Stavanger Bay under the waves and the earth of an age

Hoping for Mister @Skellige.

Deirdre had informed her of the alliance, and seemed to believe in it with the wholeheartedness and warmth that was the paler sister's light— but Emaleth did not trust it, could not give in to such blind and innocent faith. She had been her littermate's protector beginning from their time in the womb, and perhaps in lifetimes before; despite her distance in their youth, and her absence in the wake of their father's death, this had not changed. Nor would it.

She did not like that Donnelaith's borders were threatened by an encroaching pack, the sands that were their combined border somehow tainted now. Their magicks were diluted and weakened, and Emaleth imagined that the intruders' energies would spread through the forest like an infection. For a moment, she doubted that Aria had made the wrong choice; but Taltos had meant for his grove to be a sanctuary, and so it would be.

But its defense, then, must be more cunning to maintain the peace he willed. The forest would protect its own, and doubly so if it had the encouragement of Emaleth's magicks, and the additional support of her hexes.

She stood on the neutral sands, the salty ocean breeze tangling in the length of her fur.