Ignita spent much of her time busy. She was helping with the stocks of some of the market stalls, organizing and keeping the storage rooms in order, and finding things to do like keeping the common areas clean and in order as much as she could. In whatever spare time she could muster she was in the smithy workshop, learning the craft of blacksmithing. She used Charlie's notes that she could find, and studied his craftsmanship trying to figure out how he did one thing or another and build on the limited knowledge she began with. She taught both Bronze and Spider some of what she knew, and anyone else that seemed interested in the craft.

Anything to keep her mind busy, distracted, and clear. Anything to keep the winter chill at bay.

She frequently drew heavy steps into the guest room of the Warlord's quarters at the end of each day, exhausted and instantly fell asleep as soon as her head hit the furs.

Her room at the base of the stairs was finally next on her list. She needed to find the reason why it was so cold when the other dens kept their warmth.

Late afternoon found her with her other duties done, and another five pins made. She sat in the drafty room and looked around with a fire in the hearth. The shadows flickered against the walls as she sat quietly trying to listen for any whispering winds of a telltale draft. It was the first time she had a chance to sit still since her journey to the Northern Mines with Bas.

She picked up a smoldering stick with embers on the end. The smoke trailed above her. She kept a careful eye on it as she walked the edge of the room making notes wherever the smoke was disturbed toward the center of the room or the wall. For the most part the smoke went up to the ventilation they had built into the den. So why was it so cold?

She hopped up into her bed and trailed the smoldering stick around it. Ahah! This wall was full of small spaces that blew the air towards the door and the vent. She placed the stick back into the fire and stepped back to look at the wall. It was a solid wall of cavernous calcite that must have formed over a collapse centuries ago. So where was the air being pulled from? She was loath to get that wall pulled down, it had excellent shelves and looked pretty with her bed underneath it. Maybe they could dig around it and stop up the holes.

She pushed against the wall she had pointed out to Bas before about creating a hidden route from the warlord's quarters. The hard clay and scattered rock crumbled against her effort. It was perhaps a viable option to get behind the wall of her bed... But there was only one wolf strong enough to help her.

And she has been doing her darndest to stay busy enough to not think about it at all.

Let's see... It was late afternoon, he could be anywhere but it wouldn't be hard to find him. He might not even have time for this, he might even call it frivolous. He might even just give her the guest room across from Spiders as her own permanently... but that probably wasn't the best idea either.

She bit the bullet and started to track him, she ran into one of the guards at the market and they pointed her toward the training arena. Oh, she hadn't been there yet, interesting.
She steadily walked up the stairs and heard what were probably sounds of training. Maybe she could at least get a good idea of what training looked like finally!

She sat at the edge of the arena, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible, and watched the fighters practice their skills. Ooooh! That's what he meant by bracing against the ground and having her legs out. She wouldn't interrupt them, but she hoped they didn't mind her observing.

Whenever Basilisk allowed her to approach him she would lean in and simply ask: "I found the draft in the wall, could I have some help fixing it when you get a chance?" She hoped such a request among the warriors wouldn't set him off, or if she could even make such a request now. Maybe she should have waited. She could have gone to work in the smithy some more... but it was too late already.
"Speech"

Basilisk needed something to distract himself from the walls closing in around him. Artorias’ judgement, the politics breaking into groups around them. Winter, his first raid as Warlord. His freedoms and choices seemed to lesson every time he turned around. iggy. he lunged forward, as fast as a striking snake. He grabbed Mortis’ wing at the base and began to throw the smaller wolf to the ground. Harder than he had intended to. Mortis started to fall, and his wings snapped out around him, smacking Basilisk in the face. He felt blood flick from his nose as he grappled the older wolf. 


And then a little gold appeared in the corner of his vision. He stumbled, and Mortis gained the upper hand. He felt the older wolf push against him, threatening to overthrow his balance. He dug his paws into the stony ground, his muscles groaning as he felt the full force of Mortis against him. One moment, another. Both were breathing hard when Basilisk lifted one paw off the ground. Leaning All his weight forward with three legs as he hooked his paw behind Mortis, touching his bone spur to the underside of the others flesh. 


