She waited longer than she meant to, made hesitant by the deepening winter. As hospitable as she thought the Winter Queen might be to her needing to stay a night or more near her borders due to inclement weather, Carmine hadn’t wanted to impose, especially with Brighid’s claim so newly staked. The lioness and her kin needed time to settle, time to establish order, and the wolf was nothing if not patient.

Even so, there was a little skip to her step as she crossed the snowy landscape, climbing toward the peak where the initial challenge had taken place. Fresh snowfall covered any and all trace of the crowd that had gathered upon the border, turning it pristine and unblemished, Carmine’s tiny pawprints the only marks upon it at present. She didn’t bother to hide them, didn’t bother to hide her scent.

She didn’t need to hide today.

The scent marking the boundary of the Summit teased at her senses the closer she came to it, soft but fresh, still building upon itself but with a sturdy foundation. It made Carmine smile as she walked alongside it, assuring herself it remained consistent, unbroken; her friend needed a strong border. Satisfied that it was so, she paused and, with a little excited wave of her tail, she tipped her head back and called, raising her voice for the first time. Her quiet howl sounded muted against the snow, swallowed by the sky, but she hoped @Brighid ♔ would hear.

Congratulations were overdue.

+5 Explore the borders of a pride or group (1 of 2)

still it sends a shiver down her spine.

no matter how familiar that voice is (and how could she forget those soft brown eyes, set in a face that was uncharacteristically kind), brighid had only known the call of the wolf to speak of voracious hunger.

but this voice does not call for a hunt upon her lands. it does not reduce her to slathering fangs and wild, violent eyes.

instead, it incites a sudden movement in her paws as she powers across the snow drifts. brighid is eager to see the charming, delicate wolf, more surprised than anything that she had chosen to return here after witnessing the brutality of her ambition.

before long, she spots the creamy fur and red head of her friend (dare she say it). a polite smile and a delicately fanning tail. its fitting, she thinks, much different from the submissive body language that had been the beginning of their first encounter. brighid is still weary, the wounds along her neck and shoulder raw with heat, but they are better and she foregoes the stilt in her walk if only not to bring much worry or look vulnerable to the canine, or anyone else for that matter.

"@Carmine," she says as she approaches, offering a small dip of her crowned head. her body betrays her prejudice - carmine had proven everything she thought she knew wrong, and a purr laces her greeting, echoing around an otherwise glacial tone. "i hadn't expected to see you at the challenge," brighid pauses there along the border now, "i am glad you're well."

brighid did not expect her offer from before to be heeded, but it seemed that carmine had not needed her protection or regardless. she looks to be in one piece, unbroken by the wiles of lionkind and this wild country. "you are well, yes?"

her brow creases - just to make sure.

art by ryuu, code by javs

The cold seeped between her toes as she waited, but Carmine only shifted about in the snow, doing what she could to keep warmth in her legs. Thankfully her wait wasn’t long; she was so expectant of Brighid’s arrival that she spotted the lioness before she was too near, a cloudy-colored shape moving amidst the pristine white snow. The sight of her filled Carmine with equal measures of awe and pride. Carrying herself with strength, exuding power, she looked every bit the regal queen that the wolf considered her friend to be. She couldn’t be happier for her.

It was evident within her smile, the wave of her tail, as @Brighid ♔ greeted her, the excited little step forward she took closer to the lioness. She didn’t invade her space; far from it, she wasn’t near foolish enough to push her luck with canine greetings on a lioness she was still learning about. Their friendship was still so new, she hated the thought of blundering the opportunity before it could fully form. Her eyes brightened upon hearing that Brighid had noticed her at the challenge—so many had been in attendance, she hadn’t expected her presence to make any sort of impression, but it warmed her heart to hear it. “Of course I wasn’t going to miss it,” she answered with heavy assurance, knowing how important of a decision it had likely been, how satisfying it must be for her to wear the crown now.

And to think she’d had a front row seat to witness it all…

She tried not to shudder at the remembered violence, or stare too long at the still-healing wound on the Winter Queen’s shoulder.

