Emberflame Ridge oh wrap the ground around

for @Wardruna. set for tomorrow evening, just before nightfall <3

since leaving the field of burial mounds, mona had scarcely thought about tindome, or delight, or even the collar that still bumped uncomfortably around her throat — she was beset with wanderlust and did not decamp to find her packmates. instead, the gangly red mayfair lengthened her stride and followed the curve of a mountain, until a ridge of singed trees caught her curious gaze.
here she smelled death, and the dry ash of things that had not been alive for quite some time. and explore each tree mona would have, with a deep satisfaction, if the sky at that very moment had not opened and poured a springtime deluge of water across the mountains.
sputtering, and now soaked, mona pressed herself against one charcoal-caked trunk, shaking out her ruff as best she could and fighting the shiver of her limbs as she searched in the sudden rainstorm for shelter.

there is something about this ridge that attracts wardruna naturally. though it is just earth, something to be claimed or avoided, he thinks as he ventures further into the trees where small pockets are left charred. the smell of burning wood and ash linger even though he sees no immediate fires and no traces of swelling smoke as his functioning eye traces the tree line overhead. perhaps his attraction lay in the simple fact that the territory is scarred; like him. scars are a natural part of his culture — none stay as unmarred as a newborn babe for long — but his are not earned with pride but rather humiliation of losing and living. the gods cast him from the hall of heroes, rejecting him and condemning him back to the earth. he has little to complain about now, he'll readily admit. he has a home. he has two beautiful wives. it's nothing to sneeze at.

as if on some kind of ironic cue, wardruna takes in a deep breath and lets out a sneeze as the lingering scent of smoke and burnt wood tickles his nose. he hesitates feeling another sneeze building only to be left with the lingering disappointment as it fizzles out the second his body prepares to expel it. he scowls and squints his right eye at the darkening skyline seconds before the heavens open up and rain pours from the heavy overcast clouds above. he sulks towards the mountain hoping to find refuge from the rain and lightening that causes the fur at the nape of his neck to bristle with lingering static electricity. he does not necessarily want to be the next charred and smoking thing on this ridge and that alone is motive enough to encourage wardruna to pick up his pace.

clearly, waiting around for the rain to stop was a stupid decision; the crushed fragrance of willows was suddenly on the brisk air, however, and the nuro flicked her wet ears as a thunderclap boomed overhead, flinching somewhat. lightning forked moments later, and the mayfair caught her breath as a figure was illuminated, scaling the ridge and seemingly heading right for her.
the wolf was massive, and mona felt her smallness, and the absence of safety among the tindome wolves. she had traded it for adventure along the coast and this burned place, as if she was too stupid to remember also she wasn't the only wolf in this region. the child backed slowly away, hoping her sodden pelt would go unnoticed. the willow-trees were not far off, and mona knew there she could sequester herself.
it was not to be; this was a clumsy age, and down into the mud mona tripped, sliding some ways along the ridge as lightning lit the skies once more.

something is sliding closer. wardruna freezes, the muscles pulling taunt as he catches the flash of ruddy and red pelage and movement from the very corner of his functioning eye as lightening streaks across the sky. the earth vibrates with the resounding boom: the strike of the thunder god's anvil. the sound is glorious, like the summon of a war drum to the northman and it causes his fur to bristle as he relishes in the storm. he's always liked storms even if the evidence of lightning striking the forest he moves through — that the smaller wolf slides through — has him seeking shelter from it. he contemplates not stopping but lightening sizzles through the sky and strikes a tree nearby. the tree is on his blindside but he hears the unnerving sound of it strike the tree's flesh and the sizzle and smells the singing bark. it the flash momentarily blinds him and he instinctually careens in her direction to avoid being a living target of the lightening. in that unintentional move he feels obligated to offer some sort of help. the mud is slick and his legs, paws and underbelly are coated in it. a heavy sigh, lost in a secondary rumble of thunder expels from his lips. "come. get up." he means to encourage though it undoubtedly comes out more bossy than he intended as the common tongue words are heavy and thick on his tongue. he nears her and hesitates just short of touching her. he wants to nudge her but resists — she is not one of his wives, he reminds himself. "we are not safe here." he tells her despite that he assumes she has already gathered as much.

