Nova Peak vom kopf entfernen

ive just been playing all his threads in the same timeframe woo

he returned from the tangle and from his wormwood meet with alarian. it had been some hours since wylla had informed mahler of her departure and disappeared into the taiga wood.
and as he had trotted along the gentle slope that led down from larksong and up toward sagtannet; as mahler had climbed through the spruce and the silver pine, he had begun to convince himself of one singular thing.
it would have been exacerbated a thousandfold to know that @Taikon had gone out and spoken to the rusalkans himself, an act of insubordination for which he had easily banished praimfaya. but with his own word, the threat of war was sputtered.
the gargoyle began to climb the mountain, not searching but not avoiding the trail of the thrall upon which a particular suspicion was being cast.

wooo timelinessss

Taikon didn't know what was supposed to happen now. He hadn't heard any of the recent news, and after talking with Takiyok was feeling extremely torn. His knowledge didn't seem to help much at all, for they were still on the brink of a war that he was not willing to fight.
Takiyok was equally concerned, but the pull to protect her son (her grown ass adult, decision-making son) was powerful. Taikon worried that she would readily follow Stag into battle just for the sake of having a shot at saving him. These were decisions that were messy and nonsensical to the prince of nothing, who found the entire debacle irresponsible on the part of his leaders.
Whatever line he was walking was thin indeed. He needed time to think. Laying out in the open beneath a tree near the alpine outlook he'd left Taki at, he felt like he had fewer answers than before. When Mahler found him there, Taikon rose quickly to greet him, dipping his head respectfully. His gut rumbled, fearing that Mahler knew something he did not.

Taki had not stayed on her ledge, though; she climbed down angrily, filled with a sudden, fierce resentment, and there was one specific wolf she sought out—Mahler. She wanted to put him on the spot and ask why they had spun the details of their meeting with the Rusalka wolves—why they hadn't provided all the information. She felt she was owed an explanation and so she locked onto the Eisen's scent and followed it through the territory, realizing as she approached that it also mixed with Taikon's. 

She stopped near the pair, her expression icy as she looked them both over. She had no idea of Mahler's ire or that he knew that Taikon had traveled to Rusalka to ask questions. She did know that her friend's questioning of Wylla at the pack meeting had not been well received, and she wondered if that was their topic of conversation.

stonebloom eyes watched as taikon rose, showing a proper deference unlike what he had given wylla during their meeting. but only one of them was a jester upon the court of his own pack, and it was not the wolf with the handsome features which gnarled mahler deep within himself.
a moment longer and he would have thrown up the banner of his plume, but takiyok was among them now. her vibrant stare simmered with a cool balefire. mahler tamped out the violent urge, a cherry flicked from the end of a proverbial cigar. whatever the winterwhite's intentions here, he did not expect her to interfere.
the gaze leveled at taikon now. "to ask questions is velcome. to meet the eye of your superior is not something i vill tolerate a second time." grim, harsh flick of his lips into a cowl of black humour: admitting his failure before the eyes of a subordinate and a woman ranked below him, but who he felt was his peer.

By nature, Taikon was polite. But it was exactly this quality that came into question when Mahler came to him. The words did not chastise. Questions are welcome. Indeed. He recalled Stag saying just the opposite, practically spitting at him in the heated moment after the Thralls had spoken out.
There was no threat in his leader's words. There was only a promise. Taikon felt the tension he was feeling drain away as he realized that neither Mahler nor Wylla knew that he had gone to talk to Rosalyn. He nodded solemnly, careful now to avert his gaze. He did not agree with the sentiment. He did not respect either of them any longer, for they had pushed the pack to a precipice with no purpose in mind. Respect is earned, and the prince could not find it within himself to feel anything beyond pity for their fear. Briefly, he glanced at Takiyok, wondering why she had descended from her ledge.
He wanted to disagree. Instead, he stood there, wordless, angry, but unwilling to gamble his home away.

