Ravenshook Cliffs enter, stranger, but take heed

lovely post! i'm happy to start our second one too if you want that to run at the same time, or we can definitely wait. you just let me know <3

 

The waters rocked back and forth with the hand of the wind guiding them. His pale figure stood, shoulder deep, as the waves crashed against him. The Kingfisher was pushed to and fro. He struggled to hold his ground against her might. He had been taught that if he were to submerge himself and glide beneath the swell, she would turn from a violent beat to a serene and breathtaking other world. It was one that he knew would never bring him disappointment, and so the seafarer would spend the remainder of his days devoted to her.

Another crash beat against his chest and he took the opportunity to return to shore. The long quills of fur that stood along his neck and shoulders were drenched, but still erect. The ghost appeared almost otherworldly as he picked his way from the edge of the water to the beaten path that lead upward through the decimation of the forest.

Skellige had spoken fondly of the wolves who had lived there. Deirdre had been sweet and gentle. Smokestep had spent a vast majority of his childhood in wild disbelief that the two had found love in each other. He – as savage and unforgiving as the sea, and her – an ethereal sprite of the woodland. Did she know what had happened to her homeland? Did she know that it had been devastated? He did not care much to inform her, if she didn't. Smokestep was not likely to be returning to Warsaw.

Stepping through the woods, his limbs carried him carefully across fallen log and scorched earth. He did not understand why one would choose to live in the woods. The risk was not equal to the reward. The sea, though; she carried the answers and the touch of flame did not threaten the surge of the water. The temptress did not fear what the earth had for her. She fought back with reckless abandon.

Through the wood and onward, Kingfisher caught sight of a dark figure further ahead. He watched her with a steady heterochromatic stare. He followed with a brazen swagger. The length of his spindly limbs carried him swiftly, but he did not say anything to her. He watched and did not fall far behind, hoping to close the space between them. When the inky female did not seem interested in his company, he moved on and did not part his lips to speak with her at all. The pallid creature vanished and found his way back to the coast some time later.