Jade Fern Grove hören

for @Ephemeris!

four little ones. mahler, quite thankful as of late for laurel, departed the bypass to renew his stores of a particular mint. despite noctisardor's predilection for having a thousand plants, this one was not available there.
and so he climbed down from rivenwood, following the lap of a river outward until he returned to the deep empty greenery of the grove.
here he quietly searched back and forth for the wide-leaf cuttings, glancing up from time to time as charcoal ears flicked in the direction of rivenwood, and he listened, hoping that praimfaya's voice would not rise to summon him when he could not go to her or to them as swiftly as he would like.

He was a brazen boy still even as he relaxed into his second year. So of course he stomped through the ferned place without a care in the world. The liveliness of spring squashed under his paws in a satisfying way. Pleased that winter seemed to have finally gone away.

He wasn’t pleased to run into somebody else out here. Although he should have known better, scents had littered the place and told him of frequent travels through here.

The young man slowed himself to a stop and offered a careful bark towards the other, older, man.

mahler turned and put his attention upon the one who had called him. an instinctive guardian instinct flared his hackles to life; for a long moment he only watched the younger, and then, seeing no threat, mahler relaxed. the stranger was still too close to rivenwood, even here in these common lands. unnamed men posed the most danger to newborns.
the gargoyle let out his breath. "may i help you?" he asked quietly, unmoving as an ironbar sentinel.

It was a question he had heard enough already in his weaving through these lands. His scarred features crinkled with something akin to disappointment.

Everyone has asked and only one has ever done so. A snort meant more for humor than aggression.

How would you help? He felt like a Riddler as his toes clenched the ground beneath him. Eager to hear the older man's answer.

a brief irritation. it passed, the small bite of a stinging insect. it was not an inquiry he had been prepared to field, a sort of interview conducted unbeknownst. 
"vell i vould begin by asking you vhat sort of help that vone provided," mahler said musingly, broad paw sliding a pile of leaves toward his carrying bag. lavender eyes flicked toward the stranger, toward the scars upon the younger man's face.

She helped me after I was attacked by a crazy woman. He answered easily, some of his brazen display falling into something more neutral. Fitting of two strangers who stood on mostly unclaimed land.

Would you do the same? Picking and prodding in such a childish manner.

"a good doktor helps anyvone who needs healing," mahler said peaceably, though he wondered with a dark amusement why he said this woman was crazed. perhaps it was because he acted like a boy who had not proven himself to her as well.
"is that how you received your scars?" the shadowpriest went on, the wide brim of his head dipping again, curiously, toward the leaves for which he had come.

A doktor was not a word he knew well, but could pin it to a place it was meant to be.

No, He answered strongly with a deep frown. It was a wolverine I battled when I was younger. Too young to be battling them, especially alone. Hence why it had got the best of his face. Although this man was marred too and Ephermeris had to wonder what had got the best of him.

Granted he did not ask of that. Instead he asked —

Who are you?

mahler found the same thought: that his companion was young for such conflicts. "mahler, of rivenvood."
he paused to move the verdant burden carefully to its prep, and soon he would bear it home. the gargoyle did not intend to be departed from the bypass for longer than was necessary.
"no beasts to fight there. vork. tasks. small moments of beauty. peace." mahler set a paw atop the traveling bundle. his lilac stare rested on the boy. "have you considered that you might need something to do?"

Mahler, of Rivenwood, seemed to have an offer for him. One that sung deeply to the young man. He hadn't wanted to seem too eager but his response came quick all the same.

Yes, He declared with a soft sigh. All there is to do is wander and I've grown bored of sight seeing. Every rock and tree began to look the same after some point.

Would you have tasks for me?

mahler's craggy face warmed into something like sunlight upon stone. "i vould," he grunted in return. "vandering is good until you wake vone day and realize you do not know vhere you vill sleep that night. i am in need of night vatchmen. ve have new little vones this season," the gargoyle explained — he thought of laurel 
— of her hot eyes and proclamation toward motherhood 
"and perhaps more to come. but i am just vone man. i could use another, especially vone vith enough energy to fight a wolverine." a quirk of his mouth. mahler swung his head toward rivenwood in invitation. "vhat is your name?"

It was there, with the sight of warmth in the other man, that Ephemeris could look at him more as an equal that a stranger to butt heads with. Perhaps taken by the fact that this was a man who seemed his speed — scarred and ready to give tasks. Even if the bundle of plants drew some questions.

I have that energy and more to offer you. He boasted without shame, scarred face warming with a smirk. I was named Ephemeris, but will answer to plenty else.

ephemeris. it was an ethereal sound that did not reflect the scarred features. and yet it contained some tone of youth, a characteristic that had long left mahler.
"very good," he rumbled. no more words to spare. sequoia and praimfaya needed him to be at the bypass, and so mahler took up his physician's bag and led ephemeris back to the stone-edged land and its number of inhabitants that had grown large.

The silence was preferred when they fell into it.

So he jogged along Mahler, drifting by the man’s older side like a tide. Sometimes close and other times a bit behind or forward. If anything was asked of him on the way (pick something up, look somewhere, anything the man might have conjured) he would have been happy to do so.

This felt familiar to home.

Can close here maybe? :D