activity check: please list the characters who live in the bay as a response to this post. If your character wants to be a part of the queensguard, please make note of it, otherwise I will be placing everyone in the "herd" section.
You do not need to reply in character to this post, but every character who responds to this activity check is considered to have been at the sight when Mariael addresses everyone. If you would like to role-play out a discussion with this scenario, please make a new thread and I'll reply with Mariael <3
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The winds of Tinuvel were beginning to bite. Already thick clouds of gray crowded the skies and dropped flakes of white snow. The snow hadn’t yet gathered in thick patches but the time was upon them soon. Mariael and those she entrusted to be her queensguard made certain the herd stayed together and no one strayed too far for fear they might become trapped if the weather turned worst. The herd stuck into the heart of the Bay, using the swells of mountains on either side to help block whatever wind was howling across open spaces. They ate what they could find, needing to fatten up for sustenance through what would be a hard winter. When the weather became too much, they sought shelter in the caves, having found ones which were not occupied by predators.
Mariael made her way from crossing, chilled to the bone as saltwater dribbled from her cream and white coat. She sought out the herd, limping, and her left front shoulder a bruise of purples and blacks. The cuts she’d sustained were healing; scabbing over, but still appeared gruesome against the bright of her coat. The Bay’s young queen stopped before the herd, noting how her father looked with a mixture of concern and disappointment and Maziel shuffled quietly close to her. To her father’s expression she lifted her chin, choosing instead to look elsewhere than to suffer further guilt by acknowledging his reaction to her behavior in the Inlet.
“I have news,” she told the herd, Maziel having come around to rest against her side. For a moment she soaked in the neighboring heat of her sister’s body as she rested her weight to her right side gingerly, sighing and glancing out at the faces of the slowly growing herd. “Our neighbor in the Inlet is not a friend to us. From this point forward no one from the Bay should be near the Inlet border. If she has a chance to take you, it’s likely she will.” Mariael’s voice had risen and was firm as she spoke, irritation and anger pounding the hard and heavy beat of her heart. “Those of my queensguard,” her blue eyes briefly flashed to her father and then away again, “please be vigilant along that border. Any tracks coming from the Inlet into our home should be investigated immediately.” Mariael paused, her muscles having tensed as she spoke; she made an effort to relax them as the stiffness of her left leg blossomed with irritation. After a small sigh she shook her head and said more softly (but still loudly enough for the herd to hear). “As of now, the Inlet is our greatest enemy.”
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