Lion Head Mesa go forth and have no fear [wp]

@Taktuq <3

The party was unlike anything she had ever experienced. She had heard such negative things from Arsenio about Akashingo, and about the Pharaoh in particular, but she could not deny that he knew how to party. She spent most of her time simply watching over Tierra, Reyson, and Sybol… truthfully, it was mostly Tierra she watched over as the girl seemed to be enjoying herself plenty. Reyson was a soldier through and through, and Sybol she did not think was prone to causing any problems either.
 
She lingered around the edges of the dancefloor still, feasting and partaking in the festivities in what she felt was a role appropriate manner. Her husband was not present, nor were her children, and she was representing Mereo as the Matrona, her first real outing and official visit to another pack with such a title… apart from when she had visited Epoch to assist with Tamar’s birthing but that had been her strictly as a friend and not as part of the militant pack she was in.
 
It had been incredibly different.
 
She was dining on a boar leg, looking around at all the news faces when one caught her eye… strikingly familiar and yet so different at the same time. For a moment, she thought it might be Kallik, or even his cousin, but she quickly realized the form was feminine… and with that her gaze finally broke away in awkwardness as she had been staring. She and Kallik had never really spoken of their families with it being such a strained topic for both of them.

They feasted. Celebrated. Even to the excess. Akashingo put on a lavish feast and though Taktuq knew she should be enjoying herself, she found herself quiet and shy, completely out of her element.

This was a different celebration - and oh, how it’s differences made her long even more for home! To be curled up near the standing stones, in the familiarity of Sanja and Gunnar, Inkeri and Lucian,  Ethan and Mya and Ike. That Bjarna was here consoled the ache in her heart. She had let the child roam through Akashingo, trusting her enough to be well kept - but that did not stop Taktuq from looking for her every moment her heart longed for familiarity in the crowd of unknowns.

She looked for the girl now, but instead of finding Bjarna, she met another set of eyes upon her, looking quite equally alone.

The other averted her eyes, but Taktuq used the moment anyway to make her way closer to the other woman.

Hallo, she greeted, and wondered if her voice might stand out here, amongst these accents so warm and foreign to hers, It is a lively party! a laugh, a glance towards the dance floor, I thought of joining them but I fear my northern steps won’t match in time with Akashingo’s.

Aquene found herself almost guilty to be relieved that there were others not throwing their way down on the dancefloor… it brought some sense of relief that she was not a mere stick in the mud. She liked to think she was a fun wolf. Surely Towhee would not get along with her so well if anything else were the case, right? Or perhaps it was merely her missing her husband that had dampened her mood enough to simply partake in other parts of the celebration instead.
 
The woman whom she had previously spotted moved over to her, a warm and foreign accent causing her eyes to perk, a hint of recognition despite how it had faded in her husband… a soft smile forming on her features as she nodded. “I never learned how to do this ‘dancing’ thing that everyone else seems to know.” She joked lightly, though in many senses it was the truth. Neither the Bratva nor Mereo taught ‘dancing’ as a skill, unless it was some kind of term for fighting with others. “I apologize for staring… you just remind me of someone.” Someone she missed dearly, though she had no doubt the other woman had noticed.
 
She cleared her throat, shaking her head to pull her from her own thoughts. “I am Aquene… Aquene Ateneq, Matrona of Mereo.”

She noticed a glimmer in the other woman’s eyes but, unable to perceive thoughts, and finding themselves in a place where many things could draw light to the eyes, Taktuq could not discern what brought such a look to her countenance. She smiles, though, and joked. This, Taktuq knew and could return.

No? Well, it is not too hard to learn! Perhaps when the night is quiet and eyes are not judging, I can teach you a dance to take back to your people.

Where were her people from? She smelled of mountain overcome by spice. Herbs of the forest. Familiar, in how they lined the grounds of the northward places.

She shook her head at the other’s apology, No, no, it is common mis - but she could not finish. Her ears sharpened at the name which spilled from her companion’s lips.

Ateneq? she blinked. Dumbfounded. Then a smile, misbelieving. I am of Ateneq! Taktuq Ateneq, daughter of Siarut and Nanook! she could not believe it, and she looked on Aquene with new curiosity, a different warmth. Are you daughter of Ateneq? Sister? Wife? Surely not to Siarut - but she was certain her father must have had greater family than the few ties she had met.

Aquene smiled at the other girl’s desire to teach her before politely shaking her head. “It is an honor I’d like to save for my husband. He was not able to join me for these festivities.” The striking formality of her voice lingered in the air as it always did; she could not help it for it was the way she had been raised and the woman beside her was all but a stranger.
 
It seemed that she had caught her attention, her eyes widening lightly when the other woman admitted that she was an Ateneq as well. Daughter of Nanook and Siarut. She knew those names from the little slice of family that they had discussed in their tenure together, and then she was asking and she once again shook her head. She even found that her tail had a light wag to it. “Married.” She responded in basic answer to her question.
 
“My husband is Kallik… we were married a few months back, and we have twin boys growing up strong in Mereo: Nanuq and Siku… Nanuq is named after your mother.” She explained, a warm smile on her features. “It is a pleasure to meet you… Kallik does not often speak of his family… as if there is a bit of a shadow on his history with you all… the only one I’ve met is your cousin, Merrit.” She of course recalled when Kallik had run into his brother, discovering how his father had abandoned him. She knew his demons better than most, just as he knew hers, and she was not about to share the depths with an unknown relative she had not heard of before.