Firefly Glen spring in your step

It'd been entirely too long since Charon had seen Eshe. He knew that she had planned pups too, and they should be a little over the age of his own daughters — nearly adults, at that. With enthusiasm Charon departed from Moonspear's borders, eager to go and see his cousin again. He hadn't heard from her all the while — and maybe he ought to visit Fitz on his way back, then, at Silvertip — because of the harsh winter that they had gone through.

With a spring in his step and followed by the first rays of light the Moonspear Alpha set off at a brisk trot. He was feeling good, looking forward to his next batch of children and seeing his daughters as big sisters — they were doing good, too, despite the dangers that'd bothered the borders of late, and he felt confident leaving the pack to Ame and his daughters. Wasn't sure what to think of the new wolves and their children just yet, but time would tell if they could stick around or if they'd be too much of a threat to their own. He continued through the Glen in northern direction, headed straight from Moonspear towards Neverwinter Forest.

Cypress darted through the glen on swift, surefooted paws, his tail acting as a rudder as he whipped around hairpin curves in hot pursuit of a wily rabbit. Just when he thought he was near enough, his powerful jaws gaped wide — but he’d misjudged his reach, and his teeth snapped shut on a mouthful of useless fur. Despite his disappointment, he felt fit enough to run it down a second time; drawing breath and spitting cotton, he propelled himself forward in a series of leaps — only to cross the path of a pale-furred, heavily scarred male with glittering sapphire eyes. Cypress was taller, but this male was older and more sturdily built, with the experience to back up his hard-bitten appearance. The fact that he bore Moonspear’s scent gave the eidolon further pause — and the fact that he was moving in Neverwinter Forest’s direction with what appeared to be a purposeful, knowing stride piqued Cypress’ curiosity.

Although they were on neutral ground, Cypress greeted the older wolf as befitted his status: he focused his sulphureous gaze on some careful middle distance, allowed his tail to sway at a nonthreatening, amicable level, and chuffed to announce his presence.

Ever since the attacks on his lands Charon'd been more defensive around his territory. Though his purposeful strides took him towards Neverwinter Forest, his first thought was to feel defensive when a young wolf approached and chuffed in greeting. It didn't take long for him to notice that the wolf didn't exude any pride, however, keeping neutral and avoiding eye contact. Charon kept his head arched high, for though on neutral lands he was still an Alpha close to his own lands.

Then he waited wordlessly, returning nothing but a chuff; he assumed that the boy wanted something, and he also assumed he'd share whatever that was soon since he was the one to first approach.

If Cypress had been a more expressive youth, he’d have tilted his head to the side in confusion at the older male’s posturing, but his stoic mien was blessedly still as he drew his tongue carefully across lips that had quite suddenly gone dry. He’d never had the opportunity to explore with his father outside their forest home, but he gleaned from this encounter that there was some unspoken radius of unclaimed territory where wolves could still walk around like they owned the place — as long as they were near the place they actually owned. “You’re from Moonspear — right?” he questioned quietly, getting straight to the point, his hollow baritenor rusty from disuse. “Are you going to Neverwinter Forest?”

Charon looked at the youth as he posed his question, though without introducing himself first, a thing that irked Charon to no ends. He felt king and master of these lands, feeling a sense of fake power in the fact he could call upon his family and pack to come aide him whenever he needed it. He merely nodded at the first question, but the second one made him reconsider the situation.

"Yes," he answered, and suddenly he realised that maybe this youth was one of Eshe's, considering his proximity in age to his own daughters. But he smelled nothing of her and so he considered the pup may be someone else's. But whose, and where from? He didn't smell like Fitz either, and neither did he like Redhawk — as a matter of fact, Charon didn't recognise it at all. "I'm visiting its Alpha, Eshe," he said, decidedly leaving scumbag Scimitar out of things because he held no love for the man (and last he'd visited had been invited into the territory by Eshe without Scimitar's approval, so what authority did the man really hold?). If this youth had anything to do with Neverwinter, he'd probably find out soon enough by the mention of Eshe.

A hot, nervous flicker raced its way from the tip of Cypress’ tongue all the way down into the pit of his stomach when the cobalt-eyed wolf confirmed both suspicions — and Charon’s next statement revealed that flicker for what it was: dynamite. The eidolon tried to keep it together and managed to stop his legs from buckling, but only just. “Eshe — ” he started off, his throat tight and his belly burning. “Eshe is — she’s my mama.” The word sounded infantile, and Cypress amended it belatedly: “my mother.” He tried to see the facts for what they were — cold, hard, lifeless things that couldn’t hurt him — and delivered them in as even a tone as he could. “She and Scimitar were killed by a bear last winter.”

