Mirror, Mirror

[Woe]

Woe had perhaps followed in Lyza's footsteps.

First he had a penchant now for keeping a low profile, working behind the scenes. He had kept behind a cloak of different faces for the better part of the season now, ever since he'd acquired magic through some conceit devised by Euadne. And he'd fallen right back into the habit of using magic the way he had before divesting himself during the Forging. Using it to cover his tracks, keep his footprint shallow, and overall avoid detection by those looking for access.

So he was almost as hard to pin down as Lyza had been, with her three triplets.

Then there was the trip to Viden, and subsequent trek south into the Empire. He'd been there for not twelve trials before the news of a great flying mountain spread to his ears as far as Yaralon's Maiden's Refuge. They were headed northeast, toward Scalvoris. It wasn't hard to divine who would make a migration of beasts so brazen to the Northeast, across several territories. Woe presumed it was Nir'wei, none other than the Natural Affairs Councilor himself. Of course, it could've been another madman or woman that had hijacked a massive flying behemoth. But Woe would've heard of them, he thought.

So he'd arrived at Egilrun swiftly upon hearing of the event. After leaving Moseke's offering at the First Tree, he doubled back with the aid of Soz, flying day and night through the air to catch up to that lumbering behemoth that was headed toward the mountains. He would of course be late to the party. By all accounts they'd flown there twenty trials earlier. Yet better late than never, and this concerned What Woe still considered his territory. He was still Egg, afterall, until he heard different.

So as he touched down on the road north of Egilrun, he slipped off toward the side. He didn't want to expose Soz to the dangers of meeting whatever massive monsters had been brought to the north. So he would go alone. The best form to do that in, he presumed, was the mirror wolf with its ability to traverse the snowy landscapes of the mountains. Thus, he triggered the transformation. The first wrench of transformation took hold, sending lancing pains through Woe as his form literally cracked and bubbled with the shift. His skin began growing fur around the fur mantle of the mirror wolf that was his totem. It wrapped around him until it covered him from head to toe, and he dropped to all fours, stifling a scream. Within a few bits, Woe became the

wolf

. He shook off that momentary discomfort, and padded north along the trails of the mountain, until he came to the foot of Ssyper. He employed his shadow

cloak

, so as to be less noticeable on top of the mirror wolf's ability to blend in with its environment.

He sniffed along the ground, wondering if Nir'wei had brought his own wolves along with him. Eventually, he settled on the ridge of the last rise, and observed the Jacadons. Of course, he and they were not alone. Nir'wei would be with them, and would probably notice the wolf even with all of his safeguards and stealth. Woe felt the sudden compulsion to howl then, which came out of nowhere for him.

He emerged from the shadow cloak and mirrored stealth, and bayed at the moon. His sound would resemble a singular meaning Which the wolf was able to convey by dint of his abilities to communicate. "Hello there!"

[Nir'wei]

It was, for Nir'wei, just another day. Ymiden's warming weather was now beginning to near its peak, and today marked twenty trials since his return to Scalvoris... with quite a few new arrivals in tow. It hadn't been without its own little hardships. He expected plenty more to come, as well. For the moment however, he wasn't worried about the Jacadons themselves as much as he was concerned for those who's fields and houses were just close enough to remain within the flying beasts' eyesight... their tantalising herds of fat cattle on open display, behind low wooden fences that only made them easier to catch.

The mountains weren't close to Egilrun, not by any stretch of imagination... but it was certainly closer than Rharne had been to the Mire. Their new life on Scalvoris would require more restraint, to know what was theirs to take, and what was not - and for a prideful species such as them, this would be quite a significant lifestyle adjustment.

To that end, he'd taken up space on an empty stretch of land on one of the smaller hills marking the well-trodden path towards the Mountains. A tent, with a few squares of blanket already laid out on the grass for a few heaps of bags and other goods to rest. Cooking pots, hunting knives, just a few of his equipment kits and saddlebags. Nothing more than a temporary encampment just a short distance from the dirt tracks and hunting trails. Not enough to make a mess, he figured, but at least enough to be seen from a good distance - and more importantly, to be easily seen from the sky. He wanted them to see where he was, and encourage them to come to him. A primitive tactic, like making a dog associate its leash with a walk, so that it would know what was socially acceptable and what was not - but an effective one.

