Qeya River Little ones, Little ones

Ash Paw ushered the babies out of the den. @Darrow and @Aerilyn were much older now a little over a month. And she felt that they could do well to be outside. She asked @Acantha to help her with them and @Ksura too if he wanted. They'd find a new rendezvous site in this god forsaken river place. She hadn't quite decided yet what she was doing, but her threads of good will towards Wren were snapping.

She was stripped of her leadership title, which that wasn't so bad. It was how it had been done. Not to mention she wasn't entirely happy about the whole situation. She understood fear, but they had not gotten any explanation and now she was wondering if she wanted to continue her ties with Riverclan. Even if she adored Silvertongue. The closest friend she had ever had.

She shook her head and sniffed about keeping a weather eye on the two little ones.

A careful eye was kept not on just her younger siblings, but also on her mother. Ash Star spoke nothing of what had transpired—the woman held her feelings close to her chest—but it wasn’t as if Acantha went searching for answers.

They had been uprooted from their home as a family, and were now trying to settle in this new land—but she hadn’t seen much of the two woman who had insisted on the move—not to mention the newly appointed leader of their pack.

Newborn puppies, she assumed, had that effect on a mother.

It left little to be desired for her to partake in such a lifestyle one day, but she did enjoy her time now with Darrow and Aerilyn. When they were ushered outside, she nudged an elk bone she had found—stripped from whatever predator or time—toward them before side-stepping closer to her mother.

“Weather’s getting warmer.” We could blow this place—find somewhere new. But the words remained unspoken for now. She wasn't sure it was all that safe for her younger siblings to travel just yet... Not that Wren or Silvertongue had even cared about that weeks before.

They had come here some weeks ago, but still, they hadn't gone home. He'd loved the adventure at first. Loved having Aerilyn at his side. Mama and papa too, and his older sister he was just getting to know. The other pups were more than a little annoying, still too young for the rough housing of a growing boy.

All the way he hadn't complained. But as days and nights crawled on and on, he felt the nag of a peculiar feeling he had no name for yet, but would one day know too well: homesick.

He soured overnight, his cheerful laughs cracking with complaints and cries. He was a child and didn't have the restraint of a man - or even a youth. Darrow knew one thing and one thing only:

I wanna go HOME!!!

He ignored the bone his older sister had brought them, ignored the cues of intimate and nuanced conversation beginning between the women, and shouted, needing them to hear.

Ash had hoped that her little ones would stay calm about the move. That they would be okay. But it was not to be.

She had watched helplessly as her happy son began to grow moody and whiney and she didn't blame him. Not really. Ahe herself missed the quiet rivwr. But despite why they were here. They couldn't go back. There was a dangerous man.

She had been in mid conversation with Acantha when Darrow cried out in thecfury of a unhappy son. She offered her older daughter an apologetic look. And padded towards Darrow. Pressing her nose to him if he'd allow.

We can't go home. We have a new home.

For the most part, Ksura was happy as a lark to simply follow the decisions made by others. He continued his usual routines which didn’t vary much from day to day, and while the scenery had changed, his roles had not. As a packmate, he tended to the borders and as a father, he tended to his family- though he’d begun to discover that simply supplying food wasn’t enough. 

Darrow did not tolerate the change well, and he was beginning to sense that Ash Star and Acantha might not have agreed whole-heartedly with the change either. 

He didn’t feel it was his place to say so- but he was relieved that they were no longer living in a place where some wild father might appear and threaten their peace again. Did he resent Wren for uprooting the pack? He wasn’t sure. If he did, it was likely because he wondered if Ash Star felt that way.

He could hear Darrow’s protests as he returned to their new settlement with a sizeable trout, its scales shimmering like a rainbow in the light. Ash Star sought to calm him, but he wondered if her son voiced her own thoughts. 

He chuffed to the boy, and set the fish down, placing a paw on it momentarily as if to keep it to himself- an unusual trait for the man who often only ate out of sight of the others. He wanted to maintain the image that he was a provider first, after all. 

He clicked his tongue. ”You might change your mind, kiddo,” He said, eyes glistening. ”-If- I let you try a piece of this special fish that I caught from the river.”

The young one stayed quiet as she watched her brother voice his displeasure and at that moment; the girl didn’t truly understand why they had to leave their home but she followed. She listened to her mama as she spoke to her brother. “Why new?” She questioned.

She stuck close to her brother and when she didn’t she stayed by her mama. The other girl she hadn’t known yet and with all the stress of this journey she hadn’t tried.

Papa had departed for a moment but when he returned he had some type of creature in his mouth and it smelt funny causing the pup to tilt her head to the side.