Stone Circle My heart was keeping time and we were dancing on the edge of something new

@Siarut oh ho ho what could this be

The change came sudden, and not wholly unexpected. Yesterday had been a whirlwind of varying emotions, reactions, and aggression that she had no real reason to feel. Everything seemed to spark some level of ire in her, every little noise, every little wolf who dared breach the berth of her personal space, so Nanook had opted herself out of the social scene to simply recluse. To recollect, both to spare herself, and everyone around her, from the copper eyed devil the start of spring seemed to want to make her.

How vastly different this morning felt! She woke with an itch to leap and bound and run, and every shadow in the den she shared with her ice bear stood in muddied vibrancy in the darkness before the dawn. Nanook yearned to press in closer and not leave Siarut's side, but her legs wanted to move. She slipped out without speaking a word to her mate - only to come to hurtling back in moments later to deal his neck a series of nips to beckon him awake. "Sia! Siarut!" she hissed, urgent, and estatic. She didn't wait for him to respond before she whipped around and scurried out of their den, with only a call of, "Atii! Hurry! The sunrise, you'll miss it!" into the space behind her.

He hadn’t lingered far in the past few days, worried over Nanook’s mentality and her edgy behavior. He followed her at a distance not wanting to provoke her, but always around incase she got into trouble or someone dared to mouth her off. He could see the somewhat wary gaze some of the other wolves had given her, and he wasn’t sure if he should be prideful of the fear or embarrassed for her aggression. Alas he made no decision, preferring to offer his silent support and see what would become of the situation.

That was, however, until the rather rude awakening. An awfully dad like groan rumbled through his frame, his form slowly twisting and turning to catch a glimpse of his spry mate dashing out into the fresh morning air. “Nanook, I’ve seen the sunrise a million times before. What makes this one more special than yesterday?” His continued groan indicated his haste to catch up with her despite his negative tone.

Soon enough the arctic bear was blinded by the new dawn light, glimmering off the slowly melting snow, casting pinks and oranges across the sky.

He reacted as she had quite expected, but even his groaning and moaning and grumbling wouldn't dampen this little warrior's mood! She tsked at him between the scoff of a laugh, and insisted that, "every sunrise is special, nanuk, we saw yesterday's yesterday - " even though she had very much been sleeping through yesterday's, but that was beside the point - "and we will see today's today," and she pushed on forward until she reached the patch of ground that most clearly stared up at the sky. Snow sprayed out across the melting ground before her, and she spun around with head and ears and body tall, and wild fur pushed open by the gentle wind.

And Sia had only just emerged, and seemed so stunted in his progress that Nanook rolled her eyes and raced back to him again, to circle round probably more like a hound than the borealis she often mimicked on those cold Northern night. "Atii, nanuk!" she chided again, and after giving him a gentle push, she leapt in front of him and prepared to walk backward as he, presumably, would continue his march forward, blind, no doubt. She stared at him with her gaze of laughing copper. "You will not see much unless you open your eyes!"

Her words came at a mile a minute, and Siarut found himself simply nodding along as he voice got farther and farther away. A yawn pulled apart his jaws, and he smacked his lips, just as she returned, circled and pushed him all in the span of 1 second.

“Atii! Atii! I know! I know!” He exclaimed opening his eyes just long enough to bump into Nanook. “Hey.” He whispered with a sleep smile. “Well, what are we standing around here for my lovely early riser?” He spoke softly, his head running up her length in a good morning nudge.

Sia's bump illicited a warmth that spread from the very place he touched her, through the run of her body -- and she shivered, and she grinned. And the fires of the sunrise blurred in importance, for the softest beat, to the pale and colourless and magnificent man who stood before her.

"You are the one standing around, my lovely morning sleeper," she waved her tail in a teasing sway, and leapt backward into the dip of a playful bow. "Atii, nanuk," but her voice came softer now, suggestive of something else, and she sought his emerald eyes to wordlessly conspire. This moment, like the sunrise, would not last forever -- and she sprung away, toward the higher grounds, and the circle of stones. This was the last he would see of her, if he chose to relinquish the chase.

And the sun began to swallow the sky in brillant orange, and fringe the world with a light like fire.

He was struck by her words, he scoffed at her in amusement. Matching her bow with one of his own. “Oh is that right. Well no more standing around.” For the rollercoaster of emotions Nanook had displayed over the last few days, this was the most interesting of them all. He could feel the pull, the attraction deep in his chest. The thrill of her scent provoking his own rambunctious nature.

And she took off, as the sun continued it’s assent. His primal instincts screamed, and he couldn’t resist. He took off after his mate, a burning desire to protect her from any harm and keep her all to himself prevailed. “Nanook.” Siarut called softly to the wind whipping in his face.

He responded rightly, in his playfulness, his levity, his bend into this dance they shared. She did not need to look over her shoulder to know that he followed, like she were some star-taken youth uncertain in the end of this great pursuit -- worrying, always, if he chased some other damsel on the side, or if his eyes were only for her. No, Nanook knew her lover as much as she knew herself, and they had walked these valleys and the mountains together: both flawed, and imperfect, and wholly mortal, but he, in weakness as much as in strength, perfect to her with each step and stumble, and perfectly hers, in each morning that dawned.

The sound of her name on her lover's lips brought the sylph to a fluttering spin. She laughed in her dance, a lighted tip toe around two of the outlying stones of Stone Circle. Long shadows draped the land beneath their protective embrace, and she stood between the twin sentinels. The backlight of dawn softened the edges of her wild, windswept fur, and she called back, "Sia," into the woods that awakened to their hearts.

She headed for the stones, as they stretched toward the sky and threw their looming shadows against the ground. The morning light kissed the vast buffalo plains, and she deftly danced along the circle, the light illuminating her gunmetal pelt. He came up to her quickly as she called back into the wood. “I’m here.”

“I’m always here.” There was a delicate tone in his voice, as he attempted to draw closer. His beautiful mate, shining in the dawning sun. A beacon of light in his life and in his heart. In that moment, he had never seen anything more magnificent than his Nanook. For she was his, just as equally as he was hers. They could only ever belong to each other.

"I know," she whispered. And they would belong together, always. The light and shadows played so delicately upon Siarut's snowy fur, she now could not help but draw nearer, could not help but close that gap that stood between them, a gap that seemed, at that moment, vaster than the ocean, vaster still than the sky between moon and sun, night and dawn.

"You are my moon," she said, to bring this thought to light, for it seemed so very important that he know, "I will always be your daystar," and she sought to rest her muzzle against his cheek, as if to divulge a secret meant only for him. "Let us not keep the light to ourselves." And these words she meant, only for him, and she smiled, knowing what this would mean -- praying, they were ready. "Let us fill this sad world with stars."

I'm good to fade here, or with your next post! I would appreciate just fading out and leaving the act to be completely off-screen, for my own comfort's sake lol <3

absolutely! for my comfort as well :)

The distance was closed as she drew closer, until a single breath could not pass between them unnoticed. They were truly of one mind, a single soul split between the two. In that moment, Siarut knew they were sealed together by destiny itself.

[fade]

He remained curled tightly around her, protective and conscious of every sound around them. He was content to simple be at her side, comforted by her mere presence as always. But, there was something different. And excitement that vibrated in his chest. The prospect of fatherhood still very much at the forefront of his thoughts.