Ankyra Sound do you read with him too?

AW - tags for reference

astara and @Merrick coursed ahead, their position unknown to the crone, yet close by. her heart had been seized by an icy dread as she closed in on the coast, which now was more battered and miserable than she ever remembered.

the going was treacherous -- high seas threatened to demolish even the strands, and she often heard the thunderous roar of a wave cracking against stone and tree, waters far higher than even she had ever witnessed before.

her feet seemed to do their own bidding, carrying her stiffly down a hidden trail she knew as intimately as every scar on her body.. yet this trail was wracked with ruin and bramble, and nary a scent of her packmates remained...

a coldness seeped into her pounding blood; the waves' roars dulled by an inner cataclysm as caiaphas stared upon the wreckage of the sound, seeing naught but stormy water and frothy waves where the grotto had once been. her home was in shambles -- yet worse yet, was the fact no soul remained.

a hardness shone in caiaphas' gaze as she drank in the horrid sight; grey upon grey upon grey --

ruins, detritus, and decay.

had she come all this way to avenge her blood, only to lose her family once she returned to their doorstep?

oooo a former nereides queen....

 

Whatever hope Aiolos had held, when he had perched himself upon the plateau, viewing the blue of the sea in the distance, had been vanquished as he had come to the coastal lands. The angry land, which had shook him and caused him to loose track of his fellow search party, had reeped havoc here all the same. Would @Minerva have made it out alive, had she been witnessed to this? Would Ovid and the others assume the worst and retreat back home, upon coming to this destruction along the seaside? The fiery cloaked wolf began to pant out of nervousness and began to get a move on, staying clear of the beaches as he moved higher up along the coast, the sea to his left. 

The fields of grass beyond the sandy shoes were littered with debris of many sorts - branches, small tree, rock, sea kelps and even sea life picked away from those struggling to survive in the wasteland. Ahead was a forestry, the sequoias tall bodies still standing strong - or for the most part. As Aiolos neared, he could tell that even the forest had not gone untouched. Aiolos would be mindful though thought it fitting to enter the forest, should wolves had gone in here to recover. Had any Nereides done so.... 

Moving carefully amongst the towering trees, the only sound he could hear was the thrashing of the ocean in the distance and the trees groaning in protest. Life, otherwise, remained silent. It was not until on the salty breeze the scent of another wolf caught his attention, did Olo stop. The scent, after examining, was to his dismay not a wolf he knew. Yet maybe she may have some answers for him? Slowly, he moved onward...

ARE U A NERD?? that'll be interesting!!

a pulse sounded somewhere nearby. not the ocean. not the quakes. a bloodbeat tattoo from within, drumming -- pounding against her temple as she looked at the desolation around her and the reality sank in.

gone.

a noise behind her caused the siren to startle. wheeling around she assessed the male coldly; a scarlet-gold creature not without his share of embittered scars. who was he -- and why was he here?

"who are you?"

Maaayyybe. Lol Or well, Aiolos is a part of that OBP future pack formation. Go see. :) 

 

As he approached he could spot her ahead in the endless, empty destruction. Surely the seaside beaches and forestry would be livable once again - once the winds died down and the flood waters reduced back to the sea. It had to get better. If not, where would he go? Where would his people wolves be? 

The creamy female whipped around to regard him coldly, causing him to quickly stop in his placement and his skull to fall. Aiolos, Ma'am. He would quickly answer, side glancing at her features. She had a dark crown which very much so stood out amongst the rest of her. An interesting look. He shifts as legs bend to make himself smaller, eyes falling to the cold ground. I come only in search for my unit. Should Sea Mother deem it so.

if there was one thing caiaphas had not received as of late, it was submission. her gaze cut through aiolos, first suspicious, and then interested -- who was he, really, that he bent his legs and looked away to appease her?

long ago, caiaphas had been a wolf to command such a high station, yet those days had passed. now she was just a rogue, a withered drifter -- knocked around by the wind of cruel fates, keeping life only long enough to carry her flame of vengeance just a moment longer..

