Emberflame Ridge Burning incandescently

Located at the Hushed Willows area of the map (where it lines up with Emberflame Ridge), but it isn't in the drop-down. Open to anyone.

The sound of the wind drifting through the willows, that hushed hiss, was accompanied by the shrill call of a hawk; this brief interlude aside, the air was calm. There was a thin layer of ice on everything. It was as if someone had covered the trees with crystals. Up the heavy trunks, and down each tendril of green. Everything was grey now. Even the boy - not a boy now, not really - he was gray too. The gold of his face had faded a bit (or maybe he just forgot the vivacity of his own face, having not seen his reflection for some time now); the golds and tans of his pelt were overwhelmed by the cream, the white, silver and gray. A winter pelt which was remarkably similar to a ghost's. 

He heard the hawk and raised his head, watching the air as if witnessing a physical manifestation of the sound. It faded and did not come again, and still Tryphon lingered his attention on the horizon. The fog of his breath slid from his nose, wrapping like a scarf around his face, and dissipated. And when the moment ended, he felt the stirrings of wanderlust again. Perhaps it was time now to move on - but where would he go next? The willows were a calm retreat. Hardly anything visited the area, which was pleasing to him. He did not want to encounter more wolves (he told himself this constantly, more to convince himself to stay away than anything else) and yet knew the inevitability of such a thing.

With a sigh (another cloud sliding out of him in to the winter air) Tryphon decided to head towards the ridge. Maybe by the time he reached the cliffside he'd know if he'd want to climb the mountain or flee from it.

Dating this before her other thread because Saghani too will be investigating the range, and it makes sense to start here before Lonestar!

 

In the distance she had seen the mountains. The night before the moon had illuminated the snowcapped peak of one in the range in particular. It was quite like something she had heard of, something that was meant to act like a compass in ones travel, except that it definitively was in this one single place, rooted, never shifting even as she circled to search for it. Not a star, then, but indeed a mountain; and Saghani was not made for peaceful forests or open plains, anyway. It was time to head toward the corrugated horizon, and so she did just that. 

The winds were high when she arrived, but she felt no chill past her thick winter furs. Still, the warmth the forest provided was welcome, and a nearby Ridge buffeted the cutting air. Saghani had traveled long to get to this point and thought that resting would be beneficial. She herself was already at the point where the ridge began, though moved—for now—away from it to move deeper into the forest. Perhaps she might scavenge something there. That was her desire, then. Her nostrils flared and she sniffed hoping to suss something out in this wilderness.

The willows gave way to a bleak landscape of stone and ice, but nothing so empty or forlorn as the higher north. This was nothing like the glacier that had held his interest for so long; similarly, it was different from Jade Fern Grove in the same manner. The trees were like bowed heads, hair-like boughs draping across narrow faces - the grove was more dense, varietal. Tryphon only thought of the grove for a moment before shunting it from his mind, settling it in to a neat little box somewhere, to perhaps be unpacked in the future. He trailed across the uneven ground with the intention of finding the ridge and, perhaps, following it down to the hills below -- except that his route appeared to rise more than it fell. Evidently Tryphon had a poor sense of direction, because the mountains beyond him were getting bigger, not smaller.

And there was a figure. At first the boy thought it was only a figment of his imagination - a shadow cast by the cliffs, contorted by the darkness of the trees and the irregular terrain. He thought he saw it move, and came to a sudden stop. The wind billowed around him, whistling briefly along the spine-like bluff to a strange pitch before falling flat, and he watched the shadow move; curious but resistant.

The wind was not in her favor. And so she could not detect the male in the distance, though he was not terribly far away at all. Saghani continued to sniff and turn her head first left, then right. The winter winds withheld information from her. It was likely fresh snowfall had buried a left-behind carcass... and it was also likely that there was nothing at all to be found. Saghani did away with hope, knowing this to be the most ruthless murderer of all, even above nature and the wild whom, at the very least, would not lie to you. 

The wind rose in its pitch, causing her lobes to flatten atop her head. Standing here any longer would not serve her well. She peered around her and sniffed one last time, and it was only then she caught sight of a grayscale thing a bit of a ways from her. From here, the other color imbued in his furs could not be detected; he matched the bleak landscape well. Bleak, by her own standards. Bleak, by a yearling who truly could not define beauty in any case. The boughs looked tired, here, hanging heavy as though burdened by some thing. Tired of their endless watch, but awake and keeping to it nonetheless, the movement the fine things (the dark-and-entangled branches) left behind in the winter not unlike an exhausted sigh of protest, a relenting: if you must. And in seeing this surrounding him, in taking in this world with him as its centerpiece, her head tilted only just. He himself, alone, was impressive in this, and the parted wood surrounding him beckoned that she look on. She mirrored, externally, his internal sentiment. And instead of moving deeper into this place as she had intended to do, Saghani simply waited. Her impassive features were far from inviting, but neither did they warn him away.

