Altar of Twilight your heart measured in mountains fell and climbed

All welcome. Tagging for reference that is not tagged in the post: @Hux, @Portia, @Eljay, @Dio (did I miss someone?). Feel free to cameo or pop in but no pressure. Set for the evening of 9/29. Also tagging @Amekaze, @Hydra, @Charon since she is not too far off.

The small band of wolves gets through the night of rest in the weald before they move on but eventually she splits them up, if only to draw less attention to themselves as they pass through. Thinking of Grayday and his group (though exactly where, she is not sure), she is much more careful with where she goes. @Étoillee leads them easily over the next several miles into the next day, another camp for the night, and once more greeting the day of early morning light to get moving once more. @Artaax and @Blixen are able to keep up with the best of them but she offers more breaks in their travel than if she were without them and even if it slows them down by a few hours, the reward will pay off in the long run.

At least, that’s what she tells herself.

Once more, Thuringwethil finds herself wandering around from the primary group. She announced her desire to move in one direction. The wolves starting out on the mission stared off as barely more than pack mates, wolves she’s known for longer than most coupled with wolves she barely knows. By the time they return, hopefully with more information than before, they’ll be closer together. Thinking about the future and what will happen after this has been difficult to project, unable to see herself not finding Wildfire—alive, alive, alive—that she doesn’t even know if there is a future beyond this. What will come of them if they show up emptyhanded? How can she move on watching her mate grow up within their three children, but their absence settled in sadness in their eyes?

As the day comes to a close, with little sunlight left to offer, she knows she needs to turn back. A few miles behind them won’t take long for her to cover in retreat but she does not go just yet. The scent of a pack breaks the wind as it sweeps down the alter from one border. She does not dare get too close but her curiosity rises. She does not think the first mission had gone this far, and this pack has gone unnoticed in the meantime, but perhaps there is more to offer. Without another tagged along with her, she does not dare approach any closer but she makes note to return here perhaps in the morning (if she does not run into anyone this evening) or on their way home if the Caldera does not have much to offer.

Thuringwethil licks her lips, shifts her weight, and begins to trek in the opposite direction of Moonspear.

Nights were getting chillier than before, so she knew how it went from here until the next turn of the seasons. The mountain had sustained them well for two winters past, but it was habit anyway to begin perusing their boundaries and beyond just to maintain close tabs on it should they ever come to need it. The added element of keeping watch for anything suspicious helped lure her out without any hesitation too--just in case she spied any Redhawks trying to hunt or Blackfeather allies lurking near her doorstep. She wanted to know about them if they were, especially with a looming winter to consider, and a tolerance for that which shortened more by the day.

But nothing exactly of that sort caught her eye as the valley flattened underfoot. She kept moving steadily until she did find a dark silhouette moving away. When the wind didn't work entirely in her favor to tell her much more than more mystery, she tried to remedy that. Without going well out of the way to veil herself, she decided to trail after the other more purposefully.

Hydra shadowed her mother, though kept a distance from the woman. Instinctively she understood of the protective flare that the Blackfeather wolves had heightened; she too thought it wise to patrol the neighboring peaks at length. Hydra was ever-learning, though pleased that her present instinct was correct. When her mother spotted another, so too did Hydra; she closed the distance she had let linger between her mother and herself, sidling alongside her. The other was far enough from Moonspear to not cause Hydra to feel irate, and if her mother was not tense then she saw no reason for herself to be such a way. Still, she was wary—she did not know if this wolf was of the Woods, unable to get a good sense of their scent.

While the wind does not work in the favor of those behind her, she notes the strength of one scent that is quickly accompanied by two. She does not react right away, keeping her feet moving forward with a smooth motion across the ground floor. Thuringwethil does not expect to get out of the area without some sort of confrontation but if she can keep it in her favor for as long as possible, she’ll be able to keep the upper hand.

