Gyrfalcon's Keep did you really think

vague about yuelong things. for @Natshana. tagging renard for reference!

the birds — gyrfalcons, though praimfaya does not know that they are called that — are boisterous. they screech out; to one another, to her in warning from their bird poop splattered ledges of rocks where their nests sit. priamfaya, whom is fine down on the flat earth and has no desire to go after their nests, finds it annoying …but thinks that she understands. in a way, she is an intruder in the gyrfalcon’s lands. if the tables were turned …the commander wouldn’t be so passive but that, she supposed, was the difference between predator and prey.

their screeching continues for a bit longer before it dies off as the sun begins to sink below the horizon, glittering off the calm sea. she tells @Renard she’s going to do a bit of scouting, to be sure they weren’t tracked ( though she does not think this is a case, still she does not wish to assume ). a bit of a break, she specifies to her companion, from the grit of sand. maybe a bath if she can find a freshwater source untainted by it ( she doubts it but a girl can dream ).

she is not a beast made to be idle and the routine of a scouting patrol, though she has seen enough evidence by now to safety make the assumption that either donovan didn’t care or he didn’t think renard and her were much of a threat to send anyone after. maybe, she thinks, he hadn’t even noticed. she pauses as a rabbit scent trail catches her attention, leading towards what sounds like the babbling of a small brook. she isn’t confident it’ll be enough to bathe in but if it could get rid of at least some of the sand that sticks to her silverlit pelage well… she wouldn’t complain.

surprised that the rabbit hadn’t been snatched by the birds overhead, she follows the trail only to let out a low grumble of annoyance when she finds its half-eaten carcass. of course. she sniffs at it disdainfully before continuing on to the brook. it’s shallow and small, barely making a dent thru the small pebble bed it tricks down. suitable for a drink but not for a bath. resigning herself to this new sandy lifestyle ( for however long they’re on the coast ), praimfaya bows her head and laps at the cool, fresh water.

on aching paws, her voyage continues.  she remains on the coast, charmed by the vastness of the sea. natshana has no way of truly tracking her cousin, after all.  in many ways, she is currently on a fool's errand.  though she has no concept of how massive the current land is, she can guess.  praimfaya could be anywhere; finding her could take seasons, if not years.  even so, she refuses to become discouraged.  the fact of the matter is:  she's made it to the teekon wilds.  this, in and of itself, is a great accomplishment.  it is a new chapter in her journey.

today, however, she moves with the purpose of finding a place to rest for a few days.  she knows that she must take care of her body if she is to continue this expedition.  she cannot expect to find her cousin if she is too weak to stand.  so, she carefully navigates the sharp crags and slick slabs of stone to discover a place that she may unwind for a while.  natshana is goaded by the scent of prey at some point, but like those before her, she is sorely disappointed to find the hare largely consumed.  she has no taste for crowfood -- which is why she diverts her attention to proceed, until another scent catches her attention.

no, her mind vibrates with the syllable. there is no way. she drinks in the smell, determined to convince herself that she's hallucinating it.  it's been so long since she's scented her cousin; it could not possibly ... her gaze darts up and around, and at once, she spots a white shape against the rocks.  natshana's ears and tail twitch, with the latter swaying impulsively behind her.  is this some sort of mirage?  a vision bolstered by exhaustion?  there is only one way to know.

"praimfaya?" she calls out, and then, a little less certainly: "en's yu?"

she steps forward, a shift of her weight; unintentional but it stirs the silt of the brook’s bed ‘round her paw all the same. her drink finished now, she lifts her head, salmon pink tongue drawing across her jowls to collect the stray droplets. the commander has been out here for hours now and there has been no sign of the saints —

praimfaya?

her name, slicing thru the chilled autumn air causes every muscle in her body to pull taunt. she assumes that someone of the saints has tracked her, that somehow they slipped beneath her radar …

frostbound gaze peers over her shoulder before her body follows suit, turning to face the one who calls out her name; a question that lingers in the air between answered by the scarred face of the commander who prepares to let the draconian in her unchained only to pause. she recognizes the face …and the trigedasleng that follows.

relief washes over her like a tidal wave and her muscles instantly relax. natshana, the daughter of thyri’s name falls from the commander’s lips; joyful and curious. hakom yu kamp raun hir?

the moment praimfaya utters her name in reply, natshana begins to close the distance between them.  knowing that this is actually her, that she has - somehow - involuntarily discovered the very wolf she'd been searching for all this time?  she feels a conflicting sensation of both relief and uncertainty.  she approaches praimfaya and aims to posit an affectionate lick to her cousin's muzzle.  it's both a sign of endearment and respect.  she has not forgotten the other wolf's rank as heda.