“I yield” Mortis said with a grin, shaking his head. “Good match, Basilisk: he congratulated him, slapping the Warlord on the shoulder with a wing. But Bas had attention only for the gold wolf, he tossed his head forward, silently commanding her to follow. He led her down the natural ramp outside the training cave. “What do you have in mind?” He asked her, his voice professional. Cool. His Wyrm followed close to his heels.

Her eyes darted between both combatants, getting lost in the movements, seeing if she could predict their next moves, wondering why Bas stumbled for a moment. She realized the other winged wolf was probably Wylan and Ollie's father! Both men were solidly formidable. Basilisk still towered over them all. His muscles rippled under his fur in the afternoon light, shining off the bright spots of his fur. They came to a standstill, and from what she could see Mortis was trying to overpower the Warlord for a moment. She held her breath as the moments passed, and then a flurry of movement sparked the winged male's voice of yield!

As Bas passed her and bid her come she nodded her head to Mortis in a swift greeting before bouncing after her master. She didn't realize he'd come so quickly! She just wondered when he might get a chance to. She smiled at his feathered Wyrm companion, one of her favorites of his, until she caught his question.

She was used to quickly trotting next to him and talking a mile a minute.
"It seems to be coming from behind the bed, but I don't want to ruin that wall, I was thinking we could get started on the tunnel and have it snake around the back of the drafty wall, then I can seal it properly. I think it was an old tunnel at one point that collapsed. The wall I pointed to earlier seems to be diggable." She looked up at him then, trying to read his expression. A drop of blood where Mortis smacked him was about to drip from the end of his nose. She was also trying not to talk about the escape tunnel openly in the middle of the Col and Market. As far as anyone else was concerned they were talking about any drafty old den.

"Speech"

Basilisk walked and listened to Ignita as she talked about caves and tunnels, nodding his head and keeping his silence until they reached her den. They slipped inside, and he trotted over to the wall she had initially mentioned as a potential escape route from his own den. It would no doubt take a lot of work and digging, but his heavy set paws and claws were almost made for it. “Alright,” he said turning to Ignita “are you sure you want to dig behind the wall to patch it? We could make a paste to smear over the wall and cover any fine holes from this side” he suggested, his tone making it clear he wasn't arguing with her, just figuring out what options they had. 


He rubbed at his nose, feeling something damp there. Right, he'd almost forgotten the hit Mortis had gotten in near the end of their match. He licked his paw clean and took a seat, prepared to plan out Ignitas cave.

He listened to her attentively and she watched him observe the wall. He asked her if they could patch the holes from this side.

"Yes, I want to see what it was like on the other side because a breeze seems to be coming through this wall, so there must be a tunnel, an opening, or a chamber on the other side, open to the air somewhere. And depending on what's found behind there maybe it can cut the work towards the escape route significantly." She said as she hopped up on the bed. Making her sit a little higher.

She met his gaze with concern, silently asking him if he was all right as he wiped the blood from his nose.
"You two practice a lot together?" She asked.

"Speech"

“Ah.” he said thoughtfully at her explanation, what she wanted made a little more sense now. His tail picked up behind him, and he gave an almost boyish grin. He was still youthful enough to be excited at the prospect of secret tunnels. “Tell me where to start breaking.” He ordered her, gesting at the wall with a paw. He ignored her pointed look at her nose.

“No, that was the first time I’ve seen Mortis practice in a long time. Apparently it was something his son said.” he explained, his thoughts not really on Mortis or the spar as he answered her question.

Oh good, he understood! They always seemed to communicate well together, sometimes a little too well together. As he wagged his tail in joy she couldn't help the half moon grinning of her eyes as she saw how excited he was.