"who is your unit?" caiaphas asked, finding that phrasing odd. she was not so naive to hope he was part of rusalka -- he smelled nothing of them -- but perhaps, maybe he was displaced same as she.

The older woman before him did not strike out, yet her gaze continued to regard him coldly. It was this nature which Aiolos knew and understood all too well and had been deprived of it for weeks now after he had lost contact with his group. Though it might have been belittling to some, unnecessary or unjust, beneath the feet of a woman is right where Aiolos belonged. 

The Nereides. He spoke, answering quick the question to satisfy her and then explaining there after. We come from Kea Island in search for a woman named Minerva. Still, he tried to remain small and only looked to her face from the very corners of his fiery gaze to take note of her expression.

nereides, the man said. caiaphas made no motion to hide the sharp glint of recognition that sliced through her piercing gaze. nor did she try to hide the darkened scorn soon after.

yet another branch of her ex-coven, attempting to secure their hold in the wild. no doubt themiscyra and her patriots (patriotas? matriarchs?) were tenacious in their attempt to exert their domain, but if there was one thing caiaphas had learned about the teekon, it was that the wilds were no place for nereides.

slipping easily into their shared tongue, caiaphas half-stifled a laugh. like waves, themiscyra keeps coming. and like waves, the nereides are sucked back into the sea. she stood her full height now, which hardly challenged even the height of aiolos’ cowering form. i am caiaphas, one of the first settlers here — siren queen to ankyra sound when it still stood. yet you will find no nereides here; save yourself the pain and defeat, for the shores here are crueler than home. you may well wish to tell Minerva that; is she your matriarch?

Aiolos would not go without notice the recognition which shined in her expression upon the mentioning of his brethren... or, his mistresses. Could he even call him his kind, his brethren, his kin? A claimed prize from a raid, a slave, but a basterd of his own blood family then that of the Nereides. It made the likeliness of ever being chosen by one of the sea women all less likely. 

She speaks of their region, speaks the tongue and Aiolos ears perk, though his head remains low. He had found them! Or, at least, one of them... Not his unit, not their missing lady but a woman of import none the less. She stood to attention, expressing now the importance of who she was.The woman, Caiaphas, was not one he had ever seen before. Surely if she was of his tribe he would have recognized her, especially with such unique pattern. None the less, she was of a branch of Nereides from the islands, and a former Siren Queen at that and so demanded that exact same respect. 

Olo's back legs dug into the cold, moist earth and his forelegs pushed forward, one bending under him as he took a bow before her. She explained she was one of the first settlers here, how she had ruled and, how the tribe had faltered and none remained - savor her. The woman before him had been defeated by this cruel land and wished to pass this along to @Minerva. She had given up, but would they? 

"She is not. Minerva was sent on a mission when the sea took her. A group of us were sent on a recuse mission to retrieve her." And that was all her knew. All he was aloud to know. Minerva was of great importance, yes, though Aiolos didnt know if by her command they would stay or if they would return home. That is, if they ever found one another again. "Ovid, Artemis, Fortuna and the others... we got separated from the quakes.

it had been a while -- some time, in fact -- since caiaphas had been treated with such deference. standing before aiolos and seeing a glimpse into that faded world of courtesy and civility, caiaphas felt as if a wildling long starved of any obeisance. she felt also a keen feeling -- sharpness -- of nostalgia for but a moment.. nostalgia for her past life where the world was stable and the sea kind.

that life no longer existed. she was no longer siren queen, she was savage queen -- and no amount of grasping for the past would ever change her transformation from nereides to... well.. whatever she was now. it was not as if she had wanted to leave nereides behind; themiscyra had failed her, as it would fail minerva's party too. caiaphas believed simply that the world that had once housed nereides had moved on, and to hold fast to the old way was to drown.

unsurprisingly, the sea had eaten another one of its disciples. how many had nereides lost, here on this battered coast? caiaphas counted in the dozens. "hopefully, the sea favors her." caiaphas replied politely enough, though her tone held a grimness to it. "i cannot help you - i am on my own mission as well. yet you should know, to settle here is to guarantee failure. thrice now, nereides have come to this shore and been drowned or thrashed or worse. if you and your party reunite, it may be best to go elsewhere. the country is as hard as its people here, and our way is viewed as antiquated and queer. you will find little friends."

