Whitebark Stream verlorener bruder

can be a read only! mahler is giving congrats/leaving a gift at the halfway point between their packs :D

he had heard @Wintersbane's call, rising to twine with that of his wolves.
in the hours that followed, the gargoyle stalked from his stone perches to call out to his former brother, a single howl rising powerfully and with welcome across the wide valley.
alongside the pretty stream, mahler tucked a spring cutting of herbs for @Iana; if she heard and came down, she would find them there. for now mahler rested, watching the foliage around him with a pacified look as he slowly turned toward rivenwood.

She arrived on light paws, tempted in by a familiar call that had her tail sweeping behind her in feathery strokes. As she trailed along the stream, she discovered a welcomed surprise. A bundle of spring cut herbs, perhaps the best she had found so far. Yet the scent upon them and the former call made it clear this was a gift.

Mahler? She called out, soft and hopeful. She had not spotted him yet but she hoped he remained near.

mahler pushed shoulders through the tall waving ferns, but the sound of his name in a familiar voice paused the man. "iana," he rumbled, turning with a careful sway of his dark tail. she looked well, the small woman with her dark points, and the scent wreathing from her was distinctly herbal in nature.
"it sounds as though my congratulations are in order," the shadowpriest added. he felt that by now she had seen his offering, and grew rather self-conscious in spite of himself. "it vill be good to have a close neighbor in the glacier."

Her tail whipped a bit more for his warm presence. He was kind and she admired him for plenty. Not to mention some sense of grand gratefulness for all he did. The teachings he had provided and now the gift that (she could only assume) he had left upon the the side of the creek.

Thank you...and I am glad that it is you that is our neighbor. Honest even if soft-spoken. Sheepish perhaps that she might be too heavy handed with compliments and praises.

Will you come visit it again sometime? See what it looks like truly inhabited.

mahler smiled softly, pleased by both her comment and her invitation. "of course," he told the little healer. "i suppose i vill give that dear friend of mine some time to regroup before i arrive," he joked wryly of wintersbane. "the, ah, green things: they are for you. i vas gathering my own for rivenvood and felt you might also make use of them."
he wanted to ask after wintersbane's injury, but under iana's tutelage and skill, he knew the man would be rather all right. "i still mean for us all to have that hunt," the graf added in a gentle tone.

She laughed softly, a little songbird in nature. Regroup. She would almost plead the case that there was no better time than now, but she knew Mahler's position was just as lofty as Wintersbane. She could not steal these men away from their duties for pleasentries and time spent in their company.

I'm flattered you thought to share with me. It would lighten some of her load of setting up her medic den. A stash to add to her own small, but growing, collection.

Then he brought up the hunt and it felt like a nervous butterfly in her chest. She was an extension of Duskfire Glacier here, but she knew her pull was not that of a leader's even if she sat high.

I will make sure to remind Wintersbane. Something close to humor in her voice. Spring seems promising these days, a hunt would be good. A nervous flutter of her tail but all good natured nonetheless.

How are things in Rivenwood?

likewise, mahler silently wondered if despite what he had just said he should go sooner. he was available now, after all. this ability would eventually not be his if praimfaya and sequoia came away successful at their efforts outside the borders. this time, the thought did not pang him. they would need his skill and patience; he would be necessary in another way that was not patriarch or father.
her sound of amusement was songstrum; mahler found himself brightening slowly in return. he did not miss how her plume moved, nor how it felt that iana became more formal. "spring also brings small yellow flowers to the valley," he told the duskfire medic. "they are not so bitter, and make a good poultice for deeper vounds." sometimes it was hard to bind the deep rents, and he had schooled himself to find other methods.
"how did you become interested in healing, if you do not mind my asking?" the gargoyle went on, flicking his lavender gaze briefly to her delicate features.

She stashed away the knowledge he shared, intrigued deeply by it all, of course. Ready to share it as well with Duskfire's growing collection of medics. Imaq, Rye, Lane... she had grown a little group within the pack it seemed.

Don't mind at all. A soft shake of her head. Admittedly, I was not as good as my peers in other tasks and I found a comforting peace in healing. Something soothing in the sorting and collection, the knowledge of each plant I collect. Small hum of fondness at the end of her words. Tail swished slow and steady behind her.

What of you?

peace in healing. mahler felt the sentiment of that reverberate softly in his own chest. he too found the variants of color and life to bring him a silent calm. but for this, mahler chose to chuckle softly. "out of the necessity of being a young man who enjoyed fighting vith other young men," he said of his past self, remembering how he had through blind luck lanced a festered toothwound and thereby discovered the process of infection.
"my studies brought me to midvifery," mahler ventured, pausing a moment before he looked toward the canopy of branches above them.
"and now i have attended eight births —" he counted the first and in the same thought mahler wondered if he should count any of them, guilted sense of vanity warring with the evermore shame he carried for those first babes "— and consider myself accomplished, and none of it vould ever have occurred to me had i not tried to save myself after vone of those hotheaded foolish battles."

It was a charming story. A young warrior man learning to patch himself back up. It impressed her further. Almost tempted her to swoon, but she demanded herself to keep a...professional sort of air about her.

And how did you get to midwifery from being that hotheaded warrior patching yourself up? Some humor in her voice, but genuinely impressed as well. Admittedly she was unsure how someone just learned without any sort of guidance.

mahler chuckled deeply. "vhen i vas a boy, i vanted to attend the births. the midvives, they tossed me out. however, eventually, i came to a little place vhere many healers had gathered, and there i learned i all i had every vished to learn." he thought fondly of it, how they had called him die sille, how in their company, he had never felt odd for his focused pursuit.
"it is — knowledge meant to be shared, iana," he chuffed now, shyly building to his invitation. "if your duties at the glacier do not become too much, i vould like to impart this visdom i have carried. perhaps we might ah, meet more often?"
gunwary mahler, tiptoeing upon an edge he had not walked for a long while.

It filled her with some sort of giddy delight that she kept hidden under her wraps of a soft exterior. Only betrayed by the way her tail twitched and swayed.

I would like that very much. A polite dip of her head to him. Perhaps I can come visit your home for a lesson, as you have already visited mine. Soft spoken humor to mask her self-invite.

She knew it was rude to invite herself but she felt it might be...acceptable here. Maybe even warranted. He was a leading man of his pack and it might be better to keep their meetings close to his dear Rivenwood.

"i enjoy the sound of that," mahler chuffed pleasantly. "perhaps i vill tour you about. ve are not a glacier," he teased gently, comfortable with their rapport, "but rivenvood has sights to be seen." the gargoyle found the idea quite enjoyable: a trip with a knowledgeable counterpart into the realm of green things he had long neglected.
"vill you carry a message to vintersbane, please?" mahler asked politely. "i mean to ask vhen he vould like to plan the hunt between your pack and mine." netting meat for the coming mouths to be fed was in the interest of all their wolves.

I cannot wait to see them. She cooed back in return. Enticed by the offer of a tour — as if his offer of teachings had not been enough!

Of course. A polite dip of her crown. I will see to these things and...perhaps see you again soon? A goodbye, if he was ready to take it as such. Admittedly she could have talked to him forever, but there were plenty of things still left to tend to.

mahler smiled. "very good." for a long, struck moment, he thought of surrendering all duties to praimfaya that same day. but the logic of age returned to speak softly, and suggest he reject such an infernal idea. not now. there was no need to rush the inevitable change which waited for rivenwood at his end.
"until then, iana," the gargoyle said, sounding more grave than he had meant; but in the next his eyes shone with a particularly pleasant purple sort of expression, and he would turn then to head homeward.