Qeya River sand hollow
Saatsine
Chieftain*
443 Posts
Ooc — ebony
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#1
Private 
he had hunted further and further from the river, attempting to reclaim his sense of power. coyotes had been killed there, and he had bitten the large wings of a raven beyond that. it was against him; it was against what he knew to be right, but the rage which long lived in sun eater had begun to billow.

for the sentiment he bore his wife, he kept from her sight. never far was a bloodhunter. often he did not return to their caribou robes for sleeping, but kept his eye trained upon the darkness until morning light bled above the frozen drifts.

he should have killed the man! he should have! 

blood hissed in the white paths of cold as he carried a caribou heart back, at last, to @Star Eater. no matter what he might feel, all choice portions of their kills belonged to her, and he commanded that with no break in ferocity.


this character is rated R

Saatsine
Hunter

tengmiartuq akiirtuli

324 Posts
Ooc — honey!
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#2
she had not seen him for many nights. the den of caribou hides that lay cool on his side often empty, chilled, desperate for his dark furs. or maybe it was her, his star eater, that yearned for him this time. but she was not a desperate wife. this is what they agreed upon— he told her he may not return each night, but he would eventually.
today had been that day. for his corner of her den that she kept reserved had oils of flowers ready to be sowed. it smelled so heavily of her, densely betwixt the qeya. her own sanctuary, whilst the caribou roamed and lingered on the outskirts. her domain, more than her husbands.
he smelled of foreign lands when she saw him, hauling meats. a heart! how he remembered, it quelled any meandering wonders from her mind in a swift gesture.
she greeted him with a smooth kiss to his cheek, taking the heart to put upon the hides. she had many growing in her collection, hanging and hardening from the cold.
but her beloved was troubled. she could see it— whilst his face never strayed from perpetual dismay, it was taut with regret. stark, no doubt.
thank you. she said smooth, but it was not what she wished to speak of. you've been angry, a statement, gentle, not accusatory. what bothers you?

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— “lanzadoii;“ · common; · “valyrian;

learning lanzadoii bts.
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Saatsine
Chieftain*
443 Posts
Ooc — ebony
Offline
#3
for a long time he did not speak. star eater appeared so vulnerable there, softened by the budding curves of pregnancy. even her fur seemed more satin in these times, and his heart relented at once.

but he was unable to surrender all of the blame or ill feeling, and sat down in the shelter. to him it was only temporary; the chieftain would dig for her a proper birthing-den of snow among the caribou when the time had come. 

but on and on he did not speak, until at length a muscle leapt high on his jawline. "you not say who he was. what he do before. i ask gjalla to tell me. you humiliated me, wife. if you had told me all before, then we would not be here. i would have left him in three parts for the caribou to trample."

his muzzle wrinkled at the mingled florality, in curiousness rather than disgust.


this character is rated R

Saatsine
Hunter

tengmiartuq akiirtuli

324 Posts
Ooc — honey!
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#4
at first, she thought he would not speak at all. if that is what he wanted, she would accept it. fine. if he wanted to hold ill-ridden feelings to his chest, it was his prerogative. not her own.
and did she need to explain herself? she thought not, given that their own histories were so coveted. if he had bothered to ask
lanzadoii fell from his tongue, quick and spitted, muscle in his jaw flexing as his anger rolled off of him in ripples. she would much rather prefer this than the deafening silence of the unknown. of what storms swirled inside of his mind's eye.
i did not know he lived. she said, keeping her tone neutral, despite the bob in her throat of swallowing saliva. did he still? reborn anew is what you said. she quoted him from a time to go, histories to themselves. she didn't know how he got that scar, didn't know where ghelan's real mother was—
i will tell you once, if that is what you want. a compromise, perhaps. but then no more. i am saatsine. that is what i choose.
she took a smooth bite of the heart, the blood spilling upon her lips.

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— “lanzadoii;“ · common; · “valyrian;

learning lanzadoii bts.
nunts’a duł ts’en’ gha.
Saatsine
Chieftain*
443 Posts
Ooc — ebony
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#5
"yes," and now his countenance dazzled with the flat luster of a rage he had never showed his wife before —

this wife

"tell it to me."

gheli had loved him. red leaf had defied him. where would morwenna fit, for he saw her as she had once been, and marveled that he had not seen her royalty before.

