Altar of Twilight i keep ending up here
Morningsong
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#1
All Welcome 
for @Alya

he had heard this small valley was named for twilight, but aditya entered here at daybreak, when the sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon. he had left morningside before light, letting dawn know of his absence before departing. it wouldn't be a long trip, and he'd try to bring back food, at least for the young ones.

despite its moniker, the valley was now bathed in blood-red light from the morning sky, instead of the ethereal gray-blue it must be in the evening. the scent of moonspear was heavy here, though he knew he had not yet strayed across their border. still, he kept his ears open, and would be respectful if anyone from that pack told him to scram.

he didn't know why he was here. he'd been here twice, both with reasons--first on the scouting trip, then to inquire about the rogue female's whereabouts. but now he had loped across the plains for seemingly no reason at all, merely to explore the terrain.

aditya stood and waited. . .but for what? if he found no company here in the next few hours, he would return home.
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#2
Sometimes, the dark woman imagined herself a goddess. One third of an unholy trinity. Especially at this place - it was called the Altar, was it not? - where strange and beautiful men were often delivered to her.  Hungry eyes took in the fine, masculine form before her. Her latest liaison with Vaati had been rudely interrupted, and thus, Alya was on the hunt.

As she had practiced since she'd been old enough to see the value in her sleek, feminine form, Alya slunk into sight with sinuous grace. "Hello there," she called out, a genial smile fixed firmly upon her face. "Lovely day, isn't it?"
i can't help but be my own god
Morningsong
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sooner or later, a shadowy form appeared, winding its way from moonspear to the altar. it appeared to be the black-pelted girl--or one of them, anyway--from when they had visited the pack. he smiled, thinking that she recognized him and was coming to say hello.

"it is, yes," adi responded. she was sleek and young and pretty, bright blue eyes set dramatically in a dark face.

"i'm sorry, but i didn't catch your name, when we met, before," he apologized, dipping his head. "i'm aditya. you know. . .from morningside."
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#4
Alya moved a bit closer when she realized she was supposed to have met this wolf before. As Hydra, of course, since Lyra did not make a habit of meeting wolves at the borders. But Alya did not bother to don more of Hydra than her self-assured stance - she doubted this man would know her well enough to tell the difference.

"I don't believe I dropped it," she quipped, a teasing cast to her dark face. "But I remember you," she lied, the words coming out almost more easily than the truth. "How does Morningside fare?"
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she was being coy with him, and he wondered for an instant just how old she was. perhaps she was on the hunt for a beau; the mating season had begun, after all. but she seemed young, only dawn's age, and he knew that dawn would not bear children for another few seasons to come.

"well, it would be nice of you to drop it," he responded, smirking. "morningside is fine. happy and healthy."

aditya pointed his nose up in inquiry at her home crag, turning his hawkish gaze upon her. "and moonspear?" he was careful not to be too forward, both in expression and in speech; chumminess could suggest to her he was single and ready to mingle.
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#6
Alya did not drop it. He wasn't playing her games, so she wasn't about to start playing his. Blue eyes narrowed while he continued to be politely aloof, and she might've excused herself then and there, except he mentioned Moonspear, and she did have an agenda to spread.

"Not good," she said quietly, allowing her expression to fall into agonized contemplation. She added a bit of shell-shocked vulnerability for good measure. "Something terrible happened. One of the wolves from the Caldera pack came to my mountain and slayed my baby sister." She kept her eyes on the ground between them as she spoke, but lifted them to meet Aditya's a moment later, widening them as if she couldn't believe she'd just told him that, and maybe also hinting that she might need him to take some sort of role of authority here, and comfort the grieving girl before him.

Inwardly, Alya sighed. She should have just given into her desires and gone to see Vaati.
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he resisted an eye roll at her over-the-top coquettish behavior. perhaps as a yearling, he would have been swayed. as it was, aditya was in his fourth winter, much too old to be led blindly by the balls by a girl in her first.

aditya was so engrossed in picking apart her body language that her words did not sink in for a long moment. (perhaps he was not so insusceptible, after all.) "slayed. . .did you say caldera?" he asked increduously, golden eyes widening.

now this was a new development. last he had heard, the caldera and moonspear were banded together against the threat from the dark southern pack. was this a ploy by the latter to tear the former two apart? or had enmity really grown between the once allies?

