Sacred Grove Rivers til I reach You

For @Greer, @Kino, @Orren and/or really anyone who wants to join! This thread is part of Karina's Vision Quest and is backdated to the middle of February.

The moment she entered the cozy little copse of trees, the priestess understood why the doe had led her here. There was something powerful here, something old and sacred, but indisputably Good. The air was charged as if electrified and the sanctity of the ground set her paws tingling. The doe was absolutely berserk, frolicking in and out of the trees with joyful, wild abandon.  Karina had never intended to travel this far south, her plan being to go right on to Dragonveil, but now she could see that this was a place that a religious pilgrim such as herself could hardly pass by.  “Pray with me,” she requested to the doe, and the deer halted. She approached with uncertain hoofsteps, unused to being verbally addressed by her lupine counterpart. The doe’s shape seemed sharper than usual, color brighter and pulsing with spiritual power... Karina was struck with the sudden notion that if another joined them in the Grove, they perhaps might be able to perceive some faint wisp of the daemon too. The deer never spoke herself, but she clearly understood the speech of wolves, lowering her crown alongside Karina in silent prayer. “We offer praise and thanks, Mother..” Karina began, her murmured prayer folding into the other ambient sounds of wildlife rustling through the Grove.

Further north than usual, but his mother had told him to look and so…he did. Begrudgingly. Truth be told, it wasn’t as if Kjell had anything better to do with his time, other than flirt occasionally or catch his next meal, and the opportunity to stretch his legs was a welcome one. The sedentary lifestyle was not meant to be his to keep. Each exploration ended with a turnabout, the male content to return to his fortified camp near the lagoon, but not before a chance to fuel himself up for the trip.

He had entered the grove under the pretense of hunting, though quickly he found himself unnerved by the tranquility he found there. Kjell might have turned tail and left, had he not heard a gentle voice offering a prayer of thanks to The Mother. The Mother. How could any wolf in this forsaken forest know anything about the religion practiced by the dragon-sons and dragon-kin of Ered Luin. His hair prickled, caught between disbelief and a tremor of excitement, and the swarthy wolf surged forward, finding a lone female at the source of the sounds.

A lone, gorgeous female.

The dragon prince’s tail began to wag as he tried to force his hackles to settle downwards. “Tell me, beautiful – what do you know about the All Mother?”

Suddenly, a dragon!

There are several fresh rabbit tracks in the mud. Hunt Opportunity

Karina sank deeper into prayer, and her awareness beamed forth like ripples in a pond, encompassing the entire grove. She could sense not only the living creatures rustling through the underbrush, but also the plants and even the stones, everything pulsating energy and reveling in the holiness of the sanctified space. It did not surprise her to detect the presence of a strange wolf, for throughout her journey the Mother had sent her a steady stream of envoys to deliver her messages and reveal Her will. The Mother had been decorating her emissaries in the visage of those Karina knew and loved, no doubt so Karina would recognize them, so it also did not surprise the child in the least that this one’s aura felt like Kjors’. She opened her eyes and let her crystalline gaze fall on the man. Not only did his presence feel like Kjors' --which was slightly unsettling, Karina had to admit-- the stranger had his coat as well. She gave a shake, attempting to rid herself of the uncanny feeling that was creeping up her spine and the fluttery tightness in her chest that came from being addressed as "beautiful". He must have something very important to tell her; the Mother had clearly made sure she would not mistake this one. “I know only what She reveals to me,” Karina answered solemnly, “..Which is agonizingly little.” She offered him a small, knowing smile. No doubt he had also felt the frustration of the faithful.. the anguish of praying and waiting, and struggling to interpret ambiguous signs and messages.

   

    
 

   

“Heh.  She can be a cruel mistress, sometimes,” Kjell drawled in response – the answer really wasn’t what he was looking for, but he could empathize.  He could.  Didn’t mean he did, exactly, was never devout as his father (or that snake of a brother).  He had a mother here, on the ground, and as far as he was concerned, did roughly as much as the one…beyond did.

Even if @Avari left him for dead.  Other packmates found him – coincidence?  Probably.  The lone wolf had very little faith left in any wolf these days, ethereal or otherwise.

“See, though, actually wanted t’ know how you know,” Kjell drawled on, brows furrowing a bit as he looked the young wolf over.  Far too young to ever have been a member of Ered Luin, though he supposed she could be a daughter of one of his former packmates.  This, he had to doubt.  After all, most of them were adults when he was just a yearling, and he was almost to his fifth year by now.  Doubtful – though he supposed not impossible.

