The first hints of dawn were streaking the sky when she could finally make out sight of home as it grew on her horizon. By then, she had settled down to a tired albeit cruising sort of trot, but it was nice to have her goal in plain view like this after trekking through the sweep after the mountains. It made the going far easier, and the last stretch of journey across the morning vanished in what seemed like a blink. Soon, the familiar scents were underfoot and she lingered there a moment take them all in, then threaded back into the depths of the king elk forest without a word.
Jomyo didn't feel like expending the energy for very much more right now, not until she situated herself better and caught her breath (metaphorically as well). For half a second, it was always a little strange returning, even if she had not been gone that long nor forged any particularly needy friendships.. she had no idea what had happened while away, and what may await here--especially since she had been gone a little longer than originally intended thanks to snow and open-ends.
To signal her return, she only tipped back her muzzle and howled a small call for
@Delight's ears mainly to say she was back, that all was well enough. At this crisp early hour, she wouldn't even blame him if he wasn't about to catch all of her details, and that was just fine with her. She would see to it that he got them soon.
With that said, she found herself a good quenching drink and parked near the creek to rest her paws with a great sigh. The next step could come after. She had to settle down and just breath.
jomyo'd given him a rough timeline of how long it'd take her to get across the teekons, but he found himself fretting anyway, wondering if it really was okay he'd let her go alone. she's capable, of course, he tells himself, but what if, what if, what if..? he's busy enough to keep mostly distracted (and especially now with the latest addition to the pack, cicero's strange sons he's not quite sure what to do with), but he still frets.
so jomyo's howl brings with it an immediate relief -- once it processes through his groggy, half-asleep brain. delight crawls out of his den and stretches, figuring, hell, he's awake, he might as well get a report or whatever it is leaders are supposed to do. he makes his way to the scout, somewhat sleepy-paced, and finds her by the creek. he'd assumed all was well given her call indicated so, and a quick once-over confirms: limbs all intact, no hideous wounds, no surprises. cor. "hey," he greets, "welcome back."
Jomyo eased her way into being back bit by bit. She doesn't quite know where to begin. She's out of practice with this pack thing, but thankfully, it is easy here. Delight does end up greeting her, which surprised her a bit. At least by then, she's feeling better after her mad dash on the final stretch back home. Her legs are tingling less, heart-rate settled.. but it was still alright; she almost felt relieved and certainly in a strange little zen of personal good spirits. "Oh hey," she beat her tail in greeting and thanks, but didn't move to her morwinyon just yet. Stationary was a weird sensation she couldn't pull herself from yet despite her appreciation. "Sorry it's so early," she said, ears splaying outward as she spoke. "And that it took a little longer than I thought. All good here still, yeah?" she asked.
delight doesn't objected to her lack of movement (actually, honestly, would he even notice if someone failed to give him the proper "respect" his title garners? no), instead coming closer and plopping back on his haunches. he yawns, nodding. "all good here," he agrees, "we've got kids now, though."
he thinks about that phrasing and hastily corrects himself. "i mean, there are kids living here -- i ran into them at the morass with their dad and then he died, so -- it's a long story." ahem. anyway. "you can tell me all the details later but anything particularly notable happen on your trip?" mostly, specifically, he's curious if she found morningside or the vale, his two main objectives for her.
Her ears cupped back harder. We've got kids now was kind of a weighty thing to hear all of a sudden so she matched the sentiment with a long look and quietly hushed "Wait.." as she contemplated this. She squinted at him after, awaiting some clarification on the matter that soon followed and maybe her tired head was a little slow to sort. But Delight said it came with a long story.. so maybe it was better off coming all at once. "Okay.. whoa. Who are they? Are they.. I don't know, doing fine with that dead dad full-displacement thing?" Kids was awfully vague, so she didn't know how old they were, how many, or anything.. and being some dead guy's kids no less. Kind of potentially messy.
Anyway.
She takes a moment after that, and shook her head softly. "Well. I found the Vale.." the agouti-furred ambar began, breathing in a slow breath next. "It's really nice.. but there is no pack there, or very near that I could find on my way through." So no Rannoch or any of that. Valette had been her best lead, and Raiden came to mind too--after an encounter that had been such a start, she wasn't too easy to forget either. "An Easthollow scout from the valley way over east said there hadn't been one there for a while, either. That's how I got directions there in the first place too." she mentioned after.
jomyo's questions, warranted as they may be, are met with a semi-awkward shrug. "i think? they're .. a little hard to read. i've, uh, just been giving them space. they're pretty hard to miss, one of them is kinda.. deformed." perhaps that is not the right way to handle the displaced orphans. perhaps he should officially entrust their care to gracious or something. he'll think about it. later: jomyo's report is his focus now.
his face brightens as she mentions the vale -- though if no one's there, he wonders what happened to mato's old pack. losing the chance to meet rannoch is disappointing, but if it's unoccupied -- and as nice and mato and jomyo say -- and mato already likes it there -- well, "i think we should move there," he blurts before he loses his nerve. "um, that is," delight begins again, "if it's unoccupied -- and i've been talking about moving with mato and a couple others, since -- well, we're not exactly near anything, and we've had issues in the past with retaining wolves."
awkwardly the morwinyon shuffles his feet. "not immediately," he clarifies, "but soon. after you've rested."
Her face stayed a little scrunched but she nodded as she made her best attempt at an understanding. To know one was 'deformed', whatever that meant exactly, only gave her more to consider so suddenly. "I'll keep an eye out for them," she said quietly for her lowkey way of "I'll deal with that later".. since who knew how they were going to be.
Then, going forward, her morwinyon was swift as ever to confirm a lurking suspicion she had carried across the wilds already. The notion to move was no surprise.. although her nod was slow to come. Soon, though, made her ears waver in brief consideration. Especially with pups, apparently. But, why not? As Delight said--they were near nothing out here, and this restlessness wasn't anything new. She had not been burdened unbearably to get from here to there and on the whole either, she certainly considered them a healthy, hale bunch--before she had a giant question mark of a deformed puppy to add in too. This wasn't an impossible destination or an outrageous goal for them to pursue.. even still.
On the whole, she couldn't exactly argue a relocation. She didn't have a lot to lose, harbored no overly specific attachments to this forest, and leveled him with a thoughtful look. "It is unoccupied, in the middle of the mountains and all too. We might even be able to keep that secluded feel a bit?" she supplied, as if it needed much further justification, but more of a prefacing for the other turn of the coin. "But I can't say I got to see the whole area.. the all around," she gestured as a disclaimer. "Where I went was smooth enough goings, though.. No one bothered me and I kept fed, so, really.. yeah. Soon can work. I think if we do want to move, it's worth a shot," was her two cents, for whatever it was worth.
Jomyo was content with a silent nod for now. She was glad he appreciated it, and maybe later, she would flesh out her details better and give him all the finer points of what she had seen. For now, that was definitely the short of it, and he could take it towards his decision to move them forward, and onward it seemed. If it could help, then good. The scout could rest a little easier while she prepared to undertake the next turn.
Having nothing else, and feeling sluggish anyway, she parted ways with a quick farewell and went for someplace cozy all of her own for the next several hours.