Larksong Grotto Thy wicker feet may tread these roads

Once emerging back in the Maplewood, it had been easy to find his bearings. He'd returned to the blueberry bush he and Starbuck had raided, stripping the branches of the last of the small juicy spheres and managing to snag a couple of rabbits before striding out on the final leg of his mission.

It had taken him a good half a day before he arrived at what he assumed was the grotto; the whiff of wolf was certainly strong about these parts. He'd savoured one of the rabbit carcasses as an appeasement gift for the tribe which he now placed at his paws as he rose his muzzle to the skies and called for the attention of their empire. Before making his presence known at their borders, he'd decided to pose as a scout with a little knowledge of combat. Perhaps those skills would allow him to infiltrate, maybe they'd have use for a messenger of sorts but at least he'd be able to feed back to Heda if possible.

@Hiram @Jhala

Jhala tried her damnedest to move around the territory, but she was so fat by now it was sort of a pain. She wasn't sick anymore, but everything hurt and she waddled more ungracefully than she ever had in her life. She was unhappy and uncomfortable, and even knowing that she was making Reek happy didn't help. 

She heard the call when she was trying to patrol(can't stop a guardian from guarding). Her paws her heavy but she used all the extra piss for marking the borders, which was a nice advantage to the whole pregnancy thing. She stood before the pale creature across the border, eyeing the rabbit. For a moment she simply stared at it, before turning her head and throwing up beside her. It was unfitting for any sort of leadership, but she was pregnant, and the rabbit made her absolutely sick. "Please," she muttered, "Hide that." After a moment she regained whatever composure she had left and stood tall, avoiding the thought of the dead creature nearby the man. Her size was impressive as always, but her sides were swollen and her eyes were dulled and heavy-- lacking their usual sunny glow. 

"What do you want?" 

It took little time before a lumbering figure made herself visible before the white fellow, her belly enormously round. It was a state that he had only ever seen his own mother become once, when she was carrying his younger siblings. Pregnancy. His first thoughts were that of surprise; why on earth would a woman in a condition such as hers make herself an easy target by patrolling the borders? His thoughts ran astray as she promptly retched and he kicked the carcass to the side, his eyes round in alarm as she spoke.

"A navigator like me likes to know a little about those legions he passes," he began, tail at a lowered angle as he cocked his head to the side. "Forgive me if I've come at an awkward time, but in other words perhaps you'd have use for a mapper or scout within your cohort? My combat skills aren't too shabby either." He kept his tone friendly, even after the incident just moments beforehand.

Jhala let out a heavy breath, but listened carefully. It certainly wasn't smart to wander the territory when pregnant, but if the children died then they died-- she had no need for them. As awkward and bulky as she was, her teeth worked just fine, and she felt she could easily defend herself. Not that she truly could, but maybe, and that's all she needed.

"Sure," she says plainly, tail flicking. "We worship Raas, the Daystar," she begins, nosing up to the sun. She awaited a reaction like 'you worship the fucking sun?'-- or whatever he would think-- before continuing along. "I'm the pack's Grand Vicar and our Cardinal is Hiram... he leads us. If you're okay with worshipping the sun-- Daystar," she trails off somewhat ruggedly, her mood was too vile to hide her disbelief as well as she usually did. To a stranger perhaps she'd just seem disoriented, though, which wasn't totally out of the picture. "You're welcome here," she finishes.

Sure, it did come as a surprise that this strange woman and her clan worshipped a big fiery disk up in the sky, yet he'd heard stranger things during his travels. Many of the northern empires he had passed on his way down south gave thanks to one being or another, so religion wasn't exactly alien to him. Of course, he hadn't fully experienced being immersed within a group of believers. "Absolutely," he spoke in reply, doing well to conceal the twang of guilt for their rulers that he would eventually be leaving this place, yet Thuringwethil and her companions came first. Always.

"I would ask more about this... Daystar," he began again, his gaze full of mild curiosity this time around. "But please, tell me your name before I go any further. I'm guessing it's not 'Grand Vicar.'"

"Oh, yeah, sorry, I'm Jhala," she said, tail wagging a little in a more cheerful way. Mood swings were certainly a struggle, but luckily Jhala's were nothing too extreme-- they shifted from vaguely annoyed and irritated to bright and happy most of the time, she'd yet to experience anything too drastically different. "Jhala, uh, Larksong," she added. "What is your name?" Had he said it already? she didn't remember... hopefully not.

As the woman spoke, her mood shifted from a disgruntled flatness to a more vaguely friendly manner and he found his plumed tail swishing back and forth in response. "It's ok," he worded. "I'm Arch Retallica." Never had he known the importance of a second name; he usually just went by the calling of Arch, yet the he wanted his words to match those of the Vicar, for now anyway.

"I'll serve you Jhala, and your companions, for as long as I can." This wasn't exactly a lie, for until he felt completely satisfied that he could confidently relay what information he'd gathered back to the dark ruler, he'd stay loyal to the Grotto wolves.

so sorry!! this got swept under the rug somehow ): welcome to LSG!!

"That's a neat name," Jhala commented softly, thinking about it. His name was a thing, an action even... her name was just Jhala. Maybe it wasn't that bad, but it was kinda cool. 

"We serve Raas," she repeated, but nodded as though she thought this was okay. They needed members in their pack, why turn away someone willing? She turned awkwardly, beckoning for him to come into their borders.

It's perfectly fine! I myself have been busy with school practices and performances, busy week. Thought this would be a good place to end off :)

Her compliment did not slide over deaf ears and Arch dipped his head in thanks, curiosity blooming and she turned towards what he presumed was the heart of the territory. From what his honeyed eyes could see, it was a delightful place, blessed with forested beauty that would do well to suit the ombré shades of autumn that came slowly but surely to drape this northern land.

"Raas," he repeated, his tongue rolling the words rich tones into the breeze as he came to grips with the pronunciation, growing to like the sound that would stick with him for the uncertain future. "Thank you, Jhala." And so he followed her tawny pelt his muscles beginning to relax as the land beckoned of secrets to be discovered.