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Full Version: The moonlight's a path we can travel down
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if you have time <3 this can be a shortie!

As soon as he left Liffey and Rannoch's howl echoed, Gannet made for where he guessed @Mona to be, @Ashlar trailing behind. The pup was curious, but Gannet didn't explain... not yet.

When he didn't find her right away, he did something he rarely did.... he lifted his head and howled for her. It wasn't an urgent call - nothing was wrong. But he was anxious to know what her answer would be, and as he sat down next to the boy who had become his son, he shifted nervously.
gannet had taken ashlar off somewhere, and mona had seized the chance for a deep nap. our son wreathed through her mind moments before slumber took her, a smile on her lips.
what woke the cardinal were the calls, in succession. first rannoch’s howl, echoing fiercely through the hollow, and then the sound of gannet’s own. mona blinked, unfurling herself and padding quickly toward the second with an alacrity her half-awakened body did not quite feel.
”gannet,” mona whispered as she drew closer, reaching to touch his shoulder with her muzzle and smiling fondly at the little boy tagging along behind him. ”what’s happened?”
She didn't keep him waiting long. He smiled as she approached, and his tail wagged a light greeting, though the uneasiness he felt didn't entirely lift. He did not quite understand where it had come from. Rannoch and Liffey are leaving, he said, as straightfoward and terse as he always was.

Now was the other part, the part that he felt so torn about for reasons he didn't know. They are going to live with the Redhawks. They asked if I would come with. He looked down at Ashlar. I said I had to ask. I won't if you want to stay.

It was odd... he didn't know what he wanted her to say. If she agreed to leave, then he would be free to follow, and together they could go live with Liffey and Raven and all the family he left behind all those years ago. Family that... he barely knew anymore. If she wanted to stay, then he could stay, with Sarah and Ibis and the friends (no matter how few) he had here. But Liffey would be gone, and her children. It was less than before, but it held traces of Moonspear all over again.

But at least this time he'd been given a choice, and at least this time, no matter what, he'd keep this family with him.
she was silent as he spoke, glancing at her small son thoughtfully. unable to keep the play of emotions from racing across her features, mona lowered her muzzle to nudge ashlar gently. ”i think i saw a big frog under those bushes,” she murmured, indicating a small knot of shrubs not far off. ”can you look for me?”
when the boy had sped off with an excited chortle, mona returned her attention to gannet. understanding vied with trepidation upon her countenance — she told herself that in this she could not be selfish.
”you would not be happy here without rannoch and liffey, and their children, gannet.” he was as devoted to the young brood as he was to ashlar, and this tearing would cost him greatly.
”i couldn’t ask you to stay,” she finished ruefully, though a harsh pain had begun to throb in her soul. ”i have been waiting for indra to come back.”
He watched as Mona distracted Ashlar very aptly, glad for it. He didn't now how he would take to a move, but he did know that the child had grown close to Liffey's children. It would be a hard separation there if they stayed, though children's memories were often not long.

I wouldn't be unhappy, he answered in response, but his ears tipped back. I think I do want to go. It wouldn't be right to lie to her about what he wanted; he wouldn't want that from her either. It was better if this decision was one they made together, but the one truth was this; if they stayed, so would he.

Who is Indra? He had never met her, and this was the first he'd heard. She'd departed before his coming here.
someone else who left and didn’t come back, her thoughts answered silently. ”she is like a sister to me. we lived in bearclaw valley together for a while before we came here.” before ashlar, before the hollow. before gannet. had things been easier then? simpler? mona no longer knew.
the world was beginning to close in upon the firebrand as the enormity of potentially losing gannet began to dawn on her. a sudden, swift anger dulled her eyes and she looked down at the rich loam of the earth beneath them. 
it would be better if he had simply told her he was leaving, given her no room to consider. perhaps in the ripping of a wound she could heal more cleanly in his absence, rather than have the pain of his departure prolonged.
it was with the frustrated sheen of tears in her eyes that mona lifted her gaze back to the man who had come to mean so much to ashlar, and so much more to her. ”i don’t want us to be the reason you wake up one morning and realize you lost the future you wanted.”
Like a sister. He nodded, and his smile returned, if a little less bright. Mona had lived here before Gannet came, and this was likely her home. Gannet hadn't held a true home since his parents had died, though he'd known a few to come close. Here he'd found one with her and Ashlar at least, and he couldn't give that up, even if it did mean watching Liffey and his family walk away once more.

