OOC: For
@Taktuq
After having cheerfully accepted Taktuq's suggestion to pair up for the journey west, Ensio led the way with confidence. He was in high spirits and excited. The trip was a long one with a few challenges along the way, but he welcomed them all. It was not like he had anything to worry about. He had taken this route before, and knew precisely where he was going.
Others did not. Which is why he was happy that the silver wolfess was by his side. He would ensure she didn't get lost or fall behind. More so, he was especially looking forward to the showing her the sights along the way. One such stop was this vast cedar forest. He slowed, to breathe in the refreshing, woodsy scent.
"It is nice here isn't it? But wait till we get to the summit." He grinned, icy eyes staring ahead to the stout mountain peek, barely visible in the far distance.
"We're pretty sure it even has hot springs, though I have not seen them myself yet." His tail wagged, bum wiggling with pent up energy.
Sorry it took so long! <3
Ensio proved a formidable companion, or so Taktuq decided. She hadn't known the boy before they'd left but there was a sense of adventure in making such a trip with someone still such a stranger to her. And he'd received her with such a readiness to go! Could she have asked for anyone better?
They bounded together in what felt at times an endless supply of energy. Never one to vie for authority, Taktuq happily let Ensio lead the way. He knew the route, after all, and Taktuq had been keen to let him know she was glad to have chosen such a competent partner to travel with. She reckoned she probably didn't have to bolster the boy with any sort of praise, but she never liked the idea of giving up an opportunity to encourage another.
"You mean to say there is a prettier sight than this?" she, too breathed in the cool scent of the cedar forest down below, and couldn't help but return his grin. He had a lively way about him that Taktuq found she appreciated the longer she spent with the boy.
"And hot springs too! If this proves true, we will be the envy of all the Wilds, perhaps even the world! Not even my homelands had hot pools to boast of."
"Hah, of course!" He declared a laugh that was not at all forced. He felt good. Refreshed. Not only by the journey, lengthy though it may be, but in that he was spending quality time getting to know another of his pack mates. A matter he would continue to pursue in their new home. "We can try and find 'em together when we get there. If you'd like." He left the offer open.
"I've never lived on a mountain before, but I am looking forward to it." He pushed ahead, bits of snowy ice particles clinging to the thick fur of his paws. "I only ever lived on the Glacier my whole life. I don't think it will be too much different." That was the fun part. Finding out. "What about you? What was your first home like?" He was interested to know. The shadow of a hawk swooped overhead, above the treetops. He glanced up momentarily, watching in admiration as it disappeared out of sight.
They would find the hot springs together. Didn't that proposition bring a beaming smile to her face! "I would very much like that," she said. Already something to look forward to in their new home!
She listened as they pushed ahead, happy to be a listener. Taktuq considered where she had been by the time she was Ensio's age. Mother had already been gone. Had Ursus already chased her? Her childhood was really only yesterday compared to some wolves, but the events melted together in a fuzzy timeline she couldn't quite decipher. Perhaps she had already left with Takiyok for the North. Perhaps she had already found her place there.
"I believe it will be similar, but with less ice to slip on," she had never lived on a mountain, either, but had journeyed through many enough to say this thought as though it were fact. But his question to her was not about mountains. "My first home was not very far from Duskfire at all," and in fact, as they had travelled, she recognized landmarks along the way that might've led her back to Easthollow, if she had not pledged herself to Issorartuyok and his village. "There was a forest filled with many trees that looked like twins of each other and a plain that seemed to stretch on forever," she said, glancing upward to see what Ensio was looking at, "at our heart, we had a circle of stones that stood on their ends, as though reaching toward the heavens. That is where we buried our family when they died."
OOC: Sorry for the wait!
"Then it is settled. That'll be first on the agenda once we get to the mountain. Maybe Veteran and Heda would like to tag along, if they are already there." He thought aloud. Teaming up with his half brother and his friend could make for an exciting experience for the younger wolves of the pack. Leave the bragging rights to them after they, together, had found the springs.
Listening, he tried to visualize the place she described as her home. Not far from the glacier. Surrounded by trees, yet wide and open. It sounded nice. And to top it off, the coolest sounding feature of pillars of stone, standing upright. "Woah..." He breathed, envious that he had never gotten the chance to see them.
His awe turned into something more solemn when she said her family was buried at those stones. His dark ears fell back, his face growing more serious again. Wary, as if hoping bringing it up had not affected her negatively. "I um, know the feeling. My parents were buried at a special site too, with shining stones in remembrance of them..."