Lake Rodney [m] forever

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A lake stretched as far as her eyes could see. Sialuk followed its eastern coast, village Brecheliant to her left as she moved south. It was not until the wood ahead was in her sight that she caught his scent and her heart raced. She had worried that she would not find him before her fever had run its course, but he was here—here!

If she had run fast from Moontide to the berry forest, she ran twice as quickly now, her heart pounding in her chest as she put miles behind her. When she crested a hill and saw him, she paused only to call out to him with joy. They had made a life on Moonspear. Today, they would make another. The world fell away as she reached him, her pale eyes missing the sight of him, wishing him never to be gone again for so long.

Argent, she breathed, pulling him quickly to her.

It was a distant gaze he cast to the icy lake—the days blended together now, and only a day or so prior had he finalized the bride price with pelts he had felt fine enough to present to the moon woman for her daughters hand.

Still, as eager as he was to return to the busy life of the spear, for this one night, he made to take a moment to mourn the past, and it felt at times, the future.

During his time away, he had ventured to the Sunspires and noted the man who raised him was disappeared from its depths. The unknown well-being of Mahler had injected a thread of worry in the silver wolf’s heart, and in turn, he had returned to the pack of his mother and siblings—had he chose not to listen to his heart, he would have missed the chance to say goodbye to her.

And thus, he remained somber.

Her final words to him having brandished him.

But it was the quickening of steps that drew his larger form upward—his gaze narrowing, only in time to see a streak of pale silk—his name uttered—and the warmth of her embrace when she all but leapt into his embrace, and he found his muzzle burying to the thick fur of her neck—inhaling sharply—struck in that moment by not just her beauty and resilience, but her love for him.

That was what mattered, was it not?

He found himself without words for this moment, as he held her tightly to him. Torn between leaving the memory of his prior home and returning now to the one he would ensure home remained.

For a long while, she showered him with kisses, yips, and soft toying bites upon his coat. Sialuk circled him, smelling every single hair upon his body. The only man who came close to the wave of emotion she felt for Argent was Chakliux, and the distance between those two amounts was quite great. Despite his time away from the spear, gathering the bride price, Sialuk knew she still desperately wished for him to be her husband.

When finally her ministrations dwindled, she searched for his eyes, knowing that important news was first to be delivered to him. He is safe and healing, but Acrux was attacked, she said. It was not what she wished to speak of, not what she wished to waste time on when there were more pressing matters, but he needed to know. It was his son—their son—and she wished for him to be prepared when he made the trip back to the village.

It was a douse of ice water upon a heated reunion—
—Acrux was attacked.

He was safe, and he was healing—the man clung to those words first and foremost, but a frown pulled upon his features as he pulled back from Sialuk, realizing in this moment that many of his fears for what could happen while he was away from his family had come to fruition.

“Attacked?” It was one word but he implored her for details—the scent of her wrapping around him like a fog—and yet all he could think of in that moment was his son.

A young woman in village Brecheliant. They did not know she was tupilak—monster. Alaric stepped in, Maggak—she is unharmed—and another named Bronte, too, she recounted. Tupilak is black and red, small like coyote, eyes like the sea. She pulled Argent close then, glad he would soon be home to the village.

Maggak—there, too.

He inhaled sharply—grateful Alaric had been the vicinity, and whomever this Bronte was.

Still, he should have been as well.

“I will watch for her,” he murmured, unable to keep the rumble of upset and anger from his vocals. A paw lifted, grazing her side, pulling her closer to him as in return, muzzle drifting along the top of her crown in quiet contemplation. “And I will be home, soon.”

The bride price fulfilled—at least the items required. His nose bent further down to her nape, inhaling—considering, now, that once more Sialuk was in heat—and feeling that tug of hesitance in his wonder for who she had sought now to father her children this year.

i think it'll make the most sense to finish this one so i know what sia's mindset will be in the other one!

The news that he would be home soon calmed her. There was no reality in which any of them could have prevented what had happened to Acrux, but the months apart were long. It would be nice again to have him in the ulaq, sharing more time with Elentari and the children (both last year's and this year's).

You will be father again? she asked now, feeling his breath upon the nape of her neck.

He held her—enraptured, as he had been from the moment they had begun to grow close during his stay at the mountain. His teeth worked gently along her nape—her words both a balm and a spear.

He held title of father—certainly—but he knew the other men she laid with felt a certain entitlement to their child as well. It was different between Maggak and Acrux—and he found himself wallowing in the guilt of it when he found his head clearer during his travels.

What he wanted to demand was that she name him—give him a new name. A fresh start. Shed the words his mother had whispered to him on her death bed—that he was nothing like the man who had been his own father.

“If you’ll have me,” he murmured instead, not wishing to burden the moment further, nor her as he continued to explore her once more, reminding himself of the woman in which he currently sought a bride price for.

She melted into him at the words, the familiarity of him a welcome contrast against those she had not embraced prior to this year (which was all aside from Chakliux). Sialuk was happy to move slowly, wanting to spend as much time with him as she could. They had been apart for so long, and this reunion—while not perfect with the news of Acrux—was one she had dreamt of for many months.

i think we can fade here if you'd like! <3

He held her—moving as if he could shield her from the hurts of the world, even though he knew no other woman stronger than Sialuk herself, it seemed. Their time together was precious, always, but somehow more so after the length of his absence. Afterward, he basked in the afterglow of their reunion, telling her the small tales of his trials and errors of his hunt for the bride price—the cleverness, it would seem, of beavers, and how he had narrowly escaped an angry porcupine.

It was these stolen moments together he enjoyed the most, if he were honest. Where she was his, and only his.