Arbol Rosado one day you'll know

@Adelard ^^

Riven had decided that he couldn't stay in one place for long. Initially saddened by his banishment from the pack he was born into, he was filled with vigor at the prospect of all things new and exciting. How many people would he meet, he wondered. Good ones, bad ones, mean ones, kind ones. The possibilities were endless.

The boy had headed northwest after his brief stint in the deep forest, and had stumbled across a nice little grove of what he believed were cherry trees - though he'd have to wait for spring to see if his hypothesis was true. Still, even without their fruit or their petals, they were very pretty. Limbs wove intricately between one another, stretching up against the sky. It was surprisingly clear today; no longer pouring snow from a blanket of clouds, but rather a blue sky with a few puffy white clouds.

That would not last long.

With a sigh, the blond weaved through the tree trunks, only coming to a halt at the foot of the tallest of the bunch. It was huge - many feet above the others, and Riv wondered what it would look like in bloom. He placed a paw on the rough bark, rising up onto his hind legs and craning his head backward to take in the entire sight. Mentally, he made a note to come back in a few months, just to see what spring had to offer this beautiful little place.

In just a matter of just four days, Adelard's whole personality and outlook on most things had taken a turn. Becoming a traveling companion of sorts to Rhaegara had given him purpose and a means to keep himself sharp and on top of his game. When the two decided to settle for the evening, Adelard forged a path towards the Orchard to keep himself moving for a little while longer. His muscles were not ready to cool down (freeze up in the middle of the night) just yet.

He lifted his head from his traveler's lope and came to take in the outer treeline in all its glory. Immediately there was something familiar on the wind. His eyes narrowed. Suspicious, at least only until he decided to meander further where so many other paws - large and small - had been before him. The most prominent of the scents drowned out the recognizable one. It was youthful and male... and, if Adelard could properly assume, not family. His two yearling siblings were twin girls, and when they had been younger, Adelard had done what any other older brother would have done: scare them straight and keep them well-kept from the dangers beyond pack borders.

The masked man eventually came to the small clearing where a much larger tree grew smack dab in the middle. His eyes drew upward in awe. It was as if the small trees, once huddled together in a cozy little group, suddenly moved away to make room for the larger one to nestle amongst them. He might have stared a while longer if he hadn't realized that he was not alone. He braced himself, growing still as he saw, in the gathering dark, the elongated form of small, tawny man. An unsure growl announced his presence; he assumed the young man was establishing a territory and he wanted to make sure that he was not about to get heckled about being here at the wrong place and the wrong time.

heat stroke, bring the fire
ADELARD GERAU
black smoke, I take it higher

A warren of rabbits is hidden under a nearby tree. +3 Health

His admiration of the tree was short-lived. A growl sounded from his side, and Riv jerked away from the tree trunk, spinning around to face the person who made the noise in the first place. Blue eyes were rounded and his posture naturally dropped into something more submissive. The stranger was male - a bit older than himself - and quite a bit bigger. Which wasn't ideal, because he highly doubted he'd be able to defend himself if this wolf were to decide to try and make a meal out of him.

But he didn't necessarily seem aggressive. In fact, the growl itself hadn't been angry, had it? And he hadn't been attacked immediately, so that probably counted for something. It was unlikely that either of them would want to risk injury this deep into winter, and especially with no herbs to use to heal themselves.

"Is... is this your tree?" he asked, assuming that that might have been why the other man seemed to be warning him. "I didn't mean to intrude - these trees are just really beautiful and this one is so big, and I just wanted to see them closer." It was the truth - Riv had no real interest in claiming a territory. Perhaps joining someone eventually who wanted to create a pack, but certainly not one of his own - he was nowhere near ambitious enough for that.

His presence was immediately noted, and Adelard watched as the stranger returned on all fours. "Is... is this your tree?" a question was offered. "I didn't mean to intrude -" he went on to compliment the place and confirm his affinity for this particular tree. Indeed it was impressive, surely a landmark of sorts. In the Spring, Adelard was almost certain it would hold a glory all its own well above the others surrounding it. There was a small hint of a smile twitching at the ends of his lips. It would be a sight to behold; but, for now it was bare and lean, exposed to the winter winds to arc and bend whenever the storms hit while the rest seemingly hunkered down at its trunk.

Adelard took a few steps closer, head slightly bowed at the submissive display. A sign that his interest was piqued. "Not my tree," he lent, his voice gruff and weary from traveling. "Honestly, I thought it was your tree." He snorted through his nose, "And, I am not in the mood to be warded off. There were no lines crossed and no scent markers dismissed, so I suppose there's no harm done in wanting to admire such an arboreal beauty."

A little too poetic, even for him, perhaps, but he wanted to make it plain and clear that he meant no harm. "Are you setting up markers?" he asked just to be sure.

heat stroke, bring the fire
ADELARD GERAU
black smoke, I take it higher

The other male didn't seem to want to harm him. In fact, as Riven watched, the stranger admired the tree in the same way he had before. A small smile formed on his own maw as he watched, pleased to know that he wasn't the only one who appreciated nature's beauty, even without the blossoms and leaves that were yet to come.

He relaxed more fully as the man approached him, assured that he was in no danger. His tail began to sway slowly behind him. "Not my tree, either," he confirmed. His own voice a bit hoarse, getting used to going from a warm climate to having to wade through snow. The blonde let out a soft laugh at the lyrical speech that the other used, though he couldn't say he didn't entirely agree with the sentiment. "No harm at all. It is quite beautiful."

