Tamsyn walked side by side with Kane as they moved across the bifrost, heading toward the rocking terrain that sat right on the other side at the edge of Boreas. It wasn't the first time that she had led Kane to certain terrains to try and find herbs that he was looking for, but it was the first time that the request had taken them out of Auster. She had scratched her brain for a while, trying to think of anything close within Auster and the closest she had gotten was the cliffs around the falls and the canyon near by, but that had fallen short when it came to actually finding what he needed. She was unfortunately no help when it came to identifying herbs so she lended her talents of navigation and knowing the land to his search.

She climbed across the rocky terrain between the trees that grew along the banks of the slice of ocean that cut into the landscape of Boreas. Hopefully this would have what he was looking for or they were about to embark on a trip to the mountainous region around the volcano further north. She certainly didn't mind the travel with her boyfriend though—especially not now that the world was starting to find its way back to normal. They had been cooped up in the pack's lands for so long that it felt good to be able to get out and stretch their legs for awhile. It also gave her plenty of opportunities to take advantage of some alone time with him which she couldn't get enough of with her heat driving her crazy. She couldn't remember ever being this bothered by her heat before, but something about having Kane with her now only put more emphasis on the natural craving her body had. She brushed against his side as they walked, glancing up at him with a smirk. She tried to contain herself long enough for them to finish their hunt for whatever herb it was he was wanting, but it was certainly difficult.

Tamsyn Carpathius

Trekking across the Bifröst and up into the southern fjords of Boreas brought the pair of wolves into the balmy spring weather of the northern continent, and much to Kane's relief, a much more normal world. After the cataclysm he was sure would claim this world in darkness, seeing the sun rise on that first day had been a blessing. As the Hallows recovered, Kane offered all the assistance he could to help cleanse and clean the castle from the pestilence that had befallen the pack, and once that work had been done, he immediately set back to his ultimate task. Though his plans had been stalled due to the apocalypse, he never let the desire for vengeance fade from his heart. He had sworn a blood oath to the moon and he would see his vow through if it took him all his life.

Though he had lost the trail of his prey, the silver lining was that it afforded him the opportunity to gather the requisite materials he still needed before the final showdown. Tamsyn had been a constant source of support for him in that regard, traveling with him to the places he needed to go to gather the herbs he needed. Together they got to spend more time together, reveling in being alive after surviving the apocalypse—which just so happened to coincide nicely with Tam's heat season. His little blackbird, who had quite the sexual appetite on a good day, was insatiable now. Not that the dire brute was complaining, of course. He was more than happy to keep his beloved girlfriend satisfied whenever the urge struck! And boy did the urge strike often now. Even now, as they traversed the rocky cliff sides of the fjords, Tamsyn was notably brushing her side against his, exchanging little knowing smirks that told promises of fun ahead of them.

Kane flashed a roguish grin to her, craning his neck down to nuzzle behind his blackbird's ear just to tease her a little more while they walked. He picked up the pace, trotting a little ahead of Tamsyn across the rocky terrain while hazel eyes scanned about for the bright purple flowers he was looking for. "Keep your eyes peeled, little blackbird. The flower we're looking for is bright purple and white," he explained to her, giving her a wink as he added, "If you manage to find it before me, I might even give you a little treat before we head home." Of course, he was planning on enjoying the scenic views tangled up with his lover anyway, but why not make a fun little game out of it? It always made the rewards all the more sweeter in the end.

"Kaneonuskatew"

As his mate, Tamsyn may enter his threads not marked as Private.
____________________

Tamsyn chuckled softly as Kane leaned down to nuzzle behind her ear, leaning into his touch with a smirk and brushing her tail against his thigh. It was hard to keep herself focused on the task at hand when the temptation to pull him off the trail for a moment of satisfaction for this insatiable heat was so strong, but when he instructed her to keep her eyes peeled for a certain purple and white flower at least reminded her of why they were here. The promise of a prize if she happened to find the flower he was looking for made a sly grin pull across her lips. "Oh? Well, I better get to looking then." Tamsyn tipped her head up to teasingly lick his chin and stepped away from his side with a flick of her tail against his shoulder, trotting ahead along the path with a renewed sense of purpose now that she had something she was very, very eager to have on the line. Granted, she knew she was still likely to get as much of her handsome boyfriend as she wanted given the fact that neither of them were good at keeping their paws off of each other, but she was still more than happy to play along with the little game he put in place.