Upon spotting the shadow, Tryphon half expected it to diffuse like the soft breaths he had been exhaling; but it did not. In fact, it became more solid. It took on a form the longer he looked, and when he caught sight of a set of eyes, his natural instinct to pull his gaze away was overwhelming. He had always been the meek sibling of his family - the pudgy omega, dwarfed by one sister's size, the other's majesty, and his beloved brother's exuberance. His body may  have matured (and his mind, still fractured, barely recalled his true family) but Tryphon could not resist his nature. He lowered his head a few inches - perhaps not enough for the shadow to see - and then turned away entirely, deferring to the darkness that watched him as if dismissing an old friend.

He thought of retreating in to the willows. Having spent a few days here, he knew that the chance of living in seclusion through the winter was slim. The forest was not frequented by prey, who found the mountainous terrain too harsh and the snow too deep, the cliffs too narrow and dangerous. To retreat now might spell doom for him - but the boy wasn't keen on confronting this shadow either. So he sank down to his haunches, then his belly, and lay prone upon the snow, watching the figure as if they had all the power. To Tryphon, they did.

Saghani, in coming to this land, had intentions to make something of herself that she could not, at the present time, do so from the place she had come. Instinctively she knew what she sought, but she was not so driven, yet, to search and call for a wolf to be her equal. While Saghani would be content to rise anywhere, to start low and climb high to establish to others her worth, her patience and her youth combatted that rationale. 

It was hard to decipher the other that stood before her. Was he a loner, like she? Did he seek what she did? But in moments these questions were answered; he deferred to her, leaving the boughs around them to quiver in uncertainty. Saghani shifted her weight and pondered for a moment... 

And then she moved toward him without an ounce of hesitation. Her tail was lax–this place not her own–but her stride was confident. Yellow eyes held him as she marched toward him. And when she was close enough, Saghani paused before taking one more step nearer, testing his boundaries. She simply wanted to smell him, and take in his condition while she was at it. 

Her ears fanned uncertainly atop her proud crown. It seemed, now, the trees were bent for her; a droning moan came from between their drooping arms. Saghani had accepted his bestowed role, acting at last as the initiator and the instigator.

He could see the shadow move, and seemed to brace as it engulfed him. But that wasn't what happened. He heard her approach, eyes deviating from her position as he continued to show indifference, or maybe some level of timidity. When the pull of curiosity became too strong he turned his head and saw her paws touch down upon the snow, and her nearness surprised him. Tryphon's head pulled back slightly as she extended her snout, as if touching the shadow was some great and terrible thing. A few moments after that he seemed to relax; clearly she was after information, and he should've been doing the same.

Tryphon reached for her then. Sniffing the air, tasting the spice of her musk alongside each cold breath, but tried not to linger too long or too close. He swallowed a lump in his throat and licked his lips, perhaps preparing to speak, but found that words wouldn't form. It had been too long since he had seen another wolf - a product of his own misgivings and misadventure - and now it was as if he had forgotten how to speak. The situation did not really call for words though. They were beasts, and could communicate perfectly fine as beasts.

This thought - frail and distant though it was within his mind - was probably why he suddenly slouched and rolled, displaying his belly to the shadow before any harm could befall him.

As he permitted her to sniff at him, he joined her; she drank the heady stuff of his aroma in, and found in him something that set him apart from any other via scent. His aromatic concoction was as unique as any; just as seasalt seemed a part of him, so too did rock and forest. Simply put, this one smelt like the limitless and open world; he smelled of what freedom must feel like, and not this restraining sort of freedom she was under as a lone wolf. But then there was something else there, too; the scent of his timidity, before he rolled and revealed to her his vulnerable, fleshy stomach. 

Saghani understood the ritual; she had seen it many a time, but had never provoked or inspired it. She wondered if the world here was softer than the outside place she had known; where strangers would sooner turn their fangs on you than submit, because who knew the others intent? Saghani was mistrustful and wary of others from her own past encounters; this one was simply different. What it was that drew her to him she did not know. But as he exposed himself, Saghani found herself responding to his ritual and placing her foreleg possessively over him, tail waving behind her in partial pleasure, partial dominance. The latter did come naturally to her, inherently; he was simply awakening a dormant part to her. 