There was no doubt that it was him, either. Both to Jacadons in the sky, or any approaching civilians on the ground. Without a word of guidance, his wolves had naturally surrounded the encampment in something almost like rings, or layers. In the outermost layer, pups rolled around and played in the fields of grass, sniffed along mud trails, and lazed in the sun. They weren't without supervision, of course. Further up, the parents sat with eyes looking out in all directions. Only one looked up at the sky, though. One of the smallest, compared to the others.

As Woe approached, it was a cluster of the nearest pups that of course noticed first. Some others that had been playing with nearby groups also joined in - and soon, when Woe had finished baying, he found five wolf-pups jostling for the right to stand before him, squeaking at one-another as they admired his strange mirror-coat and chattering in curiosity.

"Aed! Aed, look!"

"Big! Llyr, big!"

"Where'd come, Morr? Hiding?"

"Where? Aed, where?"

Though they were clearly eager to play with a new friend, their noises and Woe's arrival hadn't gone unnoticed by the others, either. A single, sharp noise and the five pups quickly turned tail and ran back towards one of the two much, much larger wolves that had broken away from the main encampment and strode confidently towards Woe. The parents, clearly, from the way the pups acted. They looked smaller while lying down on the hill, but as they drew closer, their chins tilted down to meet Woe's gaze. Far down. Though they hadn't been the biggest of those on the hill, close-up, each of the pair were roughly the size of a horse, and radiated an aura that Woe would likely know, even if it didn't affect him at that moment, would have had lesser wolves folding their heads in recognition.

"Name," one barked in wolf-speak - it wasn't exactly a word, but its meaning was clear enough among wolves. "Purpose." They wanted to know who he was, and what he was doing there. The pups now clustered around the feet of their parents, but they weren't cowering in fear behind them, nor did the parents make an effort to put themselves between him and their young; clearly, he wasn't being viewed with suspicion. Just a very formal kind of formality that came from the cautious.

[Woe]

The wolf as it howled to the moon, noticed - how could he not - the jacadons in flight. Nearly two score of them had been reported, perhaps more. Being from Rynmere, and the big city Andaris, he’d seen a few at times, growing up. The Skyriders had seemed a frightening thing to him at the time. Erastus often warned him that they were oppressors, lording over the rest of the dregs of Lowtown such as him. And that escaped slaves were hunted mercilessly by the sky-riders, until they found them. Then, Erastus had assured him, when cornered, they would use their steaming breath to evaporate the poor escaped slaves that had evaded the just lordship of their masters.

Needless to say, this had informed some of Woe’s earlier fears of large flying creatures, such as the Sohr Khal. Now, to see them so close, less than a day’s flight from the fields of Egilrun, it was a bit unsettling. The wolf wasn’t sure how he felt about the relative proximity, if not in distance then certainly in the opportunity to take a few breaks to fly south, and wreak havok upon Egilrun. The Warden had abided under the nose of the Scalvoris Government for over a decade before war was declared upon his obvious nefarious institutions and designs. How long would they wait for Nir’wei to turn against them with an army of jacadons, and over-sized wolves at his beck and call, as their alpha?

The wolf hadn’t come with the intention of starting a fight. He hadn’t called on his forces that were suited to just that, and he didn’t consider himself a warrior. He was only an emissary here, he wanted to know Nir’wei’s intentions, and further to the point, how in the depths of Coldgut had he gathered so many jacadons to follow him?

There was often more to any situation than met the eye. The wolf would get to the heart of it. Whether it would all be too much for him to digest though, that was the question.

His reverie and reflexive caution toward the jacadons was broken by chatter from some wolves nearby. The meaning of their yips and yowls were somewhat obscure to him, but he could get the gist of it. They were curious, and a little impressed perhaps with the new wolf that had entered their territory.

