'

Ashen Empire.. Where had Beru heard of that before.. Had to be back home, right?  Something to do with Hanzō, maybe?  He wanted to press further on the matter, but he couldn't in good conscience out of fear of giving too much information away about the wolves in the bamboo.  Damn, it really was due time for the yearling to pay more attention to what others said, wasn't it?  More consequences for his stupid actions.  

So her dad just really liked war.  Perfect.  That did wonders for his nerves.  "And earlier you said something about how he'd never let you travel as a yearling or something, right?  So is he like... overprotective?  Or, well.. I mean I guess what I'm getting at here is.. I don't know.. What do warlords do to people that have been kissing on their daughters?"  Was he fucked? Oh, most certainly.  A better question would be how fucked was he?

”Speech”  ’Thought’

Start carvin' darlin'

He was far too interested in hearing about her dad, far too concerned about it all. Oh really, she could handle her dad. She would just have to push the right buttons. It might cost her a little, she might even have to mention her mother, and that would just plain hurt. But she wasn’t letting anyone drive Beru away.

Except, he had just gotten her real good a moment ago. She gave him a serious look, and jabbed her paw suddenly in the air. “That must be it, that must be the battle I saw!” She cried out in surprise, and then poked him in the ribs again. “You big baby. My dad is over protective, but he also has a giant soft spot for us kids. All i’ll need to do is bat my lashes like so…” She looked up at him and widened her eyes. Batting her lashes a moment as she concentrated on putting on a very puppy-eyed expression. “But Daddy, he’s my friend. I haven’t had any friends since… well, I need him, Daddy.” She said, and sniffed once.


"Speech"

'

His expression turned to shock as she mentioned the 'vision' from earlier, as if perhaps maybe she'd actually been telling the truth about being able to see the future and only told him she lied to get him to calm down or something.  He exhaled, relieved when that didn't end up being the case, and simply shook his head.  This evening Beru would be leaving with a short list of things to work on.

1. Listen to people when they talk.
2. Don't be so awkward with lovey-dovey shit.
3. Stop being so gullible.

He wondered if the list would grow further before they parted ways for the night.. Oh.. Parting ways.. That was something they'd have to do sometime, huh?  Maybe even soon, considering how late it was now.  But even if the princess didn't have a curfew, they'd have to eventually. Couldn't just stay out in these woods forever..  Suddenly something inside of the yearling ached.

"You better be right.  I really value my life, you know."  He snorted.  It seemed convincing enough.  That look she gave would probably work on him, so who was he to say it wouldn't work on a.... warlord...

”Speech”  ’Thought’

Start carvin' darlin'

“Don’t worry” She told him sincerely, patting his paw. “I value your life, too” She fell silent then, leaning against him. Actually, it might be the longest stretch of silence since they had met. Was that really only… just a little bit ago? She felt like she had known him days, weeks even. So strange how this night had worked out.

“So… is your pack far? You’re not… going back there soon, are you?” She asked him softly. As she thought about that, other thoughts crowded in. She’d never considered leaving the Armada before. It was her home, and her struggle. Her life had been a series of proving herself. But… what if she didn’t have to stay? Would Beru’s pack take her in? Would they treat her differently than the Armada? See her weakness in a different light to her family? “Does your pack like visitors?”


"Speech"

'

Beru was able to shake his nerves and find his smile again.  Well, now that that was settled.  The pair grew quiet for a moment, and the yearling took that time to really bask in the warm feeling of her frame leaned in against his own. He never would have guessed it was possible for him to care about someone he'd just met so much.  This morning's Beru would have laughed in his face if he told him.  

"Hmm.. I've kind of been letting Wari call the shots, so I'm not sure.." Home just seemed too far away for him now.  He wasn't sure he'd want to go back anytime soon, not sure if he would if things between he and Kite kept going the way they were going.  If Wari wanted to go home sometime soon that'd probably be okay.. And it'd probably also be okay if he took a little longer out here, right?

