Kildeer Rest Winterkill

Frigid dawn gave way to a frosty morning. Snow came down steadily, and all the world was powder.

The great woolly prancers loomed ahead; Wake could hear them slowly plowing, the sound of them not unlike the distant rush of rapids, or an approaching storm. The scent of Saatsine laced through the musk of caribou, and every now and again he would see a pawprint overlaid in snow paved wide by countless hooves.

The rogue called for them.

For the lord of venison, @Sun Eater. For the mistress of his heartstrings, @Suliya. For the nameless domina (@Sulukinak). For any and all of the reindeer-chasers to greet him. Unknowingly, he called also for the emigrant Morwenna, as well as a captive @Shadowpaw.

The soulful invitation announced:

Winter’s Wake has come to hunt with Saatsine.

suliya froze, her pale form stark against the powdered world as the call reached her ears. it was unmistakable—winter’s wake, his voice as familiar as the frost that clung to her fur. disbelief coursed through her, a sharp chill even colder than the snow underfoot.

what are you doing here? she breathed, her voice barely above a whisper, as if the words might vanish in the icy air. she stepped forward, her gaze scanning the horizon, searching for the rogue among the endless white.

her heart beat a frantic rhythm against her ribs, a mixture of shock and something unnameable. he had come to the saatsine lands—of all places, of all times.

behind proud suliya came sun eater, for his territoriality extended also to the other she-wolves among the saatsine. he could not mate them all, nor was there wish for each, but to have men lingering close was to proclaim perhaps his own weakness.

he did not crowd the lanzadoii woman; his single eye fell to the young male and he howled a single note for the others before he strode to meet the companion-hunter with a long, proud stride.

@Ice Diver @Kekoa @Ridgeback @Sulukinak @Gjalla @Ghelan @Meleys for visibility and/or joining! <3

it was a surprise for sulukinak too, as she had not expected the man to follow them, or to come in such a forthright way so that her uncle might intercept.

she watched as suliya arrived; more intrigued by the shift of her posture, and the seeming awareness of each person towards the other.

as sun eater arrived sulukinak slipped from cover and kept close, not quite to heel, but also not eager for exposure.

cameo, skippable

being a good wife was harder than she imagined it to be. one that's foreign with their ways, walking, but sinking on the water they so easily glossed over. k'edghildza heard her husband's call through the woods, but she had other tasks.

tasks that he didn't so much think of! she had been spending most, if not all, of her time collecting herbs that grew in such harsh conditions. she thought of @Ghelan, how much he would appreciate a caribou belt inside his den, around his shoulders.

but she was not a mother. not anymore. not yet. through clenched teeth she ripped a hide from an old bull, fur white with dappled browns. she speckled with oils from the lavender flowers she'd taken from the creek territory. a good gift for him, maybe.

skippable also!

Ridgeback assembled with the others, who trickled into view when summoned by one who thought to join them. Ridgeback carried a caribou femur with him- one he had been chewing on when the call had caught his attention. The great hunk of bone fell to the earth as he milled about with the others, eyes moving to Sun Eater as he expected the initiation, or interrogation to begin.