Still rocked by the news, on the way home, Maia chose to cut through the mountains to make the trip a little quicker. All of the joy from the reunion she'd pulled together with her prince was drained with the news of her brother's death. She wanted nothing more than to be back at the fen... or maybe more, the Caldera, curled up and entwined with Eljay. It came as a surprise to her, but it also helped.
She'd cried herself out for the day already, though doubtless tonight she'd find more tears in her. Now she ran with a purpose across the plains, none of her usual dreamy wandering. She'd cut halfway through when she finally slowed down. She wasn't built for speed and had been pushing herself harder than usual in her impatience to be back, so it was time for a break. Maia let her head drop, breathing heavily and more than a little dejected.
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Once more, Sundance found himself entirely alone. With @Teya having vanished so swiftly after the court's dispersal, he'd spent days trailing the area in search of her. He was afraid for her fate, given the proximity of the iron-furred beast who'd bested him at the edge of the willows once before. Although it pained the young druid to think that she'd abandoned him without a word as their leader had, he felt it preferential to her being harmed at the jaws of that brute.
He didn't know where @Bridget had found herself, but he didn't feel it was safe enough to linger any longer. Sundance sent forth a low and solemn call to her, a suggestion of the direction he was heading or a final farewell depending on her choice, before he hung his tail and carried on deeper into the valley - far from everything dear to him.
Exhaustion and guilt weighed heavily on him. Hunger tore at his belly. He hadn't cared much to hunt for himself, and when he did his attempts were fruitless. Sundance had rapidly become a shell of who he'd been: a sorry soul who wandered aimlessly across unfamiliar plains. He stopped to investigate movement ahead, powder blue eyes lifted to regard the easing of an unfamiliar wolfess' pace. His first thought was to announce his presence, but all that came from him was a strained whine of despair.
Usually when Maia met strangers they didn't look worse off than she did. She was generally the one who felt like an idiot, or inadequate, or something similar. Instead this guy looked like someone had just crumpled him up and dropped him here.
In the face of something to do, Maia's own troubles got backburnered. Hey. You look awful. No offense! Just... you okay? Well, no, obviously not, but... I'm Maia.
She winced a little as she ran on, but her smile was friendly and her tail gave an encouraging wave. If he wanted to talk about it then she'd listen, if not, then at least she could maybe get a name and take his mind off it?
It was amazing how quickly she lost her fear of strangers. Suspicion was the farthest thing from her mind here, but thankfully, it likely wasn't at all necessary.
When the stranger looked his way, Sundance felt relief slacken the tension in his aching muscles. He released a slow breath through his teeth, silver ears drooping as he bowed his head in defeated acceptance of her observation. She was right: he looked awful because he felt awful. The court had dwindled, and naturally the willows were lost to him.
Again.
The pain of it came fresh to him once more, and dull powder hlue eyes squeezed shut as he battled with the demon of his inner guilt. Teya! Oh, how he hoped she was safe, wherever she was.
"I..." what? "I tried to..." Mouth promptly closing, he felt emotion rise to tighten its hold of his throat. He should've tried harder, he knew. He should've scoured every nook and cranny, turned every rock, sniffed every single blade of grass if it meant finding his companion.
If she was in danger? Sundance wasn't sure he could ever forgive himself, if his own fear prolonged her suffering. "I can't find my friend."
Oh. Maia's ears tilted back a little awkwardly as he revealed what was bothering him, though she didn't get as uncomfortable as she might have even a year back. A series of feeling fests had left her a little more equipped to dealing with others' issues, as ill equipped as she might be at actually solving them. Still...
Do you know where they were going? Or... do you need help?
She couldn't completely sidetrack her trip, but once she'd delivered her news, she wasn't opposed to keeping an eye out. Especially because this area wasn't nearly so far as the Hollow had been. Maybe they're just somewhere else?
Oh. Oh wow. Thank you, captain obvious. She offered it with as much lightness as she could muster, though, current situation nonwithstanding. She wasn't exactly at her emotional best either right now.
"I don't know," the silverwhite said, all that he could offer. There was so little if Teya that he knew, and in that moment he wondered if it was her frailty that had appealed itself to him. Sundance, a caregiver my nature, felt at his most comfortable when providing for others. Food, warmth, company, love... whatever they needed, he would be willing to provide.
Dorea hadn't needed him, not for anything, and she'd ran from him presumably because he'd been so eager to be close to her. He could barely stomach the possibility that the russet girl had done likewise.
Teeth gritted, Sundance steeled himself againat the wave of emotion that threatened to sweep him away again.
"Our leader abandoned us and the pack dispersed," the sterling youth finally managed for Maia, voice weighted - sorrowful, "I just... I'm tired of nothing being permanent."
This guy was definitely worse off than she was, which triggered Maia's 'mom' instincts immediately. She felt bad for making him re-iterate what was already obvious; of course he didn't know, otherwise he wouldn't be searching. She dropped it in favor of his second statement for the moment. It sounded like he'd had a pretty rough go of it these past few days. Weeks? Who knew.
I'm sorry. Are you... looking for a place? My sister and I have been traveling together for months, and we've kinda been collecting wolves who want to make a home together. We finally picked a spot to stay. Even if we end up moving on, Wraen's probably about the most permanent thing I've ever had. So... you could, maybe, stay with us too?
It wasn't the most confident of pitches, but things changed. Territories came and went, stuff happened, but Maia knew she'd never be alone so long as Wraen was with her. It was the best thing she could sell him on, and her tail waved as she watched him, hoping he'd pick up what she was putting down (and that it might cheer him up a tad).
In the end he agreed to go with her, at least for a while. Try as she might, she wasn't quite able to spark joy in him, but that only doubled her insistence that she go look for his friend soon as she was able. Fortunately, before too long, he'd receive word on that from another source!