Sacred Appearance

Stars twinkled feverishly beside their Goddess. Her fullness spreading wide. Gaze bright above all that rested below. Except, something continuously shielded her away from sight. A drifting overcast of clouds taking their place. Scent of rain growing heavy in the air. It did not stop the moon from displaying her beauty, though. Oh no. In this twilight, something needed her.

Hidden away in the bones of an old bull elk rested a sleeping pup. His body twitching occasionally in slumber. Paws tucked away beneath him for warmth. Ears flattened against his head as no sign of awakening shown clear.

Wapiti didn’t know that he’d been… moved. The tiredness of his body from running away had did nothing but weaken him. Hunger clawed at his body. Thirst stung at the back of a dry throat. Yet, he did not move. Choosing to sleep instead.

Dark colorations of elk browns and midnight sky blacks created such a coat for Wapiti. And, much like the herd, his tail was stubbed by several inches. Stopping just short of his knees. A thing that barely gave him any comfort if he’d wish to cover his entire body.

Here, he continuously slept. Protected by the rib cage of his den.
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He'd been on patrol, scouring the borders of the territory for any signs of intrusion. So far, it all looked good. No intruders or anyone to be concerned about. Perhaps now he should head back into the territory proper to hunt or see what someone else was up to.

Maybe he could see if Archon had come back.

He turned, heading back and stopping when he scented something new. A wolf deep within their territory. It sent his hackles bristling and his tail raising aggressively. He let out a call, as close to a wolf's howl as he could get with his bugling call. Head high, sounding the alarm. A bit overzealous but he was desperate to prove that he was an asset and not jusy divine because of WHAT he was but WHO he was.

So, he took off after the smell. Fearless. Ready... And... Oh...

It was a pup.

Older than Celnes' litter but still young. Oops. He calmed himself, smoothing his coat and lowering his tail as he tried to approach the abd sheltering in the skeleton.

"Um, hey! Can you tell me who you are?" Hopefully his aggressive approach hadn't scared the young creature.
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Wapiti stirred. Something or someone disturbing him. As his lips parted with a yawn, legs stretched away to loosen up the tightness held there. He didn’t know how long he had been sleep. However, the moment his eyes opened, the images before him seemed… off.

There was a deer. Peering through the bones of the old elk. The pup could do nothing but stare. A slight tilt of his head in wonderment of whom the creature could be. So, when it spoke, asking of his name, Wapi simply gave him a small sleepy grin. Tail lightly thumping the ground.
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 Whelp... maybe the pup couldn't talk at this point. Too young? Maybe. He didn't know much about pups. He longed for @Teodora's insight and knowledge in such matters but didn't know if she'd heard the call. He wasn't sure if anyone had heard the call, so it meant that he had to deal with this all himself. First thing's first, getting the pup out of there so he could have a proper look. Then, perhaps, he should find the queen and let her decide if they should take care of the little guy.

 Hawking stepped closer to the happy wolf, lowering his head so that he could peer more closely into the elk's bones. He wondered if they'd see this as a sort of omen, and resolved to tell the others exactly how he'd come upon the boy. Would he be seen as sacred? "Come on, come out of there!" He called out, hopefully in a kind enough voice that the pup would remain in good spirits and stay happy with him. "We've gotta get you to the queen!" He tried to lift some of the bones away with his mouth, to free up more room for the pup to come out to him.

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”Queen?” Wapi spoke this word with curiosity. Never had he heard of such a thing. His mother never spoke of it. Neither did his father. The word was very foreign to him, but he chose to listen. Waiting patiently for the deer to lift the Elk carcass from a top of him. Or, whatever he could to release him from such an imprisonment.

Though, honestly, he didn’t really want to move. The bones provided him a comfortable safety from others. Even if the hunger plaguing his belly into a loud rumble told him otherwise.
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 Oh! So the boy could speak. Although, perhaps he was just interested in certain things... could he only understand certain things, then? Maybe he should keep his sentences short. "Ah, yes! The... the queen. She is the leader. Of this pack." Was that in small enough chunks for the little lad to understand? "Elkshire."