"Visitors.." That was complicated.  "I mean, visitors are fine.. But they're not allowed in the bamboo maze."  It was all part of their secret-keeping schtick.  "They have to be a visitor though, because trespassers are a completely different story."  Tojo-Kai hated those.  Was.. Was she asking to come visit?  "You'd be with me though, so I don't think Hanzō would mind.  I actually think my mom would probably really like you --" he blurted.  What a weird thing to say when he hadn't even taken her out on a first date yet.
”Speech”  ’Thought’

Start carvin' darlin'

She wasn't sure she liked that he didn't know. It meant she couldn't even brace for when he would leave. She kind of understood her father's disposition now. 'Mine.' Beru had become hers, and she was reluctant to let him go. She liked having a friend she could confide in. And really, she rather liked those kisses. She wondered if her father would let him into the Armada for a visit. If he would want to see the places she knew. He might if she told him he was a friend. But despite what she told Beru, she had a feeling he wouldn't be happy to hear that he was her kissing buddy. If she could just remember where his pack stood with hers…

She shook herself from her thoughts and frowned at Beru again. "A secret maze sounds epic." She grumped, knowing whe would love to explore if she was given a chance. "Yeah, my dad doesn't like trespassers, either." She agreed. Adults were do fussy like that…
The comment about his mum surprised her. "Do you think so?" She asked. "If you go back to your pack, I'd want to visit you. But I don't know the way."

He was now sure that they were having this talk because Kite didn't want to part ways either. He wondered if her heart hurt the same way his did, and if she too hadn't the slightest idea why the pain was this bad. "Well, I mean if you were a pack member you'd be allowed in.."  Now that was wishful thinking.  Even if her family sucked, here she was a princess.  That title might not mean much to the wolves of Tojo-Kai. And again, they just met. Little soon to be talking about moving in with one another, but still.. Beru felt a little desperate.  

"It's uh.. Have you ever been to Auster?"  One hell of a trip from here to there, so he was pretty sure the answer was going to be no.  Honestly it'd be easier to just show her the way himself, but it was probably too soon for all of that too.  Or, was it?  Beru didn't know how these things were supposed to be paced out.  Man, this sucked. "I think it might be a little white before we go back.. I still have things I haven't done yet, so.."  It was a lie, but a harmless one.  Beru had absolutely nothing left to do before returning home, he just didn't really want to now.. Not yet.. Maybe in a couple weeks.. or... months...

'If you were a pack member you'd be allowed in' was in an invite, sort of? Or was that wishful thinking on her end? Besides, she knew her father wouldn’t let her go until she was two. That was so far away… the entire length of her life again, who knew how Beru would feel about her by then? She felt her chin start to jut again. Mulish, stubborn. Maybe she wouldn't ask her dad.

"Yeah, I've visited our family in The Hallows. That's in Auster." She explained, and winced slightly. Her memories of The Hallows were very much clouded by her mothers death. She tapped a paw considering for a time. Beru planned to stick around a little while… that gave her time to plan. "Maybe my dad will let me visit my sister in the Hallow… maybe you can show me your pack from there?" She suggested. And maybe she didn't have to just visit, either. Would her sister help her with that? She wasn't sure she knew Briar well enough. Baby steps. Visit sister, talk to sister, possibly run away from sister. Was she insane to be making such plans with someone she'd only met that day? "But if your sticking around for a bit, I can show you The Armada market tomorrow. That's open to the public." She explained.

'If you were a pack member you'd be allowed in' was in an invite, sort of? Or was that wishful thinking on her end? Besides, she knew her father wouldn’t let her go until she was two. That was so far away… the entire length of her life again, who knew how Beru would feel about her by then? She felt her chin start to jut again. Mulish, stubborn. Maybe she wouldn't ask her dad.

"Yeah, I've visited our family in The Hallows. That's in Auster." She explained, and winced slightly. Her memories of The Hallows were very much clouded by her mothers death. She tapped a paw considering for a time. Beru planned to stick around a little while… that gave her time to plan. "Maybe my dad will let me visit my sister in the Hallow… maybe you can show me your pack from there?" She suggested. And maybe she didn't have to just visit, either. Would her sister help her with that? She wasn't sure she knew Briar well enough. Baby steps. Visit sister, talk to sister, possibly run away from sister. Was she insane to be making such plans with someone she'd only met that day? "But if your sticking around for a bit, I can show you The Armada market tomorrow. That's open to the public." She explained.

"Oh, The Hallows!"  His eyes lit up a bit. "I know them! Or, uh- I don't know them, but I know where they are!"  He grinned.  That pack was on the complete opposite end of Auster, but he did know how to navigate back to Tojo-Kai from there without issue. "It's still gonna be a pretty long walk though, but they're closer to us than they are you guys pretty sure!"  And there was no bad blood between the packs either, which could make picking her up for a bit a hell of a lot easier.

"The Armada market?"  He wasn't sure exactly what that entailed, but it sounded fun and he would be with Kite so he was definitely down for the opportunity.  At this point she could tell him she saw a really cool stick once five miles away and he'd probably go check it out so long as she was accompanying him.  Any time they could spend together before he went home was time he would welcome. "Yeah, okay!"