"yu nou laik geifou gaf in ai?" she responds to praimfaya's question with a hint of playful cynicism and a tilt of her head. "ai gada komba lowe fig yu au." then, with a quirk of a brow, she adds a little more cheekily, complete with an overexaggerated bow. "ai laik hir badan yu op. sai, ha yu na gon raun thau fisa?" the expression on her face seems dubious in that same, sarcastic manner that natshana has always approached others with.

"weron shak yu op?"

nou, ai laik. praimfaya protests at natshana’s question, the other woman’s tone laced with playful cynicism. ai laik bloun we. praimfaya explains with a wag of her tail as her bloodkru draws nearer and offers her a gesture of affection beneath her chin. os ai op yo. and it was. after her second ( or third ) departure from her temporary stays in crogeda she had resolved herself to only seeing her cousin(s) again if something serious warranted it.

it was only natural, given praimfaya’s dangerous missions here, that she assumes that natshana is here on official coalition business and that something happened. she is glad, however, as natshana continues, that that is not the case.

at her words, praimfaya barks out a laugh and shows off her new scars to her cousin: the ones that are far from ‘uniform’ as her kill scars. nou os, she admits, though she was very fortunate for stryx and sugar glider’s intervention on her behalf when she lay dying and bleeding out in the sands. yu bos teik in. praimfaya says with a warm smile tugs at the corners of her lips.

as for where she lived currently, praimfaya’s smile wavers just a bit. there was a lot to fill natshana in on. ai kru en ai soujon. for now, anyway.

natshana isn't truly offended by praimfaya's initial reception.  the apothecary has always been one to tease and now is no different.  she moves on with a twinkle in her pale gold eyes, simply glad to be in her cousin's company once more.  her gaze ultimately settles on the new scars the other she-wolf boasts.  for several seconds, she considers them; although they certainly suit the commander's battle prowess, she cannot help but wonder if she can seek vengeance for the creatures who have carved her flesh.

"den yu sou don baga ai na feisbona?" she wonders coolly, an eagerness tugging at her fur at the possibility.  this is a new land.  praimfaya has been here much longer than she, but that doesn't mean that natshana cannot assist her cousin in achieving her goals in her own way.

"yu kru? chon bilaik disha pakstoka? get klin em nou laik beda kom ai.  yu don kot ai au den dena?" it's evident fairly quickly that natshana is intentionally overexaggerating; there's mischief in her eyes and a lilt in her voice.  though she is likely suspicious of this unknown wolf because of her possessiveness toward her kin, she also trusts her cousin's judgment. "tel ai op ething."

sha. praimfaya grins at her cousin, though poison seems too kind for her. unless it was a slow acting poison that ensured who ingested it suffered and could not be cured. no one could revive the dead, could sew a missing head back on. praimfaya wants to be sure that whatever damage is done cannot be reversed by an antidote …but these were things that they could discuss in more detail. later. emon tagon renard, praimfaya supplies.

from there, she launches into everything that has happened since her return from crogeda, she speaks of nemisis and how she was denied jus drein, jus daun, she tells natshana of mahler exiling her from sagtannet for her plan of going undercover in the saints, how she started the rebellion against the saints and now has enough information and allies to rally behind her. she tells her of renard, how he suspected her and her distrust began to grow into trust. she tells of valour and the threat the other yearling made — though praimfaya would be quick to bet that she has more allies than he. she tells natshana of astara and that ursus will stand with them though she admits she isn’t sure how much she trusts ursus.

she finishes with the hope that hua will take her and renard in for winter will soon be upon them and even after the saints are extinguished and donovan’s head severed they will need a place to stay. it is a long and winded monologue as praimfaya tries not to leave anything out.

in hindsight, she’s been busy. forging alliances, making enemies; the usual.

the name of praimfaya's companion is noted -- tucked away for another time.  shifting her focus to take on a more passive role, natshana settles in to listen to the commander's regaling.  she doesn't interrupt or interject at any point.  she is still and quiet, content to hear the details, and to commit them to memory.  this wolf called nemisis piques her interest but so does the entangled conflict with the saints.

