Blackfeather Woods birth spite

backdated to april 4th

exactly a year ago, ogres emerged from the lake.

from the edges of the woods, racharra stares at her natal home. it glimmers under spring sun even from the darkness she's hidden herself in. but it's not her home anymore.
when the nebet turns her head around, even through the forest the mesa's dissent loomed over. she's run away from her real home; the palace. and for what? for a husband who'll love me! —of course... while she remembers the path taken to moontide, she already has detoured from it.

unsatisfied, dark fur joins dark grass with a grunt.

During Dwin's first stint out in the big, wide world, she had faced many unforeseen obstacles and one of them had been loneliness. Despite being a very independent spirit from early puppyhood all the way up to the adolescence and into the adulthood, she had not realized, how much she had grown used to being around people. Now, however, she no longer found the prospect of being alone scary. Quite the contrary - she enjoyed the calm, the uninterrupted flow of thoughts and occasionally no thoughts at all. 

Even though she knew that she would eventually leave Brecheliant for good, she did not want to rush in to this life-changing decision just yet. Therefore she decided to take smaller steps to find out, what she wanted to do and what she was actually comfortable engaging in. So - she took many day-trips outside her home, exploring the surroundings, collecting information and learning the possible options. This she had been doing now too, when on a path that led past the Blackfeather foods she nearly missed and collided with a dark-furred wolf. 

"Hey," Dwin greeted the she-wolf, who, upon close, was cloaked in Akashingo's scent. "Hunting for the ghosts, mhm?"

nearly trampled on by a stranger, but finally allowed to rip her gaze from the lake. racharra shoots up with a gasp — its more a grunt actually. but for just a brief yet wild moment, she bore her tusks. but the pale figure poses only a question, so racharra plays it off as a sneeze after a huff from her nose.

i'm so sorry, i didn't see you.. the dark body straightens and the nebet clears her throat. this stranger smells of grasslands and other wolves, though who she belongs to is a mystery to racharra. i'm sorry. she repeats, particularly embarrassed. another akashingo wolf catching her off guard is fine, but a stranger — someone from another pack especially — is dishonorable to the red palace's glory. ah, but. she's already trampled all over that when she decided to leave today, hasn't she?

the stranger's question. no. but i wish.. it'd be less disappointing.

"Sorry for what - me not seeing you and almost running you over?" Dwin asked, tilting her head to the side, looking amused. It was not every day you got an apology for a nearly wrong-doing. She let out a chuckle, thinking, how times and customs must have changed over winter and that there would be quite a lot of catching up to do afterwards.

"That's a sentiment you do not hear every day," she agreed, not quite understanding, what the girl had meant by it. "You are from Akashingo, right?" she asked. "What's your name? Mine's Dwin - I am from the next best pack in the area Brecheliant. I and my sister attended a wedding organized by you a while ago," she told. 

sorry for being on the floor before you nearly trampled me.. she huffs with a glimpse of a smile, her shoulders relaxing just for a moment.

i am from akashingo, yes.. not exactly, but it's what she'd have preferred it if she had the luxury of choice. her head tilts to the side, threatening to topple her over back onto the forest floor.
dwin does not ring a bell, but brecheliant does if only vaguely. the wedding is a blur — all the nebet can recall is the radiance of the Pharoah as she rose to her rightful throne. it would not surprise her, then, if everyone from the wilds came to the wedding and coronation to witness toula.

we're allies, right? the nebet hums. my name is racharra.

"Is it a custom in Akashingo? Apologizing for circumstances that are entirely out of your control?" Dwin still found it hilarious that she should be on the receiving end of apologies. "In theory - yes. There is some old beef about a girl of ours that married a prince of yours and then had a change of heart. But that's the allure of my enchanted forest. You can take a faerie out of it, but you cannot take the forest out of the faerie. She'll always return," she told in a brief moment of linguistic eloquence. 

"Racharra - quite a scratchy name for a person that looks more like a sorceress of the shadows," she grinned. "So, ghost hunting is not on the list of things you want to do. What else could possibly bring you out here?" she asked. 

no, it was a mistake. she refrains from apologizing again, unsure to be amused or annoyed with dwin. despite the fact that the brecheliant wolf is just narrowly grazing racharra's nerves, her tone remains leveled.

i didn't know any of that. of your forest fae marrying one of our desert princes. she only vaguely knew of the pack, but when she was first taught it, all of those frivolous politics went one ear and out the other. now the curious part of her wished she'd paid just a tiny bit more attention to see if such a thing was spoke of.

you'd be surprised.. no, i come to look for a husband actually — funny that you mentioned marriage. though she doubts the marriage between the forest faery and the prince was arranged. perhaps it was true love.. like a fairytale. how lovely (sarcastic). do you know if they're still together?

