Redsand Canyon you fall through the trees
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All Welcome 

one prays that nehaleni is walking besides them when they traverse through uncharted lands. llyr was no exception. he was a warrior, brave, strong, formidable. but this strange territory made him uneasy and though he’d never admit that, he couldn’t shake off the feeling.

he curiously stirred the dirt with one paw. how peculiar. it wasn’t like any dirt he’s seen. it was loose, grainy, and it got caught between his toes. the color was by far unusual feature. it was red, like dried blood. he was convinced this land was cursed.
wearing my dream like a diadem in some better land.
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vaguevaguevauge y

Aure still dreamed with two eyes.

Her dreams were sensible, then, for when she woke from slumber, half of her world had been draped in dark, flat veils. It didn’t take much for the breath to thin in her breast, or for the involuntary tremble to set into her limbs. She needed to breathe, to get away; to let these feelings fester without her precious sun-and-stars so near.

So Aure kissed them each, tottered her way from the communal resting area, and began the trek west.

...Whether she'd lost the sight in one eye alone or even both, mountains would always be a natural traverse for her. More of a trial than ever, now, but no less welcome or wanted. What wasn’t welcome, though, was this half-sight. This utter frustrated humiliation, this... this try-and-try-as-I-might adaption she struggled so sorely with.

Where once her left eye held just as much color and light as the right, everything had become enshrouded in shifting shadow. Shadow and glosses of lighter shadow was all that was there, anymore. Her other eye (still shining and seeing) presided Aure’s attempts of perceiving depth — whether it was a misstep of sorting her herbs, or missing Isi’s smudged cheek entirely during bath-time, she always ended up misconfit with herself.

Of course, when help was given, she’d certainly receive it. But she couldn’t help being so hard on herself, could she, when she felt that fateful day had been a fault of hers entirely? 

... Lately, Aure wasn’t exactly sure what to feel. But an hour or so later had her looking across a sand-scuffed, red, windswept land and had her feeling rather... forbidden from it, as if some malignance lurked deep within those clay towers. (Maybe it was just her, though?)

Obviously, the smart thing to do was for the skayona to begin picking her way down from the alpines.
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no one in their right mind would ever step foot into this place without reason. he wouldn’t have, but it stood between him and something. what that something was was anyone’s guess. family, fortune, it could be anything really. but he had to swim through the red sea to find it.

llyr moved forward, but stopped once more. it was not to observe the canyons, but something else entirely. a woman slid down the slopes. she could be easily mistaken for one of his own. her pelt and scars led him to believe it for a moment. the nordling’s jaw parted. oh sister, what brings you to this cursed place? that’s what he was going to ask. but the wind carried the woman’s scent towards him. with that came multiple others. she was not family, she had her own story. llyr was not keen on listening to it. he turned away from her and started forward again.
wearing my dream like a diadem in some better land.
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To be able to peer at him properly, Aure had to swing her head about and put the entirety of her riddled masque on display. Before, it was a reserved action of her choosing; something poised and unassuming when in the company of others. Now — now it was a necessity, and one she took to sourly.

A necessity that made her seem all the more indecisive, grazing doe that Athansius had quipped her to be. She still smarted at that, as she did now; and the longer she looked at this hulking mountain of snow, the more her jaw set with stubbornness, and the more she was loathe to acknowledge to him.

Hers was a story that, time and time again, had exhausted itself in its telling. She tired of sharing it, and would favor to write an entirely new one with the three wolves at the forefront of her heart and soul; wherever they went, if such a day came, she would follow without hesitation. If they wanted to roam the world, she would chart the way for them.

For everything in her, Aure prayed that this would be as much of a path that she and this stranger crossed ...was what she would want, if she were as cold as the north she’d been born of. But, instead, she gave a grump of Excuse,” while shouldering on by him and continuing her half-stumble, half-scuffle down the crags into the canyon.
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she too didn’t seem interested of what he had to offer. she merely pushed past. he watched the woman from the corner of his eye. how she swung her head, how she stumbled downward. his ears flattened on his skull and his tail twitched slightly. 

she was hurt in some way. maybe in the physical sense, but there was no blood. maybe emotionally, but he couldn’t see. two sides of him began a conflict. there was a need to aid rooted deep in his soul. the seed was planted in his youth and now it was a flourishing tree. but the fruit had a price. he wasn’t one to offer a hand for free, but the drive was still there.

llyr still hadn’t approached, but he had stopped. now he sat quietly, watching over her.
wearing my dream like a diadem in some better land.
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Just ignore him. You’re both just passing through, grumbled her thoughts as she moseyed inelegantly on. Who cares if what I just did was rude? But she felt his eyes bore into her back, staring and staring for how ridiculous she must seem. Ignore, ignore, ignore, pushing that thought into each tentative pawstep down.

The further she could get from those concerned eyes, the better — that’s what she’d set out to get away from, right?

Eventually, her adamant steps brought her from the foothills and into the tattered terrain below. Halted, catching her breath, she promptly sent the male from behind a glare with that— ... oh.

Huffing, Aure quickly whirled her head over her right shoulder, instead. When she was sure she’d given as good a glare as was possible of What?, the herbalist returned her attentions to what was ahead of her. Nothing was wrong, she was fine, what was wrong with him?