Youth meant little in the wild. As little as words, truly. Experience was what prevailed, and strength. The law of the wild was dictated by tooth and claw, and that alone. And for her own part, Saghani was wise beyond her years, her hand in this forced yet taken perfectly in stride. Saghani withdrew from him and her cupped ears flit, thinking of something her mother would do when taking another into her ranks. The she wolf wasn't too sure if that was what she herself was doing, but in a way, she wished it so. As a wolf whom had run with pack for as long as she could remember, she felt this was somehow the right direction to head in. Someone to hunt with, and walk with, and never talk with; that he did not speak was good to the woman who would not speak anyhow.

Perhaps this would be a turning point. Something new cushioned in the ways of old. He didn't know why he acted this way with this specific individual; instinct called to him, and instinct prevailed. He was rooted to the spot while she reacted, his tail curling across his exposed underside as she loomed, and some kind of understanding was forged. And then Tryphon was suddenly animated. He was rolling and standing, clumsily settling to his haunches with her still above him, pressing his forehead against her chin and sliding it carefully along her throat - but he stopped, pulling back before it could bother her. He licked his lips, tasting winter, melting the snow which stuck to his face, and reached for her - deferring again and again with humble licks to her chin and cheeks wherever she permitted.

The ghost and the shadow. They could survive winter together - here among the willows, or beyond, where the mountains could serve as their fortress. He thought briefly on this, and turned to regard the cliffside as if to ask the question - ears turning towards her, then eyes, carefully watching her features. Before words could pass her lips (if she was one to speak, which now he doubted), he pulled back from her. He let out a small whine, and tired eyes drifted towards the mountain. Go? Or stay?

His response toward her did little to abate natural instinct and instead encouraged it. Saghani went positively rigid as he became ecstatic in his submission before yielding and accepting, growling her approval and not bristling at all. She mimicked perfectly what she saw within her mind, something she had seen her mother and father do time and time again to their subordinates. Saghani possessively moved to push herself against her, embedding her scent into his without quite thinking. She shifted her gaze to the horizon and noted his approach again in her peripherals; her chin moved downward slightly, not enabling him to go near her vulnerable throat quite yet but not preventing him from any other area upon her features. Her tail waved, encouraging, as she tried to bowl against him to press him to the earth again in a now, at least, playful show of dominance.

But her attempt was halfhearted and she withdrew before colliding, and as his attention shifted so too did her own. The cliffside. She had every intent to climb it, to investigate more. But now it was late; she did not know the area so well as to traverse it when black ice could betray any move they made upward on the face of that thing. So she swung ahead of him and moved in a crescent-moon around him, licking her chops and looking only at him. Her intent to remain seemed clear, to her, in her own stillness... and then she sniffed loudly, thinking again of food. Perhaps they could scavenge by night and hunt by day, to see what they could bring down? They had made their own silent pact, and Saghani looked now back to him.

Wanna fade? :P This was fun and unexpected! 

She understood the question. At first Tryphon did not know what she intended, and watched as she moved away from him; his body tensed while his eyes followed the nimble movements of the shadow. She did not advance upon the cliff. There were a few thin passages along the mountainside they could have climbed - but it was growing dark, and Tryphon suspected that even the shadow could not traverse the world in pitch black night. She rounded upon his position and that rooted the idea in his head: they would be staying. The boy let out a boof and dipped his head - acceptance - and sauntered towards her, bumping her shoulder with his. Wherever she wished to go, he would go. If staying was the plan, they would find somewhere to rest - or something to scavenge - and wait for the light.

Sounds good! And I know, loved it!

 

Saghani felt her emotions reach out as her tail waved at his accepting sound, and she chuffed her approval. As he moved to bump against her Saghani reciprocated, moving with him and feeling her shoulder match his own. It was difficult to tell who the larger one was between them; she wondered if he hunched, and knew she did not stand at her tallest relaxed as she was. Saghani looked ahead of them and made the quick executive decision to scavenge for a little while and then find a good place to shelter themselves for the night. Truth be told, Saghani was more than happy to simply curl in a ball and lay where they found themselves tired... but in not knowing this place or if its dangers were different than from the place she came, she would not risk the life of she or her companion. Off into the night they went, to begin their search.