"Right there, and I can move the dirt out of the den." She said pointing to the west side of the den. "Then you can dig toward the back there until it opens up." She stifled a giggle, feeling like she was giving HIM the commands now!

Mortis! His name! She hadn't known it before. "Ollie and Wylan's father, right?" She asked. Would he want to have a conversation while he worked or should she just let him have at it quietly? He'll probably let her know.

"Speech"

He looked where she indicated, and pressed his paws to the wall for a moment. Trusting her that it looked diggable, he pulled his paw back and slammed it forward. Claws extended as he duh into the wall, breaking pieces off and digging more out with his downward strike. Showing just how much strength was behind those colossal paws of the dire wolf.


He worked in that manner for a while, making a sizeable dent in the wall. “Yes, their mother Halo had a hand in raising me, as well.” She already knew how disposable he was to his real parents. How easily they had abandoned him.

He went into the wall with gusto, and she was struck dumb for a few moments, just watching him. He was so SO big and strong. He was barely breaking a sweat as he dug into the wall as if it were crackers before him. Oh, she didn't know this was something that pulled at her. The way he flung the dirt and the wall crumbled before him was... interesting to say the least. Somehow an image in her mind of him slamming her down on the bed with just enough force to hurt a little made her blush. She remembered his particular biting in the cave and how she liked it. Would he rake his claws through her fur like he was raking the wall down?

Oop! NO, she clacked her teeth together and raked her teeth over her lip while she looked away. Finally distracted by his comment about how Wyl and Ollie's mom had a hand in raising him as well. The same Halo that walked away and left a gaping hole among the healers of the pack. Well, she wasn't leaving him. She couldn't. She didn't want to either.

She jumped down and got to work clearing the dirt away from the den, out the door and to the side. She didn't know what else to say so she just worked quietly with him while he made the tunnel opening. What would they find behind the wall?

"Basilisk" || "Iggy"

Ignita didn't say anything else, and he kept his silence for a while. Beating down the wall until a small hole appeared. He used his claws to pull out chunks, widening it. She crouched at his paws to start removing the debris, and he flicked an ear her way. “Tell me something, Ignita. Something about you that I don't know.” she'd already surprised him so many times before. With the things she knew, or had tried to build. Just hearing that she was her pack's pet had been unexpected to him. There was likely so much more, and he'd never bothered to ask. To dig further. Why should he, when she belonged to him? His slave to do his bidding. But he cared, and he craved to know her better.

She gathered what chunks she could and pushed them out the door, suddenly she was surprised to hear him ask her this question. She paused in the doorway on her way back in, the evening sunlight streaming behind her for a moment she walked inside further, thinking.
"I... don't know." She grabbed a chunk to fling it outside, she chuckled, "Suddenly it's as if I don't know anything about myself at all!" She shook her head and tossed another chunk out.

She sat for a moment, still as stone, trying to search through her mind what she knew of herself that he didn't. Did she even know herself that well?

"There was this smell, it was like sand and rain and flowers all at once. It only came out at night in the high summers, just after it rained. When the flowers bloomed all around. I once snuck out of the palace on that night and picked as many of the blooms as I could. I returned to the palace and scattered the flowers all over... her room. Hoping she would see me, catch me in the act. She was annoyed by it in the morning. I loved the smell of them." She said, nearly in a trance of the memory playing before her mind's eye. Remembering the way the chiffon and linen curtains lifted and swayed in the breeze. She blinked and shook her head, then resumed her task of clearing the rubble.

"Can I ask... How did you guys come by Spider?" She quested, continuing to work alongside him.

"Speech"

The hole was big enough that Ignita could probably fit through it by now. Which meant it was still a while away before the massive Warlord could squeeze through. He did however stick his head through the gap, trying to see what he could of the collapsed tunnel beyond. A mystery, he loved a good mystery.

He pulled his head back, and paused his destruction. Letting Ignitas story fill him. She was good at this, her voice was pleasant and she had a way with words that captivated. He could almost smell it. Almost. He wondered where one might find a desert bloom.