"i do not doubt your choice. you have been loyal to me and to saatsine." without warning, roughened paw brushed the swell of her belly; he felt the heat of her skin there and was comforted. "trust that i see your bond."

and yet the slate eye demanded all the same, that star eater speak and leave nothing from his ear.
Saatsine
Hunter

tengmiartuq akiirtuli

324 Posts
Ooc — honey!
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#6
his answer came quicker than she expected. he was determined, she can give him that!
despite the rage that festered inside of him, it hadn't piqued nor riled her. her own husband, a time long ago, was a man of perpetuating violence and grievances that she, once terrified of, became numb to its lasting effects.
a touch to her belly, swelling with life that he had given to her, she looked down at the connection spewing from his own proximity. she swallowed a tight knot in her throat. looked up to him, then, with her misty eyes, and made a move to pull him closer.
i was queen, she began, a woman. i was chosen over my previous husband for it. a kingdom of thousands. details! so many details, but she did not know what sun eater wanted to hear. we wed. when i was pregnant, he schemed. he never accept me as leader; i was too...too rational for it. but it was i who made the executions, it was i who led battles, it was i who— enough, her mind roared. and she would settle, finally letting her eyes roam her beloved's wrathful face.
pregnant, and still— still!— he make me fight. make me hunt my own meals. she cursed herself for it. the abuse, to plainly written. but what came of her and sun eater? when babes were born, three boys and a girl, he was angry. hit them— but not to discipline. star eater's face soured, thinking of her precious daughter, long gone now. too far back to be king. he would never see it.
he took friends. council. and he killed them. my babies— all of them! in front of mother's eyes. it was not sadness that swept her; it was anger. i tried, she shifted, stretching out her hind leg to reveal the scar against the inside of her hip. but strong. he was too strong.
she shuffled back, hiding the old, old injury. stark. brother. he killed old husband for it. but then he— emotion, now, took throne from me, too. betrayers, all of them!
and i left. no more schemes. nothing. with her teeth, she pulled her caribou hide closer over her shoulder, as if the will of saatsine had saved her. this why i ask if you will love them, quieter, now, vulernable with him. because he did not. you are not him— i see it! strong chieftain, my husband—
new life would grow, but she would not forget the old. she couldn't. i chose what i could not before. i chose saatsine, i chose you... looking down to her womb, and i choose them.

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— “lanzadoii;“ · common; · “valyrian;

learning lanzadoii bts.
nunts’a duł ts’en’ gha.
Saatsine
Chieftain*
443 Posts
Ooc — ebony
Offline
#7
she had been more than him.

for all her speaking, all her passion, this was the singular lesson which sun eater took from her impassioned words. she had been far more than him in a world far larger than his own, and he experienced shame. umbrage. throughout her telling had his face grown more hewn from dark stone, until he was a piece of granite when star eater spoke of her choices.

executions. battles. a husband who resented, and sun eater saw himself in that description. she repeated in hope. he found his way back to repression. would he replicate this for her? he did not mean to be so similar.

staring at the scar reminded him that another man had not only touched his wife, he had bonded her, filled her with his children. that they had died twinged him with pain for her, but the pragmatic part of lanzadoii man knew he would not have accepted them.

her choices were new. she had acted out from under her husband, her brother, her blood.

he was new. she had chosen him. sun eater was unsure how he might feel.

"you have suffered as any gut-torn caribou." tortured, tormented over a period of agonizing time. even if he felt no empathy, he offered it voice, understanding it was what star eater needed. muzzle reached to smooth the hide against her shoulders; he was warmed by a thrum of desire and affection. "i choose you. i choose them." but do not ask him to love; he did not know its face.

"now you are safe. know it. i will keep you safe. no more suffering." his voice was low with determined ardency; he pulled her against the beat of his strong heart with a crooked arm. 

"stark save you. why he come to hurt now?" and where was his throne? did it reside here? if so, sun eater knew he was able to topple such an emblem. he must understand now how the future would be shaped.


this character is rated R

Saatsine
Hunter

tengmiartuq akiirtuli

324 Posts
Ooc — honey!
Offline
#8
this song reminds me of them weeps
the beast against his ribs thrummed against her ears when he pulled her closer; a strange sort of affection, soft, and suddenly she felt unworthy of such tenderness. she was not a woman of rounded edges, always taken abide to the harsher turns of what life thrust upon her.
it was nice.
and she found herself yearning for the softer parts of her husband— but this, this— she would never ask aloud for it. she had done her damage— before gjalla, blackfell, ridgeback...
she knew what it meant for power to waver. for the front that must be put on like a cloak— a wolf hiding beneath the caribou's hide. she nudged her nose against the curve of his neck, breathing in the tendrils of his musk— caribou blood and the pine needles of the woodland he trekked through. wherever that had been.
i believe you. she said in full honesty. she would do her marriage right this time. wrapped up in the meddlings of...of leadership had left her a dishonest lover, but with him...she was a back peddle, a simple healer with herbs and oils at the ready. it was sedentary, yes, but she found herself not wanting to trade it for anything.
stark's name left his lips and she tensed. i do not know, honesty, again. kingdom far...very, very far. i run for months. she explained. he act...like he do not remember. it would explain his irrational anger, how he claimed she was traitorous.
maybe he does not. came her only answer to such questions. the wonder about his own past loomed, a daunting shadow in the torn heap of her mind, but she did not know how to ask. gjalla will find him. the confidence she had in the woman was obvious; her faith in her star-sister unwavering.

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— “lanzadoii;“ · common; · “valyrian;

learning lanzadoii bts.
nunts’a duł ts’en’ gha.