Sawtooth Spire honey suckle chocolate-dripping kisses for your love

Evening came quickly. Ainhoa found pleasure in its embrace, finding herself admiring the stars which lit the night sky. The majority of the day after having joined was spent foraging for moss and any other harvestable plants, though she had been left empty-handed. Now, ready to relax, she lay sprawled across a snow-capped stone slab watching the moon's gradual descent.

the sun had died down before mahler completed his final patrol for the next several hours. sagtannet had as of late been silent, and the eisen saw little reason to believe it would not remain so.
he thought of sarah as he padded across exposed rock, wondered when nyx would swim up from the ranks to claim what he had promised.
there was a new scent here, gently laced with melkor's acceptance. he came down to find a woman laid across a plinth, an impressive loop of black around her shoulders, mantle to enhance the burnished honey of her eyes. "evening," mahler grunted affably, stretching himself down some feet away.

Ainhoa had found slumber in the momentary solitude. She lay with head rested atop outstretched paws, completely unaware of the other's presence until hearing his voice. Somewhat embarassed, she blinked away her drowsiness and flopped onto her side in a sort of quasi-submission. She did not know who this was, so it felt safe to assume he was another Eisen.

The sylph yawned and smiled in slight embarassment. Excuse me, she whispered, hoping that he had not taken offense. Her words were soft and lilted, well-masked by the foreign accent. Good evening, Ainhoa replied, turning her attention back toward the sky.

she turned her eyes back to the sky, and mahler followed the line of the woman's vision. the moon was glowing with a milky light, somehow more luminous now that they had made the high reaches of sawtooth their home. 
in his heart, mahler missed the lake that had first been diaspora. so much had occurred in that locale; he almost wanted to return to it now. the musiker had not forgotten the ghosts that were tethered indelibly to diaspora.
to him.
he assumed this woman the newest thrall mentioned by his co-leader. if so, she had been active, but mahler did not comment upon it now, enjoying the solitude with another of sagtannet.

The silence was uncomfortably heavy, if only because of her own self-expectation. Was he waiting for her to speak? It was an unfortunate situation, as she had found herself without anything worthwhile to say. She swallowed and turned back toward him, nervousness clear in her gaze. I am Ainhoa, she announced, ears flicking back in apology, a response to her own unnecessary volume.

A moment of silent passed, presumably after his own introduction. Wintersbane welcomed me here. She thought about Eneko and wondered what he might think of Sagtannet's men, if they were worthy of his sister's company. It is very nice. I love the mountains.

1000 for u

ainhoa broke the silence with a sheepish note. mahler found himself silently admiring the syllables of her name as he granted the woman a sweeping lilac stare.
"mahler," he rumbled in answer. as if throwing off the mantle of courtfall, his fellow eisen had reclaimed a name that the gargoyle found more fitting, though he would oft continue to remember the title of melkor.
"you do not mind the height?" mahler pressed with amusement, remembering the complaints of wylla as they trudged up to the summit. "i vas a coastal volf, vonce," he went on, for the image of her face had sparked a memory of grimnismal.

eee!

Mahler continued to speak while Ainhoa stepped down from her small height. Knowing that this was another Eisen made her uncomfortable sitting above him, so she settled a few feet away, belly flush against the ground. I was born in the mountains, she explained, This is similar to home, for me. It wasn't exactly like the heights she'd known as a child, but the two shared a resemblance.

She shook her head and sounded a small laugh. Oh, no, I'm not good in salty water. It occurred to her then that she might have offended him, so she added a quiet, I'm sorry, to conclude. Once more did Ainhoa turn away, this time to face the space in between her paws.

the woman was so careful. mahler wanted to assure her of a place with sagtannet so long as she followed the arrangement of their pack. and this she had done.
"i vas not good at it either," the man murmured, amused. "it vas too cold, and i did not enjoy the ocean." he had only been able to find merriment in the sound due to wylla's presence there; she left, and it was home no longer; she departed, and he was forced to realize that it had never truly been his home. 
"from vhere did you come before, ainhoa?" mahler inquired, shifting their topic to the newcomer even as he tested the syllables of her name.