She started maneuvering and climbing along the rocky landscape, nimble and adept paws carrying her easily over more difficult or dangerous spots. She most certainly wasn't as young as she once was and occasionally she could feel her joints starting to get a little achy in the mornings and things along those lines, but she was still very much an explorer at heart and was as surefooted as ever as she climbed across the fjord. Being significantly lighter and smaller was sure to be a bit of an advantage for her in their little game so she tried to lean into that as much as possible. The sooner she found these bright purple and white flowers the better as far as her heat and desire fogged mind was concerned!

Tamsyn pulled herself up onto a small cliff of sorts among some more jagged rocks and in a clump of plant life that had begun to grow in a secluded spot between some of the larger rocks she finally found it. A wide grin pulled across her lips, her tail wagging happily. "Kane! I think I found it!" she called back over her shoulder before she stepped closer to take a closer look at the purple and white flowers. It wasn't a very large plant so she hoped he didn't need a lot of it, but he'd have to be the judge of that she supposed. She still didn't know exactly what it was or what he wanted it for, but she was also just happy to help him with anything he needed help with. He had helped her and done so much for her that helping him find herbs was really the least she could do.

Tamsyn Carpathius

The silken brush of Tamsyn's tail against his thigh left little to the imagination of what his significant other had on her mind presently. He couldn't blame her, of course. The smell coming off of her was absolutely delectable, and given that the two lovers had a healthy and active sex life on a normal day, the onset of Tam's heat only served to pour accelerant onto those already burning fires. If they hadn't come here with a specific purpose and goal in mind, Kane would have immediately pulled her aside to one of the scenic overlooks in the fjord and had her singing to the world. But the moment he mentioned turning their errand into a game, his little blackbird grinned at him with a salacious look and quipped about getting started.

The next thing he knew, Kane was watching Tam's shapely rump as she took off across the rugged terrain like she was born for it, her soft tail flicking over his shoulder as she ran off. It took all the dire brute's self control to not go chasing after her immediately, instead enjoying the view for a moment before chuckling to himself and setting off to find the plants as well. He had the advantage of knowing exactly what wolfsbane looked like, having gathered it numerous times in his life, and felt fairly confident in his chances of winning this game. Unlike Tamsyn, however, Kane's larger form and heavier weight was not built for nimble navigation over the uneven and craggy landscape. He didn't feel as if he was in imminent danger, but he did have to move more cautiously and plan each step more than Tamsyn, who seemed to bounce about like she was part mountain goat. It was impressive, really, and reminded him that his girlfriend was once a seasoned and accomplished explorer.

Kane was once again reminded of this fact when he narrowly avoided tripping over some crumbling rock ledges only to hear Tamsyn call for him from just up ahead. There's no way... he thought to himself as he maneuvered his way over to her, finding his ebony-furred angel just above him in a small alcove. It took Kane considerably more time and effort to get to where she was, but once he hoisted himself up onto the cliff, he was crestfallen to find that she had indeed located wolfsbane. Damn, and he'd been so confident he'd win! "Well done, Tam! For once, you beat me to finding a plant!" Giving Tamsyn a proud smirk, he ignored the plant for a moment to go give his lover a congratulatory kiss, smacking her rump with his bushy tail while he sauntered over to inspect the plant. It was a young wolfsbane plant with just over a half dozen blooms, but it would do!