”Speech”  ’Thought’

Start carvin' darlin'

At Beau's startled response, Kyanite felt like her little plan was starting to fall into place. She grinned at him, bright and wide and full of far too much mischief. "Alright, so we can get there from the Hallows. That's good. So… if you turn up with a wolf in tow, do you think your Alpha would let me join?" She asked carefully. She needed to hammer out a lot of details of this little plan of hers, but everything hinged on his answer. The idea had captured her imagination and taken flight, and she didn't want to back down now.

"Yeah, it's a place to sell wares. Wolves from all around can come and see and trade stuff." She explained. The Market interested her only so far as seeing the interesting people that passed through. She sighed and stretched, stifling a yawn that tried to pass through. "So, where are you staying around here anyway?" She asked. She wished she could sneak him back into the Armada, but she knew that would be taking things too far. If she pissed off her father now, he would never agree to let her go to the Hallows.

Join?  As in she actually wanted to be a member of Tojo-Kai?  Was seeing the bamboo maze really that important to her?  Or.. was he really that important to her?  Beru tried his best to hide his surprise, and the fact that he was yet again blushing.

He took a moment to consider Hanzō.  "I think he would." Though he supposed he couldn't really say for sure. Despite being related, Beru actually didn't know much about his pack leader.  Hanzō was a busy man.  Beru wondered how the hell Kite was going to convince her warlord father, the one that didn't let her travel around because she was too young, to let her move all the way to the southern edge of Auster, but he decided he wouldn't press it for now, instead basking in the possibility of never having to part with this new special friend of his.  She probably knew what she was doing, after all.

"Woah, that's really cool!"  Tojo-Kai had its own neat things going on for sure, but a marketplace wasn't one of them.  Maybe he'd buy something for his sister while he was there, make up for the fact that she wasn't invited to tag along."Uhh, nowhere in particular.  We were staying at the whistling willows for a while but now we're just kind of staying wherever.. How early should I be back tomorrow?"  Because that would make a difference on where he stayed tonight.  If he had to be back pretty early then he'd stay close by.  Wari would be pissed that he hadn't come back, but that just seemed to be the natural state of their relationship these days anyway.

She rewarded him with another dazzling smile at that. She was about to change the entire direction of her life, and it left her flush with adrenaline and excitement. Just imagine Azures face! Actually… he probably wouldn't care, or would be glad to get rid of her. Oh well. Maybe she'd come back and take his crown some day in the future. That would be an expression worth seeing. "I have a plan. Leave it all to me" She said, and tapped her nose with an extended claw.

"Whistling willows? Is that far? I've never been there before." She admitted. She actually hadn't explored very far from the Armada yet. When she visited other places, it was in a wagon and she didn't get much chance to explore. Beru had the advantage on her there - he was far more experienced in exploring. But once she was free of the Armada, maybe they could do a ton of exploring together?

"The markets started at daybreak, but I'll be asleep. Maybe come… midday? It'll be in full swing then. If you make your way around to the South side of that big mountain, you'll see the entrance of the Market. Just don't cross onto the beach, that belongs to my dad too. Okay?" She explained.

He beamed back at her.  If she said she had a plan then he trusted it, and he also trusted that she'd tell him what to do when the time was right.  Oh man, he was trying his hardest not to get too attached to the idea that whatever she had in mind could work, just in case, but his mind was already swimming with all the places he'd take her back home.  He could show her the runestones, or they could go to grapevine cathedral, or maybe they'd swim over to that one island with all the weird foreign structures on it and see what that was all about!  There was so much they could do and see.. together.


"It's not super far, a couple days south."  Took him and Wari longer, but that's because they were prone to lollygagging and a dash of tomfoolery.  "I'll probably start making my way around a little bit tonight then.. Find somewhere kind of nearby to sleep.."  He was more or less just thinking out loud at this point.  Find somewhere close, but not too close, because if he could avoid meeting Sir Sirius Fatalis then he certainly would. "No beach. Got it." He laughed.  Beru wondered what kind of wares they'd see tomorrow, and if he'd be able to buy something for Kite as well.  Not that she probably couldn't just get whatever the hell she wanted without him, being a princess and all, but that was something... romantic.. right? And earlier she said she wanted romance.  Beru couldn't help but feel like she definitely picked the wrong wolf for that if she'd been serious.

“I wish I could go with you and see it” She said wistfully. But not yet. First, she had to sort through her plan and start putting it into action. Taking Beru to the market wasn’t any part of the plan, but it would be fun - and she might not get a chance to show him it once things started moving.

