Raven's Watch water up the nose

@Solpallur & @Stjornauti if you want to join in

Low long had it been that she lost her way? Had it been weeks or simply days, the concept of time seemed to be lost on a child such as she. No, time was not of the concern but hunger but how was someone who had only seen four month able to hunt on her own. The answer was simple, she was trying and most of the time she failed. Today had been a day that she had been failing, her only reprieve had been a leg of a rabbit that a nearby black feathered friend had dropped.

Had it been trying to help her?

The little girl did not know, instead she stood on the.edge of a lake. Its edge was crystal clear and acted as a mirror, it was always so strange to see her own face staring back at her. The seafoam green of her eyes that held a small amount of blue in only one, the way the light of the sun made her night colored fur more blue. It was just weird, the ocean never allowed this. It was too wild.

A shape darted beneath the surface of the mirror just then, creating a ripple and also catching her attention. She had seen her singing mother catch something similar but they were bigger, how had she done it again? There was something about waiting but the child did not understand that. Without thinking she plunged her face into the water, her teeth snapping in hopes of catching the fish but all she got was a face full of water and a burning sensation up her nose. She pulled her head out and quickly sneezed, and sneezed, and sneezed before shaking the water from her head.

How could Takara make this seem so easy!?

The crows were unsettled within the watch today, though Solpallur did not understand why. They had not been bothered by the brothers taking a reprieve there, though the duo largely left the birds alone to do their thing. It also helped that they roosted where the wolves did not travel, which made traveling down the stone stairs along one ridge an easier task when he did not have to shoo them.

The watch was a paradise, though he thought this too would be a temporary lodging while they recuperated from their journey thus far. The days may have been shorter and shorter still but they had covered a great deal of many miles in that span of time. There was still much to learn, much to see, and it was there that they had been plotting out their next course of action. Quietly, though, almost conspiratorial in nature once he had learned that just along the rocky crag and deep foothills there was a pack.

He heard their song in the night too, but was not curious enough to investigate.

As he made his way towards the lake, the cacophony of ravens grew silent. Their chatter, or now the lack thereof unsettled him. He soon discovered why when he heard the sneezing, rounding a narrow band of thin trees to take in the sight of a child. His hackles prickled along his spine—children did not wander far, least of all one so young. He hunkered down to watch her along the stones and wilting foliage, thinking surely she would not be alone.

These were the hazards of occupying a spot so close to a pack, and he knew it.

Again the child sneeze to rid the water that had found it's way up her nostrils, man that was an unpleasant feeling. She never wanted to experience it again but hunger was a damn good motivator to do things you did not want to do. Pale eyes looked over at the, one again, calm surface of the lake with distain. Yet she moved closer once more, looking athe mirror-like surface as another fish moved close by without fear or thought. How was she to do this?

Her stomach growled then, loud and sharp, she could not help but cringe at the unpleasant feeling it produced. The child watched the tantalizing meal as if moved slowly, as if to taunt the hungry child. 

Again she tried the same method, snapping her jaws into the water but again she came up empty mouthed. The burning sensation waa back, and with that the sneezing to rid the water once more. The child of night stepped back a few steps as she continues her sneezing fit, this was never going to work!

Long moments passed, perhaps well into minutes as he watched from the outcropping. The girl did not take notice of him, at least not yet, and perhaps that was for the best. Still, no one else turned up to collect her or otherwise dissuade her from her attempts—attempts that at first, Solpallur did not understand what she was doing. But through his study, he came to understand quickly. She was fishing. Poorly.

A frown settled onto his face, his expression so very down turned that he may as well have seemed far more grumpy than wary of her. Truth be told, he was always grumpy. Her frustration in every action did little to put an end to this and it was becoming apparent that no one was out to collect her yet. The next round of sneezing went on with fanfare and this too he watched, slowly creeping out from his cover to approach.

He made little sound to signify his arrival, not thinking about if he would startle her.

His gaze scanned past her to make sure he was not about to walk headlong into a clever trap.

The silence of raven's perturbed him in a way that he could not explain. Already, he had grown accustomed once more to their chatter and song that the lack of noise was eerie. Unsettling. Like his brother, he, too, sought the source of this change, following the silence down to the lake where his brother watched from the opposit shore. His form, pale and stark against the deep darkness of the trees, would be much easier to spot though it seemed the source of the dissonance lay with a child mucking, one who did not take any heed to their presence. 

A single step was taken, head lowering to hunker down and begin the process of chasing off the child when a peculiar thing happened. Frozen in his motion, Stjornuati watched as a raven fluttered and flit it's way down, bringing her some sort of trinket. From his distance, he could not see what it was but in truth, it didn't matter. The ravens were watching out for the girl and so, too, would he. At least for the time being. 

Slowly now, he wound his way closer, watching as the child sat back to sneeze and clear her nose, reddish eyes evaluating the girl. She was so young to be alone. Where was her kin, he wondered. With the raven's choice weighing in his mind, Stjor cast a glance over to his brother before speaking to the girl. Do you hunger?

After a moment the fanfare of her rather failed fishing lesson was over, the burning sensation was still aching at the bridge of her nose. The child rubbed her nose with her paw as if this might help and in a strange way, it seemed to but this was the least of her concerns. With a sign she looked out over the water before picking up the small vone that was left over from the food a raven had given her, it was sad she could not return the favor by offering some of the fish she caught. Or part of the fish she failed to catch..

A sound, a rustle of grass and the child flicked her eyes to the duo that approached. The only reason she noticed then is that at times she use to practice listening like her sightless brother did, eyes closed to help the world overwhelm her with sound and scents now that her ability to see whales taken away. What was it these two wanted, ond of pale cream and the other darker than herself.

