Goldsand Beach~Harvest Festival

Tern brought his now full hand to his mouth and let all four flowers go in at once. His eyes widened at the immediate sweetness. “These are really good!” he said, his words a little muffled from the flowers. He waved and smiled his thanks to Brooksong as she left, it being more convenient than speaking around a mouthful.

As he let the sweet flavour sink into his taste buds, he listened to Ridge while braiding more of the strand. He wished that he could reassure the wolf-elf in his insecurities, but knew that it may seem false as he had never actually seen Ridge at work.

Ridge’s next question startled Tern to a point where he almost wasn’t able to conceal his sudden swallowing of one of the flowers. The elf hadn’t thought about lovemates in many years, much less thought about what it was like to have one. Quickly, Tern chewed the remaining flowers and swallowed, motioning to Ridge that he was doing so. This allowed him some time for thought, but not much.

Tern furrowed his brow once his mouth was clear, wondering how to begin. Finally, he took a breath and spoke. “Long ago, when I was very young, I took many lovemates, and often. It was a source of great entertainment and pleasure for me, an elfin lad barely older than a pip. But, as I aged, my numerous lovemates thinned and I was eventually left with only one,” he smiled at this, another natural smile provoked by the memory of a left-behind past, “This was different than the pleasure-seeking I had done in my younger years.

“To have a lovemate physically is sweet, like the star-flower, but to have one emotionally is to almost be the flower itself. As a youth I tasted the sweetness of a lovemate, but when I was devoted to one that I truly loved (on multiple levels) who was both friend and lover, I came closer to actually knowing it. It’s like layers; the taste being the outermost and the achievement of being the flower the innermost-” He was about to go off on another tangent when he realized he was rambling. He knew he hadn’t really helped at all and gave a defeated “it’s hard to explain” before continuing the strand, which he had stopped weaving, having been so caught up in his words.

Ridge sat silently for a long moment. It was hard for him to exactly understand what it was to have a love mate and the analogy of the star-flower. How was it an achievement to have a lovemate? What was the sweetness of it? He'd never gone pleasure-seeking either, so it was hard for him to even grasp. He had friends, close ones at that, but he couldn't think of what it was to love someone in that sense. He loved his parents, his tribe, friends, and cubs he looked after; but a devoted, unwavering love? Ridge frowned as he thought about it. It was something like with his parents where they were devoted and very much in love, but still...

Ridge finished chewing on the flower and swallowed it, still frowning at his hands. He could understand the devotion through his friendships with those such as Stormcloud and his devotion to the cubs, he supposed. But intense love or someone. It was mind boggling.

Ridge glanced curiously up at Tern, suddenly wary. "What happened to your lovemate?" He asked carefully. It sounded like Tern had been deeply in love with them. What could have happened? Were they dead? had they recognized? Or perhaps just moved on as many lovemates did?

Brooksong waved farewell to Ridge and Tern, taking her exit on the now to grown up for her conversation. 'Cubs and lovemates, I hope Ridge finds someone to make him happy.' she thought to herself.

She walked up to the tables of various foods. She was unsure of what to try. Some things looked tasty but had a strong scent, others were interesting looking and sometimes looked back. She saw the stew Tidemist had eaten judging by the same scent the came from the pot. “So many choices, what should I try first?” she wondered aloud.

"I would be honored to share that memory", Snaketwist answered to Sunsong. "It is very difficult for me to imagine a thing like that without assistance."

They had arrived at the food tables. The aromas of the food still lured him with their delicious smells, both familiar from his own tribe's cooking to the more subtle hints from the fresh produce from the forest. He could smell fish of all kinds, both raw and cooked in various ways, and a richness of berries and coconuts. But for now, he was more interested in the secret of snow.

He was surprised when he heard Tidemist's voice right behind him. He turned to face the chieftess, and was suddenly at a loss of words, a situation that was common to him in her company.

And then there came the sending. Snaketwist was immersed into the vivid and strange sensations of the memory. It was like nothing he had ever felt before. He made sure to memorize all the details. "Thank you... er, I forgot to ask your name...?" He said to Sunsong. "That was a very interesting sharing. Thank your sire for me also."


--

Stormcloud smiled. "I shall ask Tidemist when I see her." She decided. "And yes, I plan to do both. Dancing, certainly, and also the knife throwing. I am quite good at that. These are my 'lightnings'." She gestured at her four throwing daggers made of brightmetal. Two were on either side of her belt and the other two strapped around her thighs. She grinned. "I am not called Stormcloud just for my hair color."