"i am very sorry for your loss," he said, eyes softening--he now felt bad for his internal scorn of a short minute ago. "it is terrible, to lose a sibling." affected words, from an only child, though he did mean it.
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#8
The dark woman had to hold onto her ire when he asked her to repeat herself. How insensetive could he get? Obviously, this would be a very tough topic for her. But it would be out of character for the girl she had crafted for Aditya to know if she snapped at him for the slip. Instead, she answered as sadly as she could.

"Yeah," she said in a croaky voice, as if she was trying very hard not to cry. In truth, Alya could not fake tears or realistic crying. The best she could do was pretend she was holding back these great shows of emotion, and so far, it had served her well enough. Presently, she cleared her throat and took a moment to feign pulling herself together. When she spoke again, it was with only the slightest affectation - monotones worked well to portray true sorrow, she'd found. "He just came and murdered her, and then he ran. We recognized his scent from the Caldera, but of course, what can we do against them?"

She gazed down at her paws, picturing Galaxy's still, white form. "She was so little," she said dispassionately, beginning to feel the hurt and sorrow she was acting out. "This whole time, we've been worrying about the dark wood, only to have the Caldera falling into their old ways. They've wrong us before, but this is... an abomination. Unforgiveable." She looked up at Aditya, deciding to share something that she'd truly been thinking, lately. "I have begun to wonder if the dark wood has good reason to persecute them. I've met their leader. He is... not what I would have expected."

This was also the truth - but Alya did not care if she spoke in truth or lies. The more wolves that would side with Moonspear or even Blackfeather over the Caldera, the better. There was little she would not say or do to earn allies in this time of need.
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there was a growing feeling within him that he ought not to be here, that he should get away from this place and this girl with all her troubles. he felt suddenly and unwillingly pulled into the convoluted conflict between these packs, a conflict morningside should stay far from.

but it would be rude not to hear her her out, and so he stood and nodded as she told her tale. how the caldera wasn't as good as they seemed, and her ambivalence toward the leader of the dark wood. had the tale dawn had been given of the southern pack being this all-powerful evil being been in error?

"no one should have to bury their younger brother or sister," aditya said sincerely, dipping his head. "again, i am very sorry that you lost her."

one ear flicked forward, then, as his tone flattened into something more businesslike. "so the caldera has pulled tricks like this before?" he asked. "when my scouting party visited, shortly after we came here, they seemed reasonable enough. but if what you said is true. . ." it was troubling, to say the least.
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#10
Alya gave a tiny sniffle and a nod of acknowledgement - she was disgusted by Aditya's sympathy, not because of who offered it, but because it had been required in the first place. Abruptly, she was tired of the game she played, and wished there were no reason for this sort of subterfuge. At times, it was difficult to remember that she was not afraid or heartbroken. At times, Alya was almost certain that she was both.

"They do seem reasonable," she agreed with evident frustration. "I've met several of them. One of my sisters is best friends with a girl from their pack. It doesn't make sense that they'd do something like this, but they have." She wasn't making sense, she realized. Wasn't holding up the same story. "It's just... I know we used to have bad blood between us, after the famine and everything... but I thought it was behind us. I thought the leadership had changed."

She shook her head. "But no one ever changes. I'd stay as far from them as I could, if I were you."
i can't help but be my own god
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he shook his head slowly as she spoke, wondering at the words pouring out of her mouth. it got worse and worse. he should tell grayday about this, warn him about the bad blood that had evidentally been festering for many seasons in the valley. perhaps it was time for morningside to leave the plateau.

"luckily we're far to the north of the caldera. . .and the dark wood." aditya blinked solemnly at her. "thank you for telling me all this. everyone should know your neighbors. . .good and bad."

he felt as if he had overstayed his welcome, suddenly, and glanced back toward the plateau, a growing sense of tumult forming like a ball of ice in his stomach. "i should get back to my family," he told the girl, giving her a rueful smile. "it was nice to see you again--whatever your name is." the smile grew into a grin, golden eyes sparkling, before firming back into solemnity. "i hope your family can find peace in this hard time."
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#12
Alya felt a stab of annoyance as Aditya brought the conversation back around to his own concerns once more. She knew she had to get better about talking about things other than herself, but she still thought it was rather insenstive of the man to be taking the focus off of her when she was clearly so distraught.

Except, she wasn't distraught, was she?

The dark woman saw him off with wellwishes and a vague imperative to take care of himself. She watch him go until she blinked and he was out of sight, and then turned herself back toward home. Perhaps she could find entertainment with her sisters instead.
i can't help but be my own god