The Misplacement of the Unlucky

Coldness. A feeling long forgotten, yet formal within the soul. A word that describes many things. Loss, sadness, crushed. It has a much literal term as well. Where every part of you forces itself to keep moving, seeking a warmth that you know only few things may provide.

A sudden brush of the wind met the wolf's fur. Every little strand stretching from his muzzle to the tip of his tail seemed to quiver in response. Coming from the west the wind had to travel through a land of precipitation. Nothing to warm it. Nothing to keep him warm.

Even with the gentle touch of mother nature Cassian was startled. He did not know what was expected, but the chilling breeze was not something he wished to wake up to.

It seemed as though he had been laying there for some time. It was as if he had been asleep for a millennia, awakening in a land unknown to him. For as far as he knew that was the correct answer. Maybe the answer wasn't something he was meant to know.

Slowly the thickly built wolf stood. His cracked paws pressed down into the mix of snow and grass below. Being it was nighttime the water had melted into solid ice, giving a soft crush under the weight of him. Unfamiliarity was all his paws and lower body was able to translate to him. A land unknown to him, one he had yet to tread. Had someone transported him here? Dragged his body all the way while he was unconscious? When had he even been vulnerable enough to allow such a thing?

He had to exhale a breath to calm his mind. His thoughts were trying to process it all, but they couldn't. The mix of feelings and confusion bundled in coils within his heart, creating a mesh inside. This land was not his own, that was for sure. His own. What even was that? That was his new fixation, mentally. He had no recollection of being himself before his awoke from his... nap. Whatever it was. All he had of himself was the single thought of his name, and emotions with no connections.

Find someone, look for help, Cassian. A new goal had arrived to him. A goal that made him feel foolish. Why hadn't that been his first thought? He should have gotten straight to business. Voices soon rung out in his mind. They opposed to this. He should be independent. He should find his own way back to wherever he called home. He didn't know if anyone else was within these lands, anyways. Don't be silly. There's the voice of reason. If there was other wolves he'd seem as though he was a psychopath. Standing there on icy grass, talking to himself in his mind.

Breaking from this Cassian chose to follow that strong voice. Set out, find somebody. Ask them what in the gods is happening. That's it.

As his paws lifted the sudden air to them made them gain uncomfortable feelings. He knew it was chilly, but hypothermia was not something the dully colored wolf had to worry about.

Under the blanket of the moon, stars, and clouds, he set out. One foot at a time.

@rue

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stargazing

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The wind whistled against evergreen trees, flecks of frost peeling away with it and glossing the queen's coat. The air was crisp on her tongue, glazed with freshness. Tracing the borders for the third time tonight, Aruna finally retreated to her domain.

She found herself on a familiar path, subconsciously traveling towards steep cliffs that looked as if they reached the sky. A thick blanket of gray drowned the night sky, tinting them with a pale blue. Snow would fall soon.

Stopping sharply, her gaze drew from the heavens to the land ahead, where a bearish character stood. He was larger than she, in size and height, cut from stone with a pelt of varying browns and charcoal. "Watch where you tred, boar, you're in claimed territory." She retorted, head drawing backward with umbrage. "What brings you to Cloudrest this late?"

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Cassian had been surprised at the sound of a feminine voice speaking. The land was so empty, save for snow and rock. It seemed almost as if he had been within a limbo. A place between life and death. It would only be him, and no other force among these lands. No other thing to get within his way. Of what goal? Goals seemed skewed in this moment.

He may deny it but he was happy to see a face aside from his own reflection in ice. This debunked multiple theories of his. There was others stuck here too. Had they arrived in the same way as him? Maybe they were all born here. Within a mist of confusion and insanity. Nothing seemed real, not even the snow that froze to the edges of his fur. His coat was meant to keep him warm, yet every molecule of water seemed to want to make a home in his fur. It was funny to think maybe the plants and rock around were just as lost as he was.

The male remained where he was, having carefully turned to face the approaching she-wolf. Her coat stood out amongst the icy environment. It was easy to differentiate her amongst the land.

He had no idea of the nature of this wolf, so he chose to remain weary. He hadn't smelled many scent trails, but the scent of other wolves had suddenly become more prominent to him. A factor he hit himself for missing.

"Sincerest apologies." He spoke in return, his voice careful. He took her words with a duel meaning, speaking slowly as he picked his words. "Truthfully I am unaware of what brings me here. Did it snow recently?" His words were full of honest confusion. He was hoping she would give an explanation. Maybe the forest he had been snowed overnight. It had been nearing the cold season where he was from. It must have been an early snow. Maybe part of him hoped she would deny his question. That may ease him more than naught.

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The brute expressed his confusion and disarray, but it was nothing out of the ordinary here. "Cloudrest is usually lain with snow, it lies next to the tundra. You truly have no recollection of before?" Her second sentence came out closer to a mutter, rough in her throat.

His blank gaze and blatant confusion told her enough. With a solemn sigh, the dark woman nodded. "You wouldn't be the first. It happens to most wolves, unless you were born here." Aruna clarified with an icy gaze, tension oozing from her figure. He was dumbfounded with no obvious intent to assault her. "Come." She breathed with no further explanation.

Silently, the sovereign continued on her ascension, mounting the peaks of Athamore Siege. She didn't care if he followed or left her; she came to see the stars, and she would.

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 That hardly left him with any explanation. Maybe even a little more confused than before. Great. Yet the thirst for answers kept him moving.

