Northstar Vale merchant : take a look at my wares
wearing my dream like a diadem in some better land.
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All Welcome 
4/29. Tags for reference. Anyone from Nauthiz welcome.

He was gone. 

Without a trace, without a word. He had gone from their children. From her. From those he’d pledged himself anew to.

Any thought, any worry or damnation for him had left Aurëwen’s mind. When @Stigmata gave her the second task  ( ”check on the progress of the pack forming in the Vale” )  she had left the children she lived for to Vonnaruil and had immediately taken flight. For moons, she had been weighed by the lives she had chosen to make, always so milk-slow and heady.

But now, oh! —

She flew, and flew; and danced and danced in an abundance of wings, weightless, pirouetting amongst the Spires day and night. All thought and pretense had been put from her mind; Aurëwen only breathed, only loved for her children; flared for the task her general had given her; the general who had allowed them some stoic sanctuary when her babes had still been melded with her.

It was all that mattered, and all that she needed. Her children would be raised by all, and she would bring them to the summit with her. The three of them would make the mountains shiver to their southern roots. That was all that mattered.

So, with a wild and fey halt, Aurëwen drove her paws into the earth and loosed a herald for the one named @Liri — the spring winds making it diaphanous and lowing and beckoning all at once. This was all that mattered.
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The healer lingered over the pale green sproutlings, pruning and clipping where needed to free the tiny growths of their hindrances. The unfamiliar summons found her diminutive form bent, hovering in almost loving care over the budding herbs of her garden. 

Pale auds and crown alike turned in the direction of their unofficial boundaries, a slight furrow creasing between her  chocolate eyes as she pondered the identity of the Caller and their purpose.

There was but one way to find out; with a shake to rid herself of the dirt clinging to her alabaster pelt, Liri padded into the forest. Her limbs soon stretched to kiss the ground lovingly, three legs working into a graceful lope that had taken her some time to master after the lightning bolt took her disfigured leg - which had acted as a counterbalance for the sylph who already walked on three paws. 

The treeline thinned and faded away, left behind as she neared the grassy knolls and slopes that extended into the stony passes of the Sunspire. 

A pale figure awaited her, unfamiliar but not unwelcome. 

The fae could not help but note internally, with a touch of amusement, that the woman appeared to be her opposite: tall and svelte where Liri was short and square, slender and delicate where the healer was toned with adversity, her face marred where Liri's was the only section of her body that remained untouched by cruelty. 

She drew to a halt before the Diasporan, noting the scents layered over her own, and dipped her leveled head slightly in greeting. 

"Heil, Diasporan," she murmured, a smile of welcome gracing her pale features. "How may I help you?" 
"i'll keep you here when I lose my mind."
 
 
wearing my dream like a diadem in some better land.
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If I look back, I am lost. The light of early day tousled her fur, and in a blink, it seemed her herald would be swiftly answered. What did the water give me? This task was just another in the many of ensuring peace for her children — Stigmata’s apparent lenience when doling out this quest had been enough to make it known. So, Aurëwen would do what she did best.

In another flutter of lashes, the ivory was before her; three-legged, notably, but even moreso was the speckled veil and the adornment of pink-pale scars graced upon her stolid figure. It was just like the festival, in that moment: where only welcome thoughts would enter her weary head and worn heart; and she made a smile curl her marred lips; let a glimmer come into her eyes. If I look back, I am lost.

”Salutations,” Aurëwen lilted, returning the gesture with a faint obeisance of her own. There was no need to hide why she was here, and the truth came from her, then, ”I was sent by ze Stigmata, to see how your Nauthiz has been settling in.” After a pause: ”Has faring gone well? I have not come across ze Vale in quite some time, really.” For all of Stigmata’s commands, her interest was truly meant.
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She felt an immediate response to the woman, sensing in their hearts that they were quite similar - scarred not only in the flesh but in harsh pasts, forlorn in the games of love that others played so easily. It was a dangerous thing to allow such feelings of empathy and tentative appreciation - both with Mahler and this pale dove. 

"Ah, I see. Stigmata," she found herself murmuring with a faint smile, having learned of the male from Ruenna's lips. 

"We have fared well - no issues to report thus far," the sylph imparted truthfully. "It is a lovely place, no?"

"As for your Stigmata," 
she began, tongue darting out to moisten her lips nervously, "do you believe he would be willing to meet with me?"

"I did not know of Diaspora's claim to the entirety of the range beforehand - how could I - but I have no desire to see our tribes fall into conflict. It would be a tragic thing, when such a strong alliance could be formed in its place," 
the healer murmured, dark eyes vaguely worried as they turned to the idyllic Vale. 

This was where she belonged.

She did not want to give it up but she was torn between her desire to appease Diaspora and her desire to cling to her newfound home. 

"I impose no obligation of promise upon you, but if you would..just ask him, please?" 
"i'll keep you here when I lose my mind."
 
 
wearing my dream like a diadem in some better land.
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She didn’t know the full details on whether or not Stigmata would lift his word over the entirety of the claim — or if it would remain in place. Aurëwen hoped it would be the first, but, again, she was a mere ambassador, sent to carry out and fulfill a quest solely given to her.

She was not, however, simply an unfeeling diplomatic: the way Liri presided over her Vale reminded Aure of the way she’d used to regard her own Rhaesuial. ”Quite lovely,” she wisped, and a smile, again curled her lips, ”You almost have my envy.” Almost, for her children would forever be lovelier; and it was for them she now regarded so fervently. She had to, if she were to bolster her personal self on her own.

