Neverwinter Forest let's leave my truck in the drive

bride price ii — the doe pelt

with the conditions of what she would accept in exchange for her hand in marriage, he thinks of vairë as he ventures further away from sapphique than he has since joining.

his intended, to be doewife — if he could complete this last task — had asked for a doe pelt.

as he trudges thru the thick pines of neverwinter forest, the scent of moonglow drifting from the south, he wonders if he'd been foolish to think this would be the easier of the two tasks.

he'd been following the doe, wandering idly away from her herd, for at least the last hour. watching her exploration, when she pauses to graze. he will have to make his move ...and soon. before she returned to her herd or they started to look for her.

but he is not familiar with this forest and feels his disadvantage and lack of help like a stone anchor in his stomach.

While it was counterproductive to the direction she was traveling in Heph had caught the trail of a herd head south and decided to follow it a short distance to see whether or not she might catch out an animal already weakening into the early winter. It would bolster her for the journey even if she could not afford to travel long distances with anything bulky. Nothing stuck out to her about the members of the herd. There were more than enough wolves about to pick off any obvious weak links and the ones that she could see were alert, and looked clean-limbed and strong, not suffering from near misses with any other hunters.

She might have given it up when she caught the fresh trail of a doe that had separated from the herd - a mistake but hopefully a lucky one for her. But when she continued on, leaving the herd behind she began catching the traces and signs of another wolf. There was a moment's hesitation at the presence of another canine about, one that was alone as far as she could tell. Not all loners wished to share the hunt any more than they wished to share the catch and even if she were to prove a useful ally there was no guarantee that she would be able to take her own bite to eat.

But she was close enough anyways that she kept her steps silent and approached, the winds of this forest she had only visited a handful of times but in her search with the sunrise-looking she-wolf had become familiar enough that she traversed them with her usual confidence. She stopped short of the rather tall looking brown-pelted wolf, considering his frame duly. "Mind a second set of teeth?" Her voice was uncharacteristically soft and clear of any laughter, the doe would spook easily without her herd and she did not want to disrupt the hunt before it began and force them into a chase where she could easily become the hunted and the hunter all at once - although the prospect did hold a certain thrill.

the weight of lacking support does not last long. like when he collected the antler for his to-be doewife, a stranger comes upon him in his deerstalking.

again, he is grateful...though her presence might seek to complicate things. this corpse he needed to keep for himself, to take to the spine that bordered the forest for the moonqueen and mother of his to-be doewife to skin for him.

or at least show him how to.

though part of rhaegal wanted to cross that bridge when he got there; he hesitated.

nae as long as you dinnae mind takin' what you want from the belly, rhaegal broaches. i need the skin for my intended. voice pitched low; quiet.

Heph was slightly startled, her ears giving a flick when the other wolf finally spoke. He had an intonation and cadence to her words that she had not heard before and even the words themselves sounded like slightly changed versions of themselves. Perhaps a traveler from afar? She inhaled slightly as he spoke, a pelt for an intended so close to Moonglow, she wondered if he was courting someone there. But unlike Rodyn this one did not smell intermingled with that pack. A rather curious incident, but she supposed if she could get a meal out of it and a hunt besides she had no reason to pepper him with questions before both of their needs were met.

Nodding her head she purred, a low intonation that left her vocal chords vibrating but only subtly disturbed the air. "I could hardly disagree with someone so gallant." It was not trouble to her to take the meat there, but it might complicate the kill if he wanted a perfect pelt. Perhaps the neck, but it would be difficult not to scuff up the pelt if they wanted to attack it from the sides and haunches to slow it down before making the final blow. She would not know until the hunt began what would be necessary. With that in mind she took a step or two back. "I'll follow your lead." There was a brief tip of her head and she turned her attention back towards the doe, watching intently for any signs of sickly movement while keeping him in her peripheral.

rhaegal offers her a boyish grin; more relieved than he is anything else that she does not seem upset he wishes to keep the pelt intact. i dinner know how to preserve it so i have tae take it tae their moonleader. she hadn't asked for details — but rhaegal, perhaps prone to oversharing offers it anyway.

she gives him the lead. i'll chase. try tae trap her between the spine, he gestures towards moonglow's claim with his muzzle. and you. the seadragon tells her, waiting for her confirmation or protest before he begins to draw towards the doe.

she spooks and rhaegal takes off after her, keeping tight as he can to her flank while trying to avoid her back hooves.

Heph listened intently, curious about the tidbit of information gleaned. But the moonleader, preserving pelts, and gathering them for the intended. It all sounded very much like Moonglow to her. "Moonleader...Moonwoman from Moonglow?" It was not question which easily rolled off the tongue, she supposed of all things it made sense for wolves to fixate on the moon but they did seem rather intent upon it. She supposed she spent too much time worrying about what was on the ground in front of her to worry much about the things above past using the stars to navigate or marking the passage of the time with the changing of the moon.

