Firefly Glen fair and flighty love

Seconding what I said to Ebony, I hope you don’t mind me starting a side thread for these two! Vairë has plenty of questions for Rhaegal <3

When she spun out of the dancing circle, she was heaving for breath, laughing so hard tears had started to curl down her cheeks. She took the moment of peace to sit heavy on her rear, cattails flung out behind her as she panted heavily.

The night was so young! She would dance again with more men, she felt, but for now she was going to take a little breath.

Until she smelled the salt and sea spray, and she knew this one to be @Rhaegal , the one who knew of what her mother brought them here for. The doe turned her head until she caught the scent again, her nose in the air, and she followed it until a dark pelt caught her attention.

And her eye.

He was handsome, the long salt man, and it only fueled the want to speak to him. Vairë stood, making her way over to where he was with a friendly little flick of her tail.

This woman greets you. She said with a dip of her fair head.

I am Vairë Nuiruk. Kukutux’s daughter.

not at all! <3

rhaegal does not mean to be an outlier, but he does not join in on the carefree dancing of the other's: because of his injuries ( though his ear and cheek did not have anything to do with being able to walk or dance! ), because he is worried about the going-on's near sapphique lately.

it was a bad time to attend parties and seek a wife in what feels like chaos.

plagued by worries, he remains a wallflower, even if it may cost him the chance of finding a wife and presenting himself a bachelor.

though he wonders which of the lovely dancing ladies is the moonwoman's daughter, he is not left questioning for long.

a lovely moonbeam kissed woman approaches him and introduces herself: as vairë, daughter of kukutux. it is the first time he hears her name; a lovely sound that compliments her. good evening, greets the seadragon with a gentlemanly tip of his head. i'm rhaegal sveijarn; of sapphique.

She took a seat beside the taller man, glancing up at him once she managed to get comfortable.

My mother mentioned you to me. You are from the long salt, the sea! She was still wrapped up in some exhausted joy from the dancing, giggles coming off her tongue at the exclamation.

It is good to meet you, Rhaegal Sveijarn. As she spoke, she gave him a good once over, before focusing her riverstone eyes on his face. The doe, mentally, gave her mother the wolf equivalent of a high five. This one was hale and hearty. And brooding on the outskirts, why, be still her beating heart!

If you do not mind it, I would like to ask you questions about the village. Of course, if you have any in return, please do ask me. The doe chimed, waiting for a response before launching into question.

aye, i assumed as much. she was the reason they were gathered, after all. aye, though i was born from the seas beyond it. a seafearer since he drew his first breath. the sea was comfortable for rhaegal ...but comfort was not the reason he had come to these wilds. it had been a combination of the coup, his grandfather's death and the want to find his own way in the world. to push out of the reaching shadows of his parents.

sure. i'll do my best tae answer any question you have. he invites with a soft wag of his tail.

The keen eyed doe assembled herself into a more proper sitting posture than her weak limbed sprawl from seconds before, some part of her recognizing that this? This was important.

I will admit, I have only ever visited the sea for a day. So much of it is lost on me. If they were to wed..what would occur?

I have heard tales though. Then, she cleared her throat, mentally turning to a prepared list of questions she’d been thinking of.

What is it like, there? Weather wise, in the way of spirits? Do you hunt seals and fish, as the seal-hunter people do? What of your village, it’s women? Do they have a women’s circle? Do you build your ulaqs in the sand? She couldn’t imagine that was very comfortable.

Do you know how to take the skins from animals, like this? She gestured to her rabbit skin, then promptly snapped her mouth shut. Too many questions at once. She needed to sober herself, at least for now.

some tales might be exaggerated. i cannae speak for all seafarers but most of us like to embellish. a grin, almost boyish in nature tugs at the edges of his lips before the action pulls at healing wounds. he cringes but tries to hide it.

there's always a seabreeze. sticky with salt and gritty with sand. for some, rhaegal knows this is the biggest turn off. aye, we hunt fish, seal and crab ...but deer, too. at least he could speak for himself: his diet did not consist only of seafood.

if they do, i'm nae invited; but aye. sapphique is mostly women. i dinnae ken what a ulaq is but i'm guessing it's dens: and nae, we dinnae build them in the sand. there is hard earth on the dragoncrest cliffs.

she has many questions! rhaegal thinks he has managed to keep them all straight and relatively in order.

a low chuckle passes thru his lips.

i dinnae see women ...or men wearing skin like you do. he admits, wondering if any of those answers were deal breakers for her: though he understands this is the purpose of this. to suss out chemistry and whether there was potential to work or not. she could take her time and make her best informed choice: he was hardly the only man here tonight.