"Well, I do not know much past that either, until I decided to attend that wedding of yours. My mom told me this and specifically warned not to get into any marital arrangements with the desert folk," only after saying this, she realized that her openness was not exactly diplomatic. "But I figure she would have given me the same warning, no matter, which wedding I attended," she added, laughing, as if implying that Maia was distrustful of men outside Brecheliant. 

"I do not think they are. I mean, that metaphor about faeries and forests may mean that she was very unhappy with the marriage in the end. So - if she left and it was the best decision for her, I do not think that any form of reconciliation happened. Stories are like that, you know. They tend to stop right, where the most realistic part is about to begin," she told.

"Well, if you want to find a husband, I know that my sister's mother-in-law is an expert husband finder," she joked, referring to Kukutux. "In fact, she happens to run a cult of matchmakers," yet another un-diplomatic remark, but today Dwin felt she had to let that devil inside her speak out. "She married my sister and I hear that the old white hag has the magic and the skill to bring people together. Should stop by there. Moonglow, I think the name is called. All the way up north," she beckoned in the general direction of the lands. 

dwin's frankness is, while surprising, a bit refreshing from the layers each word that seeps from others shes spoken to is veiled in. each word sometimes carrying a doublemeaning. shes learned to understand and even wield that tongue, but theres brevity in the uncomplicated language of woman before her.

mmn.. she nods along to dwin — a younger racharra would've scoffed at the cynicism. i wonder, then. how many of those fairytales became tragedy, and how many remained pure.

i am to go to moontide first, but moonglow is on my next stop. i'll see to it then to find this magical matchmaker. what would this seer find in the nebet? but magic or not, this moonglow woman was a heathen in the eyes of Ra. racharra would still see to it, but take her words more as guidance than fate.
perhaps she just has a keen eye for who would pair best with who. i'm not sure how well it would for an outsider such as myself, but it'll be useful to have i suppose..

"I have always wondered, why do fairy-tales never tell about strong, independent women, who do not need a validation from a man to be awesome," Dwin replied. In way from a very early age this had formed her worldview on, how things were supposed to be. And had it not been for the last year, when she had really tried to fit that mould of, what she had thought society expected from her, she would have never doubted it. Now, however, she gradually got used to the idea that she was outside the norm. An oddity in a world of normal people. It was easy to think that she did not care, it was harder to truly feel that way too. 

"Out of curiousity - why do you want to get married?" she asked. "Is it because someone told you or you really, really want it or is it a custom? What is the appeal in partnership?'

it's wiser to convince them they can't from girlhood. of course, it not that she couldn't be strong or independent or live without the need of a man. but she'd given up her birthright to the lake, and akashingo couldn't just have a noblewoman lying around when she could be contributing to the palace through numbers.
but she's sure that a nobleman could get away with it.

i decided to get married. i thought it was best. she huffed, careful to not convict the red palace. she can complain about being strung along to the moon villages all she wants and feeling the weight of choice for all lords and ladies that'll come after her. but in the end, she reaped what she sowed. i always had the option, just now i'm not sure anymore.

This was not, what Dwin had been taught as a child, but an overwhelming majority had featured male protagonists doing heroic deeds. Fun fact, she had not really been aware that many of the heroes had been males, because the common tongue of the Teekons had this wonderful feature, where the gender of the person was not always obvious from names alone. So, it had been much later in life, when Dwin had been told that, for example, Heracles or Taliesin had been of male gender. 

"But, what is that you seek in marriage that you cannot achieve on your own?" she asked. "Children is a different topic, but what else? The world is a big place, full of opportunities after all," she added.

love. it was for love.
but childish whims aren't enough to carry a dynasty.

ah, for many.. personal.. reasons.. but for one, it's the most efficient way to secure an allyship with another kingdom.

she nods affirmitively. the world is a big place. it's full of danger, too. that's why we find strength in others.

if the world is so big, why then does it feel so lonely?