 Cassian followed without another word, making his way forward as he trailed behind the lady. They weren't all too different in height. She was only slightly shorter. From what he could tell she had a lean body built behind thick fur. Well built for the mountains.

 "Where are you going?" He finally questioned. His body seemed to naturally adjust to the terrain. A subconscious nature deep within him. Sure he was a man of the forest. Greenery lined his name. Yet his father's home claim was the vast mountains and the valley within. He couldn't deny it.
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Against stone and snow, Aruna travelled with grace and vigilance, hugging the mountain close to ensure she did not fall. From the sound of the foot-fall behind her, she knew the great beast followed in tow, silent as the grave he had recently crawled from to end up here.

Howling winds and a bitter chill combed through a thick pelt to no avail, only jostling the tufts of dangling fur. "..to see the gods. Ask them for your judgement." They had been so conveniently close to the mountains, the action felt right. Like this was meant to happen. "If you are fortunate enough, and they deem you worthy, perhaps you may stay."

She continued wordlessly, a silent pace up the cliffside until she reached the top. With a few more slow steps, she had reached the edge. "Sit with me." Aruna told him, eyes already tracking upward to the stars. Pale eyes shut, deep in thought (or prayer) already.

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 A feeling of helplessness settled within his gut. He didn't know how everything was passing, but he knew that he had no reason to deny the offer. If it was one. It all seemed so confusing to him at this moment. Like he had no hand in his fate. That he could have prevented it all the same.

 Rethinking choices wouldn't help him now. A blatant path was laid out before him by the dame. Come, sit, and she will communicate to her religious figures. From what he concluded she would ask for his placement in the world. Was he that hopeless? To need the supposed gods to tell him where to or where not to belong? He doubted the gods she felt akin to where the ones he was raised on. Who would determine who is right and who is wrong?

 With a solemn breath Cassian joined her at her side. He kept an amicable distance between them. He felt no need to come further, nor farther away.

 There she would upturn her head, aiming itself at the darkened sky. She would close her eyes.

 So would he.
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"ᚷᛟᛞᛋ, ᛁ ᚲᚨᛚᛚ ᛏᛟ ᚤᛟᚢ ᚠᛟᚱ ᚷᚢᛁᛞᛖᚾᚲᛖ." — "Gods, I call to you for guidance." Her native-tongue rolled off her tongue with rugged elegance, hushed but strong. Her brows furrowed in thought, waiting in silence as if she was waiting for their reply, like they were whispering back to her. "ᛏᚺᛁᛋ ᚹᛟᛚᚠ ᛁᛋ ᚾᛟ ᚠᚱᛁᛖᚾᛞ ᛟᚠ ᛗᛁᚾᛖ, ᛒᚢᛏ ᚺᛖ ᚹᛟᚴᛖ ᛁᚾ ᛏᚺᛖᛋᛖ ᛚᚨᚾᛞᛋ, ᛟᚾ ᛏᚺᛁᛋ ᛗᛟᚢᚾᛏᚨᛁᚾ. ᚹᚺᚤ?" — "This wolf is no friend of mine, but he woke in these lands, on this mountain. Why?" 

More silence. The breeze stilled, but Aruna would have sworn it had stopped to make way for a deep hum that only she could here, a faint melody. Her features softened, ears swiveling forward. She trusted their guidance more than her families, a deep-seated confidence in their judgement. They were fair - she would be too.

Opening her eyes, she craned her head to face him. He too had shut his, mimicking her. Whether it was out of discomfort or faith, she did not know. "Tell me about yourself." Aruna couldn't recall learning his name or his origins, though he didn't seem to know anyways. "What do you think of the stars?"

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 He knew naught of all that was happening. Languages different from his own was foreign to him. Abram was a solitary construction of conformity. Common, as many called it. It was just words to them. Other packs may have developed their own titles for the way they spoke, if any different, but it never seemed to cross the great minds of his back.

 'Tell me about yourself. What do you think of the stars?' The stars.

 Cassian's eyes would open solemnly, staring upwards towards the darkened sky above them. He felt the need to study it. Almost as if itself was a foreign language he had yet to comprehend. The shimmering speckles that lit up the sky when the sun refused to. This world was so different. So... incomprehensible.

 "They are a gift." By whom? He had no plans of sharing his own religious article. He remained impassive on what he should add next. What did he think of the stars? It was a question he had no previous motive to fill his mind with. They were the act of Duhheia. Nothing more. No more questions forth. "A blessing in the absence of the sun." That was the best he could offer for the moment.
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The queen stood seemingly indifferent from the male's opinion, pondering her options, despite the few she had. Aruna would not send him away now after their climb, and she wasn't particularly keen on letting him leave now.

Defy the gods' will, or don't. It was a matter of belief now, wasn't it? In them, and in the wolf before her. "The gods are kind." She nodded, exhaling a slow breath. "You may reside here beneath my reign beneath the promise of fealty to me, Queen Aruna. If you wish to stay, Stormrift will not deny you."

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my last post for this!

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 A matter of choice, although it seemed to be less of a choice and more of an offer. You take this, or leave. It was direct and left no room for misconception or error. He can't deny that he respects that. Even if this meant he was starting from the bottom up.

 After a few beats, he nodded. "I accept your offers." Another few beats slithered their way into his words as he took a breath of the crisp, mountainous air. It came naturally to him. Thank the gods for his father. "I shall pledge my allegiance." It felt odd. Yet right all the same. For him to belong rightfully to a title, no matter if he was born to it.
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