Was it boredom? Procrastination? Or maybe - most unlikely of all - she genuinely wanted to pop by for a visit. Nah, that was laughable at best, right? No matter what the reason, Iskra was here, pacing a path about fifty feet from the border while practically oozing indecision. Standing in the thick, sun dried grass a short way from the southern border of the Risen Empire.

This was decidedly not closer to where she ought to be going, but the way Iskra saw it she'd go eventually. When she was ready. Yeah. Right now though she was here, for whatever reason, and found herself lifting her muzzle to howl for Malleus without really thinking. Sinking into the long grass, she'd wait for the mottled man to arrive and unknowingly play into her game of self-distraction that was becoming a dangerous habit.

Malleus was quite ready for the summer to be over. He longed for autumn and the respite it would bring him. Pascal had stripped his coat of loose fur and that had greatly improved his comfort, but the dry heat was still taxing. With the weather had also come the ever increasing chance of fire. He'd been thinking about that a lot lately. What would they do if a fire swept through the packlands? Where would they go? They were difficult questions to answer. Still, they were ones he hoped to find an answer for. Hopefully he'd never need to find out if he had the right answers, but it was better to be prepared than not. Malleus pushed through the thick vines that separated the packland from the unclaimed territory beside it and strode towards Iskra. Pascal, who had been riding on his back, leaped off upon seeing who they were walking towards and streaked passed Malleus with every intention of jumping on Iskra and hugging her neck.   "Malleus" - "Pascal"

Ack! Spotted so easily! Of course it might help to arrive in the evening hours when her coat was less visible if she wanted to do any sneaking. Could be this was for the best though, let the poor Abraxas man be found unaware, then she'd spook the hide right off him. For now she grinned and giggled gleefully as the money came flying through the grass and held firm the the thicker fur of her neck. Nuzzling the little creature, Iskra gasped, eyes going wide in exaggerated surprise, "My, you've grown already, little friend!"

Trotting over to Malleus, she'd seek to trot a circle around him, aiming to bump her right shoulder against his right hip as she passed. "How're things? You look reasonably well, I suppose," she said, that cheery lilting tone filling the open space as she assumed a friendly, playful demeanor. When she was absorbed in conversation with this Emperor it was easy to bring back the fiery spirit she had been setting aside in favor of moping about like a useless lump. Unfortunately that meant she was rather lacking in gifts to give like last time. In due time she'd bring more though, be it information or physical items.

Malleus followed after Pascal at a much slower pace. Until it cooled down he wouldn't be going anywhere faster than an amble unless absolutely necessary. This season had been brutal and Malleus couldn't wait for the next. He would be glad when the winds changed, the rain came and Auster cooled down. If he'd known his father intended to claim land in Hell he might have protested. In response to Iskra's comment, Malleus scoffed playfully and then retorted, "'Reasonably well' isn't too bad for a man living in what feels like hell. If we make it through this season without a fire that turns our 'feels like hell' into a reality, it will be a miracle." He shrugged and then rolled his eyes. "That's about the gist of it, really. I'm doing well, the Empire is doing well, it's just too damn hot." Pascal, realizing that the two wolves were probably going to waste their time with boring adult talk, gave Iskra one final squeeze before ambling off in search of more interesting things to occupy his time. Malleus watched Pascal for a moment before turning his attention back to Iskra. He quirked a brow at her, then asked, "So what brings you to my hellish abode?"   "Malleus" - "Pascal"

"Hah! You poor soul, but how amusingly ironic," she giggled, a grin that had a sadistically entertained undertone to it playing at her onyx lips as she fixed him with her sapphire gaze. "Seems a little wrong for the descendants of a god to be roasting in hell, hm?" The unhurried movement and clear displeasure in both his tone and expression was kind of fun to watch. Yeah, she was definitely not the wolf to look to for sympathy in these sorts of circumstances. It was far too entertaining to watch others complain. Not that she wasn't willing to be nice about it for those too thin-skinned for her banter, after all Iskra knew when enough was enough.

Her tail swatted the ground and expression turned thoughtful for a moment before lighting up. There was no real business to attend to, at least not on her end, since all she really wanted was distraction. And distraction she could find. "Mmmh, well, you see," she began, casting a surreptitious glance side to side before asking, "You aren't busy attending to duties here in 'hell' are 'ya? Caaause, I seem to be lacking in amusement and a little adventure to cooler places might be fun for the slowly melting Emperor, too, no?" Hopefully he was free, because as it turned out, Iskra didn't have all that many other adventuring buddies available at the moment. And she really didn't want to spend more time in her own head for a few days if she could manage that. Not that Malleus needed to know about her internal struggles.

"Seems a little wrong for the descendants of a god to be roasting in hell, hm?" Malleus snorted and rolled his eyes good-naturedly. He decided to humor her and offered her a simple, noncommittal, "Perhaps." The Fallen God blessed his descendants and gave them many advantages over the mortals, but he doubted such a being would waste time on making sure they were always comfortable. Although Malleus would be lying if he said he didn't wish it in this instance. His ears pricked at the word 'cooler'. God, he would give anything for a respite. Although going anywhere with Iskra didn't strike him as very relaxing. He wouldn't put it past her to insist they go to their destination at a gallop. He also wouldn't be surprised to find out that the "cooler place" was actually of the "oh hey this place is pretty cool, I must share it with the world" variety. "Hm..." He made a show of considering her proposition. Malleus' eyes briefly rolled heavenward as he mulled it over. Or, rather, he seemed to mull it over. He'd already made up his mind. "That does sound rather nice..." he hedged. "I'm not too sure about the company, though." His tone teasing, he took her previous statement and flipped it around, "Seems a little wrong to go somewhere cooler with a "fire spirit", eh?"   "Malleus" - "Pascal"

Hah, gotchya! All it took was the promise of possibly cooling off and she could sense his interest was piqued. However, he seemed to have a penchant for pulling the same bullshit she did as he decided to drag out his reply and tease her rather than answer. Well, couldn't fault him for playing the same games she supposed. "Pfft, as if you could find finer company if you tried. If I didn't keep you on your toes we'd have no fun at all," she laughed. Side-stepping closer, Iskra sought to swat at his side playfully with her tail. "Guess you'll just have to trust me, then. Oooor you could always stay here and melt into a puddle. Up to you but I know what I'd choose."

And with that she was bounding away, springing through the grass with an energy no creature ought to have in this sweltering heat. Either he'd follow or he wouldn't, but Iskra was prettty sure the possibility of cooling off would prove tempting enough to get him to follow her as she zipped through the grass, crashing through it and treading the borders marked around the cathedral. Without permission to actually enter the pack's land she'd only push the line between being too close by a tiny bit. Wouldn't wanna spoil the summer fun by being careless.

Malleus watched as Iskra bounded away. Honestly his heart sank a little bit at the sight of her high tailing it through the weeds. He was going to have to run to keep up. Damn her and her apparent immunity to heat. For several heartbeats he simply stared sourly after her. She was going to make him run and he was not amused by the idea. But the chance to cool off... That he couldn't pass up. And if he were being honest he did enjoy Iskra's company. With her there was never a dull moment. He couldn't pass this up, could he? Sullenly he lumbered after her. Unless she set his tail on fire he was not going to run, though. Nope. He would not be getting heat stroke today. -exit-   "Malleus" - "Pascal"