For better or worse things were quiet on the southern borders of the pride lands. No guests had come calling that late afternoon or into the evening. No thick scents yet clung to the bare trees and foliage. It was just stillness as far as the eye could see and ear could hear. Aquila could almost feel at peace. For a second he did. By all he knew it was him and the thin fresh layer of late winter snow below his paw pads. A chill in the air rolled through his mane and brought the scent of pine to his nose which he inhaled deeply. Then back on the patrol he went...

@Erna

+5 Spy on a non-group thread without getting caught (1/2) +5 Study the landscape of an area +5 Learn the extent of a pride’s border The Brook pride was the singular place she was somewhat familiar with aside from the Tundra, where her family has settled. Up until her battle with the Sigrun woman, the details of this so-called "pride challenge" were clear. She remembered the path leading to Vermeda. Eulalia had given them clear orders at their family meeting and the bob-tailed cat was going to use this opportunity to wash away the humiliation she had brought upon herself by revealing their presence. The Rike Jarl had made an example of Sunniva, who had lost an eye in her own battle, but he hadn't lashed out at Erna. Her mangled, now bad, foot was her punishment, along with Odhgrimm and the Jarl's stern words and stares. The dark brown woman was thankful that the meeting ended quickly, fearing that Eulalia or her half-brother would change their mind and end her life on the spot. She had kept her tongue behind her teeth, staying as low as possible, all the while fear was consuming her entirely. Eulalia was right. She was thankful that they let her live. I need to do better. No, she thought, slipping past the mountains. I will do better.If death came, then she will do everything to die on the battlefield. Preferably with a Sigrun's metallic taste on her tongue. She made sure to slip unnoticed, taking a long whiff of the Brook's scent markers. They carried the information of a man. Stalking further along the border, she used the large moss and snow-coated rocks as a way to shield her from any prying eyes. There was a lot at stake here and she couldn't allow herself a single error. Erna is hidden @Aquila

His own thoughts often drifted back to that day of the pride challenge where he and his family suffered their own set backs. In the end, for reasons he couldn't fathom and seemed more veiled than Maua's, they had returned but the damage was done still. Aquila paused at a tree to brush himself against it, pressing his thick shoulder to the bark and leaving a trace of his scent there. Bronze fur clung and caught in some of the bark as he pulled away and kept walking. His attention shifted between alert and focused on a day dream. He couldn't shake the fears and thoughts of his home being invaded, of lions slipping past this line he was drawing. It was consuming. Heavily Aquila breathed out a sigh, a plume of a hot breath rolled up out of the sides of his lips and into the sky. He marches on, his path cutting outwards where the border was growing weaker to tactically place a few more scent markers there on the trees and rocks.

+5 Spy on a non-group thread without getting caught (2/2) +5 Study the landscape of an area (1/2) +5 Learn the extent of a pride’s border The distant bronze silhouette of a lion emerged before Erna and she slipped closer, using the shadows of the large rocks and the winds to her advantage. Each light step was carefully calculated and without much trouble, she managed to sneak close enough. The older man was walking and stopping from time to time to rib himself against a tree or a rock. Her eyes narrowed in on him, memorizing his appearance deliberately. It was not difficult to put two and two to figure out that he must be patrolling and maintaining his scent markers, which led her to the assumption that he was the new ruler of this land. At one point his scent wafted past her nose and solidified her guess. The Rike knew little of what happened after the battle ended. They were in the know about the challenger disappearing, but not who picked up the crown after that. She felt her heart race with excitement - she was certainly going to be awarded for this golden piece of information! She kept her gaze trained on @Aquila, but also on her surroundings. The territory was good, had plenty of places to hide. The large boulder-like rocks were working to her advantage and so were the trees that grew sparsely across the landscape. There was more snow than the rest of the valley, considering how close to the north the Brook was. It was almost perfectly situated nearby the Rike hideout. While Vermeda was not Sigrun ruled, they seemed to hold some sentiment about it. Perhaps they were an ally, who knew? She would have to try and discover more information about that later. Erna is hidden

He moved into an area that was thin of his scent and marked along a few rocks and trees. It was a bit more frequent than normal as Aquila tried to hold tight to these borders as if it would be safer because it stank of him. In the quiet a crow cawed in the tree overhead and then took off north east towards the tundra. He followed it's path for a bit, slightly into the pride lands itself but not more than a few minutes walk over the border. He was not yet done on the patrol but he seemed a bit agitated, his brows creased as he grumbled some deep rumbling growls.