Dawn had brought the eerie ruddiness into a new light, and Aure started for the canyons with renewed determination. What would she find there, if anything at all?
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it was like she hadn’t even seen him. she continued onward, ungracefully but determined. llyr stayed for it all, watching, watching. for what? maybe he expected her to fall. and he would chuckle and leave or reluctantly lend assistance. neither happened. she reached bottom and shot a defiant glare to which he raised a brow. they finally acknowledged eachother’s existence.

it was short lived however. the woman whipped around and went along her way. the nordling took a few steps forward. “there’s nothing for you there.” finally he speaks, albeit in a dull tone. not an unfamiliar approach for the warrior. he waited for her reaction.
wearing my dream like a diadem in some better land.
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Aure thought she’d begun to do a fine job of putting distance between herself and the other Redsand visitant. But then she heard some gruff wording of ‘There is nothing for you there,’ and she halted in her prints once again. Without missing a beat, she snipped, ”Maybe there is, tripi, and stepped into a staggerly walk once more. ”Like a wonder beneath ze earth.” Or some peace of mind.

Ivory tail feathered at uneven hocks, and she gave another awkward, right swerve of her muzzle. ”Why are you here, if you like to say such things? There could be anything here. How would you know?” Her marred snout wrinkled in a way she thought might be threatening, it wasn’t gritting the words out through fangs.
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she answers him. that’s a shock, considering she seemed so hellbent on leaving. even as she talked she still moved. he followed, despite initial intentions. this wasn’t a usual situation he found himself in. it was always a quick hello and goodbye with these strangers. but this was entertaining.

she continued to hiss, even lifted her lips to bare her fangs. he only chuckled. her ire was mildly amusing. “this place is nothing but dust,” he started as she finished. “but you seem confident in your claim. do you know where this wonder in the earth is?
wearing my dream like a diadem in some better land.
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When her display of daggers was only met with merriment, the marring upon her face properly writhed as she rounded about, fully, to face him. The bodily gesture was a wobbly thing, but she stretched her neck out to continue snipping at him, and stared up at him with her good eye.No, I don’t.” 

After a lapse of quiet, her face still scrunched with vexation, it took her a blink to realize her own error. Through her good eye, she saw that this... this haunt was a behemoth. “Ze hells are you so hulking for?” — gods, everyone was a behemoth to her — “Don't you have someone to beat down? Isn’t that what you- you warlords do?” Didn’t he?

Without waiting for his answer, she clumsily hobbled back about and continued her continuance of her trek. Stupid, brave males who do stupid and brave things. Sange, Vonn, Verx mea, and now this... this one will not leave me be! Well, perhaps whatever was in these damned canyons would scare him off and leave her alone ... right?
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he had not truly gotten a good look at the woman untill she faced him full on. llyr was amazed at what he saw. she was such a small thing, he wouldn’t label her as the fighting type. but her face was torn and an eye was glazed. what gods had she upset to earn such scars?

there was the silence and he thought that was the end of that, but she spoke once more. her comment was not one he expected and he quite honestly didn’t know what to say. “i was born this way,” was all he could muster.

he did not follow her, instead deciding to call out. “that’s what you think of them, fools that harm others for sport? did one of them leave you this way?” he raised a brow curiously. “i only attack when i need to, if you must know.
wearing my dream like a diadem in some better land.
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Sometimes, is what she wanted to say. But then he called out to her; asking after who had scarred her so. Instead, Aure gave a mirthless reply of “I try to,” instead, and did not halt this time. Tried to fight, because she was sorely lacking in the experience of doing so, and may have very well been her downfall mere days ago. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d scrapped, aside from that day with Blodreina.

But if he wanted to keep talking, then he’d better start walking.

Either way, the burnished arches of stone eventually cast their simmering shadows high high high up over her head. Depthless as her good eye was, she studied the red, carved architecture as well as she could; irked gait slowing to a shamble. The silver had never seen, or been within, the realm of a canyon — only heard of the mysteries that might lie within.
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perhaps now was a good time to depart. everything they needed to know about one another was in the air now. there was nothing more to say. but when the nordling turned to leave, his conscience nagged at him again. as fiery as she may be, she was still hurt. if something were to happen, the blood would be on him. but why did that matter? they didn’t even know eachother’s names. so what if she was injured? he’d never know if he left now. but that was the thing, he’d never know. her saftey would be the question on his mind and he’d never know the answer. so instead of plaguing himself with this, he’d stick around. it wouldn’t hurt anyways.

by the time he turned around there was already quite the distance between the two. it took awhile for llyr to catch up, it wasn’t like he was in a rush. as long as she was seen, his mind was at peace. “find anything?
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The make of these red towers was unlike anything the Rhaesuian’d ever seen before. She’d slowed to yet another halt, at some point, so when her gruff caretaker(?) found her, she was gazing studiously to the heavens — turned to odd colors by the vibes of surrounding stone. Her ears turned, hearing but also not quite.

Soon enough, though, Aure did register the pale stalwart’s arrival and his words; and there was a moment where, before her eye found him, she reminisced of @Falquan. Back at the haven, he’d been a yearling, and the once-heiress herself had been just shy of several months (if her ascertation was correct). Had she really been as adamant then as she was now?

Returning to herself, the silver shrugged to the male companion — sigh “Not yet.”