Barrow Fields put me on the front line leave me with a dumb mind

their destination loomed on the horizon. 

ava felt her breath spike. she’d not expected how heavy the brine hit her — it opened a flood of memories too painful to bring to light. 

her vision rippled as the waves in the distance did. as she moved along the threads of light blurred, taking shape in endless ribbons to the sky. 

at the foot of a giant’s grave ava rested, a dark pool panting under the ruthless thumb of the sun.

the tasseled bard ambled along the field, having come form the east and heading west, treated no kinder by the sun but cleverly defended by the coat of his breed, skin untouched and cooled by motions of the air.

slavuj hummed as he went, no particular tune, merely an exercise of the vocal cords, relaxed despite limited vision if not made to worry less by the same. he never was one for nerves, and what he couldn't see he couldn't be anxious over. he'd long learned to not mind the way these mounds sent a chill the length of his spine.

omg tysm for joining <3

things were no better sitting down. ava panted heavily, moving to shade. 

it was sound that brought her first from her miserable reverie; her ears snapped to attention, tracking the source of humming to one of the barrows to her right. 

shifting to her feet, ava climbed the slope and squinted into the sun, her swimming vision focusing on what seemed an inconceivable shape of off-white moving through the field. there was another noise, peculiar and barely perceptible as he moved - ava could not understand what she was seeing and so, tensed at high alert as he drew close.

love hitting ppl with The Mop <3

it was shaping up to a song! yes, yes, this one he'd learned recently, and as he walked the bard let his hums drop to a rumble in preparation, before his baritone rose to sing it to the empty fields and their mounds of pregnant earth;

jest laik th' seed~

ai doen't kno' wher' tchu go~

thro' diert aend shado' ai grow'~

ai'm reachink light,

thro' th'  struggle...

and he remained unaware of how he confidently stepped toward a hackle-raised yearling.

if the thing had not sung, ava would think she’d witnessed a spectre. she balked as it drew close, that alien noise of dragging hair coming with it. ava’s slender hock moved backwards, followed by her nearly slipping off the slope she stood upon. 

she did not call attention to herself as the creature drew close. on top of his bizarre appearance, he was also an unsavory color - his fur was not the snow-white of her kindred, but rather, he looked as if he’d started a sallow ivory before adopting the color (and detritus) of the landscape — particularly near what ava assumed were feet. 

she lowered her body to the ground, ears flat in the manner of a cat trying to become fully vertical with the ground line.

jest laik th' seeed,

ai'm chasink th' won~der,

ai unravel maiseeelf,

ol in slo' mo~tion...

and with the drop of his voice - that last over-enunciated consonant - the bard let his long legs give under his heated weight, and so the pile of off-color cords and debris that was he came to lean fully against a mound, still oblivious as his tongue rolled out to cool.

that was it -- that last refrain such an alarmist sound that ava found her comfort-threshold exceeded.

as the shape -- whatever it was -- slouched against the cool side of a barrow, ava sped towards it. she did not know what it was and she did not want it near her. with all of the tenacity of a dialed in herd dog, she barreled for the shape's backside, aiming a nip wherever its ambiguous haunch was.

she did not want to kill, but in the manner of a coyote, she was here to fend for her domain with her teeth and would not tolerate interlopers.

truly, it was an admirable attempt, but teeth of a wildling couldn't make it through the tasseled covering. all slavuj felt was a sudden tug, and the surprise lurched him to turn - seeing a scraggly yearling canine, all-black but for a fiery birthmark over one cheek, threat in every sharp angle of her self.

easy, easy! the bard attempted to diffuse, one foreleg extended to push away any further strikes.

no bites- ey, no bites! and he couldn't help having a slight, breathless laugh in his voice. what a situation!

unexpectedly, the flesh of this nether-creature is like chomping on vines. her teeth puncture, but the rope shields the underlying skin — ava is mystified. 

she sprung back in the manner of a jackal boldly snapping at a feasting lioness’s hocks, alighting several paces away with a show of teeth. 

so whatever garment he wore protected his hide like armor. ava realized if it came to it, she could not sink teeth deep enough to kill. the thought chilled her and compelled her to take another three steps back. 

but it spoke! she snapped her ears forward, tense but still — waiting for an explanation on how a wolf could become converted to what amounted to bleached kelp on seastone.

like a flopping eel! again, the breathless laugh, as he watched this young one be so fierce in the face of one as meager as he.

slavuj sat, his heavy tail sweeping over the grass, mouth open in a smile which let the tongue hang.

now, ies dere reason yeau attack fellow trav'ller, yaung lady? hm? he tilted his head slightly to allow for indirect eye contact.

the tension held in her chest expounded as the thing flopped again, the ropy strands flinging on the ground. its tail -- or what she assumed was the approximation of a tail -- moved, rattling like seashells dragged over stone.

ava took another step back. it spoke again, prompting ava to circle wide around him. she could understand what he said, but he was so alien from anything she had ever known that not even his sweet voice could lull the mounting suspicion lodged against her breast.

because he was different, ava did not know if it was safe to be near him. he could be sick - or maybe a horrible curse converted him from once-wolf to whatever this was. ava, possessing no faculty in which to ask him these things, began to make a wide berth away from him.

she would watch him for a time, but never let her guard down.

the bard thought himself very much non-threatening, so it perplexed him that she showed not a hair of trust in all her body! were he not the image of friendly?

so as she circled, he thought of the possibilities, of her mannerism and quietness, and now wondered if she were born a mute -- saddest of the faults! -- or merely made so, by some awful thing in her young life?

now, doggish enthusiasm calmed by sad thoughts, slavuj stilled, with slow movements he laid down, hindlegs beside him, to show he wouldn't be quick to bolt.

ai don't kno' yeaur hurts, ladybug, bat trast - no harm. to show so, he laid his head on his paws.

yeau go on yeaur way, ai understand, bat kno' - ief yeau hear sing-ing on coast, yeau will find no evil.

a single thump of tail.

the thing collapsed. the whoosh of air signaled ava's exit, she did not look back to see the man had rested his head on his paws and was the textbook definition of non-threatening.

goosed by this encounter ava swung towards the beach. she did not know what that thing was, but she doubted it could swim well. she kept the water close as she reunited with her siblings, sharing her scent so they could learn of the bewildering events of her day.