Sequoia Coast This is some weird lookin' dirt...

man, I'm so sorry for making yall wait so long!! can we wrap this soonish? I would love for them to meet again someday too <3

 

If Lunaria rambled, Huā didn't notice. Far too intrigued by the stories the empress was, drinking in the fresh knowledge of a culture different than her own. The girl told her that indeed that had hurt- and just the thought, the imaginary moment of recieving such a thing was enough to make Huā wince slightly.

Luna identified herself as a hunter, and not the only marked either- no, rather each of the labor-wolves from her land had something alike this. A sentimental thing, a bond between them that went beyond the mental and into the physical. She could see how Lunaria valued it, in the way she clutched it, the expression upon her face. Some little part of the Jiang girl was jealous- 海龙泻糊 had no markings. The only sign of their homeland was their language and culture- and while those encompassed so much, the siren did almost wish she had some outward sign of her homeland as well. 

Lunaria fell quiet then, a touch awkward- and Huā, who had only been absorbed in her words the whole time, wondered really what had made her suddenly so stiff. But she was asking after their traditions now- and Huā shook her head, speaking for both herself and Aiolos there. As for the red man, only he could tell the proper story of his homeland's ways- but Huā would gladly share a few of her own. 

My home has its own tradition, but not like this at all. She explained with a slight motion to the planned scar. But... some of our own tradition... the really big one is, girl getting married. Usually, when girl is just a little older than one year- her parent, or maybe sometimes the match-maker, will find her perfect man. This make a really perfect marriage- something that will make good warrior, or good intellect, or resolve tension. A shrug of her shoulders. Marriage had always been an exciting and dreamy thing to think of, but even despite this, it was not a uniting of two individuals in love. Most often it was a contract, a treaty, a business negotiation- girls given away to the boy that could gift her family the most lovely things. Youth from factions with political differences bound together in a living, breathing peace treaty. Traveling had taught her that in these places, most wolves chose their own spouses- and those could even be based off of flimsy things that would benefit no one and nothing except their own emotions. She was raised to be biased against such individualism- but Mal was making her reconsider all that. 

And here was Huā, still unmarried at two and a half. She realized her words made her an obvious outlier, but she did not wish to explain all the personal trauma that had prevented her own arrangements- and so lowered her chin slightly, Back then, something prevent me from marriage. She did not want to dwell there, and let her faze float back to her companion- lest Aiolos wished to share some tradition from his own home too.