“That’s a good idea. It’s a really short way to go if you could cross straight into Armada territory, but going around definitely adds some time” She agreed. She perked up a little then, and grinned. “Maybe we can start heading around now?” She suggested. She still had at least a little bit of time to kill before she had to get back - though she had definitely spent a lot more time with Beru then she realised. How late was it now anyway? Not a hint of sunlight remained, and the starlight was nice and easy on her eyes.


"Speech"

'

He nudged her lightly with a frown as she expressed interest in the whistling willows. "Don't worry, they're not that great.  I can show you cooler places once you're in Auster."  Truth be told after having lost Wari for however long they'd separated he was really rather sick of the willows.  They lost their charm around day three or four, by that point he'd practically been begging of a change of scenery.

"All right! And that way you can make sure I don't end up somewhere too close to you guys."  Beru was perfectly capable of smelling out borders all on his own so he actually didn't need the fae's help with that at all, but it did make for a pretty good excuse to keep her around a little bit longer tonight if they needed one.  "Lead the way, princess."  He smirked.

”Speech”  ’Thought’

Start carvin' darlin'

“I’ll hold you to that.” She warned him. She was accepting him to lead them on great adventures with the knowledge he had gained from this long stint away from his pack. She looked about the woods and realised she didn’t actually know where she was.She didn’t travel too far from the pack, and when she did it was normally with a blindfold on and others leading the way. She did a small circle, trying to get her bearings, and… hey, where had Lioness gone? It was unusual of her to not notice her companion vanishing.

She scrunched up her nose and sighed. “Right, the blind leading the tourist, this is going to go well.” She muttered under her breath - though probably not quiet enough to keep Beru from hearing the words. Picking a direction at random she started off a light trott, pretending she knew exactly where she was going. Lioness would pop out of the woods at some point, right? Then she’d know exactly where she was going. Her cat had an uncanny sense for directions.

"Speech"

Beru suppressed a chuckle at her comment.  He'd gladly lead the way if he could, but the yearling only had an approximate description of the final destination.  He could follow the scent south and keep an eye on the mountain, but the yearling held on to hope that if Kite was navigating them she'd remember a shortcut or two that didn't infringe upon Armada territory.  Plus, this was comfortable and familiar to him.  Usually he followed Wari around.

She took off in a light trot, and so he followed.  Walpurgis swooped down from wherever he'd gone off to last time the male snapped at him and landed comfortably upon Beru's back, the usual spot where the crystals didn't grow. "So, how many littermates do you have?"  She said she had a lot of family, but they never really got into exact numbers.  "Oh, and what's your favorite color?"
”Speech”  ’Thought’

Start carvin' darlin'

As they walked, Beru started the conversation back up again, she slowed a little so they were walking side by side. “Littermates… that’s an easy one, at least” If he’d asked for the full list of her siblings, she’d be talking for a while. “There’s Andy - She’s my favourite, Then Charlton, Crux, Dread, Stratum, and Vanta.” She listed off, in no particular order other than Andy. “Crux and myself are the ones afflicted by crystals.” She narrowed her eyes then. Vanta had been like her - born with crystals over her eyes, but unlike her and their brother she had found a way to heal them. Life sucked like that sometimes.

“Favourite color.. hmmm..” She cast a speculative gaze at Beru as they considered. Her eyes falling over the purple crystals that sprinkled his back. “Violet.” She decided. Leading them on a merry walk to nowhere as she waited for their true guide to appear.


"Speech"

'

Beru repeated the names in his thoughts as the princess listed them off.  Andy was the favorite and the rest of them seemed to somewhat tie, given the fact that no additional comments were made about them.  Crux must have been the one with the crystals growing on his leg joint then.  The yearling wondered if he too was looked down upon by that Azure guy.  Her family seemed so strange.  Nobody back home seemed to give a shit that half the puppies were covered in crystals, though Beru supposed that perhaps that was a bit different since it only affected them cosmetically.  Either way, nobody would give her a hard time about her eyes if she came to Tojo-Kai because he simply wouldn't let them. He'd sit on them if they even tried.

Surprising nobody, Beru grew flustered over the fae's response.  If that's the way it was then his new favorite color would now be sapphire.  "How'd you get your cat?" He wanted to keep the conversation rolling and figured this would be the perfect opportunity to get all of those little details he wanted to know about Kite.  But.. Where was the cat anyway?

”Speech”  ’Thought’

Start carvin' darlin'