The wolf regarded them for a moment, and tilted his head. They were large, about an arc old now, and bigger than most wolf cubs had a right to be. He would’ve addressed them with a friendly greeting, but vague knowledge of how wolf pack hierarchy functioned precluded him from that, as he saw their parents in motion toward his position. Or he presumed they were their parents. the pack was paramount to any wild wolf, barring perhaps lone wolves. Smaller omega individuals were shunned, and given the lowest status among the pack. Lone wolves like him. He knew he had an uphill battle to gain access to their alpha, and asking directly for them would likely lead to an acrimonious result.

“Gray.” He barked his name, confidently as he could, “Speak for Egg of Egilrun.” As he said it, he tilted his head downward, in submission toward the greater wolves. He had little choice in the matter, and something in his wolfish heart told him it was right.

So he would wait to see what such an admission, of speaking for the Egg of Egilrun would avail him.

[Nir'wei]

High above, on the hill's crest, Nir'wei watched carefully as the Jacadons flew. Still accustoming to their new environment, many of the younglings still flew in small clusters, never far enough from their parents to disappear completely from their sight, but he'd spotted a particular group of about three adolescents toeing the borders of the Mountain limits on more than one occasion that morning. Those were the ones he needed to be most careful of, after all - the ones that were simply a little too curious. Those were the ones that got a little too deep and needed to be rescued, which would of course call more Jacadons to the scene, which would cause a bigger stir, and on, and on. Cascades often began from one simple misunderstanding. That was why he needed to cut it at the bud, before it could grow into one.

"They're heading south-east." Greyhide huffed softly in frustration, but Nir'wei was patient. No need to interrupt them until he was sure they'd crossed the line. If they never knew where the boundaries were, they'd never even try to remain inside them. Besides, they weren't the only problem group he was dealing with at that moment. That was why he'd called for back-up.

The wolves were incredibly well-trained and disciplined. Even as Woe spoke with the two that had approached, that much was clear - since the others had moved only just enough to cover the new blind spot in their absence, but had otherwise remained perfectly still, looking in all other directions. The clusters of wolf-pups on other parts of the hill still played and lazed, largely undisturbed by the new arrival, barring occasional stares or glances. Despite the new arrival, they had a job to do that they wouldn't abandon. The two that stood before him - one a rich and vibrant shade of brown, the other a pale and ghostly colour that seemed shocked down to the roots - were trusted completely to handle Woe themselves.

They didn't seem particularly pleased by his answer, either. The white wolf wrinkled his nose at the mention of the Egg of Egilrun, frustrated at the thought of talking to a messenger proxy, but the brown wolf spared just a glance to her companion, huffing hot air at her mate, before attention returned smoothly back to him. She was the calmer head of the two, after all. Though the pups easily swarmed around the pale wolf's feet and one even began to chew on his paw, they were noticeably calmer when beneath her, avoiding bumping into her legs or causing a fuss when she spoke up. "So, speak." She sat down smoothly and waited, expectant. After a moment of shock, the pale wolf did the same, shaking off the small one on his hind-leg before he did. Two of the pups looked up and sat too, after a moment of hesitation, but the other three broke off into a yipping group to play in the grass further off to the side, where they wouldn't disturb the others.

It seemed quite clear what her implication was. If the Egg wished to speak through a messenger proxy, then he'd have to settle for a proxy himself, while Nir'wei was otherwise occupied.

[Woe]

The wolves were annoyed, almost certainly. They seemed remarkably more intelligent than their spawn, able to form more complete thoughts than the pups. Perhaps a function of their senior age, or something else. The wolf snuffled at the ground for a moment, and then confounded by his failed gambit to portray himself as something other than he was, he whined. It was entirely involuntary, but he couldn't suppress it, try as he wanted. He was sure it'd sound like scoffing if he was occupying his self-totem, or perhaps an exasperated sigh as Anima's totem.

