Night descended, its chill following not far behind the setting sun, but her itch to remain in motion was undeterred and viciously unsatisfied by just her own round of patrol while the others watched over the puppies. It pressed her just over the borderlands, down further, and then into the small valley her mountain towered over. Now with level ground underfoot, and so low down here too, registered starkly as unfamiliar to her (such a strictly mountain-dwelling beast these days) that now removed, she felt vaguely misplaced.
She exhaled, adjusted, and slid onward, reminding herself that she had not left the Spear in a handful of moons now -- roughly, four? -- not since the lightning had warmed her blood, since before Lazarus then the various other strife upon the peace of her days, and most valuable of all, since before her daughters had existed. She reasoned it was unsurprising that it did not feel quite right to her to not be up so far.
Amekaze brushed her quivering nose against the grasses at her feet, seeking to familiarize herself and ease in even further. Perhaps, should luck shine as generously as the waxing moon, her pathway may lead her towards treasure. Hunger did not spur her nearly so aggressively now that she had mostly weaned the whelps off her, but the opportunity to pursue something never left her. Prey or otherwise, she only wanted a busied mind and body; something to bring home to show for her energy expended did not hurt, either, especially with winter looming.
Predatory in all her motion, the dark alpha skimmed her sights ahead, swung her ears forward, and lurked deeper into heart of the valley to see what may captivate her before she inevitably looped back toward the Spear.
she hasn't been out in a really long time so, random thread,
Floki's visit to the Sunspire and back had taken more time than he had intended. It had started as a leisurely trip but had taken an unexpected turn when he ran into Wildfire and company. He had spent the days after their encounter trying to sort through his feelings, lingering in unclaimed territories before finally turning his paws homeward. There was an ache in his heart that he hadn't anticipated, but it was apparent that Wildfire's life was on a different path from his own -- and he feared that they would never again cross.
Finally, he was treading through familiar land under the cover of darkness. By now, he was exhausted -- both physically and emotionally -- and he almost didn't notice his dark-coated Alpha until the moonlight illuminated her silhouette briefly. He paused, blinking, and then padded towards Amekaze, simultaneously forcing thoughts of Wildfire from his mind.
"Ame," he called quietly as he approached, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. He was surprised to see the new mother out and about at this hour, but recognized also that it was about time for her to begin reclaiming her freedom now that the girls were a bit older. "I just came from the Sunspire," he said, drawing up alongside her and matching her stride.
In truth, she'd not put an exact date on when to expect Floki back. He'd certainly not crossed over in the threshold of being gone so long that she'd worried about it (especially considering he knew what he was doing out there), so to find his scent, and then his presence not long after, here with her was a welcome enough surprise. Her tail waved softly at his greeting. "Floki, hey," she murmured quietly as she joined up next to him.
Once close enough, she reached to nudge her muzzle against his shoulder. He smelled of the wilds, places indistinct but out there -- she knew some more familiar to her than others. Upon pulling back just slightly, she couldn't help but glance him over to ensure that travels had been safe.
But greetings slipped aside easily in favor of a topic of certain interest for her: just what she'd asked of him. "Anything good?" she asked, definitely eager to hear more.
She greeted him warmly and his tail waved, happy to be in the presence of family once more. He enjoyed his lengthy ventures, but this one had included an unexpected twist that had left him feeling heartbroken and angry. He swallowed those emotions, leaving them on the backburner for the time being -- as he predicted, Amekaze was eager to hear about her former home.
"It's amazing up there," he said first and foremost. "I thought Moonspear was awesome, but the Sunspire is an incredible mountain, too. I didn't go all the way to the top, but I definitely want to go back and try it some other time." He briefly considered the fact that he should have followed his first instinct and scaled the peak; had he done so, he would have missed the interaction with Wildfire entirely.
Once he had shared his personal impressions, he got down to business. "No one is living on the mountain. It seemed like a few lone wolves had passed through, but nobody permanent. There is a pack that's settled somewhere on the far side of the range. I didn't stop to meet with anyone there, just took note of the location," he added.