mona could have kicked herself for her ineptitude; the mud was thick and dragged at her soaked limbs. in the next moment, the stranger was upon her, and the mayfair stared up in the glint of distant lightning at the marble hues of his coat, the vivid eyes that burned in his skull, though one was marred —
belatedly, the nuro realized she was staring; ears cupped back against her skull and she obeyed his command, grimacing somewhat as the heavy scent of wet dirt clung to her senses. what had she gotten herself into?
the man did not touch her; his broad paws caught mona's interest, but she scolded herself for the rage of her imagination, and fell into step beside the stranger. the storm would return, she knew, and this naked, scarred place was no sanctuary to either of them. through wet lashes she glanced just once more toward the man's fierce features, unable to help herself — curiosity was mona's birthright.

wardruna's sight is beginning to become hindered by the (rapidly) darkening sky, the storm and the blinding flashes of lightning when it strikes have him at a clear disadvantage. he frowns at the turn of weather and wishes that he'd brought sif or poet with him. he hadn't, however, and he must revert to relying on himself ( admittedly, he's become a bit spoiled by his wives ). he glimpses her over as lightening strikes somewhere in the distance behind his back, taking advantage of the illumination. she doesn't appear to be injured from the quick once over he manages before the landscape around them fades back into a shroud of impending darkness once more. wardruna does not notice her looking him over. he feels pin-prickles along his skin, suspects that she might be assessing him — he expects an assessment, at any rate, it strikes him as natural because it's what he does upon first meeting a stranger. he searches, in vain, for something that might make decent shelter but it would appear that the trees only attract the unpredictable lightening. his original intention came to the forefront of his mind. "maybe the mountain will offer shelter." he suggests to her, glimpsing down at her from the corner of his good eye for a reaction. they'd be heading in opposite directions though and suddenly he isn't so sure that it would. still, it struck him as being better than hanging around here where they were little more than sitting ducks for the next strike.

it was very difficult to find poise in a downfall, streaked with mud, and parted from her packmates, but the witch-daughter tried valiantly all the same. "what about the willows, that way?" she murmured quietly with a gesture of her muzzle, murkwater eyes meeting his for a faint moment. the man's tension was not lost on the nuro, who feared the death from the skies the same as he. it was that terror that goaded her small pawsteps alongside the rock-giant, the details of which she secretly hoped to observe once they had settled.
but the mountain was bare, and the willows would be soaked, she knew. still, the interlacement of their long leaves would be some respite from the deluge and the electricity in the high clouds; she did not suspect a mountain would do that for them. "you know, whatever you want to do is good!" the girl chirped with untimely, fake gaiety, her ruse shattered a moment later when thunder bellowed again and elicited an abrupt whine from the mayfair. fear was beginning to bleed into what little logic mona did possess; a heartbeat more of time, and she would dash for the willows, with or without the stone god.

wardruna takes note of the thick, black band around her neck when the next strike of lightning illuminates the world around them, his functioning eye roving over it with unbridled suspicion for a moment. the world goes black and he judges that whatever it is, is not a threat. or if it is, it's not the most pressing threat to him at the moment. she points out the willows and his singular gaze follows the projected path of that particular direction.

he is bullheaded and thinks that a cave might be a better option but there's no guarantee that there are any caves and it occurs to wardruna that the willows might be their best bet. she chirps that whatever he wanted was good but the opportunity to take the lead slips from between his jaws with another roll of thunder and a whine from her. she takes off for the willows and wardruna faces two options abruptly. follow after her or head the way he was going to go. if she is to be the flame then that makes him the moth as he's after her in the next heartbeat, his long legs allowing him to catch up to her in record time.