She spoke grimly when mentioning a hope that the seas favored their missing tribe-mate. That in her voice, she doubted the woman had survived to be washed up upon these shores with any life left in her. Aiolos jaws clenched, a painful feeling being left in his gut for the lost noble. For all the lost Nereides, hidden, hungry, cold and lost within these battered lands... 

The Sea and Moon had been kind to him yet. He did not know why he still survived, why he had been favored, but he had not been injured in the quakes, had been offered sanctuary by the very first wolves he met with freedom to seek out his missing unit and now he comes face to face with a former Queen, fallen as she may be now. 

Their way of living was odd and far old fashion. It was something Aiolos did not find surprising by the way everyone he had met acted towards him. But to him, it was they which were queer.  She continued to warn, said that they would fail, that they would find enemy amongst the locals for their way of living. That here, the lands were not to pleasant, so tropical and beautiful as home. I understand,  ma'am.

His jaw tightened again. He turned his head to the side to where his chin rest on the earth and sighed deep. She could not and would not stay with him. She had her own mission to follow. And you, where do you find sanctuary if not with your kin? You are Nereides blood. Would you not join us, wherever it may be, to reunite with your tradition? To once more be happy with their customs, their high hierarchy, their goddesses? Aiolos was but a foreigner but Ovid had taught him well from a yearling till now. The women were both wise, powerful, and unrelenting to a fault. Had time made Caiaphas loose her way?

a wolf more tender-hearted might have felt sorry for their actions having witnessed aiolos' change in expression. it was subtle, but that flicker of a tightened muscle across his jaw was telling -- and caiaphas, no soft-hearted marm, only callously shrugged to see it.

better he learn the realities of the world -- the true world -- before the reality caught up with him.

"no. i am on my own now." spoken with such finality the tone seemed cruel. caiaphas had nothing but her vengeance for company -- and it was cold company indeed. "but i wish you well, son of themiscyra. maybe yours may be the troop that breaks this shore. maybe not."

One may have thought Aiolos would be overjoined, completely ecstatic to hear these words the black crowned woman spoke now. That these lands were not fit for Nereides. That to be here on these shores meant to fail. And, now, with him lost to his unit, he finally had the freedom which he had never before. 

No. He was but a lost and lonely man. Alone in his way of beliefs and customs. And no did the woman before him so speak, a finality that she would no join them as Nereides once more. 

Yet still, she would wish him well. That perhaps they, him included, would ne the tribe to break the mold of this place. That they may find their own slice of sanctuary here within the Wilds. And may the Moon guide you, ma'am. He so spoke, keeping low, still, till either he was dismissed or she dismissed herself.

thank you for the thread <3

caiaphas hoped her view of the world -- and nereides place in it -- had been illuminating for the man. in some way, she pitied the men of themiscyra - she had never thought them inferior. weaker in some ways, and dumber certainly -- but never second rate.

may the moon guide you. the crone had not heard that in a long time - a flood of bittersweet emotions swept her, and she smiled to herself as she turned away. "and guide you to better shores." came the fluttering response, but caiaphas did not look back -- she was not a woman to keep company with strangers for long, and merrick would soon be wondering where his little diabolical granny had run off to.

As she had, Aiolos smiles to himself as he listens to her words of farewell. His body remains lowered, only shifting back up into a more comfortable position when the sounds of her footsteps grew more distant. He felt a mixed emotion after having met a Nereides living on these lands - both happy and disappointed. The day was spent and now he mist return to the Vale.