"This is perfect, it's exactly what I needed," he said while he carefully cut the flowers from the stems, keeping them intact to the best of his ability while he stowed them away in the leather satchel he'd brought with him from the Hallows. One by one, he extracted each and every blossom. With this much wolfsbane, he'd likely get two good, strong doses of the poison once he extracted it. "All right, my little blackbird, you won the game, so I guess you'd better start thinking about what sort of treat you'd like." Kane glanced over his shoulder to Tam with a playful spark in his hazel eyes and a roguish grin around saber teeth. He knew exactly what she'd ask for, but he'd still give the victor the spoils of her choice.

"Kaneonuskatew"

As his mate, Tamsyn may enter his threads not marked as Private.
____________________

Tamsyn turned away from where she had found her prize to wait for Kane to reach where she was standing, watching as his much larger form started moving up the rocky terrain with a bit less grace than herself. She smirked a little and settled in to wait for him, only getting up to greet him as he hoisted himself up over the edge of the cliff. "Jeeze, what took you so long?" she teased with a grin, her tail wagging gently as she stepped aside so he could come examine what she found to confirm that she had indeed found the plant he was looking for. His expression when he saw the flowering plant told her she had indeed won his game this time and she gave him a wide grin. "Well, I guess I did have a bit of an advantage this time," she told him with a chuckle when he congratulated her on actually finding a plant faster than him this time, returning his kiss happily. She giggled as he hit her butt with his tail and then watched as he went to work collecting the plant carefully and stowing it away. She settled back onto her haunches to wait, occupying herself with imagining how she might use this fabulous prize she had won.

She refocused her gaze on him when he glanced back at her, telling her that she better start thinking about what kind of treat she wanted for her prize. She grinned and laughed, getting to her paws to slide up beside him, leaning into his side with a smirk. "Well ahead of you, handsome," she told him with a purr to her voice, tipping her muzzle up to nibble lightly along his jaw. "I just need to decide what I want most... There's so many good options!" Tamsyn chuckled and nuzzled into his neck, enjoying his scent while she continued to ponder what she wanted. She knew that whatever she chose it would end with something to at least temporarily satisfy this heat of hers. She knew they had spoken a bit about the possibility of them having pups together, being open to the idea of her getting pregnant, and part of her wished that if it was going to happen it would hurry up and happen simply to help satiate this maddening heat.

"What is all this for anyway?" she asked curiously while he was collecting the last of the prized herb, lifting her head away from his neck enough to be able to find his gaze again. She was more than happy to collect as much of whatever he wanted with him no matter the reason, but they had really gone out of their way for this one and she was curious to know why this particular plant was the one he needed and wanted.

Tamsyn Carpathius

A sarcastic jesting laugh came from the dire brute when his beautiful little blackbird teased him for taking his sweet time getting to her. He flashed her a playful grin from over his shoulder that was all teeth and sabers, topping it off with a wink before finishing his collecting of the wolfsbane. He very suddenly felt the warmth and weight of Tamsyn pressing up into his side, her svelte form melding to his muscles like she'd always meant to be there. As he turned his head to look at her quizzically, Tam dispelled any of his uncertainty with the seductive purr to her words and her fangs nibbling delicately at his chin. A little tremor of euphoria rippled down the gigantic wolf's spine in response to her tender affections and a husky chuckle rumbled deep in his chest. His lover had been insatiable since her heat started—not that he was complaining, of course!—so he had a pretty good idea of what she had in mind for her prize if her actions and sultry words were any indicator.

Kane subtly leaned his well-muscled form back into his girlfriend's while she buried her muzzle in his scruff and he felt her take deep, savoring inhales of his scent. It was quite a turn on to be so desired by one he loved and cherished so much. Tamsyn had truly brought him back to life in ways the senior wolf had never thought he'd feel again, and for that he would always be eternally grateful to the Universe for bringing her to him! Just as he finished gathering up the last of the wolfsbane flowers, Tamsyn inquired into what he was using them for. Kane's hazel eyes lit up with enthusiasm at the notion of getting to share his craft with his beloved once more, and before he stowed away the last flower, he reached a giant paw out to take one of Tamsyn's dainty ones and placed the flower with such grace and care in her paw pads for her to study.

