Ankyra Sound invisible ghosts

He never grew tired of hearing the ocean.

There was something comforting in the ever constant roll of tide water against sand and stone. Comforting didn't even seem like the right word for it really, though perhaps now that he had embarked on a long trek on his own it seemed fitting. It quelled the notion that he would ever be homesick, and it provided him with an easily followed path should he ever decide that southern climes were not for him.

Yet these were not the things that guided him now, nor did the unsettled ground deter him as of late. Earthquakes were nothing new to him; if anything, it had been the absence of them as he ventured southward that had been strange at first. But this too he had grown accustomed to and like the sound of the shore and all it held, the earthly shimmer and shake almost suggested to him that he had gone full circle.

There was naught familiar here along this stretch of sand however—only the smell of kin rushing towards him as he walked into the coastal breeze, the feeling of grit between his toes. The forests were different yet comprised of the same substance and he attributed even that naturally to the borderlands as he reached them and their wavering trail.

Valtari did not dawdle there long, his intentions were direct: he called for others, his reasoning clear.

Raleska went back one more time, calling up and down the strand for Rosalyn. Her friend was gone, her mentor disappeared — she had hoped maybe if she returned to Ankyra, she might find Rosalyn perplexed but waiting. Maybe even wondering where her pack had gone, or what disaster had sundered the Grotto. It wasn’t like her to disappear or get lost. After all, Clementine had been found...

A howl cut through the tormented winds, and Raleska swung towards it out of a fading sense of duty. She did her best to hide the limp to her step as she came upon a man that almost resembled Aningan; his eyes a Nordic, glacier blue. Who are you? She called over the wind, feeling a shiver to her back as the cold seeped in. From her stance it was clear Raleska was on the move — she did not want to stay in this hellish place too long.

Leaving had been bittersweet, at best. He had not wanted to leave the coast, convinced that, by doing so, Caiaphas would never be able to find them when she returned; even after so long, he had refused to accept that she may never come back. But, for as much as he wanted to stay, the missing Rosalyn's words echoed through his head, as did his own ambitions. He had to better himself if he ever wished to make those that had come before him proud, which meant thinking about what was best for the masses and leaving the Sound.

When Raleska left to search once more for the elder woman, the Inuk was not far behind. He worried about her travelling back alone, especially when the earth was now as unpredictable as anything else. At some point, he had lost sight of her, though, and it was only when a howl sliced through the air that he was able to find her once more—and she was not alone.

Aningan wondered at first if it was a relative of his, only for the eyes to betray their lack of a relation—as far as he knew, no one in his family had eyes quite like this stranger’s. Quickly, he closed the distance between them and situated himself at his friend’s side, ears perked and awaiting an answer.

Two wolves accosted him shortly thereafter; the first pitch as night bearing a shrewd, hawk-eyed gaze, and the second carried a low lit fire in his eyes to contrast the sterling snowbank he may or may not have been carved from. They were polar opposites, almost formidable in their own right had such a thing dissuaded him.

It was she who spoke first, her question terse but simple.

"I am Valtari," he answered just as swiftly and simply. Clearly he had interrupted something, but just what that may have been he did not afford a thought toward. It couldn't have been too terribly pressing if they had time to question him, or perhaps their needs aligned with his own without much wonder.

He pressed ahead: "I wish to join you, should you have use of another."

And if they did, they would take his bait.

As the wind climbed higher in the sky, Raleska felt a second tremor — this one small, and scarcely noticeable before it faded away. It might have happened leagues away, but the girl was no less unsettled; one look at the stormy and turbulent sea was enough for her to know dark waters were coming.

Accompanied swiftly by Aningan, Raleska felt ever so slightly more secure — in her own safety, at least. This male did not appear outwardly hostile — but Raleska’s wounds from her last interaction with “strangers” were still fresh, and it lingered brightly in her mind as a reminder to trust no one she did not know. The snowbound wolf revealed his intentions and Raleska could not help but share a secret glance with Aningan; they were still a pack, but was this still home?

This is — was — Rusalka. You’re welcome to join us, but we are not staying here. I’m Raleska, and this is Aningan. She motioned for Aningan, should he have anything to say on the matter; after all, he was their Alpha, and Raleska did not wish to talk over him.

Feelings of distant happenings—events long since ended—left him lingering on edge, tense and worrying since the very first tremor. Whatever was happening had frightened the uppik, forcing her to leave him behind in favour of locating safer skies; her disappearance left him disconnected from the north and full of even more questions, the primary being did she know what was happening? Did the stranger maybe know?

An unfamiliar voice had his attention snapping from his packmate to the other pallid wolf, listening intently—but he only had a name to give and a request to make. He remained silent, listening to the exchange of words, wondering and then deciding that it may not matter. The earth’s previous trembling and the sea’s increasing turmoil spelled bad news, events to unfold that scared him without him even knowing what it was.

“Why did you come to the sea?” he questioned, suspicion born from curiosity. “Didn’t you see its anger?” Had the stranger caused the anger, perhaps? The likelihood was practically nonexistent but, truthfully, he doubted his understanding of the limits of his kind. Who was to say that one being could not cause such discord? Was it possible? He wished so desperately to have another moment with the uppik, to ask her, but his guide was gone and the blind did wander.

This is and was and they had no intention of staying—a true pity, he thought.

