King Elk Forest time and he are inseparable

giant monologue incoming. did mato even pause to breathe? idk. lmao.

Mate is not surprised when Delight delves into the questions: where he comes from, how he decided Tindómë would take form and about the King Elk. As Mato knows very little about the imperial Elk that has graciously shared his territory with the pack he decides to answer that first. A soft shiver of a chill slithers down the druid’s spine as Delight exclaimed that he’s met the King Elk. “I have yet to lay eyes upon him but I have heard him,” The eerie, high pitched and low gravelly roar that he gives off is the same but more ethereal than any he’d heard in Broken Antler Fen. “I knew of him but only because he is called the wolf killer.” Mato wonders if this knowledge will be enough to scare some of his subordinates off but he is quick to offer his explanation, “but elk are not inherent killers. They are not unlike us: they kill when they need to. To protect themselves, their mates, their offspring. I am not saying that he has not killed but I believe it was only for righteous reasons. He has been generous enough to allow us to claim this land, to co-exist with him as risky as it is. So he is under our protect. Him, any mate he takes and any children he may sire within this territory.” The empyrean still has yet to decide whether King Elk is a god in mortal flesh though he is not sure he believes in such things. He believes in the energy, in the “magic” of the earth and the sky because he can see it, feel it; and at the end of the day the King Elk is guardian of the Earth just as he is.

“As for me,” With not much life beneath his belt Mato’s story will be small. “I was born in a pack called Broken Antler Fen alongside my three siblings. I lived a good, happy childhood. Nothing dramatic had ever really happened until I met a boy one day in a neighboring territory named Cypress. I had joined with the band of kids that would later form Northstar Vale. I believe I’ve always held onto the beliefs that make up Tindómë’s core but it wass then, I think, when it occurred to me that Tindómë could become more than a wishful dream. If Rannoch, whom was likely no older than I am now at the time, could gather wolves to follow him then so could I.” The druid gives a pause before continuing with, “I was raised in a traditional pack and Northstar Vale, too, was traditional. There is nothing necessarily wrong with traditional but I found that it was never diverse enough in trades. Traditional was not for me. I seek that diversity, I want trades to matter. And I abhor the idea that someone bigger and rougher can come into a pack and claw their way to the top of the hierarchy with nothing to show for it aside from arrogance and bullying, or on the opposite of the coin someone is promoted out of favoritism. Rank and leadership, respect and the right to be dominant in a pack should be earned. I had no idea if anyone would share my idea, or would even be interested to break out of tradition.”

“I spent a month, perhaps two, in the Vale planning Tindómë out, losing myself in the stars as I thought. At times I forgot I was still corporeal until hunger would turn my stomach,” and then… “and then Aerlinn came,” He realized he used her nickname instead of the name she was known by and offered Delight a sheepish smile. “Seabreeze. I thought nothing of her continued presence before we left the Vale, blind to the fact that she had tethered me back to the earth, reminded me that I am not stardust and that my ideas can be real if I was only brave enough to try. So she joined me on the journey that could have easily failed, believing in me and as we searched for a place to call home we recruited.” The empyrean draws in a deep breath, his monologue over.

“From there, you know the rest of the story.” Or rather, Mato thinks, what has already happened. Tindómë’s history was still in the making; and it was a wonderful thing to know.