"This flower is called aconite by my tribe," he began to explain, "but it is more commonly known as wolfsbane." As soon as he said the flower's name, he looked to Tamsyn's radiant mint eyes, waiting for that gleam of recognition. Even without any formal training in botany, any wolf would be able to understand why a plant might be called wolfsbane. "Although beautiful to look at and completely scentless, it is a very lethal poison. One flower, when turned into an extract, would be enough to kill a wolf my size in about an hour. There is no cure. Consumption of any amount is almost always fatal. Nasty way to go too. It slows the heart until it stops, and you're aware of it the entire time you're dying." Once Tamsyn had finished looking over the flower, Kane gingerly lifted it from her paw and set it with the others in his satchel. "I'm going to use these to make a poison for my old friend, that dire wolf. I know I cannot kill him by traditional means, so I'll use my strengths to my advantage. Do you remember that knife I've been crafting back home? Its blade is hollowed out to be able to hold a liquid—namely, this poison. All it takes to end the fight is a good jab, deep enough to hit veins, and then break the blade to release the poison. And then..."

Kane made a dramatic show of pantomiming a wolf choking and sputtering before flopping over very clearly dead. He grinned up at Tam as he rolled to his paws again, giving his shaggy fur a shake to smooth it out again. "It's an old trick the hunters in my tribe would use to take down larger predators, such as bears that wandered too close. It's shockingly effective, and all you need is one good strike." Kane turned his head to glance back out over the beautiful vistas of the fjord, gazing across the land. "All I have to do now is track him down again, and I can finally put my past to rest..."

"Kaneonuskatew"

As his mate, Tamsyn may enter his threads not marked as Private.
____________________

Seeing Kane light up at the possibility of teaching her a bit about what he was gathering was possibly one of the cutest things she had ever seen from her sweet boyfriend. He always seemed to enjoy teaching so much and she really wished he had more opportunities to do so. She let him lift one of her paws, glancing down at her much smaller paw where it rested in the middle of his, looking at the delicate flower he placed there for her to see. When he explained the name of the plant, both the name his tribe had for it and it's more common name, she glanced up at him curiously. Wolfsbane was something she had heard of before, but she didn't know exactly what it was capable of or used for. She only knew that it was dangerous. Luckily he explained further and detailed what exactly this little flower could do and she looked back down at the little plant in her paw, wondering how something so small and pretty could also be so deadly. She handed it back off to him and watched him put it with the others before her mint gaze found his hazel one again and listened as he told her his plan and recognition made her ears perk as she thought back to the story she had told her about the way his former partner had been killed. She nodded when he asked about the knife he had been crafting and now that she had this explanation all the work and gathering he had been putting in made sense.

She chuckled as he made a show of a very dramatic death, returning his grin as he got back up. She knew that this must have been a long time in the making, especially considering he had been hunting down this wolf since before they met, and to know that the pieces of this plan were beginning to fall into place made her hopeful for him. She knew from experience how hard it was to find closure of any kind and she knew that getting rid of the cause of that loss wouldn't fix everything, but it was a damn good place to start. Tamsyn looked up at this man she loved as he stared out over the fjord and she smiled a little as she leaned into his side again, reaching up a paw to catch his muzzle and turn it back down toward her, leaving a lingering kiss on his lips. "Let me help you hunt him down," she insisted quietly, her eyes finding his again as their lips parted. "I know how much this means for you... Let me help. I want this for you and I want to be a part of it."