In either event, he saw that he was at an impasse, unless he admitted to his dishonesty. A confounding situation indeed. And who knew if his message would get to Nir'wei, if he even left it with these wolves. Perhaps they would deem it beneath his attention. Perhaps...

It was little use, but he saw a way around it, or so thought "Mispoke. I am speaking as I am Egg of Egilrun." He said, lowering his head more, so that his snout nearly touched the ground. "I go by Gray in this form. Apology. I'm getting used to wolf's tongue."

"Came as wolf because terrain unforgiving for two-legs." He ground his snout in the ground by this point, "I am concern about jacadon, flying reptiles."

"May I speak with alpha?" He finally lifted his snout from the ground, a few inches to gaze up at the large wolves. "I have concern, and maybe trade offers?"

The wolf thought he could entice them with that, at least. Trade would only benefit their two communities, as they grew. And it might be good if Nir'wei was indeed in command or at least control of the Jacadons, to have them as a monumental bulwark on the northern border of Egilrun.

[Nir'wei]

Though Woe whined, it seemed that the presence of the larger wolves only bore down further. They were happy to let the silence stretch, to sit and wait while he slowly lost his composure and seemed to almost prostrate himself before them in a display of subservience - but only so far as to let him reveal his real identity, beneath the wolf hide and false identity. The moment he did, they looked at each-other, with the younglings tilting their heads in complete confusion, oversized ears flopping to one side as they regarded the wolf 'Gray' with new eyes. Nevertheless, they allowed him to finish before they stood up again, Cold nudging the two pups with his snout to encourage them off to play with the others. It was time for the adults to have a proper conversation, and their curiosity would have to wait for afterwards to be sated.

When Myrth focused back on him, there was much less of the firm command she'd held before in those eyes. Curiosity, absolutely. She sniffed the air, as if still in disbelief that this was, in fact, the Egg of Egilrun, simply by the sheer authenticity of the change. It was her first time seeing Becoming herself. However, he was quite convincing. "I... see." She looked him up and down once more, and a slightly more sympathetic tilt of her head further eased the essence of command she'd been holding. "Apologies." At least it looked like they'd honour his request, and seeing what they now knew as the Egg of Egilrun close to grovelling had certainly changed their perception. "Yes. Follow."

There might have been a good reason for it, though. As she began to lead him towards the crest of the hill, Myrth glanced back at him, and there was that sympathetic look again, as though she felt rather sorry for him. "Interesting choice... alpha approves." Despite that, there was pressure. The higher they climbed the hill, the closer to the pack that sat at its crest, Woe would become aware of it again - the aura of command. Even stronger. Much, much stronger, radiating from another two wolves that dominated the hillspace. Cold and Myrth each stood at the size of an average horse. Greyhide and Sovar both made horses look small by comparison, towering imperiously when they sat upright and observed Woe coolly. The three others that sat and lay about in the spaces between were still larger than the average wolf, but their presence was dulled by the sheer comparison.

Tucked into the middle, Nir'wei finally turned his head from the sky to look upon Woe. He, too, had taken his wolf form - a larger, stronger wolf than even them, as befitting the Alpha.

"EGG OF EGILRUN."

In such a form, even a polite greeting was a powerful thing. He paused for just a moment, glancing to Myrth and Cold at either side of him, before closing his eyes and suddenly transitioning. Just like that, where there had once been a wolf, there was a man, smiling warmly. "This... better. Yes?" His wolfish Wildspeak was, by far, his most well-practiced, considering his connections, but it was still limited by the wolf dialect as much as it was by his own understanding. It also did little to dispel the sheer command that naturally affected all canines, as befitted the Champion of Wolves. "Concern of sky-snake? Yes. Very concern. Bad-hunt, kill two-leg packs, fear and danger." For all the bad things he listed off, he didn't seem too worried about it, almost lounging back into one of Sovar's forelegs while sliding down into a sitting position. "But. Alpha." He gestured to himself. "Protect two-legs. Sky-snakes stay far. Rules, important. No hurt-kill, no steal-take. Territory marked. Bad no-do, no."

