Overture Downs winds of east

"when snows come, we go back." to the taiga. now his gaze remained upon morwenna, softening as he traced the outline of the cooling hide around her shoulders, a smattering of blood fringed in drying droplets.

until then, the valley remained the run of the saatsine. he wondered if she would find him there as well, and the thought filled his chest with a gentle warmth. in her voice she offered — 

sun eater did not name it, only allowed their eyes to flicker in one flame before he again looked aside, pretending that the herds captured his focus in a way that was increasingly a lie.

his shoulder stung. the saatsine hunter ignored it.

okay, morwenna murmured, her voice soft, almost inaudible. her nose dipped toward the herbs she’d gathered, working them with precision. the scent of earth and green filled the space between them, mingling with the sharp tang of blood that clung to his wound.

she leaned closer, her tongue brushing against the edges of the injury to clear away the dried crimson, tasting the metallic iron of him. her touch was careful, deliberate, the pressure of her ministrations firm yet tender.

as she worked, she let the question fall from her lips, quiet but laced with an unspoken hope. will you come see me during the winter? on the way back.

her blue eyes flicked up, catching his briefly before settling back on the task at hand. the caribou skin rested heavily on her shoulders, but the warmth it offered felt distant compared to the quiet fire that flickered in her chest, waiting for his reply.

sun eater was unused to being touched. ice diver offered him the warmth of her brushes here and there, but the sharp aura of the saatsine man did not invite nearness. shoulder stiffened, instinctive bristling flaring hackles to life before he forced them flat, bid the tautness to flee.

fragrance of crushed herbs mingled with the metallic tang of copper on her breath. a new sensation rippled the hard skin beneath his pelt.

"yes."

he wanted to bring her back with him.

a muscle in his jaw leapt. he concentrated his will on keeping head lifted as morwenna worked over his wounding.

it was not a question. not a request. they clashed in culture and perhaps nature.

it was a moment for sun eater to admit to himself what he had refused to know.

morwenna let a soft smile curve her lips as her nose brushed just above the wound. the tension in his body didn’t escape her notice, but she didn’t pull away, pressing gently to calm the sharp edges of his instinct.

good, she murmured, the word carried on a warm breath that mingled with the scent of the herbs she had placed. the moss settled neatly over the injury, her careful work designed to shield it from infection. her movements were deliberate, steady, as if to assure him he could trust her hands.

she lingered a moment, then added quietly, her voice carrying a light, almost teasing lilt, i was hoping you’d say that.

her blue eyes lifted, catching his briefly, before she pulled back just enough to let the weight of her words settle between them. there was a warmth in her expression now, a flicker of something unspoken yet understood, like a thread tying her to the man who bore the burden of his herd.

unspoken. unheard. slender sentiment existing in swiftcurrent eyes was enough to limn him in cold. dread. gheli's face danced before his eyes. red leaf's anger burned in his ears. sun eater — cen — had set himself apart. not even carnality was something he pursued, for in the arms of women he had only ever lost himself.

fractured essence of who he was, sun eater had tried to recapture it from his sharadoii wife. but gheli had died and taken some part of him with her. ghaden as well, swallowed by a river which he had always loved.

now there stood again a chance and he found himself wanting to seize its opportunity. did he not deserve?

yet there was an edict here, one he himself had set. the laws of saatsine were clear.

his body had relaxed in knowing, but for a moment sun eater dared not glance into the face of morwenna lest she see the same unuttered things standing stark in his single eye. only when it had passed did he meet the creek woman's gaze. "your chieftain. he not mind we speak?" 

morwenna tilted her head slightly, her gaze steady as she listened to sun eater’s question. his hesitation, his careful choice of words, did not go unnoticed, but she chose not to press him on it. instead, she offered a soft smile, her voice calm but firm.

of course not, she said simply, shaking her head. it is my duty to speak with others, to understand the lands and the wolves who inhabit them. swiftcurrent creek thrives on knowing its neighbors.

