Duskfire Glacier it's been a long season through

After this. Only @Lane @Wintersbane please <3

She led the woman through the land, content to tell her anything she might ask but with the focus of getting her to Wintersbane heavy in her mind. Perhaps they knew one another. Perhaps this woman might have carried more news of what had transpired or vice versa.

When she felt they were close enough to where her leader's scent lingered, she let out a short summons for him. Urgent but not dire.

Lane's appraising gaze swept the landscape, and she wondered to herself what sort of secrets this territory held. There must be more to Duskfire Glacier than met the eye, because why else would anyone willing choose a hunk of ice as their permanent home? 

Iana summoned the leader, a.k.a the authority on all things meteor-related. As it happened, Lane was now classified as such.

the call for him is short and comes from iana. it holds upon it hints of urgency that cause the tundrian to abandon the herd's movements he was tracking and shift paths; altering his steps so they take him away from the herd and towards his gamma. as he nears he catches the scent of another, of a stranger alongside iana's own and though it is evident that iana has escorted the woman there is still a slight bristle of his hackles anyway.

as a pack he is not feeling the leniency as he had before; and the instinct to protect his territory and his wolves comes in a strong wave that the scarred feverkissed king must temper down.

iana, he greets in a soft rasp. what's going on? he inquires; allowing her to provide him with the details he is missing.

They were quick to become a trio and it was deeply appreciated by Iana, even if she did not say as much.

This is Lane, A small dip of her muzzle towards the kind woman by her. She did hope that Lane would not mind her taking the reins for a moment. She came to us with much promise but...well, it also seems she comes to us from the same events you that sent you here. I thought it important you two meet promptly. Her eyes left Wintersbane to look back to the fellow medic. A silent offer for her to elaborate more on her arrival.

A man appeared, whom Lane presumed to be the leader. He had responded to Iana's summons, after all. 

His hackles raised-- reflexively, it would seem-- as his expression and tone betrayed not anger nor aggression, but curiosity. Lane was not concerned. Such a reaction was to be expected; Lane had not howled at the border, after all. He would have had no way of knowing that Iana had admitted a stranger into the territory. 

Lane stood by silently, allowing Iana to introduce her. Her amber eyes lingered upon the man's chiseled face, tracing the lines of his scarring across his glacial eye, over his muzzle, and down his throat. His voice seemed to be overtaxed in producing even soft intonations, and the medic assumed that the marring on the outside reflected similar damage to the inside.

"...she comes to us from the same events that sent you here..."

Lane's eyes sparked with curiosity. Iana had failed to mentioned that her Alpha had been directly impacted by the.. well, by the impact. Was he Moonspear, then? Was he aware that his former packmates lived on in Moonglow? It seemed unlikely, given that he had trekked all the way out here to found a pack himself. 

Lane realized that Iana was watching her, presumably waiting for her to speak. 

"Ah.. I was a new recruit in Firefly Glen, at the time of the..." You know, at the time of the thing. The big bad thing. Lane trailed off with a small shake of her head, and her brow furrowed. She would keep talking if they asked her questions, but honestly, she was much more interested in hearing the obsidian leader's story. She would settle for even just his name. Who was he?

iana gives him an introduction: the stranger's name is lane; and offers him context that she comes with promise and from the some situation that drove him here. this draws the tundrian's glacial gaze from his gamma to the newcomer with unbridled curiosity. it had been some time ago since the ending of the spearian empire ...in fact, his leg spliaced by a piece of hurling rock in his escape was healed. the scar flesh was fresh; puckered and angry red but he was healed.

to himself, he wonders where had she been during that time.

had she sought refuge in moonglow with the others?

if so, what drove her here?

the woman, lane, speaks then and it does not fall beneath the tundrian's notice that she sidesteps actually naming the event. he understands. in it, he'd lost his home and his mentor ( and first crush ). even now, when the night is quiet and the glacier creaks and shifts against the rock that cradles it he finds himself flinching and creeping ever closer to those nightmarish memories.

i was apart of moonspear when it happened. i escaped but not without a physical reminder. as if the mental was not bad enough; he cannot help but think. he gives a small pause to ensure that he's composed, that he can keep the memories trapped in the floodgates. if you seek refuge here, lane; you are welcome.

