Hushed Willows your arms full of lullabies, orchids and wine

@Orlaith ! rolled a success on the squirrel in discord :)
4pm, 77F, partly cloudy

when caw sees the squirrel, at first, he hesitates. this is the faerie court, after all! even though it is home now, it is still a good thing to be careful.

but he has permission to hunt here! there is no flock of ravens. there is just the faerie queen, and she has welcomed him in. so after a moment’s careful deliberation, marked only by the twitch of his ears, caw drops to his belly and tiptoes his way towards the base of the tree, where the squirrel is peacefully nibbling at something on the ground.

the wind is in his favor, blowing the scent of living prey into his nose. there is blood here to be had. caw’s unblinking stare fixes on the little animal, mouth open. its head lifts from the scrap held between its tiny paws, and he lunges clumsily forwards, jaws wide and eager, paws scrabbling at the dirt.

he is not very good at this. it shows! but his teeth do just manage to clamp down on its tail before it rockets up the tree and, spurred on by the thrill of his surprising success and the salt-and-iron flooding over his tongue, caw dances backwards, shaking his head furiously from side to side until something snaps.

the body drops bonelessly from his mouth to the ground. caw prances in circles around it for a few moments, nosing at it like a cat might play with a dead bird, and then settles, chirping for vrána to come down again and see what he has caught.

It had been only a while ago since the court had casted Memory out, and a she felt a darkness follow over, yet a relief at the same time. It was hard to describe, for it felt like a forshadowing of disaster, but a thorn had been removed from the guard's side. She never liked those who were disobedient, and preferred many to stay submissive when in her willows. She always seemed more friendly when it was outside- because there wasn't a need to be so protective.

Her duties were taken very seriously, as she promised to do so. There also was the slight satisfaction of having the control, which kept getting disrupted by either The Saints, or guests that she was not informed of. Then incidents, like Memory, were to happen. Orlaith firmly believes that all should go through their inititian, but with her, before the ritual of passage to become a true fae-folk.

Then there was a snap that rung out, making the flaming wolf snap out of her thoughts, and more alert. The smell of prey had been spilled, but was ignored to an unfamiliar one. Another, that irritated her so. She came out from the distance, head held high as she looked proudly, and disdainly down to the intruder, "Who are you, to come to these Willows?" Perhaps even more stern then usual, as what had happened in the morning.

he is mid-step when vrána flutters down, her weight familiar on his shoulder; he turns his head to meet her. “tá neart fola anseo do na fithich,” he says. “buailfimid leis an té atá ag leigheas go luath! agus ansin níor chóir go mbeadh ach cúpla rud fágtha.”

scraping the squirrel closer to him with one paw, caw sniffles curiously at the air. there is blood, the smell of the animal at his paws, vrána on his shoulder… but the woods also smell very strongly of faeries. and this could be him now! he is a faerie, a little. but it does not seem that it is entirely him, and he is not that close to the borders.

he turns.

and it is not. the woman moving towards him does not look happy with him, her head lifted in his direction and her tone very stern. he feels briefly like he is being told off, as though he has never left the glen. but he is supposed to be here! surely the faerie queen would not have invited him only for him to be chased away!

caw wags his tail, hoping that she will understand he is not a threat. he is not sure he could be if he tried. she is not that much bigger than he is, but she does look kind of mean. usually people who are angry are much better than he is at using their teeth.

“am caw!” he chirps. “was invited to willows by faerie queen. lumiya!”

He was a smaller wolf covered with nightshade hues, one who mostly dwelved in the dark then of the light willows. Her tail high as she looked curiously down at him, a strong accent following his inperfect english. The flaming fae wondered where could the Queen pick this one up, "I'm Orlaith, guard of Seelie court." She also looked at the raven, perched on his shoulder.

This is the third wolf she met with some sort of animal. She just hoped they wouldn't eat her mice, or they'll be the next meal.

caw is not so surprised to hear another name in his tongue! the faeries might not speak it, but they come from it. this is good. he wags his tail again, noting the look she fixes vrána with. perhaps she is surprised to see another bird? they do not seem to be as common around here as back home! but the faerie queen has one…though this may simply be because she is the faerie queen.

caw wags his tail again. she is still looking down at him with her tail held high. he is not so good with following body language most of the time, but he is almost certain that this is not friendly. he is not sure why! he is not doing anything that – well, he has not been given any real rules. so maybe he is breaking them without knowing.