Amazing, no doubt. Her tail gave a fond quiver. She could picture the pathways she'd always favored remarkably well for being gone from them for a year. "I know, right?" she smirked. A piece of her would miss it now and then, and the residual possessiveness over it may never go away entirely. Many of her reasons for thinking of it were sentimental, but she'd not be swift to forget the majesty of the place. "I do recommend going up as far as you can. It does not disappoint." Which, as his report revealed, it was likely it was just as she remembered it to be. No one else had made their mark on it.
"I see. Well, it is good to know we can visit freely, if we want to," she mentioned, satisfied by knowing no packs staked their claim and hoped that it would stay that way for a while. In a way, she was very glad that it hadn't met the same fate as the Bay. It deserved the peace and quiet. A few loners passing through were not going to amount to much, after all. Traffic had always been minimal in her time there anyway. More so if the nearby pack kept to itself, as the area made it easy to do. She knew that from experience too. "I do not know much about the pack, either. It was not there when we left, is all I can say for sure... How far out did you end up going?" Amekaze asked.
He could see the nostalgia written plainly on Amekaze's face, and imagined she felt the same way about the Sunspire as he did about Stavanger Bay. Moonspear had been the place for their new beginnings, but neither wolf would forget their previous homes. It was a shame that the bay had been claimed by a pack and Floki could no longer visit it on a whim; however, he held his memories close to his heart, and he was lucky that there were other areas of the coast that he could frequent when he needed to feel the sea spray on his face.
She took his information in stride, seeming to be pleased with the lone mountain's status. "Maybe on my next trip I'll investigate that pack a little further," he said; he was more of a ranger than an ambassador, but as long as the group of wolves did not appear to be hostile, he was not opposed to gathering more information to share with his own Alphas. He hesitated before answering Amekaze's next query, and Wildfire's face swam before his mind's eye once more.
"I did go a bit further north before looping back. Just scoped out some neutral territories...there seemed to be hunting grounds for other packs just beyond the mountains," he replied after a pause. He knew next to nothing about Wildfire's new pack; just that they resided somewhere in that area, and obviously did some hunting in the unclaimed wilderness.
She silently supported his notion of a second visit, and still held onto her own vague plans of one some day. How soon or not it was depended on a lot of factors and she was in no sort of rush, but the Sunspire forever had a piece of her -- beyond it just being a stepping stone on her way to here, and now. "They are probably of little concern, anyway," she rolled her shoulders, not needing to know about them beyond the usual curiosities, but he'd certainly not deny him sniffing around them a little more if he wanted. "It never hurt to know more though," she decided, a wry smirk barely withheld.
"Hm, I am not surprised. It is vast up there in the taiga.." Beyond the Spire it turned towards tundra quickly in one direction, and rolling valley in another, dotted in mountains in the distance. When she'd had better touch with the area, she had only known of a sprinkling of packs now and then -- most too far or too scattered about to ever be worth knowing about for her, with few of them even lasting long enough to contend with her in any way. She assumed this trend continued to a certain degree. "Anything else worth noting?" she quipped, happy that he'd covered some good distance. "I came out here planning to hunt a bit since Charon has the girls.. but, ah, nothing has caught my eye," she peered sidelong to the mountain, knowing they'd like her back most likely, and Floki probably wanted to get on home as well.
The vastness that Amekaze spoke of was enticing to Floki. His soul yearned to wander, to traverse the whole world in time and document it all to his mental map. He knew that this wasn't feasible; there was so much to see, even just within the Teekon Wilds, and his responsibilities as a leader and family member always drew him home. At the same time, however, he had crossed a portion of the wilds off his list; he had no desire to run into Wildfire again, so would likely avoid the area to the northeast of the Sunspire in the future.
He shook his head as he replied. "Nothing else," he added. The trip hadn't revealed much of the information he sought, but had given him ample that he didn't want to know about. He gave Amekaze a tired grin. "If I wasn't so worn out, I'd offer to hunt with you, but I'm ready for a nap," he admitted. Normally, he wouldn't turn down an opportunity for fresh meat, but Moonspear was so close and home was calling to him.
His report concluded without issue, leaving her satisfied and glad he was back, above it all. "A rain check, then," she offered with a smirking nod, then began to take off on her own to resume that very hunt. That way he could head on back to the mountain and get to his well-earned rest too.
Her farewell came quick with just a nudge against his shoulder and soft (but fond) growl. She picked up her pace and was gone not long after.