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 Posted: Fri May 17, 2013 12:53 am
 Somehow, he had wandered to the sea. It had been weeks on weeks that he'd been here and the stank of salt no longer stung the inside of his nose as it had once done. But having seen the edge of the world, he now found himself uneasy. There was a familiar urge rising in his blood, one that he could name but did not want to, one that called him away from this place. His mentor had called it wanderlust in her hard voice, but Longclaw was not sure if he agreed with Precipice's assessment. He didn't feel the urge to wander, he felt the urge to do, to act, to move. Or at least, that's what he reasoned. For having wandered to the sea, what else was there to see in the world? Here where no kin could move any further. It didn't matter in the end for nothing changed. Longclaw was going to leave.
But it would be rude to leave without telling the doe that had been his companion for these weeks, so he waited on that lone beach. She would find him sooner or later.
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Posted: Fri May 17, 2013 1:18 am
And indeed she does. In point of fact Bitterleaf had dropped strong hints that their guest was overstaying his welcome, and she'd been on her way to see him off when the word trickled back to her--for there were eyes on him, whether he knew it or not--that he was showing signs of having made the decision himself. The sound of Undertow's familiar laughter drifts up, mingled with the sound of Waterside's; if the former doe had been his friend for the duration of his stay, Waterside had been distant, remote; she had a queenly presence to her and had seemed distracted. When he'd first approached and word went up that a buck had arrived she'd broken out of the surf excitedly, and turned cool. Whatever slight he'd given her for existing she'd apparently harbored a grudge for. But she is laughing, today: perhaps because he is leaving. Broken off from the Matriarch's daughter--Waterside goes running back down to the beach--Undertow, all compact sturdiness and unreadable eyes, looks up towards him. "Leaving so soon? I'd hoped you'd stay another night. The bright tide hasn't come in yet."
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Posted: Fri May 17, 2013 3:15 am
Waterside's familiar figure danced in the corner of his eye. Her laughter was an unfamiliar, and distantly, he thought it was not unattractive. It was a shame the doe seemed to dislike him. For whatever reason, Longclaw did not know, but he had the sneaking suspicion it had something to do with the presence of a certain buck. He did not think then that he should have met her first. He did not entertain those thoughts.
Still, he was pleased that it was Undertow who had come to find him. Of all the Tidewalkers he'd met, he found her company the most...comforting? Perhaps that was the wrong word for it but Undertow did not carry any airs around her, and he felt that between them he might say anything without fear of offending her.
"Yes, the swamp calls me back. You don't have to try to be polite, it would suit you well if I were to leave sooner."
There was a part of Longclaw that wanted to see, or at least hear, what the bright tide was. But he knew that the invitation was probably nothing more than a nicety extended by the doe. And if so, then there was all the more reason for him to leave.
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Posted: Fri May 17, 2013 11:33 am
Undertow always pauses before she speaks, as if neatly ordering her words in her head; she does so now.
"Bitterleaf would be suited if you left sooner," she concedes. "But despite what she thinks, her views are not always shared by all the tribe. Where will you go?"
And it is true that the Tidewalkers have... an air. Bitterleaf a snappish, pragmatic, sarcastic, earthy one that's distilled in some smaller measure among the tribe, especially among her blood-relatives. It gives them a sense of close-knit family, impenetrable to strangers. But Undertow is humble and quiet, and thinks before she speaks. It is no wonder that she is frequently appointed to accompany guests.
Undertow is manipulative. But she's usually good at it; few realize it. Flint hadn't, either.
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Posted: Fri May 17, 2013 8:20 pm
Longclaw laughed. He didn't laugh very often, but perhaps it was the current company that elicited it from him.
"And why," he asks, "would you want to know that? Do you plan to leave the sea and accompany me? Can it be you are fonder of me than I had expected?"
The small smirk he had made it clear that he already knew the answer to his questions, or at least he thought he did. Longclaw had seen enough of the Tidewalkers to know that there was more than sea and salt keeping them here at the edge of the world. Between them, there was a shared kinship, stronger than blood (for he had never known his bloodsister or bloodbrother or even his sires in such a way). It made his heart ache a little for the same kind of bond.
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Posted: Sun May 19, 2013 11:39 pm
"I think you'd find my company tiresome," she says, and the pause beforehand is nearly covered by her smile. "But I might foist it upon you regardless, as I don't yet feel the same about yours."
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Posted: Thu May 23, 2013 1:42 am
"No, I doubt I'd ever get tired of you--" but Longclaw could not finish his sentence, he stumbled over the words and turned his gaze away from the doe as he realized the implication in her words.
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Posted: Thu May 23, 2013 1:48 am
She laughs, turning away as well, as if stricken by sudden modesty. Her hair tumbles over one eye; hides her expression.
"Don't worry," she says after a moment. "I won't be insinuating myself into your plans, whatever they are. Bitterleaf wouldn't let me leave, anyway--not until the Trench is done." And indeed, of all the broken, battered, ill-used hooves chipping away at the Trench, Undertow's are among the most destroyed. How she walks without limping is a wonder, but then again, she is a Tidewalker. "But if you needed an escort--someone to help you back through to the Swamp..." she trails off.
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Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 2:05 am
"Ahah, yes. The Trench." Longclaw did not really know what it's purpose was (he had guesses) but it was something that the Tidewalkers were working relentlessly on. He admired that ability. No one could say that the Tidewalkers were weak.
"As much as I'd like to take you up on that offer, I cannot see it as anything but a courtesy. You must be playing with me, for could you bear to leave the sea? And even if you could, would Bitterleaf let you go when so much is still to be done?"rejam just poking this thread ' v'
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