Swallowing thickly, “I’m Cypress,” he introduced himself in a hoarse undertone. “Cypress Frostfur.” The resentment he felt toward the forest’s new alpha female bubbled up, and he couldn’t keep the derision from his tone as he muttered, “There’s a different female calling herself Neverwinter Forest’s alpha now.” A dismissive flick of his tail betrayed just what he thought of that noise, though he tried to maintain a hold on his stoic façade. “How do you know my mother?” he wanted to know, his tone questioning but not pointedly so. If the Moonspear wolf didn’t want to talk, Cypress wouldn’t make him.

His youth was confirmed by the way he spoke, but Charon barely registered the way he phrased his words as he suddenly realised that he stood facing her son. It was so long that he had not seen her, and Charon was surprised. Oddly, being faced with Eshe's son made him realise how old his own daughters were getting now.

Then came the news of her death and Charon's expression fell visibly. Suddenly asserting dominance did not seem so important when he was confronted not only with the death of his friend and neighbour, but also with the memories of the death of his own parents by the violent claws of bears. A long time he had hated them for it and wished his revenge, but the brute confrontations he had had with them at Moonspear's start had made him reconsider. Not all bears needed to die, for in every battlefield there were casualties on both sides, and it was not worth the further bloodshed on his.

"She's... dead?" he asked, though his words were hardly phrased like a question. The boy's further words were registered barely. Word of a new Alpha brought him little but perhaps derision at the thought someone else had taken what was Eshe's. It didn't even occur to him to introduce himself then, almost as if a son of Eshe's already knew his name just because. He registered the question, however, and he answered after a moment's pause, looking back at the boy: "She's my... We were friends." Cousins, she had called them, but it didn't matter. Some distant relation to parents he had never known. Her warmth and friendliness was what had defined their relationship, not their far-away blood bond. "I was going to visit her now that winter's gone, to tell her of my daughters and to see her..." He looked dumbly at Cypress as he continued, "... see hers."

Without being confrontational, Cypess intently watched the play of emotions over the older male’s face. His first incredulous words did not require an answer from the raven, whose scarred muzzle dipped a little lower with the weight of his grief. Very briefly, his sulphureous eyes flicked up to meet Charon’s cobalt ones, but his ears flattened like a mantling crow’s wings and his tall carriage was held low with respect. “Who are you?” he asked, his quiet baritenor hollowed out with sorrow. “My mother had four cubs, but only my brother and I survived. It was the famine that weakened her. She…she didn’t have any daughters.” It was odd, talking about Eshe like another wolf entirely, but it was the only way Cypress was going to get through the conversation without losing his composure entirely.

Swiftly, Cypress put two and two together. Alya had not known what brothers were, which meant she came from a litter of only sisters. Coincidentally, this wolf had mentioned his daughters specifically. “My littermate Rannoch and our cousin Rian — we left Neverwinter Forest together after I challenged Ondine for leadership and…and lost.” The words tasted bitter on his tongue, and he spoke almost feverishly now: “You knew my mother, so you know nobody could ever stand where she stood — someday I’ll go back and I’ll drive Ondine out.” It was a secret wish that he hadn’t spoken of even to the three wolves he entrusted with his life, but here he was, telling a complete stranger.

On that note, “Are you Alya’n Lyra’s paw?” he asked.

Charon hadn't intended to say that Eshe could've only had daughters — he realised by now that this boy meant that she didn't just have daughters. Apparently she'd had no daughters at all, but it didn't matter for the boy in front of him was very much alive and here and Charon was glad for that, at least. It sounded like they'd been through a lot, with someone else taking over Neverwinter and losing a challenge. Charon felt a burning desire to go to Neverwinter to pound this Ondine's face until she gave leadership back to this boy, but he doubted the boy was ready. And would it really do the boy any good to linger on the past?

"I'm Charon Ostrega," he introduced as per the question; he hadn't even realised he had not returned Cypress' offering of a name until then. "You should come with me," he then said, something that wasn't really a suggestion as much as a command. The boy was young and he needed shelter and help; Charon knew it was what Eshe would've wanted.

But in the next moment Cypress asked if Charon was Alya and Lyra's father and Charon looked taken aback a moment. He hadn't considered the proximity of the two packs might mean the children would've already met, without Eshe and Charon to set up any playdates. "Yes," he said after a short moment of silence in which he processed his surprise. "I have four daughters. Hydra, Lyra, Alya and Julia."

Recalling his manners, “It’s nice to meet you — Charon,” Cypress recited politely, hesitating briefly over the older male’s name. He heard the command and not the suggestion, and his tall ears skimmed back submissively as he considered the idea. “I — I’ve met Alya,” he admitted in a low baritenor, “except she was being Lyra to start with. My mama would have fussed over her — over all of your daughters. I think she would have liked to have girls’n boys both.” It was easier to talk about Eshe now that he knew Charon understood. The raven might’ve imagined it, but he would’ve swore he saw a flash of some kind of negative emotion when Charon’d heard about Ondine claiming the forest queen’s throne.

