Broken Boulder It's kinda funny,

The place highly reminded her of her own home; as cold and unwelcoming the forests seem, it was but a treasure to the northerner. She was used the taiga, the coldness that ran through, and while the mountain itself was a pleasantry, she enjoyed the factor that was this. What was strange however was the boulder that Asra seemed rather reluctant to enter, and upon the rest of her group arriving, she split away from them.. And remained outside of the dens.

There was also the factor that she highly felt unwelcomed. It seemed like the glacier-wolf was intruding if she was to enter, and grimanced when she looked inside, imagining the tension that would appear if she entered so. While Asra held such a desire, there wasn't many who seemed to care for her.

She slinked away to the outer regions, and rested against it.

tags for ref!

soon he would go out, cross the ranges, seek his daughters. @Ciri and @Elke had long waited for him; mahler must not keep them from missing him for too much longer. in the days to come he would speak with @Star once she had settled, searched out her thoughts upon holding interim while he took his foray.
having stropped his scent over the borders for the third time that day, mahler curved his path toward the boulderface. there he found the palestruck asra, and chuffed lowly for her attention. "has anything caught your eye today?" the newly-made graf asked of the storyteller, pausing in his tasks to shake out his hackles and rest a moment.

Pushing herself upright in a proper seating position, Asra politely nodded to the new Graf. There was a few things she was curious about- specifically being where had everyone gone, especially the other Eisen, but as someone she saw as bottom of the totem pole, felt it was not her place to ask. It made her wonder how much the man was bearing onto his shoulders, now that Sagtannet was split in half, and Rivenwood is full of strangers.

"It reminds me of my old home. I was from a cold taiga, though I had not seen such an odd boulder before." Glacier eyes momentarily glanced to boulder before facing the shadow guard. Though remembering the issue with Taikon, and how fiercely his golden view looked onto the other Eisen long ago, she tucked her eyes to the barren floor.

mahler was not ignorant of how asra turned her gaze from him, and though he felt this time between them was friendly, the man was mollified by the show of respect. she climbed higher in his estimation for that reason alone.
*i had not before, either," mahler grunted, settling himself nearby. "i vant to thank you for staying vith star, vhile i vas here." an inkling of a smile, and then quiet.

"It is my pleasure." Though she did want to join him upon his departure for their new territory, Asra also understood the importance of staying with the mother, as only the two were in the mountain with a handful of children to protect. Thankfully so, there was no trouble that brewed during their waiting.

"I'm afraid I am not well-liked, however." And so the wolf confessed to the Graf on the misgivings of how she felt so far.

a furrow of his brow. "vhat brings you to this thought?" he had heard nothing ill of her from star. now that taikon had gone, asra ranked higher in both the pack and mahler's eyes. a thoughtful pause. "vhat does it mean to be vell-liked?'
chosen? beckoned toward, held in esteem? the pack was small and mahler was tersely grateful for it. and yet the leadership qualities of him did not allow for asra's statement to go unanswered.

Rank mattered little to the woman when she felt so alone, "I feel as if i'm.. Being avoided." It was true in the sense that it was simply hard to find others during her time, if she thought correctly, Mahler was the most she had interacted with throughout all the wolves, to Taikon, Stag, Star, Wylla, and even the kids itself; only meeting Marble. It seemed like everyone was.. Absent, and in that sense she felt they were avoiding her.

Even the newcomers seemed amiss, and she did not know how to interact with them properly. They were introduced to now Rivenwood during her time in the mountain, and she wondered how to properly talk to the bunch.

"Perhaps I am overthinking, but it does feel lonely."

avoidance. mahler was not sure how to provide a remedy for that. but he listened all the same, thinking of how their numbers had dwindled until it did indeed seem the former inhabitants of sagtannet had eased into the background.
"are you accustomed to a large pack?" he asked softly. winter was upon them, and mahler expected that at least one joiner would make their way to the boulder. even if they did not, it was where he planned to weather, regardless of rivenwood's fate in the snows to come.

"Very so.. Though we were divided by class." It was definitely different then it was at the court, as the numbers were so low that Asra simply.. Was alone majority of the time. It felt nice getting a bit of peace, but at the same time.. She missed the interaction and socializing. If Asra had one wolf to regularly talk with, she would be satisfied.

"It is an adjusment. I do enjoy Rivenwood."

"it is small. and even if it does not hold, i intend to stay here." mahler was interested to know of this division by class; he considered that to be an intriguing point even if he did not agree. a pensive glow entered his lilac eyes, and he drew them away from asra, presently considering something deep within his mind.
"the night i came to ask you if you vould stay, i had — just come from speaking vith vylla, who said she was leaving. in the same hour, taikon and takiyok defected," for was it not? his mouth twitched bitterly, "and i vill not say that i vas vrong to move us here."
he shifted, pondered the white-blazed woman. "rivenvood, then, must take a shape. i vant you to have a hand in doing that." @Star would come first, he decided, but asra had managed her own place well.

