Mudminnow River Lost

After the ground started making some scary noises and seemed to be angry Minnow got scared and ran away from the company of her grandfather. The young pup didn’t know where she was and Minnow was shaking in fear. “Grandpa!” She called out hoping he’d hear. She traveled along the river hoping it’d lead to the ocean and at least she’d have some sort of idea of how to get home. But it seemed she was more lost than she thought and as the day turned to night, Minnow was alone in the dark and started to cry out. “Daddy!” She didn’t like this one bit and wondered where she was and if her father could even hear her. She knew she was so far away from her pack.

Something strange was happening in this place. Noises, sensations, rumblings from the ground. Merrit had a mind to return to Easthollow and root himself at home until the tremors passed; there was no apparent danger in the shaking, but something simply felt off. Unsettling. Dangerous.

But as he moved toward the distant slope of Stone Circle, he found himself distracted by a different sound - one that could make Easthollow wait. A cry, he did not recognize the voice, but he pivoted his ears and feet toward this someone who sounded as young as Leta without a second thought.

He found her by the river, alone and clothed in shadow. Merrit stalled where he was, and moved no closer, for fear of spooking her. Where were her parents and caregivers? Where was her pack? Was she a child of Lost Creek Hollow? Perhaps. He ​lowered himself to the ground, acutely aware of how tall he was, and a gentleness he reserved for his siblings alone stole through his eyes. "Little one," he said, his baritone voice soft and understanding, "I am Merrit, of Easthollow. Are you lost?" whether she lived at the Hollow or not, the evidence she procured in her cries of distress proved enough to tell him this.

Before the male came to her, the young pups was curled into a ball hoping that the loud rumbles from the earth didn’t come back. When she heard his footsteps she peaked her head up to look at him. His coat was laced with a familiar scent but she couldn’t find exactly pin point where from at the moment.

The stranger spoke to her softly and her posture relaxed only a little bit. She only nodded a bit when he asked if she was lost. “I was exploring with my grandpa in the mountains when the ground shook I got scared and ran.” The little pup was probably shaking a bit but she tried her best to explain what happened.

She was scared, he could tell; by the way she curled in on herself, by the way she made herself so, so small, and she made his heart turn with compassion. "The mountains," he repeated, and he furrowed his brow.

He knew of only one range, and she was very far from them. And they were very far from Easthollow, yet already he shifted his plans. Ever since that day, he travelled with a simple rule: he would have no business with strangers. But children were different. They reminded him of Leta, of Clay, of Newt, of West. If they were in trouble outside of Easthollow, he wanted to know that someone would look out for them, that someone would protect them, and bring them back home. Knowing what kinds of wolves prowled these parts, he had little faith anyone would - but he hoped for this child's family, he could be the one who was different.

"I felt the ground shaking too," he didn't know how to comfort her, couldn't say everything would be okay. He simply didn't know. And he couldn't lie to her. So he deflected, and chose to focus on what he could help her with. "What is your name, little one? Do you and your grandpa have a pack you call home?" It would be much harder to track her family down if she was a vagrant; but if she had a pack nearby, he knew his mother, as travelled as she was, would know where to send them, even if he did not.

The man seemed conflicted as he repeated what she said; lost in his own thought it seemed. But for a pup as young as she was, Minnow didn’t really ponder on stuff like that for very long. When he mentioned that he felt what she had too; she knew that it wasn’t all in her head. “My name is Minnow.” She was simple and went to answering his first question and then going onto his next one. “My daddy leads Elysium.” She said a little bit more confidently and it was like her fear was going away as she began focusing on their conversation instead of what had happened. “I thought following the river would help me get home but it didn’t.”

Elysium. "I know where that is," he said, once she had finished sharing her story. He had been there, too, the night of Yule, and again, when he had found Keen. Both memories so peculiar, so distant, so dream-like now. "Your father's pack is allied with mine - but you have travelled a far, far ways from there." The river was no where near Elysium, and there was no way he could lead the child back to her family in even a day's travel.

But they needed to start moving. And of course: this land was not safe, not with the black-masked rogue at large. Perhaps Minnow would follow him somewhere safer than here. Her confidence was promising, and he offered, "Let me guide you to Easthollow tonight. You can rest there in safety, and when daylight comes, I can guide you back to Elysium. How does that sound?" It was up to her, after all, though he wouldn't be so quick to give into any complaints she aired. They would go to Easthollow tonight, and Merrit simply hoped she wouldn't put up a tantrum to this.

He knew where he pack was from and Minnow was happy he did. She missed her dad. She hadn’t even realized that she had been so far from home; the young pup thought all rivers would eventually lead to the ocean but perhaps not. At the mention of Easthollow her ears pricked up. “I know that place, my dads friend Steph lives there.” She really liked her and when they visited, they all had been nice. So she nodded her head at what he said they’d do. She began to get up from her curled up position when she put pressure on her front paw all she felt was pain which ultimately caused her to let out a sharp yipe.

She was not hard to persuade; for this Merrit was grateful. He raised a brow at her mention of his sister, but did not think much further on what her words meant. Steph had always been a leader, and a great one at that, so his took her friendship with Sunny to mean little more than that expected between two allied diplomats.

"Let's go, then." He said, and turned around - only to wheel back in Minnow's direction when her voice bit through the night. "What's the matter?" he asked, his calm voice edged with a pinch of anxiety, even though he could clearly see that nothing had attacked her, that no hooded spectres lurked in the shadows, and that they were still alone.

She tried to stand but putting pressure on her paw but it hurt so much and it didn't look right at all. "My paw...something's wrong with it." Was all she could say at the moment cause she had no clue what was wrong with her paw only thing she knew at that moment was that it hurt..a lot.

Sprry it's short