Sleeping Dragon Come away from the water

It was curious, the few bits of memories that lead her paws towards the Taiga, further luck that brought the healer inevitably towards her target. The scents on the wind steadily became more known, more familiar to her, and she gave a little shudder at the sensation that rippled through her. Her silver coat bristled, the marks of darker grey blending her on her journey until she was met with the sharp scent of a pack. 

With that, the scent of the one person she had been hoping to find - and there, with it, came the flourish of hope in her. Saria gave a little smirk, eyes drifting along to pull as many details as she could from her place several yards from the pack lands. The more informed she was before being found, the better. 

The promise of greenery around their home will eventually bring the rest of the life back to the area. The lands to the east and south of them, open and free, will give them a good advantage, will the packs to the west and north might struggle against one another. Driving out the phoenix wolves removes some of their struggle—if they’d been in the moraine with the moose calf, there’s no telling the outcome—and the thoughts of picking up the Dragon wolves somewhere else began to subside. Still hungry, still tired, Thuringwethil knows they have plenty to overcome but in due time, it will happen, and the thought often puts the young leader in a decent mood.

A scent, however, catches her attention and her ears swivel upon her head to try and recall a howl. At first, a low growl rumbles that someone lingers upon her borders without making themselves known and she begins to slink forward to first peer upon the one considering intruding her land. Thuringwethil bites back her own call for the time being and makes her way closer until the scent begins vaguely familiar. Her brows burrow in confusion between her slate eyes and her head lifts, tail arched above her tail tightens as if it had been born that way. A natural state Thuringwethil fingers herself in but there’s a slight relax once she determines the threat level is minimal.

“Saria?” she says and takes a few more steps to close the distance. It had been months since she had seen her friend and her eyes soften in her presence, but the confusion of her being remains.

She did not call out, setting her little perch to watch the lands for a moment. She wanted to get a feel, confirm her thoughts, and to just admire the landscape. The occasional plume of steam from the earth brought to her face a near savage smile. She spots someone approaching on the distance, cutting through the lands as if they owned it. Once she is closer, one the scent becomes clearer, the smile reaches even the expanses of her green eyes and her tail moves a few beats. 

"Heda," It is a breathy sigh, relief and pleasure mixed into it. She stood, taking a couple steps before she lowered her head in a respectful move. "It has been too long." She said quietly, regarding her commander - inspecting her almost, to see how she had fared. Thuringwethil was thinner than she remembered, but there was nothing for the earth to offer here. Saria could respect the choice made to roost there; on the fertile banks of the Dragon's lands the plants would return sooner than it would in other packs.

Relief washes over her as recognition occurs in the other woman's face and the urge to rush to her in greeting takes hold. Thuringwethil holds back but she does close the distance with a little trot to just a few feet and a smile on her features. A long time, she thinks, since she felt the crinkle of her lips move in a such a way. Seeing Gavriel, Seregrýn, and Vercingetorix on her borders months ago hadn't been the same, nor had it with Snacha or Semet—both of whom has disappeared—but Saria before her means her message had reached Trigeda (or so she hoped). Her tail wags a few times, a rare occasional, especially when it comes to a wolf at her doorstep.

"Sha," she says in agreement. With a few of her own wolves, and Rebekka, speaking in her native tongue has been a comfort in the wake of everything. "Yu hou?" she asks with hope in her voice. Thuringwethil's fondness for her friend extends deep and she can't imagine her presence at Drageda is any different than her position within Seageda. And her skills can easily be put to good use, coupled with Gluskap as their aspiring healer. The young leader sucks in a hopeful breath as she anticipates her answer.

It is a moment she had thought of since she started to roam, her eventual goal to find her heda and retake her rightful place at her side. The healer took a deep breath, a little shiver running through her as Thuringwethil neared her. She approached slowly, tongue drifting across Thuringwethil's chin in equal parts affection and reverence before she takes a step back to listen to her. The message had been received, it was welcome; and her she was. "Ai laik yun." She said quickly, giving a nod of her head. 

Home. Home was with her Heda - as it always had been. Even as children while their paths and ambitions had taken them in different directions the fisa knew what greatness would be in store for them. "Ai badan yu op en nou moun." To that she felt that Heda knew that - always had. Home? Yes. Absolutely.

Saria is quick to assure her speculations, for what other reason would her healer from home show up at her doorstep? Bad news had yet to be presented and at this point, she does not expect there to be any only to leave it waiting for their pleasantries to move along. Her tail wags a few times above her spine before she stills it and takes a step forward. The confirmation adds a peacefulness within her. Some green had begun to grow back around them and one of her own has been returned to her. Drageda might not be Seageda, but piece by piece, they can be together again.