“good to meet!” caw chirps. “does guard have rules for faerie court? lumiya did not give many.”

He was a friendly fellow, Orlaith thought. He didn't carry any aggression, but his body language didn't carry submission either, more of just a friendly puppy, she thought. It was amusing, "Follow my orders," she said, an arrogant smile with an arrogant posture. Honestly that was the only rule she thought to give guards, is to be obedient toward her an Lumiya.

Oh, and probably, "guard borders. Keep intruders away."

caw is, of course, very willing to go along with this. orlaith is a faerie! it is not the same as the faerie queen, of course, but if she guards the borders he will not question the authority. he nods eagerly as she speaks; any arrogance in her smile and stance sails right over his head. he does not know the faerie court’s rankings; as far as he knows, she holds authority second only to the queen herself.

“yes!” caw agrees. “can guard borders.” of course, he is probably overestimating his abilities. but he does not know this, and neither does orlaith. he tilts his head. “does faerie court have many intruders?”

Caw was given a nod of approval from Orlaith, and acceptance that she was very picky with. Her simple guidelines were to follow herself, and not cause trouble amongst the grounds. She didn't appreciate those who simply had visitors enter without her approval (and Lumiya's, but that was the back of her mind). 

"You a warrior?" She asked the chirping lad. He was small, dark, and handsome- but he didn't look like much of a warrior. She wondered where he came from as well as there was an accent, but didn't feel of asking, "we have a few, The Saints is one," specifically just one group.

caw is not a warrior. he is aware of this, at least! this does not keep him from being quite certain he is capable of fighting; nobody has yet proved him wrong. it is very simple, or it should be. he has chased his prey and torn it before until it has stopped moving, he has been able to do that much – why not the same with wolves?

“can fight!” caw says, buoyed by her nod of approval. this is not a lie, strictly speaking. he is just not very good at it (not that he knows). head still angled to the side like a dog hearing a strange noise, he blinks at her. “why do saints bother faeries?”

"Good." She grinned at him. He was a bit odd, if Orlaith had to be honest, but spirited! She didn't see any ill-tent from him or agression when she threw a dominating aura on. It eased just a bit, but she always carrried herself with pride and arrogance, "we always need fighters," she said while nodding.

"And not sure, they apparently kept messing with people around the coast. You'd have to ask Lumiya about specifics." The flaming wolf had heard they caused trouble, that enough had her aggression turned onto them. Though Orlaith had to admit, she really didn't know specifics. All that mattered was= bad guy, she fights.

caw returns her grin with an eager flag of his tail. this conversation has maybe not started in the best way. but she is just trying to protect the court, so he does not mind! and she seems less angry now, so he will probably not be chased off after all. this is good. he does not want to get on the bad side of faeries ever, but especially not this quickly.

vrána squawks on his shoulder. caw turns to look after her – and yes, he has forgotten what he was doing in the first place! he nudges the squirrel before him with a paw, and blinks up at the fiery woman.

“will speak with faerie queen,” caw says agreeably. if there are people hunting faeries, he should know who they are! this way he can warn them. not everyone knows what a bad idea it is to do these things. it is good for someone to give them a simple explanation. he can do this, but for now... “orlaith have other orders? have offering to take for ravens if not!”

wrap?

"Ah.. No." Orlaith definitely thought him as a weird guy. Harmless though, so she didn't hold him into intense investigation or agression like she had done to Memory. He simply followed along to what she said without a care and a smile to follow. It'd be cute if it wasn't for the fact he didn't look cute, which was strange. He held a deadly look, like a nightstalker, one of shades of the night and a red-hued eye. Yet, he acted..

Like a fairy? A puppy?

He seemed innocent, despite saying he can guard. She'd definitely have to test that for now, but he seemed busy with.. His ravens.

"See you." So Orlaith wouldn't disturb whatever strange ritual he was doing.

yes! thank you for the thread. i hope this at least counts as guardian for you :-,)

caw nods, completely oblivious to any sort of judgment being pronounced upon him. he scoops his squirrel up in his teeth with a wag of his tail. there will be time to defend the borders later! and orlaith is probably better at it than he is, anyways.

“see you!” he parrots, his words muffled both by accent and squirrel. with a quick glance to vrána to make sure she is still here and ready, he turns his back and trots off into the woods, already chattering eagerly to the crow on his shoulder. he has caches to dig up! hopefully he has marked them well.