She watched silently, her gaze moving from Mahler to Taikon and then back. It didn't seem like questions were welcome, she countered. I think Wylla wanted us to do as we were told and not ask any questions at all. And he should better than anyone that Taki would do no such thing. She also didn't give a shit about his dominance crap. She wanted to ask him right now why they had not been upfront with them but it only just occurred to her that she would have no explanation as to how she knew the information. 

So she decided to lie. I visited Rusalka myself just to see if what Wylla believed was true. She raised an eyebrow, her angry gaze solely on Mahler as she spun her lie. She would be more likely to get away with the betrayal than Taikon. I spoke to Rosalyn, and she told me they only wanted peace, Taki continued, still refusing to look at her friend for fear something might show on her face. She also told me that she expressed this to both you and Wylla, so why then was that not something mentioned at the pack meeting when she was practically demanding we rise up for battle? She stared then, falling silent and waiting for Mahler to respond. She had no idea what he would say or how he react and inside her chest, her heart slammed against her ribs in the seconds after she spoke.

taikon said nothing. mahler stared at him a long series of breaths, and then blinked toward takiyok as she began to speak. it was the truth that she got away with more, for while he was irritated, mahler had no anger in his heart toward the winterwhite. she had been an integral part of the pack since diaspora, and he grudgingly welcomed her counsel.
"i spoke vith them myself," he growled, "and since i have been back this evening, there vill be no conflict between us." evading her question until he could not. "vylla" — how it stung to say her name now — "vanted the loyalty of the pack to be shown."
each could decipher for themselves what it meant; he fought the urge to close his eyes. "i do not trust anyvone who lays claim to those cliffs. she lost more there than i, she trusts them less, and so she asked more. that is her right." gaze sweeping between the two of them. "sagtannet must be a place that inspires respect rather than demands it." already besmirching himself, but mahler did not care. "the tangled place between us and the sea-cliffs. it vill be a boundary line between our land and theirs. they will give me a reason to believe them. or they vill not."

Takiyok contested all of it. She was there to say everything that he couldn't, since any clout he might have had with his leaders had been flushed away the moment he made eye contact with Wylla. Then, Takiyok continued, and said something that Taikon didn't at all expect.
She lied. She did it expertly, stealing his own story and plastering herself onto its facade. She spoon fed it to Mahler. Taikon glanced briefly toward her, rather shocked. Outwardly, he might have been shocked that she had gone to the Rusalkans, but she knew the real reason why he looked at her that way.
Taikon remained silent while Mahler went on, saying, abruptly, that the war was off. He blinked, looking at the chest of his leader, annoyed that this hadn't been the conversation he'd started with. The hidden meaning of his words about Wylla sailed past his head, and he assumed that Mahler meant only that she had demanded loyalty of the pack shown at the meeting. He went on to cite the reasons for the worry.
Takiyok's boldness planted words into his mouth that he never would have said to Mahler alone. Did you not just demand respect from me thirty seconds ago? His words were cold. He did not appreciate a leader that said one thing and did another. Though he should have been pleased to hear that there would be no war, instead he was even more annoyed that yet again, Mahler had withheld information.

She should not have played games to learn if we were loyal, Taki growled in return. I am loyal but I am not someone's tool to use as they wish. And all anyone had done was ask for more information, and Wylla acted as if they had told her to get lost. This whole thing was ridiculous, and now a wedge was forced between the members of Sagtannet. What made rage swell in her chest was that he had gone to the cliffs himself and formed an agreement with them. Could that not have been done in the first place? Why did we have to go through all of this when we could have reached a peaceful resolution to begin with? If Wylla had just explained the whole story to everyone and they had approached this from a different direction than just marching there and forcing them out, things wouldn't be such a mess right now. 