Her next words muscled past the ache in her pale breast, intoned over it, above it, a heedless pretend, ”I have faith Stigmata will have no qualms with congregating with you. I will ask him ze moment I return.” Argent eyes followed Liri’s of the surveyance of the land all about them, silent for some quiet heartbeats. ”It is good to know I am not alone in these thoughts,” she admitted, ”for though his claim is an ambitious thing, it is...” unfeasible. Impossible, in a world like this and in circumstances just as these.
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A wave of relief broke over the shores of the pale femme though outwardly she presented the same infallible calm. She had come to possess a mask she had realized long ago, that of Liri the leader who could broke no expression of weakness before the outside world - not if she was to be viewed as an equal rather than an invalid. 

Still, she allowed some measure of this emotion to shine in her dark eyes as she turned a grateful smile upon Aurewen. "Thank you. I believe much anxiety could be appeased both in the Vale and at Arrow Lake if we were to discuss this situation." 

It was immensely gratifying to realize that it was not only she that felt the implausibility of Diaspora's claim but even just one of Stigmata's subordinates. She answered the silent thought with a small smile of understanding - communicating her similar opinion without voicing a negative rapport of the conqueror. 

"I don't believe I caught your name, miss. I'm Liri Blackfoot," she introduced herself with a slight dip of her peppered crown. 
"i'll keep you here when I lose my mind."
 
 
wearing my dream like a diadem in some better land.
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The silver met Liri’s smile — evident in the rabbit-soft gaze, too — with one of her own. A bit more tentative, but reciprocated in the same mind overall.  When thanks was given, Aure gave a humble dip of her head, and once she listened to the rest, trilled, ”We may agree on that, too. Where foreign offenses are concerned, two forces are mightier than one; that is what I once learned, at least.”

But then a name was given, too, and the she-silver realized that it’d entirely exceeding her mind ever since she’d set out on this mini-quest. Liri, was it? The corners of her mouth curved a bit further, ”My apologies, Liri. I am Aurëwen — well, Aure, if you would prefer?” There were other names that she’d plucked up from the first time she’d arrived to the Teekons; absconded all those that she knew, and only yearned for one.

Aurëwen brought her idling mind back to the present with a flicker of ears; present was what she had to be, needed to be. ”This claim of yours, ah, it is called Nauthiz, yes? I hope founding hasn’t been too worrisome.” What if she missed something inconceivably important? Something that may  ( or may not )  help her along the seasons to come?
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"Aye, allies are always more welcome than foes." The Sunspire had once seemed an unlikely alliance - given the first conflict that arised in this very Vale - but they had put their differences aside then. Perhaps history would repeat itself. 

"That's quite alright; it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Aurëwen," Liri smiled, tail wagging faintly at her hips despite the inner voice that whispered not to consider the Diasporans as friends just yet.

"No, aside from the realization that Diaspora held the range we've been blessed with fair luck." Siqsa had been injured in their travels but he was recovered now, or nearly so. 
"i'll keep you here when I lose my mind."
 
 
wearing my dream like a diadem in some better land.
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Well met, then. Her own tail feathered assuredly at her hocks; but her always-lain ears took a rare moment to flick forward at Liri’s next words. Luck, was it? It seemed that whenever one entered the spires, luck was few and near to be found; her own luck had occurred on her flight from the hunger of Rakk and in the protective form of Wintersbane. She’d been lucky to have found someone, however dark, to guide her through this selfsame range. 

Would that she wished to found her own settlement  ( certainly, someday ), Aurëwen would’ve chosen just this Vale. The spires rose all about them, threatening to tear the skies and scavengers asunder; all to protect the bursting little haven below. But then... perhaps not. Perhaps she now longed for a place to better serve as the fortress her mind had decided upon.

Perhaps she’d been spoiled by Verx’s fierce, hankering nature and brawlish, clumsily-told tales — and shook herself to the present before she could lapse into prolonged silence. ”That is good to hear, then. Is there anything else I may report to Stigmata? Any... troubles, or threats?” The gleam of his eyes shrieked in her mind like sun on sea, though, and her words were a paltry thing of ivory to bolster herself against them.
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Had she been aware of Aure's thoughts it would have only served to bolster her growing affinity with the pale whisper. It had seemed more oft than not that Teekon at whole was a place of loss for the ghost - the scene of betrayal, the backdrop of grief. 

Only the threat of what my claim may mean for our packs. 

She smiled in spite of her train of thought, ever presenting the mask of Liri who had no use for dallying in pity or lingering in anxiety. In truth, the past several months had been ominously quiet - peaceful in a manner that left her looking forward to the next tragedy in wait. 

"I'm afraid things have been rather sheltered here and I have nothing worthwhile for your general's attention. I suppose that it a good thing to report, in truth," she murmured after a moment lest they fall into uncomfortable silence. 

Perhaps it was only a good thing in her eyes however, perhaps Aurëwen was waiting for word of some trouble that plagued them - a conflict to transport to the unseen Stigmata who would receive the news gladly. But the northron had no way of knowing and tried not to reminisce on such a thought.
"i'll keep you here when I lose my mind."
 
 
wearing my dream like a diadem in some better land.
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The silver had steadied herself from listlessness, so by the time Liri spoke, she’d remained as ever-patient in this parley as she could be, and a soft smile of acknowledgement arrived to her maw when she listened to the words that’d been given. ”Any shelter is better than none at all, of course.” Another feathering of her tail, and it seemed her quest was about finished.

The thought of giving the Vale-maiden cause to worry with ill-wishes was by and far the last thing that occurred to Aurëwen. Information sufficient, the silver murmured a lilting thanks-and-farewell, and eventually began to return flight to Stigmata; a promise of Nauthiz clutched held fast and foremost as she hastened for the basilisk’s claim.

last one from me!