"I had not seen them in some time.. So I assumed so." There was some suspicions that were thrown at the back of her mind, for she definitely addressed in thought of their disappearance. Asra had met them all, and one with the promise of learnings of a new language; which now would not meet the light of day. A shame to be, for she enjoyed them all, maybe less to the harsh matriarch, but respected nonetheless.

"I do not know if it's good, or bad.. But it is a change to get used to, a welcoming one." Asra was far too knew to officially say whether she enjoyed the movement or not, as the mountain was only something she just was getting used to, before uprooting once more. However such an inkling to her own previous life, she unknowingly accepted it the new terrain change, but had trouble adjusting with the lonesome wolves that seemed to stray away.

"I'm not sure what you mean, i'll help what I can, but I am still what I once was, a newcomer." A smile, but not of pity or shame, but a knowing of her place in this. A rank may be changed, and higher did she go, but her heart still felt everything was too new to accept.

asra was careful, and she cloaked it beneath not knowing. that was mahler's perception of her: a girl who perhaps knew the game that a court demanded. he was not for one such, nor classes; he preferred strength of skills and of being over position in blood.
"it means this is a new place. you are ranked third between myself and star. you have authority." a slow, perceptive look. "but perhaps you have not had such before?" he inquired gently, before turning his gaze toward the bracken woods. "a newcomer to a new land. not so vithout influence as you might have been before."

"I had said my Court was divided, yes?" Something to a leadership was to be glorified, but never achievable for where she had lived. Nor' did it matter too much, as Asra was once a happy woman wanting to form a family, and the thoughts did not come to her so, "there was the Nobles who led and always had a barrier of superiority, they knew the northern language and more.. Then there was I, the commoners who were the bulk of the group. If you were born as one, you could never be the other." Akin to Alpha and an Omega. She knew the play, but never participated in the battle.

"I feel honored to be able to gain this role, but I do not know if I can live up to your expectations." She was a realistic however, and while one part of her young-blood desired to simply accept and say 'i'll try my best,' she didn't want to live down to what Mahler hoped. He gave a lot for Asra, a home, a rank, and loyalty that she wanted more then above all else. Being betrayed once, she could give all the titles away for a true allegiance.

But she had hesitation, for being burned once, it can happen again.

mahler listened. a kingdom bearing a schism. nobles. caste. a language that belonged to one above and never allowed the ascension of another. he felt as though he understood some detailing more around the latticework of asra. and so she had been a commoner, a peasant, to toil beneath a privileged eye and never knew more.
"i have no expectations," he told her kindly. "i too have only known vone thing. vone vay of being. and so this too for me is new." each wolf in rivenwood would learn it. or they would not; they would depart. 
mahler would remain.
"you come from a land that inspires far-off tales," the gargoyle remarked. "perhaps that is vhy you have a penchant for them."

His words gave an encore of a small laughter, "To others but a fantasy, but for me it was a life. Like all sorrowful stories, it too ended in a betrayal. Maybe I hope my own stories have a more positive twist." Though the one story she shared with Mahler was not the most positive one, but something she shared upon her childhood. It was like a reaching to a past she so holds nostalgia against, but knew in her heart she would need to abandon it.

It was hard to let go for what she only knew.

"Perhaps in this time of need, I can share a positive one on another day." Asra knew well it was not the time for a fairy-tale.

"You are far more experienced then I, I only hope to learn from you."

mahler wished to take what asra said as a gentle flattery, something to soothe the bruised masculine place of him. but all he could think was that he could not teach, that he could be no teacher. the gargoyle could no more tutor someone in the way of pain than he could wish it upon them.
"it is not positivity that is important," he said instead. 
"it is truth."
a long low breath, one that trailed into a tremor; mahler cleared his throat, adopted the air of a man who has clapped his knees and begun to rise from a visit. "i hope that you find new stories to tell here."

"There is a few that are dear to me, and I hope to continue the list." There was quite a few stories that she found dear to her heart, and the one about the zodiac was just one of many that she could recall. It was a favorite, a banquet between animals, but all that one was left.. Perhaps her mother told to share sympathy while Asra was still young, but the memories she held with her mother with it was far more important then the story itself.

Yet, in the end.. She too abandoned Asra.

"I wish you well." As the man moved to get up, she dipped her in a polite matter while wishing him farewell. She thought to drop into a proper bow, yet he never asked of her for it.. And the wolf didn't want to be reminded of the divide, nor enter it again.

last for me <3

"and i vish you the same." mahler held her gaze a moment, dipping his head gently before he turned to blend himself with the taiga forest. her respect had been assured during that night's tense conversation; she had already proven herself time and again in terms of loyalty when it came to his particular aims.
but rivenwood might ask more of her. mahler had faith that asra would answer such requests in her poised way.