As the thickness of two scents meld together, watchful eyes felt to have borne holes into the back of her head, Thuringwethil finally slows to a stop. They do not advance any faster to have become a physical threat but why they choose to stalk leaves her curious. When she turns her head, the light of the moon does well to expose them in the distance. Her own coat, no matter how dark, is given away by the light in the sky.

The commander keeps her tail held relatively slow, idly swaying, but her head remains higher than neutral but as far relaxed as she’s let on.

A little time brought her a little closer, stride by stride. As she went, she also found she was not alone for long, and befitting the valley at their doorstep, they could pose the advantage if they needed it. But insofar, suspicion was held at a tentative minimum, born of nothing except proximity to her home. The stranger wasn't immediately fitting the description of the Blackfeather wolves she knew about, not as dark and sizable as she was, and based on her heading, nothing stood out as too unusual just yet.

When the other female stopped, Ame took the pause as chance to close in a bit more, although swung wide enough around her to not pressure, necessarily--just get a better look of her in full. With Hydra flanking her, she knew she had another valuable set of eyes trained on this situation, so engaged with a little arc of her tail. The rest of her still, mainly, said just curious.. which was very much the case. 

Since she had not worked early to preserve the pure silence, she wouldn't waste her time tiptoeing about. She turned her ears towards the stranger with interest, her green eyes bright as she noticed in the moonlight the shoulder scars the other wolf wore. "Passing through?"

When they were near enough, Hydra observed as her mother did. She was mute, though. This wolf was stark black, with no stardust to her—as Rannoch had described—and so she was calm, though this did not mean she was not prepared. Her mistrust of strangers existed largely because of that incident, and it was ever present and in the back of her mind. Hydra's tail lashed between her hocks as her mother asked her question, and one notched ear flicked. She moved beside her mother, chuffing in an amicable manner toward the stranger. Hydra mirrored her mothers body language, though was more lax than she in her posturing. Still, there was an ample amount of pride in every step she took, right to the moment they had paused to engage this stranger. Her eyes are sharp and assessing despite the amicability she presented. For her age, she had seen much and knew better than to fully trust any outsider. But even the scent, from this distance, did not match that of her known enemy.

Her group of wolves isn’t close enough to cause harm, or for them to know they are there without further investigation, and she hadn’t pressed any closer of the pack’s territory, but she still has their attention. It does not surprise her. If someone was loitering a territory adjacent when she was near, she’d do the same.

For a long moment, she doesn’t know what to expect, but one of the dark women speak up and Thuringwethil nods her head once. ”I’m looking for a missing pack mate. She left to visit family two moons ago and didn’t return,” she explains smoothly, shifting her weight and completely turning around to face them. Searching between the two, and even in the bright moonlight, their distance does not offer much to distinguish one from the other. She is able to note a scar under an eye of one and a torn ear of the other.

The stranger answers, having turned to receive them, and she sees this as a favorable enough sign for this point. Her willingness to reply at all speaks well, and the mountain alpha maintains her position and poise. "I see," she nodded, and punctuated her words with a very brief glance to Hydra. Certainly, a tough situation.. and for two moons? Far too long. "What is she like?" Amekaze attempted to pry, and would make sure to use whatever she got (if anything) in return--be it a description, a destination, or anything else in-between. Personally she did not rove beyond the slopes much, but Hydra and other Moonspearian scouts oftentimes did, so information trickled back to her.

Maybe they would know something that could be useful, or maybe it was a lost cause. She also had to wonder which family she was speaking of, for she knew several with roots scattered across the Teekon, and sure others spanned well beyond those she could think about. "Do you know where she was headed?” Depending on where that would be, if it was even remotely near to her mountain, she may have more to mention.

It was her mothers final question that was on her mind. Of course, there was also the matter of if the missing pack mate wished to return at all. Having no idea what the wolves personal relationship was to the wolf they spoke to, Hydra wondered if their reunion with their family had been so good that they might have decided for themselves not to return. Hydra could not imagine ever leaving her family... and had never been given a reason to humor the thought. The timeframe was a significant one...