"I will dance with you, if no-one else does." She announced suddenly to Kaimeta, surprising even herself with her boldness.

At first confused by Ridge’s hesitance, Tern soon realized the cause. He let out a knowing laugh before he replied. “She is alive and well, and remains a close friend of mine,” he said, no hint of regret, “I just came to a point where I wanted to spend my loving devotion on my lifemate. It was… different at first. But eventually that passed. She is recognized now, but not to my jealousy; we do not share that kind of love anymore.”

He glanced down at the flower braid in his hand and held it up for Ridge to see, “Just a few more flowers and it should be long enough for the chieftess,” he declared triumphantly.

Ridge looked up at Tern in surprise when he stated that she was alive and well. "Do... do you have a lifemate?" He asked curiously. He felt as though he were imposing, but he really wanted to know. To give up someone you love deeply in the hopes of gaining a lifemate one day... It must have been very hard for Tern to do.

Ridge smiled weakly at Tern's comment of the flower chain being long enough for Tidemist. He looked over his shoulder, at Kaimeta and the Stormcloud. He was glad to see that his friend had arrived, but thoughts of Tern's actions filled his mind. Even though the sea-elf and his former lovemate were still friends, it was a sad thought that they'd separated.

“Not technically,” Tern confessed, “But she’s out there,” he added wistfully, eyes growing distant. He retrieved another flower from the netting and weaved it in, almost without thought. After it was fully incorporated, he looked further up the strand, referencing the pattern. Pulling out the coloured flower that was supposed to follow the one he had just added, Tern began braiding once more.

“But when she comes,” he finally spoke, still focusing on the braid, “I will be wholly hers… Not that I’m not already.” Finishing the strand and knotting it at the end, he turned to Ridge, his familiar joviality returning. “Perhaps she is here right now,” he looked around them, making a show of it, “Maybe we will both recognize tonight. Which means we best be ready.” Tern chose a crown from the pile of jewelry and placed it on Ridge’s head, not bothering to ask if the elf wanted it.

Tidemist nearly dropped the food she was holding when the sending hit her. She gasped softly, clutching the bowl tightly and shivered, despite the warm sun pouring on her. It was as if the ice were in her lungs, taking up the space air should have taken, for a brief few heartbeats where was only white in front of her eyes. Then it was over and she shivered again, feeling as if she could never soak enough sun into her bones.

"H-High ones!" she chattered, still shivering despite herself. "How could anyone survive something like that?! That's worst than any Weaksun season we've had on the coast!" She shook herself, ladling some more food into her bowl and wandering away to find the brightest spot of sun and perhaps a nice hot rock to sit on and fill her stomach with the food. Food always warmed the blood.

Ridge listened to Tern with a curious expression on his face. He smiled slightly at Tern's show of looking around. "Maybe she is here," he said laughing lightly. "A festival would be an ideal place to recognize someone."

Ridge laughed as Tern put a crown a flowers on his head. "Are you going to give that one to Tidemist?" He asked gesturing to the chain of flowers Tern had completed.

Kai turned when Tidemist uttered a common curse for elves. With a smile she sent, *Yes Tide?* and looked over at her friend knowing that she would find it some what funny, or so she hopped.

"Stromcloud my friend, I have other business to tend to but I shall love a dance later this evening." She smiled and laid a hand on her small friend's shoulder. "Happy day to you." She said and started off towards the food tables.

She quietly walked behind the wolf elf, Brooksong. She leaned over the girl's shoulder. "I recommend the mussels in broth. They are just divine." Kai spoke softly next to her ear.

“Any place would be an ideal place to recognize someone,” Tern corrected with a wink, though he was half serious, “But festivals are good because they bring everyone together. How would you choose to recognize? If you actually could choose?” He asked, wondering if the younger elf had thought about it as much as he had.

He searched for the chieftess among the crowd, looking first at the food tables and feeling satisfied that he’d found her. “I suppose I must,” Tern replied, “But she seems a little busy… Do you think we should wait?” He watched Tidemist as she spoke with his cousin and the golden furred wolf-elf. He noticed her give a strange reaction to something, and wondered what had startled her so.

He'd seen her walking up to him, of course, her body language was entrancing and sleek. She was clearly a huntress, clearly apt to observe - but unlike his own penchant for mulling things over, it looked as though her own observations quickly added up.

The much shorter wolf tribe girl introduced herself, and Coral smiled. Her own grey eyes reminded him of the color of the sea when the clouds crossed it.