Riven shook his head in response to the following question. "No, I'm not. I don't think markers would do very much if you do them all on your own." He had no desire to take over the place, anyway - it would be better to wait for a while and see what else this side of the wilds had to offer. "I do want to come back in the Spring, to see what they all look like. I think that these are cherry trees - if so, the blossoms will bloom after a few full moons, and it will be even more stunning than it already is." His teeth clicked together as he shut his mouth, afraid that he might have babbled a bit too much about the trees. He often had to remind himself that not many other individuals would get as excited as he did about it.

"My name is Riven," he introduced lamely, offering the other man a small smile.

(This post was last modified: Jan 17, 2021, 07:29 AM by Riven.)

Assumptions aside and straightened out, the man before him was not staking out a pack's claim. He was simply marveling in awe of the winter-kissed place, and he knew his trees. Adelard fought against another smile but ultimately lost; he wasn't exactly cold-hearted after all, no matter how taciturn or solemn he was by nature. A small wag of his tail was even offered at the acquisition of his name: Riven.

"I'm Adelard," he offered in kind, no longer focused on the trees but, rather, his newfound acquaintance. "And how is it you know a bit about cherry trees?" The curiosity sparkled in his eyes, a glimmer of pure interest without a hint of impish intentions. Trees were trees, at least, if you asked Adelard. There were the kinds that were forever-green in the winter, those that shed their leaves in the autumn, and a certain few that marked the proximities of home. That was that.

"Cherries are bitter, tart, sour..." He grimaced for the briefest of moments before drawing his eyes over the yearling's unique, sandy features, "stains everything underfoot when you step on them in the summer."

heat stroke, bring the fire
ADELARD GERAU
black smoke, I take it higher

Riven rather liked the straightforwardness that the man expressed. It was comforting to not have to worry much about hidden meanings or dancing around topics. And he was friendly, which was the cherry on top (pun intended.) It seemed that they had quite a bit in common, and Riven found himself smiling in return.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Adelard," he responded honestly. Blue eyes lit up slightly when the man asked the following question, and his tail swayed again. "We had cherry trees back at my home. It was my job to learn everything that I could about the local flora. Cherries weren't particularly useful for healing, but the juice was good for flavoring herbs." He frowned a bit at the expression on Adelard's face and his judgment on the taste of cherries. "Perhaps you would prefer honey to make your medicine more palatable." A mental note for the future, just in case he found himself a makeshift doctor. Though sometimes there was no way to add a better flavor to his poultices - winter made that difficult. But if he could, he wanted to offer his patients a more pleasant experience overall.

He hummed afterward, angling his ears toward the larger wolf. "I rather like the taste of cherries," he announced, though it was unlikely that Adelard actually cared about that. "But they do stain my fur. My paws and muzzle were purple for weeks, last summer." He huffed out a soft laugh. "I think that they're more pretty to look at, when they're in bloom."

The young healer paused for a moment, before he asked, "Are you travelling alone?"

Where Riven had hailed from, cherries were apart of his practice - healing. To Adelard, that was respectable. Neither he nor Aubine had the patience for the art; what little they knew about herbs came from their mother's subordinates, the women that had mainly raised them while their parents were busy running the pack. As Riven commented about honey, the masked man's head again tilted to one side. Inside his head, figurative cogs were turning and clunking about. Did he mean honey from... honeybees? Beehives and other places where nasty many-legged insects lived were simply trivial things to princes who had gangly legs and lots of places to run. If it wasn't scavenged game or live prey, Adelard, even in his youth, didn't even pay any mind.

Regardless, Riven shared that he enjoyed the taste of cherries; and, furthermore, he enjoyed them to the extent which left his muzzle and paws purple. Adelard let out a small chortle from imagining it all. The blond man before him with splotches of purple in his fur and the tartness of cherries on his tongue.

He then broke off on a tangent, going from the cherry fruit to the cherry tree itself, "I think that they're more pretty to look at, when they're in bloom." It made the Gerau snap back to the present and everything in his midst in the here and now. "Are you travelling alone?"

"Um," Adelard's words stuck to the roof of his mouth. His characteristically stern and bearish façade completely crumbled. "I was, but not anymore." He thought back to the hunt that had taken place not too long ago and the look on his twin's face when they met for the first time in months. "We've settled for the night, but I can't quite say who will stay or who will go. My companion and I recently teamed up with another small band. What about you... marking that tree--" he smirked in jest, "out here all alone?"

heat stroke, bring the fire
ADELARD GERAU
black smoke, I take it higher

Riven could not know of the lives that queens and kings and princes and princesses lived. To him, those had only been stories - fairytales. His own upbringing had been relatively easy, but he was certainly not doted upon. He’d been trained rigorously in his art, and he was better because of it. Much better equipped to utilize himself outside of his homeland.

He hadn’t meant to prattle on like he did, but there was something about Adelard that had put him at ease, and the other man didn’t seem to mind too much. He laughed, warm and deep, the sound bringing a smile to Riven’s maw once again. The darker wolf had a nice laugh, he decided, with a hint of pride that he’d been able to cause it.

Still, it seemed his final question gave the man some pause. Riv wondered why that could be, but decided not to think too hard on it for now. Apparently Adelard had been lucky enough to find someone to travel with - and another small band, no less. Some part of the boy wondered if he was even allowed to be with other wolves like that anymore, or if it was part of his punishment to remain alone.

His tail had begun to droop, until Adelard continued speaking, even ending off with a smirk and jab at the healer’s expense. Riven let out a soft laugh, shaking his head. ”Yes, I’ve claimed this land all for myself. Excuse you,” he teased in return, blue eyes crinkled in a smile.

It had been a while since he’d been able to have a conversation about trivial things like this. Riv had missed it desperately, feeling something other than cold or hungry or alone. ”Do you and your companion find yourselves in need of a healer?” he voiced without thinking. His family, back home, would be ashamed of him for dipping out on his punishment like this, but... maybe he could be forgiven, eventually.