Taking the offered question as a distraction, Carmine was happy to answer. “I am, yes. Very well, actually.” Perhaps it was simply being in the presence of someone who had had the courage to reach for a dream, and then subsequently achieve it in the same motion, that filled her with hope, with possibility in this strange, frightening land. It simmered in her veins, made it near impossible for her to feel fear in this moment, bolstering her against even her own destructive thoughts. “Though I had to come see you. There wasn’t time enough after the challenge to say so, but congratulations.” She let her brown eyes drift, taking in the frozen mountaintop around them in all its harsh, frigid beauty. “I knew as soon as I saw this place that it would suit you. I’m so glad you were able to make it home.”

with a shield for a heart and a sword for a tongue, brighid was often impenetrable. she brandished that sword unfalteringly, her shield polished and dented, the handle well worn. today, she finds them both slipping from between her fingers as the wolf bounds closer, happy to see her. it is a feeling that forms rocks in her throat, broken and grated by the rattle of a deep, throaty purr.

she wonders what the lions of her homeland would think to see her associating with a wolf.

if she were anywhere else, the woman would have glanced over her shoulder, spoken in hushed whispers to keep their meeting in secret.

but there is no need for that.

i wasn't going to miss it, @Carmine had said, and brighid realizes that there was another who she had once loved that had not shown their face. she had not seen them since her departure from the desert. she realizes now that there are some bonds even greater than ties of blood and pinky promises.

"thank you," it is easy to listen to the wolf. there's a casualty to her that is relieving. even if only for a moment, brighid can ignore the scathing hiss of her wound and the toil of new leadership. "it is different but so alike to the everfrost," the snow and ice would forever be her first love. "the previous ruling family had been here for many seasons and i swore that i would see it safe." she looks up to the wafting flurries before back to her companion, "it is good to have purpose." an admission that she had not been able to utter since her arrival to amaryllis. for once in a long time, brighid felt useful.

its so strange that she would find such comfort in a canine.

"was it unusual to see?" queen brighid asks as an afterthought, wondering what it must have been like from the eyes of another species to witness some of the harrowing brutality of lion culture. surely, wolves must have their own arrangement for their savage packs - no, brighid corrects herself: they were not all that way.

"you've settled somewhere." its more of a statement than a question, sparing carmine another once over. "you appear well fed." a joke? with a face of stone and lips of ice that chip slightly at the corners in a brief simper.

art by ryuu, code by javs

It is good to have purpose.

@Brighid ♔’s words rolled around in Carmine’s mind as she nodded her head in consideration, feeling their thrumming chord resonate with something inside of her. Purpose. She’d almost had that once—had, actually, before her entire world had fallen apart and her place in it had been redefined. It had frightened her, her entire life’s trajectory thrown off course, and yet it was no less true after she’d run away from it. She was here now, floundering and seeking a new purpose, trying to find it in those around her. Thinking of those worrisome canine faces, the little wolf hoped she could be half the brave, stalwart leader that Brighid was for them.

Her thoughts of admiration and aspiration came to a sudden stop when her opinion of the fight was requested, and she couldn’t help the look of surprise that swept over her red-masked face. How much did she divulge? Would it offend the Winter Queen to hear that Carmine had been worried for her, frightened by the ferocity and violence each combatant had exuded while in the throes of trying to defend and claim this territory beneath their feet?

That discomfort resurfaced despite her efforts to keep it at bay, and she rolled her shoulder in an effort to push it back, drawing her features into an uncomfortable smile. “It was certainly enlightening,” she admitted, assuming there was no harm in saying it. “You both fought so strongly…it was as terrifying as it was inspiring.” Seeking at least a little bit of levity, her smile became more earnest as she tried to inject a small bit of humor into the subject, “Remind me not to anger you.”

She wasn’t the only one with jokes, although hers were perhaps a little more overt. Brighid’s almost went unnoticed, were it not for the vague impression of a smile that barely touched her lips, that added a touch of light to her pale eyes. Carmine’s face brightened with amusement as she stifled a chuckle, allowing only an airy breath to escape. “I have, in a manner of speaking. It’s not a permanent arrangement yet, but I’ve been staying on the mountain in the center of the island, where we met.” She’d grown quite attached to it actually, even if the forest to the north of it still reminded her most of home. “Though I’m not sure I’ll be staying there much longer…”

For a second, the wolf hesitated, a nervous look briefly entering her golden brown eyes. She was well aware of the Winter Queen’s opinion of wolves as a whole, knew that their friendship was an anomaly, an outlier, possible only because of their respective temperaments. Would she feel negatively to knowing more wolves had moved into Amaryllis? That there might actually be enough of them to form a legitimate pack somewhere upon the island? As much as she wanted to spare Brighid any worry, Carmine hated the thought of keeping such news from her—especially when it meant so much to herself. “I found more wolves,” she stated quietly, timidly, a brief, hopeful smile fluttering over her muzzle before it fell away just as quickly, replaced by a searching worry.

Hopefully it wasn’t the wrong thing to say.