"I'm Coral, I am enjoying it quite a bit, actually. Have you had any of these little shrimp?" He nodded toward the closest bowl which happened to be filled with tiny shrimp that had turned the same color as their pinkish bowl once they'd been cooked.

Coral's voice was quite deep, a bit gritty. Maybe it was because he spent so much time below the surface?

He tilted his head, the 'tendrils' of his hair now starting to dry out and ... well, get that frizzy uncontrolled look which was why he liked keeping them wet and tied up.

"... Coral, it's what I shape." He smiled, he would get to show off! Nodding toward the bowl that held the little 'popcorn' shrimp, he said, "I shaped that with my magic - let's... see..."

Coral glanced around, and spotted a broken bit of unshaped, somewhat older coral that had been washed up maybe a full moon prior. Though the beach was well patrolled, there was always some clump of sea weed or a washed up shell to be moved around with the tide.

He picked up the piece of faintly-yellow colored coral. "This," he indicated, "is found in the reef down under the surface. In great quantities, in fact." It was a simple, but slightly jagged, piece of broken coral when he'd picked it up. However, before her eyes and anyone else who was watching, it transformed itself into a more or less straight rod, with no stray pips or bulges. It was faintly pitted. As he looked at it, Coral smiled again more to himself than anyone else. With a little more of a nudge, those pits on one side grew deeper, and the ends smoother. Another small hole near one end, and...

He presented the aptly named elf with the small still-magically-'warm' whistle.

"I shape it, ... kind of all the time, really." His grin turned to an introspective smirk.

"If I could choose where to recognize," Ridge said slowly, calling to mind the scene he'd played out in his head any times since learning his soulname. "It would be in a glade not far from Holt. I came across it accidentally when I was hunting a longtime ago."

*I can't even being to describe it,* Ridge sent. He closed his eyes calling to mind the sheltered glade and lock-sent it to Tern. The glade was small and surrounded by towering trees. The image in which he sent the sea-elf was from the late afternoon and golden bars of sunlight fell across the grass. Wildflowers bowing their heads in the light breeze and the sound of an unseen creek chattered somewhere nearby.

Ridge blinked against the harsh light after the memory of the glade. The coolness of the forest called to him and, if he didn't resist it, he would have been happy to be swept up in the Now of the wolf and gladly return to trees and the cool shade they offered.

"What about you?" He asked. He imagined recognizing in a hidden forst glade, so where would a sea-elf imagine recognizing?

"If she's busy that it can wait a little while," Ridge told Tern. He wouldn't have admitted it out loud, but he was curious about the sea-elf and didn't want to have their conversation disrupted yet when there was so much he could learn from the other. Besides, he was enjoying his time in the blazing sunshine with the noise of happy elves all around them. Before long, they would go their separate ways and the Now of the wolfsong would sweep over Ridge and snatch away the memories of this even he wasn't careful. He wanted it to last as long as it could.

--

Serpent Fang watched the elves of both tribes milling together and acting as though they were one rather than two vastly different tribes. He curled his lip with distaste. However, he couldn't deny that he wanted to have some part of this. He rose with reluctance, tossing his head before he walked warily towards the festivities. He circled for a while before taking the first step into the crowd. He ducked his head and made his way to the food. He wasn't keen on communicating with anyone, but he did enjoy the company of others even if he would never admit it.

Tidemist paused in her eatting, starting to feel really warm again, when a sending reached her. Recognizing the mind touch, she turned her head and rolled her eyes lightly at the much older elf. *Not you, Kaimeta. I just got a sending about...ugh...snow...* She shuddered again, the distaste in her mind's voice. Oh yes, she would most surely spend the rest of her life hating the idea of snow. She finished her food, feeling suitably full and returned the bowl to the cooks again. She sighed contently, giving her stomach a light rub. A good feed always made for good spirits, and the atmosphere couldn't hurt at all either.

Then she noticed Coral and Stormcloud. She tilted her head mildly then gave a smirk Kaimeta would be proud of, and had most likely taught her. She quickly ran to the edge of the ocean, concentrating hard. She motioned with her hands, biting her bottom lip as the water hesitantly rose to her hands, forming a smallish ball shape. Controlling her elation at this success, she swiftly floated in the air. She glided so often, it was second nature now, and thus she could focus on the water between her hands as she floated above Coral. She took careful aim then let go of the water, grinning as she watched it splash over the male coral shaper, with maybe a few drops on the WolfFolk maiden. "You were looking a bit dry there my friend." She couldn't keep the mirth out of her voice.

OOC:

He was busy concentrating, that was all. Was it something familiar that danced overhead? Just a bird, stray cloud perhaps...

Nope.