But she listened intently. Since it was a doe and not a buck it would present slightly less danger if stalled and she thought it was a good plan though she might have some explaining to do if they chased it into pack lands. "Got it." As she watched him creep forward she matched his pace keeping her gaze on the doe so that when it tensed she did the same and shot after it as well as soon as the hind spooked. Tearing after the other wolf she let out a bark so the doe would mark her own location and then she began trying to gain ground so she could steer the thing towards the spine. Her maw stretched wide to accompany the burn of air into her lungs and she started gaining on the doe as they wound their way through the forest.

aye, rhaegal affirms. kukutux. for some reason, calling mother of his to-be doewife by her given name feels wrong; like he's dishonoring her by doing so.

the adrenaline courses thru rhaegal's veins, propelling him faster; though he has to adjust his position twice to avoid catching her hoof to his shoulder.

his companion's bark causes both ears — whole and torn — to twitch. a soft wince is given, less of pain and more of a strange sickly sweet feeling that he pushes away lest it distract him.

he snarl snaps his teeth at the doe's rear flank; teeth grazing coarse hair. he does not wish to mutilate the pelt more than needed but total perfection would be near impossible, he knows. she lets out a panicked noise and veers towards the towering rockface of the spine.

exactly where rhaegal had intended to corral her.

Heph grinned through the chase, as the doe ran towards the cliff face she could almost taste the panic set in. She caught through the corner of her eye the graze to the hind of the ungulate. So it seemed as if a little bit of damage to the pelt would be necessary.

As the movement of the doe became more desperate she leaped out of the way, catching a graze of the hoof against her shoulder. Surging forward, half to avoid further strikes, half to better position to strike. Her teeth reached out to grasp the jugular. Missing she tasted blood in her mouth and saw the tense of the muscle as the doe skittered to a halt before she could bash her skull into the rocks.

the pelt would not be perfect: this rhaegal had come to accept.

it was doubtful anything could be perfect unless he had been fortunate enough to come across a doe frozen to death; and while not impossible he knows it had not been cold enough long enough for that to be a logical possibility.

they are gaining on the looming rockface of the cliff, doe and seadragon and hunter.

the doe is panicked and rhaegal keeps tight, even as the rockface draws nearer and nearer.

the hunter misses the jugular, the doe skitters to a halt and rhaegal, taking advantage of the panicked confusion, slows his pace, sides heaving heavy; teeth bearing as he snaps at her hind quarters, moving to trap her between the hunter, the rockface and himself; trying to steal the doe's attention to give the hunter another chance to make the kill.

The other wolf positioned to maneuver the doe against the cliff-face giving her a clearer point of attack towards the front. Quick to avoid the descending front hooves shooting towards her head she lunged forward towards the throat. This time she does not miss and locks her jaw around the pulsing of the vein that she can feel, the strength and the heady-fast pounding of the blood tells her she struck true.

Her grip was full and strong the throat and she waited only a moment to ensure that her teeth had fully sunk into the veins and the muscle surrounding the base of throat before tearing away. The doe struggled but eventually collapsed. Her lips were bloodied, the white around her muzzle showing the color on full display as she turned grinning. "That was fun." Her tail wagged, half in excitement and half still burning off the energy, adrenaline still in her veins.

the huntress makes the kill — the doe slumps to the ground and rhaegal draws in a deep breath of cool mountainous air, absent the salty sting of the sea, and tries to let the remaining vestiges of adrenaline burn out of his limbs.

aye, drawls the dragon of the sea. he paces back and forth a few times to rid himself of the jittery energy lingering in his veins. i'm rhaegal, by the way. he offers his name, finally.

She grinned, she was not opposed to some company before they parted ways. There was no hesitation to her step as she moved to position herself nearer the belly where she hoped to make a clean cut but she kept him in the corner of her eye. While nothing about him raised any warning signs in her head she knew that the thrill of the chase could easily translate to unplanned aggression after the fact. "Heph, nice to meet you." She looked at the doe with a steady eye. The belly was indeed the best place to tear her open but she took a moment to consider the body to figure out what might give them both the best angle for both taking some of the meat and flaying the flesh from it.

Her mind momentarily turned back to the comments earlier. This particular wolf's ear was torn but other than that he was handsome enough looking if a bit intimidating. Voice turning teasing she added. "I seem to have a knack for running into handsome suitors from Moonglow, they have quite the successful match-making system." But it was the season for match-making and more, she wondered if he was in a hurry to gather his materials so that he might consummate the match.

the adrenaline has begun to wan from his veins, burning the remaining vestiges off and all he feels is a satisfied sort of exhaustion. but he is far from done! he has to take this doe to moonglow's borders — which luckily is not too terribly far — once heph is finished taking her spoils from it.

a soft, appreciative chuckle lingers in rhaegal's throat at her words. i'm nae from moonglow, just lucky tae be choosen by one of it's moondaughters for marriage. he admits, the words bringing to the forefront of his mind njord's howl and what ominous message had lingered in it.

a precarious and important thing to speak of to his doewife when they are wed, he reminds himself stowing those thoughts away.

Heph found a good angle and rushed forward with her snout to tear open the belly as best she could. The edges were ragged, but she managed to do it in a few tugs so the edges of the pelt remained at least somewhat in-tact. Hopefully in the process of making it they would be able to smooth out those edges, or his intended would not care too much about the roughness.

She listened intently as she began to tear chunks of meat out from the belly to begin eating, shifting to the side so that he could take his fill as well - even though the doe was not-overlarge she thought there was enough to go around. "I see, well I'll wish you luck on that front." Finishing stripping the meat she could eat before moving on she took a step back. "It should be good for skinning now, not sure if the fish are awake enough for it though I'm sure the cold will help it keep if there aren't."