Mahogany eyes cast out across the landscape that lay behind Eden, the kingdom he had come to rule and a place that I had visited only a handful of times in my life. It was not so much that I found the atmosphere of these lands distasteful, but the seaside king was right in his statement - it was certainly an acquired taste. Could not the same be said for each of the differing packs of Moladion? From the swamps of Iromar to the endless open expanses of Asteraia, the red dirts of Diveen and the towering trees of Taviora that could feel almost claustrophobic if you did not search far enough within to find the beautiful meadows and clearings hidden, each pack had their nuances. There were those that could not abide by the thin air within the peaks of Spirane, or did not enjoy the burn in their muscles required to reach such heights. Each wolf had to find their place in the world, and for some that was Spirane. For others, it was Glorall.
As my gaze returned to the wolf who stood before me, a knowing smirk clung to his features, and the hint of such a thing upon my own lips finally broke through to a true grin. There was something about Eden that I found interesting. I could not quite place my paw upon what it was, perhaps because of Haziel and Pan's words about him. He went on then to speak of what it was about these peculiarities that had drawn him to Glorall, and henceforth kept him here. When his focus returned to me I watched the subtle shifts in his face, and the interested smirk that pulled at his lips as he continued. He speaks only of his pack, what it is that held his interest within these lands, always hinting towards the future and never towards the pack. In the back of my mind I could not help but wonder if he knew of the friendship that had existed between Tesseract and me, though his disappearance from Moladion meant that such a thing did not matter so much anymore. Still, I appreciated his preference to reference the future rather than the past - after all, was that not what we were here to discuss?
A single audit flicked backwards, then forward towards Eden once more as he spoke of healers' interest in these lands. Interest bubbled within my mind, for among each of the specialties that packs so often classified their pack members within, healers were something that Spirane seemed to lack. While the mountain housed a plethora of caregiving Crones, Niviaq was our only long term resident who had a wealth of knowledge for healing. And she had never sought the rank of Maester, though always offered to help me in determining if one who did was skilled enough for the role. And while the possibility that perhaps this was the thing Glorall might have to offer to Spirane if a treaty were to be arranged, I kept such thoughts to myself - at least for the moment - as Eden shifted the conversation back to me, giving me the opportunity to answer my own question. The smile upon my lips reflected in my eyes as I spoke of Spirane, for a love of the mountains coursed through my very blood.
"
The mountain is a stronghold; a beautiful yet rugged landscape. It takes a strong wolf to survive at the highest altitudes, and the pack thrives on all that the peaks offer, I said, decidedly revealing only as much to him about my home as he had about his. Always Pan's guidance hovered in the back of my mind, his suspicions about the wolf's tendency towards cunning and concealment. It was important that I was just as intelligent in the conversation as the wolf who stood before me, so that we could view one another as equals. "
We house the choicest of prey - then again, I was raised on elk - and wolves tough and smart enough to hunt them." My armament was perhaps the most well trained division of my pack, with many young wolves choosing the path of Liege to someday hunt for and protect the pack.
I think that most wolves would expect me to offer an answer about my lineage as the reason that I dedicated my life to leading the wolves of the mountain. And while my heritage did influence me, I was my own wolf just as much as I was the daughter of Alcide and Moonglow. Each of them had been great leaders in their own right, and Boneclaw before them was a formidable alpha in her time, but if I could not stand on my own four paws as a leader then why would I deserve to call myself the Protector of the Ream? The time was now, and I intended to seize each opportunity presented to me if it could help my pack in any way. And what I saw in Glorall, in Eden, was the chance for the wolves of the mountain to strengthen themselves in the art of healing. "
You have aligned yourself with no other packs, Eden." Much in the way he had phrased his previous inquiry, I offered this known fact about his pack back to him, but I did not leave it at only that. "
Perhaps the strength of the mountain and the curative properties of the shores can aid one another...for the sake of progress." The smile that had lit up my eyes when I formerly spoke of my homelands had transformed into a eloquent brightness, fixated upon him as I waited for some form of reaction to the beginnings of some kind of future for our packs.
daenerys