“I’d like to come with you,” he said honestly. He was curious about the mountain, mainly because of Alya but now also because of the unexpected ally he found in its alpha. Still, “I made a promise to my brother and cousin — and to the other wolves who depend on us,” he intoned with all the solemnity he could muster. “We said we would stick together and find a new home.” Hesitantly, worried that denying the Ostrega’s command would brew an enmity he didn’t think he could weather, Cypress scraped up the crumbs of his dignity and asked, “Did you mean come with you to stay? Or just come with you to visit for a spell?” His youth showed in the way his carriage dipped a little more in the face of his unease.

A nod was given in return to the 'nice to meet you' in silent returning of the gesture. His suspicions were confirmed in that the boy had met at least one of his daughters, though not both. There was a certain gratification in not being the only one fooled by his daughter's wily pretending, and Alya was the queen of it all. It didn't surprise him that she would pretend to be one of her sisters even to wolves that had met neither sister. He couldn't help but grin as Cypress told him about it, feeling a mixture of recognition and pride.

He then said that he had a promise out with his brother and his cousin, and 'other wolves who depended on them'. "Neverwinter wolves?" he asked curiously, then, "With how many are you?" Moonspear was small but there was the promise of growth and if they needed anyone, it was probably an adult's set of teeth, not more children; but it was still Eshe's boy. He just hoped there were enough competent adults there with them so that it would be easiest to resist the temptation to drag the boy to Moonspear by the ear and decide for him.

As for the question, Charon hesitated what to say, and the doubt was visible on his face as he considered. He felt rejected and with that it might be easier to pretend he had intended it as a shallow suggestion to visit rather than to stay. But that wasn't how it was. Eventually he decided he didn't need to pretend anything for a child and he admitted: "To stay."

Cypress merely shook his head at first when Charon asked his questions, but quickly remembered that it was in poor taste to be so taciturn. “No,” he said, feeling as though he should tack on a “sir” but lingering too long to actually do so. “My brother and my cousin’re from Neverwinter, but everyone else is from…somewhere else. There’re about five or six other wolves we’ve met, but I don’t know how many of them are planning to stay. I think they all come from different places.” One ear fanned briefly awry as he thought about it. Cypress hadn’t honestly put a ton of effort into getting to know anybody yet; he was very family oriented, and family didn’t mean everyone who followed Rannoch’s lead.

It meant Rian and Rannoch.

Cypress didn’t know that in a few short weeks he would risk his life for these wolves that he didn’t consider his family and admit just before doing so that he was well on his way to breaking his promise to Alya. His heart went through a series of acrobatics when Charon admitted that he’d wanted the members of the brat pack — or at least Cypress, Rian, and Rannoch — to stay on his mountain. “I’m — I’m sorry,” he said simply. He didn’t offer explanations or excuses, feeling that they weren’t particularly useful in this situation. Rannoch would never bow to another wolf — this Cypress knew with all certainty — and that was comforting to the raven, somehow. “Would you consider an alliance between Moonspear and — and wherever we end up settling?” he questioned, recalling that Neverwinter had fostered one with a pack known as Donnelaith at some point. The brat pack was comprised of green and untried youths, but they wouldn’t always be green and untried. Cypress tried his best to look formidable as he awaited Charon’s reply.

Charon didn't think that Cypress should be setting out on his own, and in his younger years he might've reacted negatively towards the youth for chosing to do so and turning down a generous offer that he made. Now he just felt a prickle of irritation but he didn't express it in more than a stern frown as the boy gave his apology.

He was asked for an alliance, but Charon had never seen much use in those. "And then what? We help each other when attacked? We keep each other up to date? Neither thing's ever happened from any of my previous allies, and all of them are gone now without so much as a word." The stern look on his face was echoed in his voice, clearly unhappy about past experiences and having little faith that it would be different this time.

Cypress’ ears flattened, both at the stern frown and the bitterness that laced Charon’s reply. He was quiet for a long moment before he responded; he wanted to convey to the gray-flecked male that he was serious about his proposition. The raven hadn’t talked it over with his brothers, but he was sure that Rannoch and Rian would agree with him — especially since Charon had known Eshe and retained such a good opinion of her. Any friend of his mother’s was a friend of Cypress’ and he naturally carried that over to the turquoise-eyed alpha and the jade-eyed beta as well. “I don’t want to disappoint you,” he said frankly, “and I don’t mean any disrespect, but…pretty much, yeah. That’s what I meant.” He had a healthy amount of respect for the Ostrega patriarch, and part of that respect meant sticking to his guns.

