Nova Peak vom körper entfernen

three hours lay until dawn, four until first light.
taikon and takiyok had gone, but mahler felt no grief for their abandonment. it would come with the rest of it, he supposed, in its own time. for now he was honed, sharp, a paladin routing sin from the stone walls of the emptying packland.
quiet now, as he sought the dreamer @Asra. her voice too, risen in resistance at the meeting, but with none of the disrespect her counterpart had shown.
a test for the girl then, as he viciously writ together angered missives for his future.

She was so blissfully unaware of all that had happened, to the leaving of not only Wylla and Stag, but the then banishment of Taikon and Takiyok. Days in and out would she simply continue but her slow days as a provider to help not only herself, but the pack she was weary over the thoughts of war that was looming.

All could Asra do was hunt.

Though instead she had caught the sights of her eisen, and softly did the snow striked wolf smile to his presence, "have you come for another story?"

he found her not long after, discovered her smile. this time there was nothing in him to return it, only a brief softening of his stance. "no," the shadowpriest grit in a round of frostbreath. "i have come to tell you vone."
"there vas a young voman who joined a pack and refused to go to war for it. that day, the pack lost four of its number, including vone of her leaders by next light."
staring at asra, heart turning with pain. "so now she faced a long vinter vith hardship ahead. now she is asked if it is vorth it. now she is told that if she is not prepared to be loyal to those in her pack who stayed and did not abandon for other things — she is told to leave. and quickly."

She quietly listened, her smile dropping to a neutral expression to the 'story' that was given, but the readers, including herself, knew it not be a story, but a tale spun by her own actions.

"It sounds she didn't refuse war- but asked why it was needed, and what they have done to deserve so. Someone so new, and young, inexperienced in war, would be afraid." She won't lie, there was hesitation when the female eisen declared the new enemies, yet never said they in particular have done Sagtannet wrong. Only the location, had a dark part to the past of the mountain wolves. She felt hesitant, to do so.

Morally wrong as well.

"But the woman is grateful," after some silence, she opened once more to the 'lore', "to the man who gave her a new home when the old betrayed her so." Her tail covering her paws as she took a seat, and gave a gentle, pitiful smile toward him so.

"It's why I don't want to leave."

mahler listened through asra's explanation, but it was the last of her words that brought his breath tot trail out in a quiet relief. "good." to the rest of her words he scarce had a smile, but he looked at the woman with new eyes. "there vill be no battle if i can help it." he thought upon what he had told star, what he wished to tell asra.
"for now we vill remain here. but i think that it is not safe to stay so close to the seavolves without more fighters." already his mind spinning a hundredfold ahead of himself, keeping the enormity of all that had happened beneath a swift and tight rein. 
"and it is all right to be afraid." more unsaid; the image of takiyok turning her back upon him etched into his mind.

She had more to say on the matter, wishing to ask more on why Wylla wanted to wage war, and why... Did the rest leave? Though she felt it was not her place to ask for such history or information, she knew not of the banishments and subsequant betrayels there were happening. Already going through her own, Asra had no intention of being the one to do so.

"I been betrayed, once upon a time, by past friends and a lover- and you granted me a new life amongst the bitterness of the old home. I don't want to be what I despise the most."

had she asked, he would not have been able to explain to her.
wylla is going to leave flashing in neon mantis shrimp colors across the surface of his brain, synaptic ticker-tape.
he concentrated on his breathing. "thank you for that. i thought it important to be honest about vhat ve now face."
was there any such thing as we? mahler had steadily lost his grip upon hope of that.
elke and ciri; what if he never returned? never returned and spared them his failure?
that manful little part of his mind, whispering that he was a bachelor now, as he had foretold to takiyok. that the most vicious response to his stony beloved's departure was to take the first wife he saw, not bother with love, and set his next years to building something higher than he had yet gone. that there was no stopping him from reaching to asra, using her to drive out the agony of the image he had created: wylla beneath another.
wylla was leaving, but now she was not gone. for now she remained, and his flesh belonged to her, unmoved and still moored despite the dreamer's pale-marked beauty. helplessly numb. "think about vhat it is you vant for your loyalty, asra. you do not have to tell me now."

"A home, and an occasional story to share." Her responds was simple, as she did not have too many requirements for the loyalty to be given, as it already was. A home to call to with friends to share fables to, and finally, near the end of it all.. A family of her own.

One day she would like a family. Though Asra knew, it would take time to find a lover for only herself; she was patient. The worry now, was but a home.

She hoped it could be built in what the future of Sagtannet, for it was the the second place she laid to, and one she wholey hoped to stay within.

"a home can grow boring. a story can turn sour." he was dire suddenly; he had not told her of wylla's departure. it had hurt too greatly to even reveal before star. and he could not do it a second time. asra must learn that it was more that dreams which bound one to the earth.
"tomorrow i am going to search for a new place. i do not think it vould be prudent of us to remain." she must stay with the older woman, he decided, to keep a watch over the distant bevy of adolescents and the growing children underfoot. the promise of more cubs was not any more promised, he knew, and so would not make it a goal for sagtannet to achieve.

"It is but a hobby."  She wasn't sure what the mans words meant, but nontheless it was but a hobby she'd like to share. A lore under the stars, or a tale of somebody's past, was always an interesting part to share. She enjoyed hearing the tales of someones rough life, as everyone's personality was always formed in some way, usually connecting to a past they do not follow anymore.

"It would be smart, especially with a growing pack next door.. Do you need help?" She would prefer to avoid the thoughts of war, because admittingly it scares her. She already admitted to him, and if moving to somewhere else meant avoiding so.. She was willing, even if it meant her new den was abandoned, and the home she was growing fond of was left behind. There was a hint of sadness in her voice, despite the willingness given.

"that vould be velcome." he was no longer in a position to deny her company, but then thought of star. she could not be left alone with marble and calcifer to tend, and no one else to hunt. "but i need you to remain here until i have found a better place," mahler said softly. the night called, and he would throw himself into a patrol, alone, blindly heading away from wylla in the darkness.
ear flicked in silence; he hoped that asra would understand.

And she did, nodding at him, "I understand." Though unfortunate she could not come alongst with, as Asra had wanted to know further beyond the mountain.. Though she also knew his reasoning, as the mountain was tense by the rival group, and there was children needed to be protected.

The frost-woven wolf was not a warrior, but she knew enough to defend herself. There was a slight rise of anxiety over the thought if the time came she would truly need to protect another, but if the time came.. She knew what would need to be done, even if Asra was not prepared.

"I will come when you call again."

u can fade <3 tysm

"hopefully that vill be a time sooner rather than later." he could not muster a smile, not now, but lit his gaze upon her with a bare approving light.
if asra had nothing else to say, mahler would quit her presence with something like relief crossing him. nothing to do with the snowblazed woman, all to do with the dread clenching in his gut for morning.