Dragoncrest Cliffs news travels slow between those two

@Rhaegal if he's free :D

he had heard his mas talking about a new face. or maybe it had been aminthe who had told him who had heard it from their mothers.

didn't matter much who the news came from. mattered more that he found this new face among them — because it was another boy. er, man. but man in the same way his brothers were.

so whenever he crossed paths with the new face, he gave a whooping holler of a greeting. delighted and brilliant.

'EY!

sapphique, it came to rhaegal's attention quickly, had a lot of cubs. it wasn't entirely unexpected: from the scents at the borders alone the seadragon could tell it had it's fair share of adults. cubs went along with that by simple nature. still, at large he's met more cubs than he has adults — if one could call being in the same proximity of ( at least ) two cubs at the site of the beached whale as 'meeting'.

nevertheless, the voice that splices thru the air to him, draws rhaegal's eyes to the boy draped in a pelage of cinammons.

hullo, greets rhaegal. 'n who might you be, lad?

he dubbed the man a friend at once.

large and big. the piratin' type, he felt. which meant they had to be friends. buddies. pals. quennell suddenly realized he had not a proper term beyond crew! but that was okay. they could work on that.

oh! between us it be quen! he beamed, bouncy stepped towards the man. prepared to offer a bump of shoulders as if they had known each other a lifetime.

and what should i be callin' you?

aye, it's good tae be meetin' ye quen. rhaegal grins, finding the boy's enthusiasm to be contagious. his tail gives a friendly wag behind his haunches. he wasn't entirely sure what to make of sapphique as a whole if only because he'd only thus far met rosalyn, chacal and now quen. and, of course, he found familiarity in his uncle njord's presence within the pack.

well, drawls rhaegal as the question is turned back to him. i be called rhaegal.

this boy talked a lot like njord!

it was the kind of thing that endeared quen even further. a good name! he declared with a wave of his tail, hoping to turn their path towards the sea.

whatcha be wantin' to do? a broad question! yet he figured this would be a good way to get to know the man better.

a soft chuckle rumbles in rhaegal's chest at the compliment. it was a good name, a dragon's name — or so that was how his mother had told it. aye, he murmurs. me mam thought so.

well, drawls rhaegal as he contemplates quen's question. i was getting tae ken the lay o' the land. he admits feeling a bit sheepish about it despite that being as green to sapphique as he was, not being familiar with the pack's claim and it's secrets was entirely expected.

lay of the land!

den you're lucky to have quen here! he barked proudly, chest a bit fluffed out. prepared to trot them to all of the best places.

de beach bay be first. it be the best part of sapphique! and he began a trot that threatened to teeter into a run.

he wanted the other boy to race after him!

there is a certain level of relief that thus far ( njord being the exception ) that the wolves of sapphique that he's met do not appear to be hindered by his accent nor the way he mixes the native tongue of meares island with common. though quen — and chacal — appear to have an accent of their own, notable from the accent that general common speakers carried.

you ken tae land well? if rhaegal was running off of assumptions alone, he'd guess that the boy was born here but that felt too presumptuous to run with. there was a fifty fifty chance either way that his assumption was right or wrong.

still, best to let the boy tell him, himself.

he trots after him all the same, grin turning lopsided at the rapid gait the boy leading the way has adopted.

i be born 'ere!

he laughed in usual quen fashion, tossing his head some with it.

my mama and maman led it before my siblin's did! his voice kept over the sound of the sea breeze that ruffled all of sapphique. but me? ah, i be busy wit' piratin'!

as if he was any type of contender for the throne one day. even his ambition did not reach to what felt like the impossible of leading sapphique. sobo had done such and quennell was happy to let his brother be the man of history.

their path would cut along the edge of the meadow, the tunnel awaiting their loping forms.

quen tells rhaegal that he was born in sapphique and with that tidbit comes a history lesson; though the seadragon does not mind. it is good to learn the history of sapphique. he'd even be willing to go so far as to argue that it was just as important as getting to know the wolves that called it home. if he was to make it his home and crew ...he needed to know it intimately.

their path cuts along the edge of the meadow and towards a tunnel whose mouth grows like a hungry titan's the nearer they draw to it.

best you only fit yourself into the mold you want tae be in. be it a pirate or a leader. if there was one piece of wisdom rhaegal could impart on any young mind ( not that he was old, mind you ) it was that. it might not always garner favor — he thinks of his parents disappointment that he did not wish to stay with the islands he was born to with a small frown that disappears as quick. luckily for quen, it seemed the lad already had learned such a lesson.

i LOVE rhae's new avatar!!!

oh, i be likin' you! he barked with warm laughter. nearly breathless — and so he would pull his pace down to a stop. creeping up on the tunnel they would have to go through to get to the beach.

he motioned the other boy along, knowing the tunnel to be safe as anywhere else in sapphique.

what mold you be fittin'?

garsheen did an amazing job. <3

a soft sort of warmth spreads within rhaegal's chest at quen's declaration: finding that it felt good to be liked. like perhaps there was a place in sapphique for him after all. rosalyn had made it very clear that he'd have to earn his way here — which he expected. he was not one for free handouts — but it'd created a concern that he would not fit in well despite that he, too, was a seafarer by birth.

ay, i dinnae ken yet. rhaegal offers with a wistful sigh that is only mostly playful. mine own, i suppose. though that was conveniently not a true answer.

through the tunnel they would travel — and there voices would mingle with the sound of the sea breeze.

i bet you be findin' it! he aimed to softly bump into the other boy again. the same way he might if he had been adventuring with a brother. sapphique be offerin' plenty. my sister a singer, my ot'er one be good wit' nature. my brot'er be a healin' — in body an' soul! just so that this newcomer might see the range which was presented and expected.

meerkat — this a name he stressed so as to say it proper. — be good talkin' 'bout des t'ings too.

aye. rhaegal murmurs confidently enough. beneath the shadows of the entire corten, and corten-sveijarn clan rhaegal no longer feels the pressure that he had to know himself and what he wanted to be right that second. though he doesn't necessarily like not knowing, he knew he'd be allowed to blossom here.

or, if not knew than at the very least hoped.

i'm in nae rush. though 'taking the long way 'round' to find himself didn't mean that he would be idle in the meantime. meerkat, he repeats. she's my uncle njord's wife. he gives quen the insight of his familial connections here: a surprise to rhaegal upon it's discovery but a pleasant one at that.

uncle njord!

well, color the boy surprised! njord be like an uncle to me. although he had a feeling that was not what the boy meant. that njord might be a real uncle to him.

i didn' know more family be joinin'. softly prompting the boy to share more!

truth be told, i dinnae ken him very well. rhaegal admits, a sheepish twitch of his ears given. him and my da don't see eye tae eye...and i've only met him a few times when i was a lad. which made sense as rhaegal was wont to assume that njord had spent bulk of that time here — or if not here than in these wilds.

then again, rhaegal didn't often see eye to eye with his father, either.

i'm lookin' forward tae changin' that. of getting to know njord, his aunt meerkat and cousins. tae be fair, i dinnae expect to find family here. rhaegal says with a soft chuckle to quen's words. but i'm glad i did.

fade? <3

oh you be findin' plenty o' family in sapphique! he beamed warmly at the boy.

prepared to share tales with him all day and show off the coast. the best scavenging spots, the tide pools, the quickest ways from the heartlands to the shore.

quennell could not have been more pleased to have another boy to befriend.