Wapun Meadow cast by their grave-beseeming ornaments

Wardruna’s dark umbra ears cup forth atop his skull as he watches her with a …giddy eagerness bubbling in the cavity of his chest as she inquires over what he means with a tentativeness. Her tentativeness does not necessarily come as a surprise to him — it’s not as if he’s entirely sure what he means either. Wardruna only knows that the new path that has revealed itself to him: the path whose precipice that he stands upon feels right. It is dark and what it holds for him is unknown — it’s not without risk ( he is reminded that nothing in life worth having is not without it’s risks ) but he is not afraid. “fyrirtæki. yes.” Well, it was more than company he was offering he supposed. He had no plan, not really. Nothing beyond leaving Easthollow and freeing Noma from her title as thrall and giving her the choice: join him or stay with Easthollow. There were no potential territories in his mind, and certainly no guarantee that they’d be able to build a pack. He supposes if they don’t they will simply have to go elsewhere: find another pack and try again when the winter snows melt and spring blooms to life.

Patience is a slowly learned but necessary evil for the northerner. It’s yielded results are slow but sometimes, he’s discovering, worth the wait. “You could travel with me.” Wardruna; but as a companion he thinks, not as a thrall. Thus far taking women as his thralls against their wills has only yielded him unsatisfactory results. He is not overly sure anyone would choose to be a thrall and perhaps with time his tune towards taking instead of asking will change. His temperament varies: like the winters of the land that bore him. Some days were mild, tolerable and others were utterly harsh and unforgiving; and his culture? It was designed to weed out the weak. It is in his nature to be “cruel” though he will never see it as such because to him it is not cruel: it is simply how life is.

You could be my woman. Wardruna does not give voice to this desire. It is unorthodox to want to claim her for himself even though he knows nothing of her but he is not bothered by such things. There is plenty of time for the ‘getting to know’ part, he thinks. Still, he doesn’t want to scare her off. For now, he will settle for companion if she is inclined to accept a stranger’s offer.

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