For a moment she sinply stared at them, bo fear or wariness seemd to show on her features. No, just simple questions kd who are you and what do you want? The pale brother spoke and her stomach seemed to respond in kind with an embarrassing growl that caused her ears to finally fall to show that she did not like the feeling or sound.

she set the bone down at her paws to answer with a single word. "Yes."

Stjornuati appeared, his presence comforting in the sense now that if this truly were a trap, he would at least have his brother to aid him. But as the pair closed in, no one revealed themselves. There were no snarls to greet the brothers, only the gentle clatter of the worn bone on the ground; it was a hollow sound, the crows only having offered her a morsel out of pity from some scavenged prize frittered away wherever it was that they enjoyed leaving things.

He heard the uncomfortable hunger churn too; she had been alone for some time.

Despite their uncultivated nature, they were not generally cruel beings. Perhaps like the ravens, there was a pit of pity that grew within, but it was not all-consuming like that of a black hole. For Solpallur, pity was a concept relatively not understood, but he would not punish a child needlessly. Stjornuati must have felt similarity, for the words he spoke prompted the darker of the duo to respond in their archaic tongue.

“Hún var að veiða,” he informed him, “illa.” His nose worked to test the air again, drawing up what he could of her scent with it. There was little to ascertain from it all. “Forfeður hennar hafa brugðist henni.” No minders, no parents, not even an irresponsible sitter to impart a thing to her. She seemed scrawny, even.

“Where is home, sá litli?”

Did she know?

The pale one spoke first asking if she was hungry and she spoke for the first time in a while, a cracked yet quiet yes. The dark one spoke but not to her but to, what she guessed was, his brother. Their language was unknown to her and yet she found it quiet interesting, it seemed to flow much better than her mothers' tongue. That was called Japanese but what was this called?

She wondered if they might teach her a few words, if she could find a way to understand this pretty talk. Vivid green eyes now focused on her again, his words accented but in the common tongue she understood bit for the tail end. "Sah leet lee," she tried to repeat what the man had said before answering his question. "Sah.. leetlee?"

Thay wasnt quite right buthe had asked a question, where was home? With a tilt of her head she thought about it only to have her ears fall once more,  where was home?  "Ocean, smell of salt. Coast, maybe.." She always smelled salt and saw the sea, that's where home was right?

“Já litli,” he reiterated, nodding his head to the girl. She made a decent attempt at repeating what he had bestowed her with. His voice was far from gentle, lacking such soft emotion, but it may have seemed the slightest bit genuine. She couldn’t quite pinpoint home and truth be told he didn’t know much about the coast… except for one place in general.

His eyes searched Stjornuati’s face then.

“Ef hún kemur frá ströndinni tilheyrir hún Rusalka,” he pieced together with a rumble. Rusalka was the only pack the pair knew of along the coast, though where exactly was a mystery in itself. “Heldurðu að Engi myndi vita hvar þeir eru?” Of course that would require finding where she had gone off to, but between the two of them that didn’t seem like a difficult thing to do.

There was of course, finding the girl something to eat. Not a difficult feat to do either.

skipping stjor at gina's request

Sorry for being so late, migraine city!

The dark brother nodded and corrected her lightly, she had said the word well enough. Or that was what the child gathered, his tone was not soft like her mothers' tones would be. Ah, so that's how they were. Not really cold like ice but just as hard, their strange words flowed between them and a name came that she thought she might have heard of before. Rusalka, that was not her home but she remembered the siren of their pack saying something about them. 


She simple sat there, quite and listening to the strange but beautiful language they spokr between them. Her brother and her would do this around others, speaking Japanese as if it was their own code. Though touch was more their thing than speaking, Miwa never liked to speak when it wasnt necessary.

His brothers words stuck with the paler wolf, observing her with ever the stony countenance. Though the child was alone, there was something that unnerved the man about such a situation. There was no góð tíðindi afoot in this moment; a wayward child could spell vandræði for the duo under the wrong circumstances. A wolf of the ice though he was, however, Stjornuati could not leave such a young thing along in good conscience.

A grimace twisted his expression, looking to Solpallur after several long moments. Kannski. Við gætum farið á ströndina og skilað barninu til þeirra. It would be a detour from their journey. Then again, maybe it was not, seeing as the raven that fluttered back and forth with its morsels of food to share had chosen the girl.

Eat, sá litli. Raven befriends you. Feeds you. And to his brother, he spoke. Hringdu í Engi. Spyrjum hana.

A curt nod proceeded his actions—he turned away to the rise of stone and conifers, and called for @Meadow. If she was nearby, he was certain that she would come. Though she had been keen in following the brothers for some time, neither held her against her will to stay; Meadow—or Engi, as they called her—was free to come and go as she pleased. The raven’s land had been good for them thus far, he thought as he turned back to the pair, and they would make good on keeping it that way while it served as their base of operations.

Whether that was a temporary respite from their travels or became something to tide them over through the winter had yet to be seen, but like Stjornuati could not in good faith abandon a child who had seemingly been abandoned and left to the cruelty of the mountains.

“Við bíðum eftir henni,” he grumbled, and reclined to his haunches.

tag for reference, no pressure to join!

Her eyes scoured the frosted ground, pumpkin eyes searching for anything of use. The diminutive girl was rarely far from the brothers, though she tried to give them ample space. It was glaringly obvious she was a third wheel within their company, yet the silver arrow was not keen on leaving—not when she felt she could learn so much from the bonded pair.

So when Sol’s invitation beckoned to her, the she-wolf abandoned her search for potential herbs and plants—sweeping through the foliage of the cold mountain and coming upon them both.

While she canted her muzzle in their direction in silent question—it was the other her eyes fell upon, and she wondered the meaning of it all.