She agreed, respect could never be demanded; then it was just fear. When Taikon spoke up in protest to this statement, Taki froze. She knew Mahler would excuse her arguing with him, but she knew it would not be taken well from Taikon even if what he said made sense. She felt as though she was about to have to make another one of those hard decisions.

ope

"thirty seconds ago i vas explaining to a man of my own age a lesson learned in childhood," mahler snarled, rounding upon taikon. anything takiyok said had gone fully from his mind; his tail lashed at his haunches. "i vould demand that much at least from you, if i thought you vere vorth it."
wylla's chagrin flashed before him; desperate ire boiled into a breaking point. "it is because of my respect for takiyok i do not rip your throat out now. leave, immediately. i do not care vhere it is you go. do not come back."
he expected the winterwhite to depart herself, perhaps with the man she had brought.
but mahler was filled with grief, and it impassioned him to dizzying heights of blinding wrath.
seconds slipping, and in one of them the gargoyle would move to break his word and crush taikon.

Takiyok spoke reason. She was as angry as he was, and for a moment, Mahler seemed even to listen and hear her. He was not willing to hear what he had to say. The second time that Mahler had ever heard him speak, he turned on him, snarling, telling him openly that he thought him worthless.
Mahler was a fighter. Taikon knew that the decision had to be made quickly on what to do. For a moment, he stiffened, his own lips curling into a brutal snarl in defence. He knew that Mahler was wrong. He knew that Takiyok would stay for her son, and he knew that what he had said was not a mistake. He would not grovel or apologize for clear, sensible actions.
Taikon met the eyes of his lea— his enemy. They were cruel despite a colour that reminded him of flowers. Lips rolling back down, he backed up, glancing at Takiyok. A fight would be pointless. The result would be the same. There would be no winning, just as there would be no winning a war with the cliff-side wolves. I pity you. The words slipped out without fear. He backed up further, staying defensive in case such words would inspire violence from this loser of a man.

Mahler's attack surprised her, but she quickly recovered and leaped into action. She released a snarl of her own, and it was directed at the Eisen. She moved to get between the two of them as Taikon's own snarl filled her ears. She met his gaze when he looked her way. This was wrong. This was not how things were supposed to go. How had this all become such a mess? She pinned Mahler with a fierce and angry look—because he was being unreasonable and ridiculous. She didn't want to hurt Mahler, but neither would she let him attack Taikon for no reason. 

Taikon spoke again and she wanted to shoot him a look to say shut the hell up; you're only making things worse. But she refused to look away from Mahler. Instead, she took a step forward as her friend inched back, lifting her lips and showing her teeth in warning. She had no authority to go against Mahler's decision to banish him, but she could at least ensure he was able to leave safely. With how disgusted she was with Mahler currently, she might just leave with him.

what taikon thought was weakness would be the natural end of continued defiance.
mahler would have enjoyed breaking the malcontent's jaw, a fitting scapegoat for all that had happened.
it was not a true surprise that fractured him when takiyok showed her teeth and forced her strong body between them; only a flicker of something acceptant and resolute in the eyes of the man with whom she had once led.
"choose quickly, takiyok," mahler ground in a low and dangerous slip of velvet upon wet stone. "you escort the trespasser from the borders, and make your decision there vether or not you vill be returning." 
an ultimatum. if he must tear down the stones of sagtannet to make way for a new imagining of a icier life, then he would, and if the winterwhite saw herself as one such, they were not beholden to one another.

cameo! lmk if u want me to delete this. marble’s just being nosey

She wasn’t expecting to walk in on commotion during her expedition, but she does just that. Marble would’ve kept her own path had it not been for the wolves she saw, one in particular. Heron Man, she’d dubbed the man. His features were recognizable even at this distance. The girl stopped what she was doing to silently watch the chaos unfold.

It was fairly civil at first. Words were exchanged. They spoke of pack affairs she did not understand (nor wished to). Then Heron Man said something to displease their eisen, and it only escalated from there. Blood would’ve been shed had it not been for the woman who put herself between the two.

Marble saw no point in this squabble, yet she cannot turn her gaze. She wanted to see just how far this would go.

She stepped between them. She defended him. This solidified what he knew: he was right, and Mahler was the worthless one. The pack was tearing apart at the seams, but it didn't matter for him. Long ago, Takiyok had found him as a lone wolf. He told her then that he and packs did not mix very well. Since then, he had come far, but every attempt he made at happiness found what he touched in ruins.
Mahler did not attack him. Takiyok stood strong. He told her to choose, and now Taikon knew he had put his friend in a terrible position. His boldness was answered with something far worse to him than an injury. Now, it was up to her. Forced into a choice between her pack, her family, and him, Taikon felt fury ball up within his gut. He couldn't help her with this one. A single question had caused Sagtannet to bend in on itself. Now, she had to choose whether she would stay or go.

cameo unless addressed!