She is interested more with every word the man spoke. His accent was something she had never heard in her time, and intrigue shone in her eyes with every word the seaman spoke.

He did not know how to skin. This was alright, she admitted to herself. If he brought the deer to her mother, she could skin it. The action would matter most to Vairë. 

He was intriguing, this sea man. And he seemed so kind! She had looked tonight, and seen the other men and their eyes and she wasn’t a jealous creature by any means, but she boiled with the want to have all their eyes on her.

She offered a serene little smile. She had the night, this she knew, but perhaps part of her was set on this choice. Only time would tell her.

There is a bride price, for my hand. Set by myself. I wish for the tined antler of a stag, more than six points, to chew upon and to allow my children to chew upon, and the pelt of a doe to line my marriage den. Her eyes twinkled.

My mother knows how to skin the doe. All that is needed is the animal, brought to her or her brought to the animal, for the skin. Her lips curled.

I do not know if she spoke that information.

a bride price, she tells him.

tined antler — more than six points — and a doe pelt. it was a hefty price, but he considers it carefully. but then, also, there was the matter of the other menfolk.

she dinnae, rhaegal admitted. only spoke tae me that you were in search of a husband.

a small pause is given, a question of his own forming. what do you plan tae do if more than one man brings you, your bride price?

perhaps it is not his right to ask how she planned to handle more than one suitor: but it is a question that weighs heavy upon his mind. each man there was automatically his competition... and he was curious how she would make her choice.

She gave a little titter at that.

At the end of tonight, I will choose only one man. He will be my intended, until such a time as the price is to be secured. Once that is done, we will be engaged, then wed.

She did not wish to scare off this enigmatic seafarer with talk of children. Her eyelids were heavy when she batted them next.

And when I am wed, my husband and I will make the choice to stay on the spine, go where he calls home, or forge a path anew. She reached down and tugged a claw through the grass.

If you don’t mind the asking, Rhaegal, do you have such ambitions as some men? To build a claim with new wife and babes? She waited, keen eyed as the hawk, for the response.

she offers an explination to his question: that the man she chooses at the end of the night would be solely responsible for paying her bride price. it was not, as he'd first assumed, a race to see who could accomplish it first. makes sense. rhaegal murmurs with a sage nod of his head.

perhaps, rhaegal hedges. starting a new pack is a lot of work, especially for first time parents, he admits. but maybe that's nae a bad thing. he hadn't truly considered it. i dinnae think of leavin' sapphique ...but if there be many cubs then maybe branching off might nae be a bad thing.

it wasn't a solid answer ( yet ) but he was willing to stand behind it.

He was a man of ambition! He did not want to leave the pack, there was a loyalty there she admired fairly deeply.

Maybe she was just swept up in the man’s seafaring accent and ways. Maybe it was the influence of doe, ever wanting to see something new.

But, well, she had something of a choice. He had come to seek a wife. And, perhaps, he’d found one in her. She stood with all of the sinew of a large feline, seeking to rub her body under his chin with a flick of her tail.

Rhaegal of village Sapphique, I don’t think I need all night. She was bold, and she was young, and he intrigued her in ways the seal hunter, for all of his posturing, did not. She tipped her head all the way back, ears flopping as she did, before she pranced in a little circle.

I think you are my choice, if I am yours. Vairë’s smile was wide.

Come, dance!

she is all graceful elegance; from the way she stands to the way her body coils beneath his chin. he's a bit surprised by the forwardness, though the pieces fall into place with her next words. he hadn't imagined that she would chose him: she had plenty of options. but he cannot deny the small swell of pride that rises within his chest like the rising tide.

aye, he rumbles. you're my choice.

though he worries about his ability to complete her bride price, he pushes aside those worries for now, deigning to accept her invitation and join her in a dance.

Fade here? Thank you for the excellent thread <3

He accepted, both her question and her invitation, and doe’s delight ran free around her body.

With Rhaegal would she go when her price was fulfilled, and with Rhaegal now she would dance. Doe had found her stag, and all was well and aligned in the world of the beige colored woman.

At the end of it all, she would tell her mother of her decision. And her heart would be lighter for it.