren’t present. He tried to re-evaluate her age, but found himself staring a bit too hard at her pretty features, distracted by her looks rather than the task of sussing out her age. 

She knew children, though- and knew that this year’s batch would soon be old enough to begin hunting. He smiled faintly, though it faded. An unbidden memory of Mira’s children came to him, lingering for a moment. They’d become separated before he could teach them how to hunt, and that reality felt brutal. 

”Soon enough,” He echoed, trying to summon a bit more enthusiasm. Mira and her children hadn’t been on his mind lately- the memory felt intrusive. 

Not your fault. This time, it’s not your fault.

The mention of easy prey caused him to reflect again on his fascination with sheep; the memory of killing simply because it was easy- and the repercussions. He wasn’t sure if Silvertongue was fishing for more details- but the hapless man was easy to hook. 

”Well…” He shrugged. He couldn’t bail now- he’d seem shifty, dishonest. ”Easy prey’s good, sure. Just…As long as it doesn’t invite…Yeah.” Invite what? He wasn’t making sense. He blurted out an explanation. ”I got hit by one of those hunters that keep the flock. I survived but I don’t think everyone else did, so…Lesson learned, for me, about…Easy hunting isn’t always the best.” His voice grew thin, and he his posture shrank a bit. ”I can at least teach kids that…If they’ll listen.”

there were depths to ksura she did not understand. and perhaps she was not meant to understand. unwinding a man required the breadth of breast and warmth that silvertongue could not muster for anyone these days save for wren. also, the bonds of monogamous matrimony warmly bound her now, and she had been grateful for them. it did not mean her gaze appreciated ksura any less, but she did not dwell on this as he reacted to his own memory. "we are safer here. i do not think things will be so easy, but — when we are together, there is less lost." her voice was solemn, reflecting the moment she had caught in the man's eyes. "would you like to speak about it, ksura? it is easy for me to listen."

His stormy thoughts lifted slightly at the mention of safety. He truly wanted to believe her- and found that both Silvertongue and Wren were trustworthy enough that if they did believe that they were safe, then so would he. The move had not come without some amount of turmoil- but he hoped it might settle. 

Graciously, she offered him the chance to talk about his experience but he shook his head, gaze downcast, and uttered a dry chuckle. "Nahhh," He breathed softly. "No sense dwelling on it. But thanks, though, you're uh, pretty easy to talk to," He said, his gaze finally lifting and presenting a hint of warmth. 

Those indigo eyes sought reassurance a moment later. "Wren's feeling safer here, yeah?" He asked.

her smile shone. "i have made myself easy to speak with. it was not always so." and though the allusion was pleasant to spin, she did not want to make a yarn of the past. "she is. being away from riverclan and the valley, i think, has brought some relaxation." and silvertongue knew she would come to think of the qeya as wondrous, when she had cast herself through the mourning of the green shadows in which she had once loved a prince. a fairytale. "and you? do you feel safer where we are, ksura?"