As she moved within the territory, it was Marble's trailing scent that drew her, but ultimately the distant noise of a growl that brought her down slopes to stand beside her daughter. She hung at some distance. In the meeting, she had seen an unexpected weakness in Mahler in his inability to defend Wylla's leadership- but here, still unknowing that the Eisen was gone, this scene pleased her. Mahler with fur bristling before the fool who did not know how to hold his tongue- but Takiyok between the two of them, defending the thrall made her blood boil slightly. To think such disloyalty existed right under their noses! At least the Eisen, she assumed, was putting Taikon in his place... and she hoped for Asra he might do the same. Wolves who came into packs thinking themselves high and mighty needed a good humbling.

Star looked down to her daughter, making sure she was watching. It was good to be educated on what a strong leader looked like- and if someone tried to draw Mahler's blood, Star would show her daughter the loyalty of a subordinate knight.

Choose quickly, Takiyok.

Hurt flickered across her face at his words before she was able to cover it with anger and indignation. She had allowed him to hurt her again and it was for the last time. He was not being reasonable, but it was clearly impossible to make him see that. Maybe she could have helped him deal with the weight of his emotions had things not spiraled so quickly out of control. But now, the hurt she felt from his words sat in her heart like stones. And he said it like she was just some subordinate he did not care about. After everything they had been through. She could not stay here with him, not when he was so willing to throw her aside for going against him when he was so obviously wrong. 

She straightened up. Tears would come soon, and she had vowed long ago that he would never see her cry again. She swallowed and leveled him with her gaze. One day, you will be all alone, and these will be the moments that torture your mind. She could not save him from that, nor did she want to anymore. With that, she turned to leave, giving Taikon a lift of her chin that suggested he should follow if he wanted to remain in one piece.

you are already alone, he wished to slash at her retreating figure. wylla would leave. stag would go with her. takiyok would choose an insubordinate man over the years she had given her packland. 
so be it. mahler was finished with begging, with prostrating himself, with attempting logic that only earned him nothing in the end. 
lavender stare watched emotionlessly as they departed, and with them the last stability upon the peak. he decided it did not matter. he would not allow it to matter.
a turn of his head brought to vision star, who stood watching with her cub. marble held a prized stone. mahler approached the matron with a flare of his nostrils. "vylla is leaving at first light. stag vas enraged at the meeting, and it is understandable. i do not think he vill stay. it remains you, i, and asra, who will not be permitted to live upon these lands if she does not understand her role here."
cold, monotonous. a business to the shadowpriest, retreating far inside himself. "vinter comes. your children are young. i vill hold this place so long as our claim is not challenged. but i vill also take you and the little vones to kaistleoki if you find this untenable." he would not expect her to suffer through the taiga chill of a long snow with no other hunters; mahler had decided to suspend all expectations he had in a single wolf. there would be no judgement for her choices.

Taikon watched as his friend sliced at Mahler with words alone. He felt numb while she turned from him, following her on command, falling into step with her. As they moved away, he glanced at Takiyok as though in apology, but her eyes were forward, focused. The hurt, the darkness, was palpable.
They made their way to the border in silence. The numbness kept him from finding a new direction. He couldn't help but feel as though all of this had somehow been his fault, despite rationally knowing otherwise. Whatever happened now, his loyalty to her became fused as steel from iron.

Taikon and Takiyok exit

Wylla is leaving...? Star repeated in disbelief, not knowing the woman well enough to know her temper, and not expecting her departure. The matron's priority was loyalty, but where did her loyalty lie when one leader departed? She had been dissapointed to see how people treated their Eisen at the meeting... and she had supported the woman in however she might've used her old shield, but now Wylla was the abandoner, who could not stick it out and put the people in their place. Star breathed a small sigh. 