He blinked at the question, surprised at the change in topic. Why did she want to know about Spider? “Hazel found them left behind by their parents, not far from Armadas old territory. She realised they had been abandoned, and brought them back here. I taught them how to hunt, how to look after a blade…” They’d been a cute kid, and had always amazed him how excited they were to spend time with him, even over the littlest things. His own parents had never shown such wonder. He’d fallen in love with that feeling, of Spider. Enough that he understood he wanted to adopt them as own. To give them what his own parents had refused to give Basilisk. “Spider is a good kid. They deserve more than our parents gave us.”


"Basilisk"

She smiled as he talked about Spider. She could feel the warmth he had for his kid. "I'm glad Hazel and you found them and took care of them." Spider had always defended Bas and she could see they loved him dearly. "They were interested in the smithy so I was able to teach them a few things! Bronze too! I taught Bronze about casting some iron rods." She hoped Charlie was all right wherever he had landed. She didn't want to believe that Charlie had met a bad end when he went resource gathering, but she didn't want to believe he had betrayed Bas either. Maybe he just got caught up in trading, or lost track of time with a lover...

She checked on his work, it seemed like there was enough space for him to squeeze through. He was making quick work of the job.
"Mind if I try?" She asked, knowing he hated to let her out of his sight with these things, but she wasn't climbing at least!

"Speech"

Hmmm… how many wolves had his little Ignita been hanging out with? He paused from his work in the cave wall, and turned a little, looked at her. She came close to him in order to inspect the wall, and he opened his maw, breathing in deeply the scents around her. There was the tang of metal, and the scent of her companion. And yes, mixed in with that he could faintly smell Wylan, Spider, and Bronze. “Have you now?” he asked, dangerously gentle. “Should I be jealous?” mine. She knew who she belonged to, he had been clear at every turn.

He left her question unanswered, gouging her reaction to his own. It was a minor powerplay as well, waiting until she had given him an answer before he would answer her own.


"Basilisk"

Ignita suddenly grew nervous as he pushed himself toward her with mouth agape, intent on gathering the fading scents on her pelt. She shrank a little from him, his teeth menacing but his speech deceptively gentle. She knew a threat lingered on his lips, what kind of threat though was unknown. If he reacted like this when she was simply teaching them... What would he do if she developed a bond with... Someone... not him. Was she not allowed to form any bonds outside of him?

"I... Don't think you need to be jealous... my Lord." She tried placatingly, "I was showing them my knowledge. They were curious." Her golden eyes danced between the triangle of his eyes and lips. Was she not meant to be bettering the pack? She thought he would encourage her endeavors of teaching others what she knew.

"Am I not meant to share my knowledge with the pack?" She asked cautiously.

"Speech"

He watched her squirm, trying to assess if there was any meaning within it. What he had with ignita… he didn’t want to share that with anyone else. “Don’t be coy, Ignita, you know what I mean.” he leaned closer to her, close enough that he could touch his nose to the underside of her throat. He pressed his large fangs gently against the skin there, either side of her trachea. His tongue lashed out, and licked against her throat.

“You can teach, just never forget who you belong to.” he told her, snaking his head away before either of them can start down that road again. He knew how treacherous that path was. His Wyrm was suddenly there, fanning out her wings as she smacked him in the face. He grimaced. He’d forgotten the command he’d given her shortly after their trip to the mines. He shook his head and took a step back, only then did Larimar relax her posture. “Go on then Ignita, explore the tunnel.” he suggested, changing the subject swiftly.

"Basilisk"

Don't be coy... she gulped hard against his teeth, her throat cradled between them. Her breath caught as he licked, sending a blooming cascade down to her nethers and she shivered beneath his capture. Could such enthralling teasing encourage another heat cycle? They'd be doomed then, she knew it.

The edge of danger he put her in and promised her had started to wear away her sense of survival. No, she was too important to him now, too useful. She had slithered her way into his heart somehow. Instead of shaking with fear, she would pulse with daring trust.