No, it was their ever-so-dignified, completely on the level chieftess Tidemist. Aaaand, water.

To be fair, most of the water got on him, and very little anywhere else or on the food nearby. Coral's hand was still in mid-stretch with the almost-dry shaped flute extended toward Stormcloud. He just... stood there for a moment, and then tried to stifle the laugh that came to his throat but just couldn't. His hair at least appreciated the refreshment, dropping down to his shoulders as though he'd just surfaced.

"Urchin spines, chieftess, we've got guests!" He said, between chuckles.

Tern felt a wash of calm come over him at the sight of the glade. He tried to take it all in before the image, with its scents and sounds, disappeared. It was beautiful. He almost found himself wanting to see it for real, but he knew he could never live in the forest. How could he live in a place with no open space?

“That’s beautiful,” Tern breathed, “I can see why you would want it to be there. As for me, I wouldn’t care where it was,” he said, guilty that he couldn’t give a sending of a certain place. He continued, hoping to give a little better of an answer, seeing as Ridge had given such a great one, “Somewhere private, I suppose. And quiet. But then again, it would be exciting to have it in an unexpected, dangerous place.” His eyes glinted with adventure. He seemed conflicted, both romance and excitement fighting for a higher standing in his heart.

Ridge nodded in agreement. There was an allure to finding the one you'd recognize in the middle of a danger filled battle. The fire of battle racing through your veins, blood singing in your ears, the knowledge that it could all end in a moment, but then you see her in the fray. Wild and fierce yet elegant and beautiful. It sounded exciting to Ridge, but he knew it would never happen for him that way. He was a cub-minder after all and the most excitement he saw was the rare hunt. Besides, he knew he wouldn't want it to happen that way; he much preferred the quiet life of tending the cubs and curing leathers.

"Is it true that you can recognize more than once?" Ridge asked. He'd heard hearsay that it was possible to recognize multiple times, but he didn't know if he believed it or not. Also, did cubs only come from the joining of recognition. That was something else he'd never been sure of either. Few mates had more than one cub and it was something he'd never had the courage to ask one of the elders about.

Tern nodded easily, “Yes. Every once in a while, a couple will recognize again, resulting in another pip. I have never seen anyone recognize two different elves, though,” he said, eyebrows knitted at this thought. Was it possible? Elves had formed three-matings before, but only one pair was recognized. “I don’t know if it’s possible,” he confessed. “Have no one in your tribe had more than one pip?”

Maybe wolf-blooded elves were different and only ever recognized once. Then, an interesting thought came to Tern. What if they just had all their pips with one recognition, like some animals did? There were occasionally twins in the sea-elves, but a whole litter? A look of horror sprouted onto his face at the idea of a she-elf heavy with six pips. What kind of work did that take?

"Sometimes there's more than one cub," Ridge said, "but it's not often from what I've seen. Usually there's only one cub per lifemate pair. Sometimes there are cubs born from lovemates, but, again, not often."

Ridge looked curiously at Tern. He wondered about how it was with the sea-elves. There had been a couple of times where the WolfFolk ended up with cubs that were siblings. Twins were extremely rare, though, as far as he knew. "What about among the SeaFolk? Are there ever multiple cubs born to parents?"

Sometimes. So the wolf-elves weren’t born in litters. This relieved Tern of his horror. How odd it would be if they did. He briefly entertained the thought of having to care for a number of pips, wondering how anyone would have the time. The idea that elves already did that, and Ridge was one of them, never crossed his mind.

“Sometimes,” he replied, “There will be more than one pip and pips outside of recognition, but it is less common, as it is with your tribe. Sometimes two pips will be born at once, but that is also rare.” Tern rather liked the idea of twins; he would be interested to see the differences and similarities between the two, as well as between them and their parents.

Tidemist let out a little laugh at Coral's exclaimation. "You're always complaining you look better when you're wet. So I was just helping a tribemate." She teased at him, lightly brushing her webbed fingers over one of his locks, a tribemate's affectionate gesture. She heard Stormcloud speaking and landed herself on the sand. She generally tried not to float when she was speaking with others.

"Ah yes, Kaimeta told me about you, and your visit." She smiled warmly to her, laying her hands casually on her hips. "And that you are interested in the brew Swiftwing can make. She's around here somewhere perhaps." Tidemist looked around, not spotting the drink maker, but shrugged it off. "But I can ask her to brew a few jugs for you. But only if you do something first with me." She got that smirk as she had before she pranked Coral. Whatever it was she was thinking, it was all too possible the wolf maiden would not entirely like it.