She was glad, at least, to hear Asra would be handled (or so she assumed.) The girl needed education on what a subordinate's place was, and seeing the pack falling apart like this only made Star more upset with those who had caused that, whether or not they had intended to. 

At his offer, she looked down to Marble. She thought of Kaistleoki- and she was not a jealous type, but that was where Howl's other children and other girl lived, and she assumed that woman might be younger- and she did not want to deal with anyone who might become jealous of her. Catfights were pointless. She thought of her own childhood; she had lived through winter in north mountains in her youth. This place was not as cold as there- it would strengthen her children, she thought, and if they did not handle the cruelty of cold well, she would take them south then. But never did she wish to abandon her pack so simply. Sagtannet was home.

I want to stay here, She told him, and added, I'll be with Sagtannet until we fall to the ground completely. I do not have enough time left in my life to spend it in a place where I do not feel at home. My children are young, but I believe I can prepare them for winter... and my northern blood even moreso. They both had her thick coat, after all. If it gets too difficult for them... we'll go. And that was slightly reluctant, because Star did not trust that Kaistleoki would be as great for her as it was for Howl, but ultimately the kids came first.

he too looked toward marble, half-seeing the child and half-focused upon the dirt turning to individual grains beneath his focus. something sick cloying at the back of his neck. "she told me she vas leaving. i did not stop her. she says she vill be gone by first light."
he could not look at star; the gargoyle shifted his gaze to the spreading dusk. "and then i came here to find this man who had disrespected her. you saw vhat followed."
and now he did look upon the alabaster features of the little duchess.
"and stag vill not stay, i do not think." quietly.
"so that makes you and i the backbone of this place," the gargoyle went on. "sagtannet vill continue because of you. that is not something i vill forget."

cameo for now!

 It was like holding a delicate honeycomb in the palm,
only to have some rancourous boy slap your fist and feel the substance fall through the gaps of your fingers.

Astraeus watched the traitorous backs of the jaundiced man and the woman he assumed he must have finessed to come with him, if Mahler had given her an ultimatum it meant her loyalty had lain with him hours before the epoch of Sagtannet winked out of existence. Wylla's pledge to leave, Stag's dispirited faith, Takiyok's abandonment —
this wouldn't have happened if Taikon knew the role of a subordinate. Democracy was essential to their society the boy learned then, but the lack of respect would never be tolerated. He notes this down in his inner textbook for future reference. 
He also irons the fine lines of Taikon's features and his retreating figure to his mind.

He would watch the Sagtannet diaspora.

oh shit boy!! I forget!!!

Star's heart fell as Mahler explained Wylla's leave. She could not feel Astraeus' gaze, and in that moment Marble too ceased to exist- she saw only the man before her, with everything slipping from his grasp. Wylla. Taikon. Takiyok. Stag. In a mere couple days, Sagtannet had lost almost every adult. But Star and Mahler would remain. She turned her dark gaze upward to him, Thank you, Mahler. Nor will I forget how you continue to give us a home. Us, She breathed, glancing now to her daughter again. It is appreciated more than you know. She offered him a small smile in spite of his present mood. It seemed a silly thing, to value teamwork so, but Star felt it was only teamwork that could get them through this difficult time. And on that note, she would expect whichever adults remained to put in their efforts too. Will Sagtannet change, now? Have you thought on it? She inquired.

no worries! figure we could wrap in another round if u wanted <3

he wanted to tear himself away, to shout until his voice broke. "yes. sagtannet vill change. it must," and here he glanced to her child, who had only ever known wandering. would marble feel the same? how would this shape she and calcifer in the months to come?
"i think," and it was without humour, but with a resplendent sense of gratitude that he spoke, "that any role for leadership that has opened"
wylla was leaving
he swallowed, feeling as if his words had descended into babble
"if we hold the numbers that require a second leader, it is you i vould choose first."
brow furrowed now. he looked in the direction that taikon and takiyok had gone
"i must ensure that they depart," mahler said quietly, apologetically, lavender gaze upon star.