Never forget who she belonged to. She heaved a breath back into her lungs as he snaked away from her. She sighed and stifled an eye-roll when a movement from Larimar caught her attention. The wyrm smacked Bas in the face! She stifled instead of an eye-roll, a giggle! Did he teach Larimar to do that to him? She pulled her lips in trying to keep herself from laughing. He bid her to explore and she bolted into the little opening to see if she could scramble her way through to the tunnel behind the wall.

She squeezed through, one inching shoulder at a time until she arrived on the other side. It opened before her. Now... suddenly, she felt compelled to laugh! Gleeful giggles tickled her sides until they hurt. Maybe it was from the relative distance where Bas couldn't get to her here she felt so free to giggle so!

"Did you teach her to do that!?" She gaffawed, wiping an eye. Pulling in a chilled breath. Oh, he'll be so pissed.

"Basilisk" || "Iggy"

He didn’t expect the hunger, or the heat that would flare at her strange, but undeniable trust when he cradled her throat in his fangs. It was lucky he had given Larimar the orders he had… forcing him to stand aside, to be left wanting as he looked at Ignita. She was changing, growing in different ways. The ache she left him with only seemed to increase every time he was around her. A painful, awful need.

When he bid her to enter the tunnel, she practically bolted through it. Surely not to escape him? He followed her movements through the slim entrance, and moved his head through it to keep his eyes on her. When she got to the other side she laughed - laughed! The minx. He scraped a paw through the hole as if trying to reach for her. “Come a little closer and I’ll tell you.” He teased her almost breathlessly.

"Basilisk"

Was this the first time she had ever been just out of his reach? Truly? She knew it wouldn't be for long. It was interesting to explore the dynamic here, she was out of his reach. She sighed as her fit of giggles subsided. She had no idea that she could even get to the point where he couldn't reach her. What did she feel? Playful, giddy, like she was sneaking out of the palace in the dead of night. Who was she here? There was a chill breeze, yes, some opening in the side of the mountain. Maybe she could escape, but she didn't want to. Ah there, she didn't want to. If the chance truly presented itself, she didn't want to escape.

She knew she was toeing a dangerous line with him now, not responding, leaning out of his sight. She took a few steps into the depths of the tunnel. Her breath showed in the air.

"I'm here!" She called back to him, "It's cold. As if it's open somewhere. There's a small light up ahead. Probably where the breeze is coming from." It wasn't far.

She walked toward that light, it was like a spotlight from directly overhead.
"I'm still here!" She called back to him, to reassure him she wasn't escaping or leaving him. If she measured this right with how many steps she took, then if they dug due west from... right here... they would cross under the steps of the warlord's suite. Another length beyond that was a small tumble of rocks that had fallen inside from the mountain above. Creating a spotlight from the sky. Light streamed down overhead as she stepped into the beam and looked up. Soft snowflakes fell around her, snow had fallen through the hole as well.

He was probably through now.

"Speech"

Instead of getting closer, she stepped further away and he growled at her retreating back. “Iggy…” he told her warningly. Who knew what could be lurking in the dark, and unexplored cave? The opening could lead outside of the Armada, where predators could wander in without fear.

Her only response was to call out, and tell him she was still there. She then went on to tell him there must be an opening, confirming his fears. “Iggy!” he snapped, hitting the wall with his paw and crumbling apart more of the structure. She was walking further away, her reassuring calls getting more distant.

He used his fangs to tear apart chunks, even as his paws dug at it, ripping at the stupid hole his colossal form couldn’t fit through. She was silent for a moment, and he paused, listening. What was that? He could hear steps, too large to be Iggy. there was something else beyond the wall. “Iggy!” he snarled. The crumbly rock he had first torn through wasn’t consistent throughout the wall. There were harder pieces that he had to really work on to dig through. He frantically dug, a gut feeling telling him danger approached.

"Basilisk"