Permafrost Hollows durian

the land beneath the star pillar was cold, but it was only cold because it was still. 

he moved down a path of packed earth, and as his eyes adjusted to the light, he saw spires of old, old roots supporting many rooftops and rooms of frozen soil. dens were tiered low and to his left, their dark mouths announcing that they were not inhabitated. a curious blue plant sprawled all through the caves there, several of which fed into one another.

to his left, a green bower protected something he could not see, and beyond that, an underground river rushed beside stone banks. there was a forest here, fed by sunlight slanting from above, and he saw the track of delicate deer.

vines hung from the ceiling of the place, teeming with new flowers and birds, tangled strands of gold and green which beckoned the dreamer upward, through the great rotted stump carved by natural paths inside, and up until he had reached a vast terrace which leaned away from the main body of the star pillar.

it spread in a vague triangle, and a rich grassland of emerald foliage and berry-brush spread out before him. a waterfall fed into a pool, which he was surprised to find steamed hot in a small place behind the cascading rush, fed by an underground pulse beside the river.

and here the stars glittered!

and here for hundreds of miles he could see the millions of threads, countless now in the filaments which reached up to the star web. the sight of their beauty dried his mouth. the star pillar continued upward, almost touching the web itself.

and here he fell, and he wept, and he called out in loving voice to Wolf.

v ecstatic at ur beautiful response <3

stygian, a being of blackgranite whorls with the rich drag of a charcoal voice to march. wolf dreamer blinked and saw that she shaded between shadow and light. 

the old, old tree which curled around his shoulders and up against the stone ceilings of the hollow; now it seemed to send searing light toward the woman, illuminating her strands of life.

open-mouthed, breathless, the dreamer watched as new gilt leapt up the path of the star pillar and out into the emerald veldt above them.

"power." his own voice felt loud in his ears, thundering a resoundment that seemed to rattle the roots of his own teeth. "something protects this place." were the words his? or did Wolf open naked jaws and parrot his own mouth from within? 

the eyes that watched the dreamer reminded him of a stormcloud's darkened, pregnant belly.

"if you're here, you're meant to be."

a paw, outstretched almost pleadingly in the cold light beneath the tusk mountain. "do you feel it? the world is old here. it's never woken once."

all earth must awaken. all soil must breathe. all trees must weep. all must be returned to their spiral.

the star web thrummed suddenly tight around the dreamer, provoking a strangled breath as he tried to calm himself, dropping limb and closing the glossy black eyes. "something is coming."

Dreamer is perfect to illustrate, such vivid imagery!

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He speaks as though
Pulled by a puppet string
(Now the stagehand’s spotlight shines on you)
Roots furled through frost and ash
Seeds, sleeping, stirring -
“Those people whose scent covers the ash pines….”
“If they are coming, we must leave.”
“Or are you one of them?”

that makes me vvv happy <3

the ash pines.

Wolf rattled phalanges on a broad naked paw, gesturing with dead claws toward the stranger.

she sees you.

does she?

do you see her?

i do.

no.

do you see her?

dreamer's eyes were heavy, wanting to lurch him headlong into the somnolence of that unfamiliar voice, but instead he steadied himself on a count of all the golden latticings which whirled before him. "i am one of them. i am not one of them. i am of one people. and i am of none."

his heart felt as the shale beneath the foot of a mountain-goat, slicked to and fro against the harsh surface of a treacherous drop, clicking against other stones in a desperate attempt to wedge there, to save primordial body from suffering another spiderwebbing of eonic crack.

light, pulling between them, golden wavering which fringed he and her and all around them.

”i am here to find a new way. for us all.”

a breath, and at last he looked upon her full, the weight of the fathomless black eyes seeing each thread and strand which leapt beyond the watching eyes of the stranger.

the dreamer searched for the place behind that gaze, the seat of the very life force, and all the while did Wolf cackle his tombdust laugh.

do you see me?

had he ever been seen? wilwarin saw him, but would others? the dreamer fought the blooming kernel of doubt and concentrated upon the dream, wrapping it around the stranger who suddenly, was not that any longer.

Fade here? I want to have Guille join Gilwendrim so there might be a future thread w/ Wilwarin!

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Could the way be seen with one eye shut
and the other open?
"I ran for days in the bitter cold,
but it was your voice which led me here.
If you say I was meant to, then I share your sanctuary,
your power."