After a stretch of walking Aquila paused for slightly longer than any of his previous stops. He did not seem to be actively doing any of his routine endeavors on this patrol in those moments. His eyes were drifting along the horizon to his side, scanning the side of the land that led away from his home for movements. Occasionally his gaze would make it's way around to Erna's current hiding place but without movement there was nothing to see that would alert him to her presence. He could have sworn he felt that telling tickle down his spine of eyes, of not being alone. But he's felt that on every patrol he's gone on. He's been expecting it each and every time he's come out this way. Trouble was over the horizon every day so this feeling was no different. For all he knew today would result in the same thing - a peak of paranoia and then a night of unknowing and worry in his den alone.

+5 Spy on a non-group thread without getting caught (2/2) +5 Study the landscape of an area (2/2) +5 Learn the extent of a pride’s border While hiding, the Rike spy found a few thin crevices in the moss-covered boulders. They were thin enough for her to slip through and perhaps a man of her size, and the thick-furred feline burned them in her memory. If @Aquila was smart enough, he most likely knew the existence of those hidden back-ends and would be prepared for anyone's arrival through them. Perhaps they were deliberately blocked off, but she couldn't know for sure. Maybe another day she will sneak in through one of them and see where they led. The cawing of a crown made the cat's pierced ears twitch. She halted when the burly bronze man changed his course to follow the bird. It seemed like Erna was born of the shadows, her dark brown pelt giving her a huge advantage during such missions. She didn't dare to step past the border and instead kept her eyes trained on the High Sovereign. He had paused his patrolling, halting all movement and staring what seemed suspiciously towards the outside. The bob-tailed Rike froze in her spot, her heart picking up pace as it drummed against her chest. Aquila's gaze brushed past her location multiple times, and every time she tried to take slower breaths and calm her frantic mind. Look away, her violet eyes stared at him intensely, as if trying to hypnotize him and save herself from being discovered. Erna is hidden

He stared intently her way. Like maybe his silver eyes caught a flash of movement. His breathing was still, everything on him alert and in her direction...

And then he suddenly turned away. He began walking again but this time fastest with less intent to stop and scent mark. His mind was beginning to race and he looked down right agitated. He was by all accounts tired of this. Tired of feeling unsafe, looking for bogeymen under every rock around every corner. And finding nothing. The cycle of fear to numb nothing was exhausting. He couldn't keep it up... Not forever. He knew that. But if not him then who would?

He continued the fast paced walk, much less alert and now even more unaware of the trailing Rike.

+5 Spy on a non-group thread without getting caught (2/2)
+5 Study the landscape of an area (2/2)
+5 Learn the extent of a pride’s border (1/2)

Her wretched ear drummed against her ribcage as @Aquila peered towards her little corner. She didn't even dare to exhale, lest he might hear her and discover her location. Her mind began to knit plans for her escape until the bronze lion suddenly turned around and carried on his patrol.

She exhaled with relief, then continued to stalk after him, noting that he was no longer pausing to mark his borders. In fact, he was picking up the pace. Had he really noticed her? No, it can't be. If he had, he'd most likely be reaching for her neck already. She tried to calm her suspicious mind and focus on the task at hand.

The borders of Vermeda reached further than she had assumed. Erna had no prior knowledge of their length, but now she could see that they were stretching away from the Mountains and towards some forest and plains. What the Brook thought as protection by the mountains could very well be their demise, if the Rike's strength grew.

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He kept up with a quickened pace along this stretch of the borders, each breath taken was deep and full. Filled his lungs with the surrounding scents ahead of him. Cool, crisp Brook air. Nothing... nothing He repeated over and over in his head as he tried to exercise and push himself to a point where he could physically just lay down and feel tired, feel nothing. Seeing nothing out here did not calm his nerves like he hoped. It didn't usually. If it did give him peace it wasn't for all that long either...

The patrolling though was still essential, still needed to be done. He had this last stretch to get through today, maybe a few markers here and there carefully placed. The bronze lion was panting aloud now, his brief burst of activity and flurry of movement was winding down and he too looked about finished with what he was doing, turning to head deeper into the lands instead of walking near the fringes.

+5 Spy on a non-group thread without getting caught (2/2)
+5 Study the landscape of an area (2/2)
+5 Learn the extent of a pride’s border (2/2)

Erna took carefully measured breaths, her step was silent, masked perfectly by the winds that worked in her favor today. @Aquila kept on walking, and she kept on being his shadow. He no longer marked the borders. Aare of her surroundings, the Rike woman looked around. Vermeda's border ended where the fields began, pressing into some far Grove that her lavender eyes could spot from where she was.

Her ears twitched at the different birds flapping their wings and winds rustling in the tree crowns. Her assumption that Vermeda's border ended here was confirmed when the bronze male began to retreat back into his land. Keeping a trained eye on him, she slipped back towards the Mountains. Her heart fluttered at the idea of seeking out her Jarl as quickly as possible.

exit

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