small powerplay to get them to the trees <3

the storm continued to growl overhead, and its rainy hiss spurred the firebird on. soon, sweetly soon, the trees loomed, and as the girl set her jaw, lightning forked the skies. in its snap of light the man appeared, seeming to separate from the gloom to materialize at her side. relief flooded the nuro; she veered closer to him, and the two maintained their pace, sweeping far into the stand of willows before they slowed.
the world outside was immediately blunted; an outcropping of rock from the jagged mountain protected this stand, and despite the cold air that immediately chilled mona, it was still here. easier to warm. her panting soon proved this correct; mona peered out between the dangling branches a moment before turning her gaze curiously on the man. from here, the wicked spears of lightning along the ridge slanted a glow down through the trees upon him, shadowing his chin and one side of his face. "i'm m-mona," the girl offered in a whisper that shook as her small body was wracked with shivering.

the duo make it to the cover of the willows. it does not entirely shield them from the rain that falls bit it offers enough that they aren't being pelted by the rapid rainfall any longer. the leaves catch the very worst of it and though it makes wardruna nervous to linger beneath the willow trees in a lightening storm there is a small respite from the worst of it, at least. they are in close proximity now ...this small ember and himself. if she bore any pack scents his nose — filled with rainfall, wet earth, worms ( ick ), and the lingering scent of smoke that must be a permanent fixture of this particular ridge — is blind to it. she is visibly shivering and subtly the northman moves nearer to share his body heat with her. mona. it sounds simple enough to his ears but he isn't so sure mimicking it will yield results that sounds the exact same as the way she spoke it. "i am wardruna." he offers his own name to her in return.

he moved closer, and though mona's body tensed instinctively, his plush fur provided a budding warmth that soon stilled the mayfair's shaking. warduna. the name was foreign and exciting; she felt her was very boring. because she was little more than a curious child in this moment, mona glanced over his features again.
"what ... what were you doing on the ridge?" the girl piped after an awkward moment. she wasn't even sure he wanted to make conversation, but mona simply could not keep from chattering when she was nervous. it was one of her many bad habits she had resolved to break.

it occurs to wardruna only after the fact that the polite thing would have been to ask her permission before moving closer. wardruna's accustomed to behaving in a very different way and it seems that no matter how much time he spends in company that is not that of his fellow northmen his upbringing refuses to bend to the laws and expectations of these lands. she does not recoil from him, however; instead her shivering stills. her question causes his right ear to perk and swivel towards her slightly as he glimpses at her from the corner of that eye. it is a brief glimpse and in the next heartbeat his gaze returns to the storm that rages just outside the semi-shelter of the willows they take refuge beneath. "wandering," he replies simply and then adds, "staying out of trouble." cheekily with a curl of his lips into a smirk that betrays the mischief hidden in the words. "you?" he returns the inquiry simply, angling his head downwards to ever so slightly to fix her in his stare. it unnerves him to have his blind eye to the territory that stretches out before them but wardruna remains nonchalant, acting as if he could see out of it, as if there was nothing amiss and his nerves, if detected, were simply because of the storm still.

mona had thought very little of wardruna's movement — first she was cold, and now she was not. that was enough for the firebird. unable to keep from following the line of the stoic man's eye toward the storm, mona's body gave a final tremble, not from the rain drying in her fur, but from the fear of what might have happened had he not come along, or had they not made it to the willows.
wardruna spoke then, answering mona with a teasing nature she had not expected from a creature who appeared so warlike. the girl's ears flattened, her smile quick and embarassed as she flushed beneath the gentle searching of his gaze. he was both like and unlike nathaniel — mona hoped her falcon was not too worried about her.
"exploring. i uh, lost track of time." mona glanced at the rainwet world once more; deciding the storm would not soon abate, the little mayfair settled onto her belly alongside wardruna's warm broad flank, tucking her forepaws beneath the plush red fur of her chest. "i found the trouble you were avoiding," she joked weakly, clearing her throat and falling silent a second later.