“‘Cos Ah ain’t met another fer years – an’ them, they were with me when everything fell apart.  So – lemme rephrase that.  Who taught you about Her?”  Who was lurking in these woods?

Karina let a small smile creep up the corners of her mouth, enjoying her new companion’s light humor. The way he laughed reminded her a bit of Kjors.. actually there were many things about him that reminded her of Kjors. His golden eyes were the same—though he had two where Kjors just had the one—and his coat was similar as well, though it swathed a fuller, more muscled body.  The Mother had laid other such glamors upon the messengers She sent to Karina; many of them reminded her family and friends, no doubt so she would recognize a messenger when she saw one.  But this one... this one was the most thorough, convincing glamor she had ever encountered. He must have something very important to impart, for the Mother made very sure she would not mistake him.  Instead of delivering a message or offering help her somehow, the swarthy man continued to press Karina for information. His golden eyes studied her in a way that struck her as well.. wolfish, and she began to feel uneasy. Many of the messengers that the Mother had sent in the past knew little of the faith and were curious, but none before had questioned her so directly and so insistently. “No one. He- He’s not- He’s.. dead.” Karina stumbled over her response, inching backward, away from the man as she spoke.  The rest of the lie came easily once she started. “He was just a dream. The Mother sends me dreams sometimes, and visions..” A half formed idea came to her, and she was running with it before she even had time to think twice. “He was a big wolf, and black, and powerful.. a- a king, I think. ” She held her breath as she watched for the stranger’s response to her description of Kjors’s sire. Her mentor had spoken briefly about his father when they had first met, so very long ago. ”Did.. you have a message for me?” she ventured cautiously. She could ask pointed questions too.  .

   

    
 

Ears folded backwards as he studied the girl – she was lying about something.  Why else would she be stuttering away like that, they’d only just met!  But what was the mistruth among those words, he wasn’t quite sure, and Kjell was fairly certain that pressing would only be met with more half-truths.  To be quite honest, he couldn’t be certain this girl wasn’t a mountebank feigning a connection with the All-Mother – but a niggling thought old him otherwise.  She wouldn’t know, couldn’t know about Her without someone to teach her.  Show her the light, unless she was a true prophet.

Kjell wasn’t sure which idea he liked less. 

Ears folded back even further as his tail lashed behind him, the wolf chewing on the insides of his mouth unhappily.  Surely it wasn’t his mother; Avari would have mentioned if she’d taken on a new prodigy.  Besides, girls weren’t exactly his mother’s usual target.

“A message fer you?”  He hummed thoughtfully, orange eyes glinting like fire in a dragon’s mouth. “Naw, darlin’, not fer you.  Fer yer king – bet he gave himself that title, didn’ he?” A mirthless laugh followed the accusation.  “Next time y’see this man, girl, y’tell him th’ second’s lookin’ fer him – an’ this time, he better finish th’ job.”

I am sorry I am THE SLOWEST ever.  Feel free to just wrap this up early if you wanna just move it to finished.  <3

The stranger’s displeasure with her story was obvious, but Karina wasn’t sure if it was due to his belief or disbelief of the lie. The doe stomped anxiously, drawing Karina’s attention briefly to the treeline. Her daemon could not have been any clearer even if she could speak. It’s time to leave! The ethereal peacefulness of the grove had disappeared, and Karina began to feel very alone.. very vulnerable.  It was as if the divine spirits of the grove had forsaken her, fleeing, retreating from... from what?  … Something evil. The dark wolf’s message to her “king” was all too clear. Kjors’s past had caught up with him, and Karina knew her stammering lies would do little to help her mentor.  She would likely only end up revealing more information, and she had already done enough harm. “He’s dead,” she repeated in a small voice, eyes darting back to the treeline. The deer had disappeared, fled with the other Good spirits who were no doubt smarter than her. As her nervousness mounted, the girl began to back away from the man. Her heartbeat was pounding in her ears, and the grove itself was feeling increasingly more oppressive.  The treeline started shifting back and forth, then spinning… the combination of panic and starvation was too much for the girl. “I..don’t.. I have to..” Her eyes met the stranger’s metallic gaze one last time before she darted away. The world lurched from side to side as the haggard girl ran, desperate to get as far as possible from the Evil in the grove before she was overtaken by the shadows creeping in from the edge of her vision. It was not long before she stumbled, all the force from her speed jarring through her body as her shoulder slammed into the ground. She was tumbling, spiraling, falling down a bottomless pit. Darkness overtook her vision and swallowed her whole, enveloping her senses and mercifully silencing her racing thoughts.