They exchanged names. They spoke of Moonspear and Firefly Glen. Such glorious names that had apparently succumb to the fate of the sky.

Regardless of these things, she was focused on Wintersbane offer. Head turned to fix her eyes upon Lane. Now that it had come from the Alpha, would she stay with them?

Curious about these things by way of her profession, Lane opened her mouth to ask more about this physical reminder. However, good sense won out before she could inquire further, and she let the subject drop. The ardent academic was somewhat given to prodding at open wounds--those both physical and mental-- and had found that when knowledge of one is pursued, then the other is often activated as well. Young as she was, she was nonetheless astute enough to understand that this was neither the time nor the place to rehash those events, and subsequently, reopen those wounds which had yet hardly the time to heal. 

"Thank you," Lane returned the offer with an expression of gratitude, which had more or less been given reflexively-- a consequence of her surprise, truth be told. Having been a loner her entire life, she was still learning the mysterious ways of the pack wolf. She hadn't realized that the mere mention of Moonspear's sister pack would win her admittance through this border; it seemed that the bonds of packhood were stronger than she had previously concluded. 

"Though it's not refuge I seek," she added, recovering from her surprise and feeling the desire to offer amelioration. She was--and forever would be-- as proud as she was young, and it pained her to think that either of these wolves might imagine she required charity. "I'd have continued to accept that from Moonglow, if that was all I was after." The mention of Moonglow was calculated, and Lane watched the leader's face for any flicker of recognition or, perhaps, surprise. 

"It's knowledge that I'm seeking." She breathed in, preparing herself to deliver a monologue far longer than her usual concise manner of speaking. "Other trades-- hunting, fighting-- these can be developed in isolation, but medicine requires community. Iana--" Lane glanced to her new acquaintance. "--mentions that you have caregivers here, and it was my hope to commune with them." Recovering herself after only the briefest of pauses, she added, "If you see that as fit, of course." 

Lane swished her tail, watching the Tundrian for a moment before, perhaps somewhat belatedly, averting her gaze in deference.

i see, wintersbane says coolly when she mentions that she does not seek to stay with them; though his glacial visage softens a bit when she mentions moonglow. i know kukutux well, perhaps that was a bit of a stretch ...but their histories did go back. to the time of his second wife and his tenor in courtfall before her death brought with it the bitter end of that legacy before it could even take hold. moonglow are allies of ours. wintersbane informs her, knowing that in this he could not be so selfish.

permission granted, wintersbane says after consideration and reflection that training was something he offered moonglow during the appeal for alliance. on the condition that while you are staying here and learning from my healers that you help contribute to caches and border patrols. in the interim, he doesn't think that's a whole lot to ask; and if there was give and take doesn't feel like his wolves and resources were just being used.

It all seemed settled then. A deal struck between Lane and Wintersbane. Iana had little left to say here, should Lane accept or decline the offers was up to the traveled woman. Either way she was already mentally preparing a list of things to do with or show the other woman. It was always nice to have another.

skippable! <3

Hey, now! Lane wouldn't be the only one benefitting! Lane would learn from the Duskfire caregivers, and the Duskfire caregivers would learn from her. It would be mutually beneficial..!

...But Lane wasn't going to let her pride run away with her. A slight furrow in her brow was the only outward sign of her flare of indignation. Correcting the leader was a great way to get kicked off of a border, she imagined. If the leader wanted her to pitch in with other tasks, she supposed that was fair. There was no need to split hairs. 

"Certainly," she agreed, her cool, professional tone matching his. "I'm always looking for ways to make myself more useful." Medicine was not her only area of interest, and if Wintersbane wanted her to guard a border.. maybe someone here could teach her to do that? ..Maybe Wintersbane himself? Lane wouldn't object to spending more time in the striking man's presence. 

"If I'm needed for anything else, just let me know how can be of service.." Her words trailed off with just the tiniest inkling of suggestiveness. She held his gaze purposefully for a heartbeat before turning to Iana. 

She smiled at the caregiver and tilted her head, ready to be led away. 

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