Shy Deer Steppes Nobody's soldier

Intended for @Roan but all welcome!!!

It was barren, here. Nothing but dull, sparse grass broken up by thin layers of snow; all the land beneath the sun's searing eye, it was far from a picture of paradise, and yet..

Synder thought it held a strange beauty to it; maybe it was the breeze in her fur, or the vast horizon that stretched on ahead of her, and in all directions. A baptism of realized freedom in the biting winter winds. She stood by a mass of rocks and old, dead tree, a comfortable shelter nestled further inwards. The dark mask of her face lowered to the ground, watching for lizards darting between the rocks. She liked to keep her skills sharp, even if they served her very little nowadays.

She grew curious of his whereabouts, and lifted her head to howl into the wastes. Roan. Her call was a somber melody, low and purposeful as it hummed through the air.

She was not entirely concerned that others might've also heard the call.

roan appeared from the shadow of the barren rocks, his silhouette sharp against the pale horizon. his movements were deliberate, slow yet assured, as if the land itself bent to his will. he said nothing, his piercing eyes cutting through the space between them, acknowledging her with a flick of his ear.

his presence carried an unspoken weight, a reminder of the authority he bore even in the silence. brushing past her, his gaze lingered briefly on her form before turning to the horizon. he did not stop.

sorry for the wait on this!!

Authority, she felt his presence before she saw him, himself. He commanded a certain intensity to his very step, forcing the air to still, the birds to stop singing; and all of this, all of it should've told her not to dig deeper, not to stay and instead to go, just go.

This was how it started in the first place, trust placed where it shouldn't have been.

Synder's gold eyes held him in dangerous curiosity. Worse, cunning beneath it all. She could use, just as she could be used.

She clambered down the small slope with a surprising bit of precision, every thought, one spared to each mechanism at use; her balance remained to her and she caught up to walk alongside him, in the shadow he cast on one side.

Have you found anything? She picks a moment to shatter the silence, an unusual lightness to her step today, one unhaunted by the cruel sear of pain in a wound that had been around longer than it hadn't.

there used to be wolves here, roan said, his voice low, rough as the stones underfoot. his eyes didn’t stray to synder, fixed instead on the horizon where the land rolled out in waves of desolation. he moved with purpose, every step deliberate, his broad shoulders cutting through the cold air like a blade.

he didn’t slow as she fell in step beside him, her lightness a sharp contrast to his own grim presence. for a moment, silence filled the space between them, heavy and unyielding. then, like a jagged edge, his words came again.

a lot of them. but there...there was a flood.

his jaw tightened, the faintest flicker of something—memory, perhaps, or regret—briefly crossing his hardened features. but it was gone as quickly as it came, swallowed by his stoic nature.

he didn’t explain further. didn’t ask if she wanted to know more. just kept walking, his pace steady, his focus unbroken. the land held its own ghosts, and he had no interest in summoning them.