 He tried to shift the bones so that the boy could move... but it didn't seem as if he would want to do it himself. Hawking was about to reach forward to grab him when he heard the rumbling of the child's gut. "Ah! You're hungry? You want food?" Maybe, he should get the pup settled in first and then feed him and then go take him to Celnes. That seemed like a good series of events. "Alright, c'mere!" He would try to snake his long neck forward so that he could try to grab the pup while leveraging his shoulder against the bone-prison. He hoped to grab the boy and pull him carefully out of the carcass and out onto the open ground.

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His body was easily removed from the shelter of bones. Now once fighting as his scruff was taken into the deers teeth and pulled. Wapiti felt no fear. No need to run or fight off the creature. If anything, the feeling of bowing to the creature surged through him. ”May I meet her?” The thought of meeting a queen bypassed the need to eat. It sounded too interesting.

”Eating can wait. I wish to meet the Queen.” From the sound of the deer’s words, this deemed far more important and the faster it happened, the faster he would be able to eat. Right? It didn’t sit well with him to feast on anything that did not belong to Wapi. ”Lead the way.”
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 He pulled the babe from his skeleton-cocoon and out into the open air. He was about to tell the child to stay put, that he'd grab him something to munch on when the pup surprised him. He could speak full sentences. What? The yearling stared at the child, blinking in disbelief. "Um, y-yeah... you can." Well, now he felt stupid for not realizing.

 "Come with me." He would then lead the pup towards Celnes' den, hoping that she would be there. While en route he lifted his head to give that whistling call to let her know that he was on his way.

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Celnes was already on the prowl, roaming the crown as a usual stroll and a regular patrol of so. She wasn't one much to completely go on the borders and mark diligently, but she made her own rounds within her own pace — an enjoyment for the scenery and the sounds of nature itself. Within the distance the bleating sound of Hawking, all too familiar for he tried to mimic that of a wolf. It was amusing, to say the least, for a deer to be so wolven that he would howl ; and she returned it so, saying she was near.

She was about halfway through the forest, and would be finding him soon. Though she smelled him.. And another unfamiliar.

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Wapiti kept a careful pace. Though he was just a mere pup of four months, something within him felt much older.

It had been that way since he was born. The first of his liter to speak. A month passed and he was able to talk in full sentences. His parents did not and could not understand the reason. But they loved him nonetheless

His stride was even. Looking every so often at the large deer who guided him through the foreign lands. Until a returning howl met his ears. Was that… the queen?
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 He'd grown up with wolves, learned their language, and the meanings behind the howls. So, when he heard Celnes' voice on the wind; he knew exactly what the words were that were implied in the noise. He turned towards the sound, looking back once to make sure that the boy was still following him.

 "She's not far away now." The stag assured the boy, not that he really needed to. The pup kept up very well. He looked confident in his strides even. The stag turned his head back towards the path ahead, ears pricking to pick up the sound of Celnes. He wasn't too long in finding her, breaking through the undergrowth the the brown monarch.

 "Queen Celnes."He dipped his head, velvetted antlers sweeping low. "I found this pup while out on patrol." He stepped to the side, showing off his young charge. He turned his head to look at the youngster. "He was within the bones of an elk... like he appeared there." Or that was his best assessment so strange yet he was sure that the religious woman would find some meaning in that.

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As she approached, Hawking came and was not alone. At his heels was someone very young ; she could feel a light headache forming but remained with a poker-face of a smile. The crown seemed to have a strange liking to enticing people to wake up in the midst of the forest, and certaintly a few children have likewise arrived. Any other time a shrug may have given with the love of acceptance, but already there was more then a few roaming around. She, personally didn't have time to attend to another. The Queen though already tossed her own to others, maybe someone did likewise to this one.

She approached the child, smiling at him and then sniffing him lightly — he was found within elk bones but didn't smell like any, or any cause of death around. There wasn't even a scent of others besides Hawking around, "not an unfamiliar phenomenon in this forest.. But did you notice anything like parents around?"

