Dawnlark Plains listen to the wind blow, down comes the night
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once more she finished her circuit of the borders, eyes narrowed. somewhere along the way, Forrest had slipped away - and there seemed little sign of her in the outer territories. she howled once for the woman, and was met merely with silence. then her voice called out again, for @Grayday and @Aditya - perhaps one of the two had heard anything from the woman. she could not quite believe that she would willingly leave them; not after healing Adi and promising her skills to the pack's pups. 

and so the huntress wondered if something terrible had befallen her along the way; she was elderly, after all, and she'd seen the way the woman's arthritis had her move. then surely they must search for her, or at least try. especially after what she'd done for Adi.
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he wasn't too far off when he heard the two howls--first for forrest, then for himself and grayday--and aditya trotted toward the source of the noise, ears folded backward in worry. he hadn't thought about the old healer in a little bit, had never really gotten to properly thank her for saving his life, but now that her face came to his mind, he realized he hadn't seen her in a while. had something terrible befallen the woman?

the brown male arrived first, giving dawn a gentle nuzzle to her cheek before stepping away, eyes troubled. "i haven't seen her recently, either," he said without preamble, mouth twisting in a frown. "i thought we had kept track of everyone on the journey, but. . ."

but. the buts haunted him. but it had been a turbulent time, and morningside was a big pack; there were bound to be those who slipped through the tracks. but their move had not been meticulously planned--errors could have been made. but hostilities still brewed in the valley, and, from what he had seen at grimnismal, on the coast as well.
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her mate arrived soon, and she hummed a note when he greeted her wordlessly, brow furrowed a moment. he knew exactly the reason for his call, and when his sentence faded, she tacked on her own thoughts, that surely were shared.  "I'm worried about her. she was - is - old, and she doesn't seem the type to up and leave us." 

it was after a moment of thought that she continued, thoughtful.  "I think we should try retracing our steps, head back to the mountains - could have lost her there. we owe her a debt, besides, for what she did."  she was, of course, referring to aditya's sickness, the knowledge she'd shared, and much besides. golden gaze settled on him a moment, contemplative. this was something she could do alone, but she could not help but hope for his company; she felt little guilt over leaving the pack in this safe place - they had pema and grayday, and besides, it could not take long for them to look.
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Grayday ambled toward the pair, ears pricked curiously at their conversation.

"She left before the move," he said to them, surprised they had not known this. Of course, they'd been off on their mission. Perhaps they hadn't had time to take stock before setting off once more. "Her scent went down into the valley. I can't think why; there was a standing order to stay close."

Truthfully, Grayday was not all that troubled by the loss. He hadn't liked Forrest, and they had a perfectly capable (and perfectly agreeable) healer in Pema.
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"yes, we do," aditya agreed, shuddering as he thought back on the worst of his fever. how she'd pulled him from the depths, eased his pain. god's sake, he'd thought her his own mother, in the throes of sickness! she deserved more than just simple gratitude. . .but where was she?

his thoughts were interrupted by grayday's gruff voice, lending some insight to the matter. his lips fell in a frown as the words soaked in. she had left, not gotten lost.

"why would she do that?" he asked, the slightest offense creeping into his tone. "we gave her a home, fed her, cared for her. . .hell, she cared for us. why just leave?" it wasn't that he doubted his father-in-law, far from it. he was starting to doubt himself, though. flint, his own recruit, vanished. kaevo, whom he'd invited in, hadn't lifted a paw and had been asked to leave. raid, who he'd taken under his wing, was still distant. and now forrest--with whom he thought he'd had a special bond.

was there something wrong with him? was his character judgment not as sound as he had once thought it to be?
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her own brow crinkled in confusion as he revealed she'd left before the move - while she felt a burst of the same offense that aditya felt, she asked, "was there any indication that something was off, before she left?" she wracked her memory a moment, and yet could think of nothing unusual about the woman's behavior. 

forrest had not been young, and she wondered if the woman had become confused, or hurt. it seemed unlikely of the sharp-minded woman, and yet still her departure had not been foreseen.
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Grayday gave a little shrug, not sure if his short encounter with the woman was worth mentioning. In the end, he decided that he ought to be transparent. "Perhaps I didn't make her feel welcome enough," he allowed, his face falling. Quickly, he outlined what had transpired during their sole encounter, where Forrest had tried to peck at him and he had patently declined to allow it.

He, personally, did not feel that the encounter had been enough to put someone off the whole pack. Forrest had - in his opinion - spoken entirely out of turn. But he knew that he didn't always have the best judgment in these situations, and he did not want to misrepresent his relationship with the healer.

"Things were a bit hectic at the time, but maybe we can send someone, now," he offered. "I hope that no harm has befallen her, but honestly, I wasn't willing to risk any wolves for it while we needed to defend the plateau. For you or the other kids, maybe. Even for Raid. But not for someone as new as her."
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aditya shook his head doubtfully at grayday's recollection, chiming in as soon as the man had finished speaking. "she's a grown woman, not a child," he remarked, "and a strong woman, too. i don't think that would have put her off too much." she'd stared his own personal reaper in the face and had come out victorious. if that didn't speak volumes about the strength of her character, nothing else would.

he bristled uncomfortably, not knowing quite what to do. if forrest was in danger, of course they should look. . .but if she'd left of her own accord, why bother her? perhaps she had taken some offense to grayday, and had bowed out when it was convenient.

"maybe she doesn't want us looking," he reasoned to dawn, flicking an ear in disappointment. "maybe she just wanted to leave without anybody noticing." which was rude, in his humble opinion, but not impossible. improbable, even.
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Grayday shrugged; he cared very little for the woman, and would not be too sorry to hear that she'd died. It wasn't his fault if she had gone wandering off despite his explicit instruction not to, and though he hoped she was safe and well in some other pack, well... it was fine by him if she wasn't.

"Do what you feel is right," he said to his children, giving Dawn a little nuzzle as he headed away. "And let me know if you decide to go." That went without saying, of course, but he figured a little reminder was never undue.

For the moment, it didn't seem as though they would seek her out. That was what Grayday prefered, but if they decided to go, he would worry about it then. For the moment, all was right in his world.
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for a moment she was silent, considering. aditya was right; forrest was elderly, yet strong, and perhaps she'd left of her own choice. still, it seemed out of place for the woman who she'd believed would be part of morningside for a while yet. she spoke only after her father had left them, offering a nuzzle in return and watching him go before turning back to her mate. "I think I ought to retrace our steps - I could go alone, for for a couple days. she is strong, and I can't see her getting lost, or wandering off. but we owe her, or at least we should make sure she's not in danger." had it been another packmate, she might very well have cared little. but the sterling girl knew she owed a great debt to the elderly healer, and in the very least she could re-visit the plateau.
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he gave grayday a curt nod, turning back to dawn as her father padded away. adi shrugged, remembering the conversation he'd had with grayday the other afternoon.

"in love, you cannot be the chain or the rock. be like water - moveable and changeable. be the stream that feeds the roots, the flow that breaks the dams."

whether looking for forrest was right or wrong, he couldn't hold back his young mate from doing so.

"if you want to go--if you feel like it is right--then you should go," adi murmured, giving her a faint smile. "and if you want me to come with you, i will. still. . .i worry that she didn't want us to go looking for her. that doing so might be useless."

he hadn't had the chance to sit and thank forrest for what she'd done, but had tried to show his gratitude, as he recovered, in small, non-verbal ways. but it evidently hadn't been enough. forrest was gone, gone of her own volition, and aditya thought perhaps it was presumptuous of them to go looking for the woman.