Something in common. Ainhoa smiled at Mahler, finding his appearance to be no good indicator of his character. Based on their short encounter, she thought that he would make a decent husband for one of the foreign women. I wandered for a while, she explained. Shortly after coming into her first year, she and Eneko set out on their own. The pair were inseperable, pulled apart only by an act of nature.

But she did not want to talk about her brother. She knew that he could only be referred to as dead or alive, and until she was sure, she would not settle for either. You come from Diaspora? Ainhoa asked, hoping to change the subject. She remembered, Wintersbane told me that Sagtannet is two packs made as one, and waited for Mahler to elaborate.

her answer was vague enough to suggest that she did not want to elaborate more. and so he left off it, shifted to the telling of their merger. "yes. stigmata vas my kill-brother. ve founded diaspora in the mountains. he vanted to rule the sunspire, and we did, for a time."
small smile, remembering. "he vas killed," mahler murmured reflectively, somberly. "diaspora did not feel like home after that. i vas happy to help create sagtannet."

What is kill-brother? Ainhoa asked. She'd never heard such a term, but thought that it sounded terrifying. Mahler would surely explain, hopefully giving some sort of clarification.

Regardless, she was sorry to hear of his loss and folded her ears back in silent apology. Loss is...hard. It was often devastating, leaving the survivors lost and without direction. To have made something of a pain so deep was impressive on the part of all those involved.

"it is. but so long as i breathe, diaspora vill live, and exists in his children also." difficult to kill a concept when it had been enshrined by blood. "a kill-brother, vell," he paused, musing. "vhen ve first met, we did not speak. we hunted together in silence, killed together, ate together. after that, ve shared names, and after that, ve formed diaspora. he vas not the son of my mother, but he vas my brother in blood ve shed as one."

Ainhoa nodded along to Mahler's explanation. You have children? she asked. He had a strong masculine presence that she thought would translate well into fatherhood. Eneko was the same way; had he found someone to settle with? She smiled at the thought of nieces.

That's nice. The bond that had been built between them was obviously genuine. Ainhoa still did not fully understand the title, but knew that she didn't need to in order to understand his message. Do you have another one? Perhaps Wintersbane, the other Eisen.

mahler supposed her question should have been expected, but it caught the man off-guard. he tipped a wry smile to ainhoa, adjusting the arrangement of his forelegs. "soon. very soon." she plied him with another inquiry, and this time mahler could not hide the blink of surprise.
he did not feel the same toward wintersbane as he had with stigmata. the shadowpriest knew surely this must be a normal occurrence, but beneath ainhoa's gentle tones, he felt the rise of an inner scrutiny. "perhaps vone day," came his slow and careful answer. "he is a good man, vintersbane."

Ainhoa didn't know any of the pregnant women yet, but assumed that at least one of them was carrying Mahler's seed. Congratulations, she replied with a grin, Motherhood is a lot of work. I am content just being an, eh, emaginak. Her eyes trailed away as she thought of how one might explain. A woman helping with birth? That is what I am.

The Eisen seemed to understand what had been implied. He is kind, she said. There was nothing more to say about him yet, seeing as they'd only shared one meeting. Ainhoa made a note to seek him out later for further conversation. Oh, what do the ranks mean? Thinking about her joining was a reminder to ask; Wintersbane had mentioned that they were all in Mahler's tongue. I am Thrall, but...I don't understand.

ainhoa moved to touch upon two subjects mahler enjoyed: his tongue and his craft. "you are a midvife also?" the eisen inquired pleasantly, warming somewhat more to the new thrall. "i vas alvways told it vas not a skill for men, but here i am. i vhelped most of the vomen in diaspora."
to her second inquiry, he paused only a moment. "it means you are a newcomer in the service of sagtannet. vhen you have completed a task, you vill be welcome into the true ranks."

Fade?

Similarly, Ainhoa had never known a man to enter the whelping den. She thought that it was an unspeakable act of treason and was taken aback by Mahler's apparent pride in this admission. Any feelings of disgust were swallowed or cleared away with a quiet cough. Impressive, she complimented, deciding that there was nothing more to say on the topic.

Can you teach me some of these words? Ainhoa wasn't interested in learning more than what was required, which to her included the rank names.

<3

to him, it had come quite naturally, and mahler was confident in his skills. he spent the remainder of the hour with ainhoa, translating the various rank titles in common and explaining their roles within sagtannet.