Tamsyn Carpathius

So lost had Kane been in his thoughts of revenge on his nemesis that he was only scarcely aware of his surroundings or the silence that had settled between him and Tamsyn. He did, however, notice acutely when he felt his lover's side press gently into his, her soft fur brushing against his and mingling with his coat where they touched. The touch of her smaller paw to his muzzle made him blink with surprise, giving no resistance as she easily tilted his muzzle down to meet hers in a slow, loving kiss. The dire brute hummed with delight, the sound rumbling low in his chest while he kissed her back, savoring the taste of her lips against his for the duration of their kiss. Once their muzzles parted, Kane gazed down at his beautiful, wonderful girlfriend through half-lidded eyes shimmering with happiness and love. By the Moon and Stars, how he loved her so much! That love for her was intensified further when she asked him to let her help him hunt down the giant dire that had killed Tiva. Tawny ears flicked back to his skull for a moment in a reflexive show of nervousness. This monster had already killed one love of his life. Now his love was asking to help him kill the same beast. It worried Kane, but he knew of Tamsyn's history, of the struggle she'd overcome time and time again, and of her legacy with the Armada.

Reaching a massive paw up to gently caress behind Tamsyn's head with claws gently scratching around the base of her ears, Kane smiled down at her. He held her head still while he brought his lips back to hers, kissing her again with a slow and heated passion. As easy as it would have been for him to lose himself in her in this moment, the hunter held back, savoring the few seconds he kept his lips locked with hers in an intimate display of affection before slowly pulling back again with a little grin on his lips. "Okay, my little blackbird. You can be a part of this with me." The paw around the back of her head slowly traced rough paw pads around the side of her neck to caress her cheek, losing himself in her radiant mint green eyes. "But promise me that you'll treat him with caution. You are such a capable warrior, but I cannot lose you. You are my heaven and earth, Tamsyn. I love you."

Beaming at her with a smile of pure love, Kane reluctantly let his paw fall from Tam's face as he turned his gaze back the way they had come. "Shall we start heading back home so I can show you how we start extracting the poison from these flowers?" A wily grin slowly crept across the dire brute's face and a roguish gleam flashed across his hazel eyes. "...Or would you rather enjoy the views some more while you... claim your winner's prize?"

"Kaneonuskatew"

As his mate, Tamsyn may enter his threads not marked as Private.
____________________

Tamsyn had been so sure that when she lost Resin that would be the end of things for her, that she would only live out the rest of her days sticking close to her children and not much else... perhaps helping to raise her grandchildren if she was lucky. Kane came into her life and turned it all around. He made her realize there was still so much more life in her to give, so much more love she wanted to experience, and he gave her all of it. Of course she would offer anything she could possibly give to help him find the peace he desired and to see this chapter officially closed—not only because she wanted to help him, but also for the future of them. She wanted to move on from her past and she wanted to help him to do the same so that they could fully live in the here and now together. She smiled as his paw rested on the back of her head, looking up into his eyes with equal love and adoration until his lips claimed hers again, giving a soft, happy hum into his mouth as she tasted him and kissed him back with just as much passion. If he had just taken all of her then and there she certainly wouldn't have complained, but she was also glad when he pulled back enough to agree to let her help him, making her smile as he warned her to be cautious and expressed how much she meant to him.

"I love you too, Kane. You won't lose me. You won't be rid of me that easily," she told him with a chuckle. She knew his concern was genuine, but if there was one thing she knew her way around it was a fight. She knew when to fight, but she also knew when to hightail it and run. She'd protect herself for him and for her family. She followed his gaze as he turned it back toward the path that brought them here, considering his question of whether they should head back toward home to start extracting this poison from their newly found flowers. His alternative suggestion of enjoying the views and claiming her prize made her grin and she looked back toward him with an amused, lustful gleam in her eye. Tam hummed thoughtfully for a moment before turning back toward home with a flick of her tail under his chin. "As tempting as that is... I have other ideas for my prize," she insisted, grinning back over her shoulder at him and nodding for him to follow as she started leading them back home. "I think we need a little romantic date before we start this manhunt.. Think you can plan that for me, handsome?"

Tamsyn Carpathius