His ears perked with interest as Malalia mentioned having met Aurielle. His Spirit had mentioned the encounter in passing, approval in her voice, which warmed him. A near-wicked grin slid onto his face as she described the encounter, “innocence” sparkling in his eyes. “Oh yes. Granted, when she chose the word for the rank name, she meant for it to embody the spiritual strength of the pack. As she is what stands between danger and her pack to the best of her ability. Her mate is called the Heart, and her secondary alpha will be the Soul, whomever it might be.” “I hope the festival goes well.” As she spoke of the mountain as well, he gazed upward at the mountain. “We could see the eruption from Valhalla. It was night, and you could see the glow in the sky from the fire it spewed.” The fear for his family, when he realized Geo- no, Meri, now – was not with them when Aurielle had called the pack together. Thank the gods that Meri was okay. A smile touched his lips. He was so very glad that the nagging worry at the back of his mind was finally relieved. Even if Meri no longer stayed in Valhalla, at least he knew his brother was alive and well and enjoying his life. Word Count: 220 Total: 4608 Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Hear" ---- Think

She huffed when the man tossed his sparkling glance her way and easily skipped over the part where he hadn't told her his Alpha was moonlight personified. And, being the queen of puppy eyes and fake innocence, she didn't believe him for a heartbeat. Not that he wanted her to, if that smile was any indication. "You better wipe that grin off your face," she muttered, ears pinned, and glaring daggers at the man in a false threat. Meeting the glowing woman, there really had been a moment where Mal thought that it was all over. Aurielle was ethereal -- but, thankfully, mortal.

Heart was easy enough to figure. "Um, if Spirit is the spiritual strength, then what is Soul supposed to be?" And coupled with Steadfast Seeker... the Valhallans, she reckoned, had some very strange rank names...

Her head lifted just a little when he spoke of the eruption. Had it not been a complete and utter disaster for life in Boreas, she might've thought what he described was beautiful. Still, the touch of a smile that graced his lips was reassuring, to some degree. Whatever affect the eruption had back then, he seemed to be alright, now.


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"Speech"

He snickered softly, tail sweeping the snow as she mock-threatened him. Her question did bring his head cocking to the side in thought. Hmmm. “Perhaps Spiritual strength is the wrong term… Perhaps what she means by the ranks of Spirit and Soul, as they are similar things, is that both the Spirit and the Soul are the embodiment of the pack.” He shrugged a shoulder in an easy roll, still thoughtful. And then, coming back around to an earlier topic, he added with a grin, “And as for your visit, I’d say… a week from now the last touches should be done. Maybe then?” His tail tapped the icy ground, a grin flashing at her as he looked to her for confirmation. Word Count: 122 Total: 4927 Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Hear" ---- Think

That made more sense. Kind of. The two terms were synonymous enough to be a bit confusing upon first hearing it, but after all she supposed the responsibilities mattered more than the actual title.

When he estimated that the gift, whatever it was, would be done in about a week, she considered it for a moment. It was a bit sooner than she would've expected, but he'd been making it for a while now. And then there was the Reaper competition to worry about, too. With the exception of her healing lessons, every second of her time had gone towards working towards the competition. Had it been her choice, she would've waited until after the competition ended and the results were announced.

....But she had been training incessantly for it.... and Cairo had probably worked hard on that gift. I can spare a little time. A break would be good. And she really did want to see this surprise. Her ears flicked. "I think I can work that in," she agreed, a bit cheekily.

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Total Word Count: 5105

"Speech"

His tail whisked snow into the air, hips almost wiggling as she agreed to visit. He could only hope the armor would be ready by then as he’d said. A gust of wind howled around the barricade, and he curled his form slightly to flip his tail over his paws as he asked, “The best route should be to follow the Rio Grande. There are a couple packs along the way, but the way around them is pretty simple.” He did his best to draw out a little map with his claws in the snow and ice, though his navigational skills weren’t the best when it came to maps. The landmarks were simple, the path sketchy, but hopefully it got the point across. Word Count: 123 Total: 5228 Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Hear" ---- Think