But then, there was also the idea that foul play might have something to do with this. If the she-wolf was, or had been, around here... it was likely she might have run into that psychopath before, or after, they had run into him. The inky strangers response would dictate Hydra's next thoughts on the matter.

Whether the women really want to help or are just nosy, Thuringwethil takes a step in their direction. She keeps a distance between them and eases some of her posture to something neutral. Traveling far from her home is not common for her and engaging with others close to theirs puts a stiffness in her she can’t really shake. Whatever doubts about the strangers she has has to be wiped away for her to continue their search.

”She is a small, red wolf with a black smudge on her snout and her tail is black. Her name is Wildfire,” she explains, releasing a pensive breath. ”She was visiting her family in Redhawk Caldera,” she says barely a beat later. Her expression falls flat as she glances between the two women but decides against adding the rest.

A small, red wolf had been a reoccurring theme here and there in her life. Her first habit was to think of Fox, but no, that wretch had been dead for moons now. Wildfire, though... it was not a name she had heard in a long time, nor a wolf she had thought much of after she had packed up and ran off without a trace. Even her exactly description had become a little hazy, besides just that she'd always reminded her a lot of her mother. Amekaze had never been as attached to her as, of course, Floki, and even Charon, but who else could match so well, especially knowing she was of the Redhawk clan.

The Spear alpha tried to keep it measured as a few unexpected pieces fell into place and recognition sparked. "Ah, definitely no sign of her near here that I have caught wind of.. not in well over a year," Amekaze said, then licked the backs of her teeth. She could hear the ire of the brothers in the back of her mind. "She ran with us once. Briefly," she punctuated with a gesture towards Hydra, although it was well before her daughter's time. "I always figured she went far." A long pointed look at the commanding wolf before her wearing unfamiliar scents may prove just that.

Amekaze shifted her weight, and decided she would say more although she looked on the edge of motion. Something about this wolf.. she had a feeling she may know what to do with information like this: "There have been wolves—well, a wolf I know of, attacked near here. Guilty party knows we know, so have not pressed close to us since.. but I cannot say where else they spread from their shadowed hole in the flatlands." she provided with a slow switch of her tail. Maybe it would help, or maybe only serve to worry her and hers. Maybe it had nothing at all to do with what had derailed Wildfire, but above all, Amekaze was now keenly aware that this could go even deeper than Rannoch's random assault. She may never know if it was, or wasn't. Considering she didn't know this wolf enough to know that she cared about where Wildfire ended up, these still weren't suspicions she'd set aside easily.

She remained mute and observant as her mother spoke, all while taking in the information the other woman provided. Wildfire. Family in the Caldera. She assumed that the other had checked the Caldera to be looking elsewhere. Hydra was certain there was foul play afoot, if only because she so detested the wolves of the Woods. There was no reason for this wolf to be attacked—it would not matter if they had a vendetta against you and yours, she went on to explain, so that this wolf would know that any and all wolves were fair play, so it seemed. Hydra fell quiet herself, then.

Wildfire had once ran with Moonspear. She had not known this and while typically it would not matter to her, now such information served to further Hydra's distaste for the Woods.

While one wolf remains silent through the beginning of the conversation, Thuringwethil focuses on the first to speak. After her explanation of her mate, it is determined she had not been seen. What she hadn’t expected, however, is for her to be recognized. She knew Wildfire had been with another pack that wasn’t the caldera but she hadn’t known where or how far away it was, only perhaps in this area. They hadn’t explored enough yet to really know what is what or who is who but she finds out more with each new day.

“We are much further up the coast, on the other side of the mountain range,” she explains. She’d gone far, initially, and a little adjacent to the coast, but it does not matter now. The tone of the first female is difficult to decipher and she can’t remember if Wildfire left on good terms or not but it had ended in heartbreak and she can’t be sure.

