Arrow Lake [bwp] zittern

any memory of aurëwen that might have comforted the general in the cool time before dawn, wherein he visited the mound overgrown with wildflowers beneath where stigmata lay, was darkened by what dragomir had told him. mahler had always known that the dove's neglect had led to her son's wounds; he had not dreamed it was so directly, and with guilt remembered how she had spun him down into a world of silk and murmurings.
still, it was not something mahler opted to regret; there was an ache within him to see her again. perhaps then, however, he would ask after it, for no matter what had happened between them, her children remained beloved to his concerns.
all was made irrelevant, however, when the world rumbled beneath diaspora, sending eddies of lakewater ringing his ankles as he stood for a drink. fear washed over him, primal as birth, and then mahler steadied himself quickly, seeking round for anyone who might confirm that it had indeed occurred.

"Mahler!" Nyx called out when she caught sight of him, breathless from having been startled by the trembling of earth beneath her paws. It was fear that made her run, and this was clear in the white of her eyes as she halted before Diaspora's new General to look upon him for assurance that she hadn't imagined those tremors.

She took a moment to suck in air, "what happened?"

it was nyx that arrived, and fear wafted from her as if it were a beacon. instinctively mahler stepped toward his packmate, seeking reassurance as much as he might offer the same. "i am not sure," he admitted, gaze flicking over her heaving flanks with worry, "but i suspect if it continues, ve vill need to leave this place sooner than i had vished."

Although he swept toward her to show his support, Mahler was quick to admit that he was unsure what it was that thundered beneath the earth. Nyx felt her hackles prick uncomfortably behind her neck and she shuddered, visibly unsettled.

"I think that's a good idea," she exhaled, attempting to breathe away the stresses and sought the General's cool gaze briefly, "to the hollow that Blodreina and I found?"

he appreciated the levelheadedness with which nyx gathered herself. it would be of benefit if they were to guide the young ones efficiently from the only home they had known. "to the hollow, then," he agreed. "vill you tell me please vhat you discovered there? how it vill be an asset for us to move to that locale," the man added, glancing roundabout them as he prepared to quiz the pretty scout on her findings.

There was something odd about this whole situation. As Mahler confirmed at once that they would uproot in the foreseeable future to settle in her fox hollow, Nyx could not help but wonder how it was that he so openly trusted her word. Perhaps he didn't really, the pessimist in her brought to mind, considering the strong possibility that he only saw some sliver of potential in her because he thought Stigmata had.

Still, she liked the taste of success in her mouth, so she offered the rugged General a small smile. It was nice to finally have a sense if purpose among Diaspora's impressive hierarchy and although she continued to struggle with finding a true connection with them, she found some comfort in supporting them.

"It is a quiet place," she responded, glad for a brief distraction from the tremblings underfoot, "sheltered by the mountain peaks and well protected from the elements. Blodreina thinks the prey to be plentiful there, too." She had not scouted the territory entirely, but Nyx had been satisfied with what she'd seen.

he could not have said why exactly he trusted the young woman's word. stigmata had seen what she could be, surely, and mahler trusted that. but moreover it was nyx' very aloofness that the general treasured. there was no need for her to lie; she did not strive for a higher rank, for his own. she simply was, and there was admiration to be found for such a state of being. "i am pleased to hear that. it is time that the young vones learned the vays of hunting, before there are new babes in diaspora vonce again."