She preferred not to have vengeful ones coming forth looking for a stolen kin.

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Their journey ended quite too quickly for his liking. Having found himself gazing over the area with a silent liking. The area here felt… different. Far different than he’d been born in. For a short moment, he opened his mouth to speak something of significance about the deer’s home. But was soon cut off by the presence of another.

Just like his own, her strides were confident. These were her lands and she knew such that.

Wapiti turned an ear to the speaking deer. Clearly informing the Queen of how they’d met and her question of his parents caused him to shake his head. ”No need. My parents are most likely dead.”
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 He was about to open his mouth to answer the matriarch with a "no" but the child answered before he did. Saying quite matter-of-factly that his parents were likely dead. That was unexpected... shouldn't he be more... emotional? The young stag didn't know what to make of it and his gaze went from the child to the queen, quite confused and uncertain how to proceed. Should he search anyway for the parents? There had been no scent at all. "I... didn't notice anything. No." He spoke to backup what the child had said. "I can go check again, if you want."

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"How unfortunate." She looked at the child with a pity, who seemed so quick to throw out of their dead parents. It seemed like a disconnect of sorts with the lackluster responds, or maybe it was just they did not remember at all. Nonetheless now a wandering soul in the land that found his way to Hawking, where Celnes gazed back to him and smiled lightly, before down to the child.

"You are welcome to stay within Elkshire, small one — as Hawking found you," she had bent lightly downwards to look at the other, a gaze of sorts of a moment of silence.. Observing. They were of tolerable colors, and she rose so, "perhaps you can be his caretaker?" she then said toward the deer guard.

"We have many small mouths to feed, I would hope you would be prepared for a bit more work." Her own, her still young and another to the mix? Celnes couldn't show such a cruel front even if she wanted to throw the child to the lamb to the slaughter, maybe be even more inkling too of doing so if not for the more favorable colors. Alas, to play cards right was to win the favor of all and appear of the upmost kindness. At the very least, the Queen would push the work of more hunting onto him, a deer.

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Wapiti listened intensively to the Queen. Her words collected. Spoken without a missed beat. She’d accepted him. Given to the deer to be his caretaker. As she brought up the subject of other mouths, his attention sparked for a moment. Gaze forever watchful. Staring the second she lowered to observe him.

What was she looking for?

He said nothing. Only listened. It was not his place to speak… yet. Though he did not miss the look that casted a shadow over her features. Wapiti gave a tilt of his head. Then a a nod. ”I can assure you. I am of no trouble.” He fell quiet once more. Peering to the deer with a questionable expression.
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 And the queen would surprise him. Heaping responsibilities on his shoulders. Perhaps a lesser wolf might have balked at the responsibility... but he? He would not. He would take it by the antlers with pride and allow himself to be the one that helped him out. "I can hunt for him and keep him fed." And then he realized something with a single wag of his tail. "I can teach him to hunt too! If you don't already know?" That question directed to the youngster in question. He felt like a big brother or a mentor! What a different feeling that was.

 He was always eager to please and to show that he was just as capable as the wolves. He was not offended in the least to be offered more of that opportunity.

 "I'm happy to take you in and teach you what I know." He promised with a nod of his head, trying to show none of the excitement that he truly felt. "I can show you where I sleep and you can stay there too." He would look at Celnes first, a question in his gaze. Was that all? Or should they linger longer for more duties?

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Hawking was quite strange. He was more then willing to hunt prey, often using his hooves and antlers to his advantage ; and knew well that the young child would hunt well under his teachings. .. Somewhat, anyway. Celnes was more curious how it would turn about, for a deer raised by wolves, and a wolf raised by a deer? Such small experiments and room of sacrifice, she was waiting for those results.

"Tell him of our rules and customs while showing him around. Feel free to call me if need anything in particular." And she would wave them off to enjoy more moments of learning of Elkshire. Hawking seemed to have it handled, and more then willing to let the child have some moments to get accustomed to their group..

And she too would be on her way.

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