It sounded quite practiced. In truth, he'd been worried about when representatives of the villages would start to show their disapproval, or fears for their safety, during the next Council meeting, or simply showing up at his offices with letters of complaint and outrage. Back and forth he'd mulled the best way to handle things, and this seemed like the best, from his perspective... but even he knew, from just a few breaks chatting with Kura, that his most sound ideas were also quite backwards. Separate everything. Keep them all as far away from each-other as possible. If he could do that, they wouldn't be afraid... well, except they would, if they'd ever cross lands, and of course they would... one was a flock of flying reptiles and the other was a bunch of inquisitive humans!

"Egg." It was his natural Animal Trainer coming out again. He hoped that in the form Woe'd taken, he wouldn't be feeling any of Nir's training techniques. "Please. Concerns. What are?" Maybe it'd be more productive to avoid trying to speak over the Egg, and instead listen a little more.

[Woe]

Woe nodded his snout a few times as they recalibrated, upon his revelation. The female, who appeared to be the more adroit communicator among them, seemed to feel sorry for his display of weakness. Woe didn’t begrudge her that. The empathy did her credit. So he followed happily enough as they led him through the way, toward the alpha.

The fact that Woe had taken the form of a wolf of course hadn’t been entirely a coincidence. Nor was there more than the slightest ring of a untruth in his reasons for taking such a totem and assuming it here. Four legs moved faster than two over the terrain, even when at will he could sprout shadowy wings and fly almost as gracefully as some of the animals now in the sky. But this wasn’t the time to flex his gift from Kuvarakh. A spider wasn’t impressed by the fly’s ability to take to the air, he suspected, anymore than these wolves would be if he suddenly began leaping over them and flying straight toward Nir’wei. Such a brazen act would impress them all of a second before they pinned him down and put him in an even more compromising and humiliating position.

No, there was etiquette to be observed here, he was not in his own house. He was in Nir’wei’s house, so he would afford him appropriate respect. He couldn’t deny the respect even if he tried, come to that, as the power of Karem positively radiated from her champion, and he, being a wolf now, couldn’t deny it. It was quite the experience, like being in the presence of Sintra almost to him as a mortalborn. It confused him, and he didn’t know whether he should run or bow. So he bowed his legs, by way of stretching.

Then the alpha’s voice rang like a great howl across the moonlit sky, and back down as thunder through the wolf’s very bones. He couldn’t help but lower his head. Was this the nature of Karem’s power? To demand respect and obedience from wolves? Is this what spiders felt when in the presence of Sintra, or something akin to it? Come to that, how would scorpions perceive Woe, being his domain? The wolf didn’t know, but he was receiving a very good taste of the power it commanded here, in front of the Champion.

As the alpha assumed the friendly face of Nir’wei, the Sev’ryn man instead of the wolf, he spoke in a tongue that resembled that of his pack. The wolf tilted his head at that, and made a curious sound. He supposed he’d have to speak in wolf then, and would do so, as he didn’t want to exclude Nir’wei’s pack, by commiting that faux pas.

“Concerns… your authority of these sky-snakes.” The wolf righted his head from the tilt, and nodded, “Two-legs scared. I can ease fear, but not forever.”

The wolf sighed, and turned to the wolves around, “Forgive, I must make myself clear, and wolf tongue not good for me.”

This said, he turned to Nir’wei, and it would seem that through his subtle motions as a wolf, the tilt of a head, the blink of an eye, his meaning would become absolutely clear. I would suggest we develop a culture of trust, between the people of Egilrun, and the Jacadons and wolves of this place. We can organize cooperative hunts, offerings of livestock to feed the greater beasts in return for protection.

We want to make common cause between our folk and yours. In return, we offer access to resources, crafts, and trade for the resources you may find here. The wolf turned to look at each of the wolves, wondering if they, any of them, could also hear what he was speaking to Nir’wei’s understanding, by dint of some connection he held. The closer we are to understanding, the safer our people will be feeling.