It was broadsided by the inclusion of Aningan's statement, however. Valtari could not withhold the chuckle that came to him, even as his gaze swept out to the turmoil evident in the roll and rise of the sea. It did not linger there long before righting itself to the paler of the pair briefly.

"I do not fear the anger of the sea nor stone," and it was a boastful sort of tongue to use, though he did not question if it would damn him yet. "I am a child of such. It was this very sea that led me here." It was also his nose that led him here, but that was a given, just as his eyes told him much of the unsettling ripple in the wolves like the tide. Were they a timid sort? He could only wonder, and would base such as they received him.

"To where do you plan to roam then?"

Raleska apprised Valtari silently, an ear turned towards Aningan as he spoke. It was true — the grey waves were ominous at best, and angry was exactly how she would have described the ocean adjacent to them. 

It looked more than that — it looked downright malevolent. 

Stealing a glance back to the tide, Raleska answered the male’s boast with a grim sort of acceptance. She did not doubt his claim, but now was not the place to test ones mettle. It is not just that — I grew up here. It has never looked as such, and The Grotto — our den — has flooded over. She glances towards The Grotto, which now lurked some dozen feet underwater. We go uphill. There are some nearby territories where we could weather out the storm until it passes.

Born from the sea, he did not fear it, and Aningan wasn’t sure what to think about that. He was a child of the north turned child of the sea, yet he did not feel the same—was that perhaps because he was adopted by the coast, rather than born from it? He wondered that, yet the thought of seeing the mountains as angry as the sea currently was sent a shiver down his spine just the same, so maybe he just wasn’t as daring. But maybe he also wasn’t alone in that, he thought, as Raleska spoke.

It was his turn to listen this time, paying attention to her words and what her thoughts were. The answer was simple enough, however, as it was really their only option; they could go nowhere but up and away, away from the ocean’s reach. “Hopefully it won’t be long before we can come back home,” was his only additional statement. “Are you going to follow us or stay here, against the sea?” Whatever he decided, Aningan knew one thing for sure: he was ready to put some major distance between himself and the flood zone.

So there was more to their territory than so readily seen; his gaze traveled the length of the distance Raleska's gaze suggested and if it were true, then it was no wonder that they would seek to relocate inland. An angry sea was one matter, but when it engulfed the land with coastal flooding, then only the foolish remained. Not even the hardy prey would linger; he made an appraising note to himself before returning his gaze to the pair.

Aningan's question was not left to linger in the air for long.

"Following would be wise of me," and if they were to have him so easily, then so be it. "Perhaps I can be of use in exchange. How long has your sea risen?" His gaze turned to the distant rise of lands unknown as he thought further, though the formidable forests lingered between it and them.

Raleska looked from Aningan to Valtari, watching as the latter drew his gaze across the Monolith forest. Unbeknownst to her, they shared similar thoughts — here she was, wondering if the prey had gone from the land yet. Surely they too felt the change on the wind. 

She found herself looking at Valtari again — it seemed perhaps this wayfarer was also a seafarer — an asset to Rusalka if there ever was one. We’ve been here almost a year — but this particular sound has been inhabited for a long time. It is only recently that the seas have been so ... turbulent. A few weeks. What do you make of it?

In exchange for being allowed to follow, the other male offered his use. When he asked of the sea Aningan fell silent, thinking back to when he first noticed a shift in the tides—but Raleska beat him to the punch with her answer, which he nodded at in agreement. He looked between them before settling his gaze back on Valtari following his friend’s question; he was eager to hear the answer, to find out if this man knew more of the sea than they did. Had he seen similar events before? Maybe that didn’t matter. What really mattered was—“Do you think it’ll be long before it’s back to normal?” If he had seen something of this degree before, then maybe he would have the answers they needed to assure everyone else.

Did he think it would be long before they were back to normal?

Valtari's gaze went back out to the sea, where not even the stone and sand could stop the reach of waves that longed for something else. Something more. A pondering thought caught in his throat as he surveyed such; he could pick through his memory all he wanted but who was to say? He was no scryer into the future, but something far more simple and perhaps savage.

"Turbulent seas are familiar to me," he answered, "and they do as they please. Perhaps there is a storm too far out to see that will come. Perhaps it's the shuddering earth that makes it so angry." Perhaps the earth was simply about to split into two halves and forfeit atmosphere and shake all its possessions off into an inhabitable void until the end of time as it ruptured and fragmented.

But for it to take weeks for such a calamity to come onshore, or for the earth to stop trembling? It seemed unlikely; a surreal, sound warning. Suddenly their wariness of the coast made more sense than it had moments ago. It was a sobering blow to the pride he had clung to moments ago, though he held fast to it as his gaze returned to the pair.

"It is unusual if this has been going on for weeks. Your sea a quiet one?"

And that was an obvious understatement and question.

going to wrap up <3

 

Raleska’s face was grave as she watched and listened, gaze first sliding to Aningan and then Valtari. She thought it good a male of naval proclivities was now among them — even if at an inopportune time. 

It’s always been.. temperate. Raleska provided, wondering if maybe this was normal but infrequent — but nothing about the sea seemed normal or alright. I can show you around, and give you the details. She stepped back to allow Aningan to pass, and then followed by imparting all she knew of Ankyra’s history upon their newest packmate.