for a moment, her eyes dropped to the ground, where the blood-stained earth of their shared hunt lay beneath their paws. she lingered there, the weight of the moment settling around her like the pelt draped across her shoulders.

but then she looked up again, meeting his gaze, and the edges of her expression softened. but you’re the only one i’ve sought twice.

her voice was quieter now, her words meant more for him than for the world around them. there was no pretense, no obligation in her tone—just truth, spoken as plainly as she could manage. for a heartbeat, she thought of her own chieftain, of her pack, of the duties that pulled her in a hundred directions.

but none had pulled her here quite like this.

when you come back in the winter, i'll have a gift for you.

it was there again. he stared at morwenna standing shawled in the caribou hide and his heart betrayed its trepidation with singular pupil. he did not speak. what was her power to arrest him so? sun eater had been always a forceful man. the saatsine knew him as assured and willing to engage even fatal violence to claim or to take.

but here was such a man now, unsure. undone in a sweet way, poised on the edge of saying what he wanted and knowing they were not words to be spoken. 

she had come as messenger then, and stayed to eat red flesh with him after.

what did it mean!

tying temptation down behind the oaken hold of his mind, sun eater nodded. "maybe i have gift for you also, morwenna," tones careful on the sound of her voice.

another!

morwenna exclaimed, her voice a sudden burst of light in the cold air. 

the caribou hide draped over her shoulders shifted as she turned sharply toward him, her expression bright and brimming with girlish wonder. 

for me? she asked, her tone lifting like the playful trill of a songbird, eyes wide with excitement.

her tail swayed, brushing softly against the ground as she took a step closer, her pale gaze fixed on him now. whatever tension lingered in the moment seemed to melt beneath the warmth of her delight. 

you spoil me, chieftain, she teased gently, though the gleam in her eye betrayed genuine pleasure. the valley, the blood-scented air, even the wounds they had tended—all seemed lighter now, touched by this whimsical exchange. or...you prefer sun eater?

her reaction fractured his guard and at last a grin played along the hunter's hard-set mouth. "yes," he said, and as her eyes captured his own gaze in the manner he had come often to enjoy, he reached to brush the caribou hide with his own paw, stirring the hairs over the rise of morwenna's shoulder. "i want to bring."

"what is 'spoil?'" the saatsine man asked next, breaking their contact to stand with restless energy, an aura now captivated by both she and his own burgeoning uncertainty about the entire thing.

how could sun eater ask of morwenna what not even all lanzadoii women could do? i want vied with it is not safe! and he remembered how red leaf, a caribou hunter in her own right, of her own people, had suffered on the long march.

how she had once looked at him like this — and how quickly her joy had dissipated.

below them, a wolven figure started in across the frozen land, spearheading chase toward a cluster of cows.

morwenna’s lips curved gently, her gaze softening as she allowed sun eater’s touch against the caribou hide she wore. his paw lingered for a moment, and hers flicked briefly downward, tracing the edge of the fur he had gifted her. her own form seemed smaller beside his restless energy, yet steady, grounded in its own way.

spoil, she began, her voice quiet but clear, is what you take from victory. the prize of your labor. a good thing, something to be proud of.

she let the words hang between them, the air tinged with a fragile understanding. when his gaze shifted, drawn to the movement below, morwenna followed it, her own expression dimming as she caught sight of the figure chasing the cows. her brow furrowed, the faintest frown pulling at her lips as she turned back to him.

keep your herd safe, chieftain, she murmured, her tone softer now, touched with something akin to concern. 

i will see you again. her eyes lingered on his face, searching for his reaction, before drifting back to the distant figure that threatened the quiet harmony of the moment.

exit mo against my will!!!

fading here <333

a good thing.

pride.

did she mean for him to be proud of her? he thought of it; of she a long shadow at his side and the saatsine around them, of the moieties that could be built from a single — a single moment. lanzadoii, numerous as the caribou which they followed.

he followed morwenna with his one-eyed stare until she was gone from sight; a breath fierce expanded his ribcage and he too turned away.

the wolves of the sun clan called; he went to meet them, weighted now with newly minted sensation.