“Komba raun,” she softly says, pulling her nose to allow the girl to come with her. “Tona en noseim,” she encourages her with a reassuring smile. They will never be the same, she knows, but the new changes had been a lot to stomach for some—namely Seregryn, and maybe Rebekka—but Saria has always been level headed and assuring, even when Thuringwethil needed it herself.

The greyscale woman can only smile as she was instructed, trailing her heda as they had done for almost as long as Saria could remember. She had never aspired to be a warrior herself, though Saria was quick on her feet and did not know when to stop. Healing was her passion, her true calling, and more times than she could count Thuringwethil had given her a reason to push her skills. "Kom otaim." Nothing ever worked so easily, everything she knew was a struggle. From birth to death, that was the beauty of life; to push and to grow and to learn. 

Her concern of course was for those that had gone before her - she had been delayed tending to a wolf she had found, but once the female was healed and well she had moved on. Her journey had not come without a price, though, and she worried that leaving her Heda to these wolves might have been a foolish move. 

Italics are trigedasleng.

Thuringwethil grins and wags her tail again, a short burst before Heda takes the grip. She knows she can't go too far out of the norm, even for someone as Saria, a lifelong friend and confidant. The knowledge the woman bestows had been proven time again and her loyalty never faltered, even in the wake of Seageda's downfall. Her faith in her new pathway, new combined way of life—not everyone in her rule had to believe, something of a daunting task to accept—will be respected.

"There is a queen here, Gyda. Of Odinn's Cove," she explains. Gyda's name may be foreign to Saria but Odin's Cove had been neighbors farther south down the coast. Interactions that have been minimal, as professionals, but someone Thuringwethil has known in secret for as long as she can remember. "Seregrýn and Gavriel are here, as I am sure you know, and Rebekka. A girl from Trigeda," she begins, giving her a little feeling of comfort in a brand new mountain and wolves that don't understand the full extent of their system. In time, they would, and the more wolves of her home to confirm her way of life will only help them. "We have seen violence and victory, too, since claiming this mountain, and despite the famine we are strong. Strong as ever."

Saria listened to her heda - curious of the changes that had been mentioned. "What altercations with the other packs?" She asked curiously, her gaze trailing over the packlands and taking note of the area. She was sure in her steps, careful as she moved along with her heda and into the lands. The familiar names were comforting, and yet, Saria didn't truly care. She was not here for them. She was not there for the sake of the other wolves but for their pack, for their family. They were interchangeable, her spirit tied solely to her commander. 

She was selfish, perhaps, and yet that was the way of her world. She was wholly devoted and steadfast. She had been since youth. She was no seer, no talker of spirits or fortunes. She just knew, though, unwavering. She reached out, snout pressing briefly against the shoulder of her dark commander - and rejoiced in her quiet way at the presence of scent that to her, meant home.

Altercations with neighbors isn’t a surprise to Saria. Seageda had often been in battle in some fashion and the protection of their own came first. If they didn’t have any trouble in their new settlement, they wouldn’t be who they are. A smile forms on her features, only because of their victory, and she begins to move in a direction toward the meeting spot of the mountain. Thankfully, it isn’t too far, and in the meantime she begins her explanation.

“A pack to the south of our claim. We tried to keep peaceful, we had an agreement on space, that had been violated by one of their own and their alpha threatened us with war,” she says. “Our roots were young, are still young, but they are strong and so we prepared. Until the same wolf that violated the agreement came upon my borders with a death wish and from there we did not wait for them to come to us. They are no longer around.”

Thuringwethil had made sure of it, even if they came to an empty territory; the history books would have a different story of their legacy.

“There is a pack west of us, Larksong Grotto. I attempted to begin a coalition with them, like with Trigeda, but their leader turned against me. They have been smart and not come near us so far and for now, we have left each other alone,” she explains. Thuringwethil likes to think Reek is afraid of the wrath she could bring upon his home, having once already seen the destruction she can accomplish. He’d be foolish to go against her. “And another, a little further west—I don’t know their name—but they are in a ravine, just before the coast. They tried to settle too close to Sleeping Dragon before we chased them out, and they settled far enough away, but we avoid them too.”

By the time she finished speaking, she comes upon the meeting spot. A deathly ledge if one were to fall over, and trees on either side of a platform. One tree barely hangs on by the roots and one strong push or strike of lightning would send it plummeting. Over the ledge, however, is the valley to the east and a river that travels further south. “That had been our boundary, with the Phoenix wolves. I don’t know where they’ve gone but they haven’t been back.”

The rest of the time they spend together, Thuringwethil explains the rest of Drageda's short history and the important ins and outs of Sleeping Dragon.