“Right now, we wouldn’t be much use to you if you were attacked,” the eldest Frostfur admitted in a low baritenor, keeping his carriage lower than the other male’s but trying to exude confidence and competence by not flinching or cowering. For this reason and not one of insubordination, he hesitantly raised his eyes to the Moonspear alpha’s. “I could keep you up to date, though,” he offered, “and we want to live here in the Teekons — just…not so close to here.” He gestured with his muzzle to the knot of territory nestled between three packs. “If Rannoch wanted to go further away I’d come and tell you about it, if you wanted.” He went on, “It doesn’t have to be an alliance, but it’d be good to be friends, anyway. We could spar and hunt with your daughters and tell you if we see anything weird while we’re traveling.” Aware that he was talking maybe too much, Cypress shut his mouth.

And then he opened it again. “It was just an idea,” he concluded quietly.

Charon could see how to the boy's youthful mind, it would seem like a good idea to have alliances. He still believed that it could work. But maybe it would work, at least from their side, if he believed in it. If they were all as young as he then there wouldn't be many pups and that would eliminate a lot of time spent on other things. Charon didn't think he could do much in return but it didn't sound like it was necessary.

Eventually he decided, "Okay, let's do the alliance. I would like to be kept up to date." It seemed to have only advantages for him at best, and he didn't see a worst case scenario being terrible (at worst, they'd get nothing in return but neither have given anything), so Charon nodded in agreement.

Cypress stood a little straighter at Charon’s decision, his ears cupping proudly forward as he swept a low bow. “We’ll keep you informed,” he said, feeling important, “and you’ll be the first to know when we settle somewhere.” Along with the rush of confidence was an equally powerful wave of humility — but Cypress kept his legs from shaking with a considerable amount of effort. “Maybe we could even bring you herbs or prey that you couldn’t get here,” he added, feeling inspired. “One member of our group is learning botany.” He didn’t know that soon enough, the band would have a burgeoning stargazer and a budding naturalist in addition to Rose’s love for healing and studying plants.

It wasn’t flattery but a burst of sincerity on Cypress’ part as he said with an undertone of lingering melancholy, “I can see why my mama liked you. She’d be happy we met.”

The boy's enthusiasm didn't go unnoticed to Charon and he could not help but find a smile as he thought of how well Eshe had raised her boys. Cypress continued to offer him things and though he had no need of it now, and maybe somewhere deep down realised that the boys probably needed it more than he, he still nodded in acceptance, feeling greedy and ready to be proven wrong in his theory that allies never really did anything for one another. "Sounds good." Maybe it'd be different this time.

He smiled as Cypress said that he could see why Eshe liked him. Truthfully, Charon had never understood Eshe's instant infatuation with him, but he had accepted it anyway. "I'm happy we met, too," he admitted, hoping he could help Eshe's boys somewhere along the way. "Maybe you and your brother could visit together when you've settled someplace." Then he could meet Eshe's other kid, too.

Charon’s smile was balm to the young wolf’s wounded soul. He would never again see his mother smile at him, but gaining a rapport with someone who had known her and been fond of her was the next best thing. After all, aside from Scimitar, Cypress didn’t know anybody Eshe had held in high regard. His tail whisked, beating a steady tattoo against his hips as the cobalt-eyed alpha gave him the approval he craved, but there wasn’t anything frenetic or jerky about his movements right now. The burst of confidence he’d experienced settled him out and relaxed him. “Rannoch’d like that,” he rejoined with his typical half-grin, the scarred left corner of his mouth quirking briefly upward but largely remaining static. There was a new note of enthusiasm in his low, even baritenor. “Wherever we settle, I’ll make sure everyone knows that a wolf from Moonspear is to be treated as an ally,” he added.

Speaking of everyone, “I’d better get back,” Cypress said. “Rannoch wants us to get moving in the morning. Hey, Charon…d’you think I could come visit Moonspear sometime — even if it wasn’t for pack alliance business?” He was trying to get official permission to come and visit the Cerberus, of course, but he’d also greatly enjoyed his conversation with Charon. He was curious about the life the pack lived on the mountainside — curious what stories the speckled alpha might tell about his mother — just curious in general.

Charon nodded to acknowledge the boy's words and again when he said he should head back. Speaking of 'back', Charon himself should probably head back home to check on Amekaze. It was a grim reminder of the freedom he'd soon have to hand in in favour of the pups. He already couldn't wait until they were older and more independent.

As Cypress asked if he could visit even for not-business, Charon said, "Of course. So long as you wait at the borders." He assumed the boy knew of these things, but wanted to be sure just in case anything was unclear. "I should be heading back too. Good luck." With that, Charon turned around and started heading back out to Moonspear, while he wondered when and if they'd meet again in the future.