"yu don ge hosen," she reflects at the end of praimfaya's dramatic retelling of the past few seasons.  in many ways, natshana is envious.  though she will not say this aloud, it is partially why she has come to join her kin here.  she may not be a wolf built for battle, but that does not mean she cannot elevate herself to greatness by other means.  the road to infamy is not always paved in skulls and bones.

"oso mana na slip donovan daun en flosh klin disha saints?" she repeats what she believes are the ultimate objectives of their current series of missions back to praimfaya to confirm. "yu wich huā in?" this is the only time she will ask.  if praimfaya is willing to put her trust in this wolf, then natshana supposes she must, also.

praimfaya’s life, from her birth to this point here, facing her cousin was nothing but a whirlwind forward. always forward moving. there was no room for regret, for what ifs, for looking back — she wasn’t going that way. there was no rest for the wicked and praimfaya, a mis-match of the commanders that came before, had no intention of slowing down. despite that, she is too well trained a warrior, too instinctively a tactician to just barge right in without a plan, a contingency plan and warriors. just because she’s come to the ultimate conclusion that donovan’s fighting, at it’s core, is based entirely upon his size does not mean that she will underestimate the fool.

no reshop gon fotowon. praimfaya concludes with a quirk of her lips.

sha, praimfaya affirms with a curt nod at natshana’s conclusion. natshana, then, poses the question on whether she trusts hua and there is a small lift of praimfaya’s chin. kom taim em giv ai fleim op wich in. praimfaya doesn’t think that will be the case but nevertheless she doesn’t exactly hold her breath for such things, either.

"ai na gochu yu op, ani," she bows her head in a show of sovereignty and submission.  praimfaya is the only wolf that natshana will ever show either to.  once the display is finished, she lifts her gaze once more. "ai chopa ste yu chopa. ai feisbona ste yu feisbona. ogeda, oso na teik osir baga daun." this is the apothecary's sworn promise to her commander.  though the other wolf is her family, she would always be her leader first.  she deserves the respect granted to the heda.

"chit ste tagon kom kru glong oso laik op? beda yu shoun ai?" prior to her posing these follow-up questions, she takes a seat across from praimfaya.  with most of the business taken care of, there are only the minor details to clean up.  natshana is glad to have a clear objective.  where before she was merely searching for the possibly of stumbling upon her cousin, now she had an obvious task.  the commander has enemies to take down, and she intends to help her accomplish this.

it is good, praimfaya thinks with a surge of affection for natshana, to have another wolf she can trust with her whole being in these wilds. the commander had not realized just how much she misses it, and accordingly, just how much she misses having opalia always at her side. she accepts natshana’s submission and her vow in silence, offering her cousin a small nod to show it is acknowledged after she finishes.

em bilaik tag yuelong. praimfaya informs her. ai na teik yu sobwe-de nau, taim yu ogud? praimfaya leaves it open though, just in case natshana first wanted to become more accustomed to the wilds.

"hoz op," natshana replies quickly, eager to put down some roots.  after moons of wandering, she is keen to have an actual store of herbs again.   this journey has meant that she has gone without.  back in crogeda, everything she needed was in surplus.  coming here, following her cousin, had meant sacrificing that.  she knows it will be worth it.  she has much she needs to do.  waiting for praimfaya to lead her, she intends to walk slightly behind yet also beside the commander.

it is good, praimfaya thinks, to have family by her side once more; if not unexpected. blodreina had forsaken her siblings; cutting them off from her life with a serrated knife that offered no chance of mending. praimfaya, while certainly capable of that level of pettiness and lack of forgiveness did not share all of her mother’s grudges. thyri’d helped her, let her compete in the sadgeda ( not that her aunt had really had a choice ).

the commander offers her cousin a warm smile and takes the lead, following her steps back to yuelong where she hopes natshana will be accepted.

word count: 101