i know the rules, the weaker trees bend; tamlin

[Tamlin]

Discovering that he could control and influence wolves had been a dangerous (but delightful) discovery for Tamlin when he was young. He had been practicing ever since - whenever he wasn’t pestering his family or pranking various members of Tephra underneath the moonlight when he was nothing but a skeleton. His influence over the pack in Tephra has dwindled as the pack has gotten used to his presence. Sometimes he slips up and it’s only after he parts their company without a headache or feeling drained that he realizes that they could have harmed them. Perhaps his large, feathered wings help keep them at bay during such times - or they have grown so accustomed to him and his calming influence. He doesn’t make them move to his will, just sends out a stream of ‘we are friends’. Recently, a blue wolf has joined his pack which is super cool. He wonders if her blue fur has anything to do with the magical waterfall in Tephra and his mind comes up with a hundred options for how she could have been blue (perhaps she had been born into a bed of blue flowers!! Perhaps she was a sky-wolf!) and yet not a single one of them is ‘perhaps she is a blue horse in a wolf’s body’. She does not respond to his influence like the others, but Tamlin has studied the wolves he’s adopted and he does not pester her. Although the wolves don’t ever respond to his words, Tamlin prattles on to them almost constantly. This has had the side effect of some of the younger wolves copying him, and grumbling and yipping almost constantly (much to the stallion’s amusement). He enjoys talking to them though, and lowers his muzzle to all those that come over to greet him so they might sniff out any new smells on him today. “Hello friends!! Thorn the Third you’re looking good, soon to be a daddy I bet you’re excited.” As he's greeting the others by their own unique, ridiculous names, he spots the blue wolf - closer than she has ever been before - and maybe he should ignore her but instead he calls out with delight. “Hello! You’re a pretty one, huh? What if I call you… water. No that’s not good. Um. Sky. Yeah! Hello Sky, so nice of you to join us.”  He doesn't move to approach her but now reaches down to nudge one of the youngest wolves, a pup from last year, who promptly rolls over to allow Tamlin to tickle his belly. tamlin

image from pixabay

@[winslow]