Then I'll stay, he said, quietly resolved. He did feel a soft sort of sadness... there had been potential, in the alignment of his old family once more, a reunion of Redhawks. But he knew without a doubt he could never resent Mona or Ashlar. This was his choice to make, and he was making it. I want his future, and yours. They weren't mates, and their family wasn't exactly conventional. It was unknown if Gannet would ever know what it was to love like that, though jury's out on that one (I literally do not know). But she had come to mean a great deal to him. As much as he loved Liffey and their children, he wouldn't lose this new family he'd found to follow hers.
but gannet was unwavering, and mona drew a shaking breath, a single droplet of saltwater tracing its way along her cheek. despite her fear, despite the guilt that was beginning to settle over her like a shroud, his devotion to their unconvential little family had settled mona in many ways.
”where are they going?” she asked of liffey and rannoch. close enough to visit, she hoped, for his sake. 
a moment passed, in which mona silently leant her head against gannet’s shoulder. ”thank you,” she whispered, hoping she could mend whatever wound they left behind.
Gannet wasn't actually sure... Liffey hadn't said. My sister lives southwest, he said, thinking. They had left the plateau, and he hadn't visited the new, but he remembered Eljay indicating the path. They are going there I think. It made sense if they were joining them they would at least go there first. Whether they'd stay or move on, he wasn't sure. It seemed Liffey enjoyed shifting her home at times.

He nodded wordlessly as she thanked him, and leaned gratefully into her, accepting the comfort of contact. The disappointment would linger, but he'd always turned that to where it belonged... the regret that the situation wasn't different. I have to visit, to tell her. And if I can, I can learn some too. Raven's a healer. He wouldn't stay long, or at all if they decided he wasn't welcome. But if he could, now that Ashlar was nearly old enough, he'd like to at least see what his old family had become. It had been so long.
”of course,” mona agreed, reluctantly pulling away from the pale man. she cast an eye over ashlar, who had found no frog but a very large slug, which he was exploring with the intent fascination of the young.
”i met a woman named finley that way,” she murmured. ”a good friend of my father’s, when he was alive.” still perturbed by the entire situation, wondering if seeing his family would persuade gannet to stay, mona fought for control over her nerves. 
”if you ... ever wanted to stay there longer, we could come visit, you know,” the cardinal offered, wanting the man to understand she expected nothing of him beyond that which he had already offered.
Gannet was surprised to hear a familiar name from her, though the wilds were small. Maybe he shouldn't have been. My aunt. He knew that Finley wasn't truly his aunt, but they'd tied the families so closely in the time since he was born that he considered her for the most part to be. She helped raise us. Especially after Peregrine and Fox had died.

He appreciated the offer, but he knew it wouldn't be needed. He still nodded though, even knowing he'd return quickly. Maybe we could all visit sometime, he offered instead. It would make him happy for his family to meet Ashlar, once he'd visited and knew where they stood. And he thought Mona would perhaps like it too... especially if her family had known his.
mona blinked. it was surprising to know someone he did, though without the sudden, girlish flush that had accompanied learning of terance's connection to donnelaith. and somehow that all had ceased to matter to the girl so much. set adrift, she had sought her own way.
and for it she had ashlar, and indra. laurel. gannet. those she might not have met had she ever stayed outside the teekon. "i'd like that," the little cardinal murmured quietly. it would be a pleasure for ashlar, she knew. and though the idea gave her apprehension, she would be with gannet. that was all that mattered.
fading! We have the other <3 and can have a new maybe once you are back!

He was extremely pleased when she agreed and lit up clearly. He had his own share of anxiety about returning home for any length of time, so having Mona and Ashlar along would make the act easier.

He stepped up and embraced her, filled with immense gratitude. I need to go, I'll be back, he promised. Then, with a last glance, he set off to deliver the news to Liffey that he would not be following after all.