They move on, this time with the other speaking up, and she looks between them. Drageda has the luxury of isolation, away from other packs. A few to the south along the coast but she has little interaction and concern for them. This pack, so close to the caldera, and potentially a threatening one, is a little overwhelming all of a sudden. Thuringwethil sucks in a long breath and nods. “What else do you know about that?” she asks, addressing the both of them now. “Did your wolf survive?”

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At least one piece of her suspicions were true in that Wildfire had landed far from them. Even when she had personally lived on that more northern mountain range, much further than Ankyra on the coast was beyond her regular scope. Days separated them from here and now, easily. In fact she no longer had a good idea of the sheer distance. She never traveled that far anymore.

Nevertheless, Hydra provided further details of what Ame had begun to speak on, and as she did, the green-eyed alpha nodded. They knew of no reason, no due cause, and to her, the fact that he had held the claim of Alpha was perhaps the most valuable prize on Rannoch's head. Together, via the wolf himself and what else Hydra and the others had managed to sleuth out over time, they had continually come to no solid conclusion on why the burly Frostfur would come under fire like that. "He did survive, albeit not without a little help," she answered with a matching gesture to her side. He'd be dead if not for her daughters, she did feel that to be true. Now that left her with how much else to explain from here.

"He was not entirely among ours when it happened," she mentioned, alluding very thinly to the familial tie that brought him closer to Charon's lot, but she still believed it vaguely relevant that he had been a leader they had attacked--although she would never be able to prove that played any part of it. "His claim was north in the mountains without any apparent bad blood between them beforehand. Neither did they make any moves to finish what they started after," she detailed. They didn't steal his lands, his wolves (as well as she knew), or even come looking to get him while he was weak. None of it added up to anything except random violence. "He was attacked by a large, pale male with sandy-colored legs." She found herself faintly bothered by a description that fit Floki so well just after word of Wildfire's reappearance in her neck of the Teekons--hopefully unrelated. "And a fresh scar on his face, now. Prior to this, that pack had always kept either to themselves or at least away from us at Moonspear.. largely irrelevant to us and ours, until now, and without much reason. Hard telling if it has anything to do with yours," she nodded. There was only Charon's tie to one individual over there, and Ame had never put any stock into it.

Skipping @Hydra with permission.

She isn’t entirely sure if it makes her feel better that the wolf is still alive, however left for dead, in light of the situation with Wildfire. Currently, they don’t know anything. If they don’t attack and kill right away, they leave them or, worse, capture them. Her jaw tightens but she holds the gaze across the way. The stranger continues to talk about the power the wolf used to have and it hits a certain way she hadn’t been expecting. Wildfire doesn’t hold power anymore, not since the birth of their children, but she is still close to Heda and sometimes that’s all that matters. Her only enemies in the teekon have been silenced, for the most part, and she doesn’t know who that leaves. The Grotto is still a mystery and the phoenix wolves haven’t been around—it doesn’t sound like them, anyway—but these wolves she knows nothing about.

“Does he have a name?” she asks a beat later and her ears swivel forward when she hears a low howl through the air. One ear flicks back in irritation but she wishes to ignore it for the time being, but she knows she can’t. Not when they’re out here, vulnerable. “I am being summoned,” she states, glancing between the two but she does not move just yet. “Is there anything else you can tell me that may be of use?”

There was only so much more she could share right now, but she offered what she could. With the belief that this dark warrior would make good use of the information, it was made easier, and for her own selfish reasons she would be finding out more in the weeks to come. Thanks to a tendency for decent scouts and Charon's personal ties to Blackfeather, Amekaze had faith they would make good progress.

She nodded deeply and understood she had others waiting on her. Amekaze wouldn't keep her, not well beyond an exchange of names. She whuffed a low farewell and nudged Hydra along her way. Next, they'd point back towards home to consider this.