As a compass is drawn to north, so too was Matteo drawn to the hinterlands.
He still had a lot to learn adjusting to life at the ocean's edge. There was plenty of new fish to catch, new birds to watch and new faces to see. In time he would pluck up the courage to seek out the plateau's inhabitants and introduce himself, but for now it all felt a little... too much.
That morning the sunrise saw the raven boy slip from his temporary den and head south to where he knew the isle lay. Yet, as was an easy mistake to make for a young traveller, one wrong turn led to another and soon he stood at the edge of a vast and tangled swamp.
This was the way, right? With an ever-growing feeling that something somewhere had gone wrong, he began to pick his way clumsily through the ice-crusted maze until his belly was slick with mud and his eyes were glazed with exhaustion.
lmk if this is okay!
the hinterlands held an easy familiarity for germanicus.
though it had been several years, his long strides remembered the ranging of this place. the mountain edges, the waterways. an island cut by rivers where he had hunted beside a skilled pantherine woman. the deep forests. the holy elk.
crowfeather.
the swamp was uninviting. he kept from its edge and found firmer paths along the slough's edge. presently, a small shape appeared before him.
the boy was muddy. germanicus called out to him. "it will only deepen from there."
of course!
A voice called him from his wallows, he looked up from a watery haze to see a stalwart figure. He recalled vague memories of a darkened face and kind eyes, black fur mingling with white as he lay in the warmth of a den. Honeyed eyes flickered with recognition, could it be-?
"Dad?" Incredulous, impossible that his father could have returned. After all, it had been so long...
Heeding his warning, the boy dragged his filth-heavy body to where the man had found more solid ground. Sceptically, he wet his nose as he approached. Crestfallen, but not outwardly so; the scent did not match the memory.
"Sorry, I thought you were someone else."
dad?
a muscle leapt in his cheek.
but the boy was wading from the swamp now, carrying the reek of cold mud. "no need to apologize. are you out here alone?" he was young, though not so young to be alone on a short journey.
but the tactician did not believe that was what he witnessed now.
"from where do you come?"
Thankfully, the man didn't seem to care much for a boy's careless mix-up. Yet, his words brought a gravity to the whole situation.
He was alone.
For the first time since he had tried to find Colt and had ran into Boone, he had set off by himself. It felt strange to not have Iseul by his side, but this was something Matteo was compelled to do alone.
"Moontide," he chose to ignore the man's first question. "Though... I used to live near here." Until had ended up in a swamp. Not exactly an ideal start.
germanicus did not know this moontide, though by sound alone he assumed it was an oceanic grouping.
"you are far inland from the coast," he remarked. "i know all the territories here. where do you seek?" was it only curiosity which had brought the young man, or was he fleeing?
the eagle was careful to ask no more questions, though he sensed the presence of no others.
That was a bold claim - the man must've been a scout, or have lived for a long time. Or both.
All of a sudden, he felt very inferior. Although, he rationalised, he had been too young to explore most of the territories surrounding the isle, there was some part of him that wondered what he had missed out on.
It was some time before the boy eventually decided to divulge any more information to the stranger. "Two River Isle - you know it?" While it was true the coast was some ways behind him, the journey had passed in a blur. Curious, testing, he waited.
"it is west of us," germanicus answered. "it is a place of good hunting."
the ranger knew now the boy was alone. he was careful and revealed nothing. the eagle respected this and so did not question again. "southeast of here is sun mote copse, claimed by a forming back. and further south is where i have settled with my son and daughter for now. the rest of the tuktu is for now uninhabited, i believe."
he began to move along the edge of the slough in the direction of the isle.
It had been a place of good hunting indeed. Elk had frequently visited the isle for it's lush greenery, though in the weeks before it's disbandment they too seemed to vanish. He wondered quietly what it would look like now as the man began to speak of his family and packs that were forming.
A hint of jealousy - would life have been much different if his father had stayed? If his mother had stayed?
Nevertheless, it seemed the hinterlands wasn't as isolated as it once had been. A wry smile wormed its way onto the boy's face as he began to follow clumsily behind the stranger.
"Hey - old man," he called ahead, "how long have you been kicking around here?" Perhaps he had known his parents, or perhaps not. The stranger seemed truthful enough that any information might satiate his growing curiosity.
old man.
germanicus felt it a bit of a misnomer, for he had never been a young man.
the years and his actions took their toll upon him. but germanicus knew that growing into age was not a luxury enjoyed by every soldier.
"years ago i used to live in these lands with a pack that has been long gone. i have been gone for a long while, but such memories return to travelers."
Unlike Boone, the boy found some comfort in the similarities between the unknown man's stories and his own.
Memories too had returned to him upon seeing his resemblance to his father; he was sure once they reached the isle it would only increase tenfold.
A quirk of his brow, Matteo followed in his pawsteps as a frog croaked nearby. He must have returned to the hinterlands for a reason. "Is that why you came back, to reminisce?" The boy supposed that wasn't too far from the truth of his own visit.
"i returned to set up an informal outpost for the duration of winter."
germanicus kept himself concise as he watched herons wing up from the cold slough. slowly he set their path west.
the frog croaking would fade.
the tactician set himself silently to hunt along their trek, to fill the surely emptied belly of the young wanderer.
An outpost. It was intriguing to know the man didn't foresee staying here permanently, though perhaps something could still be done with that information.
The conversation lulled as the pair scouted the swamp for any signs of prey. What on earth would choose to live here apart from frogs, Matteo didn't know, but perhaps the winding waterways were home to small fish.
Already damp from mud, he took no issue in wading (carefully) up to his knees as they made their way ever west. With the water too murky to see much, he soon gave up and turned his attention to an idea that had been ruminating.
"I think... it would be nice to keep in contact," he piped up. How to phrase this? "Between your outpost and Moontide, I mean. To share things if the winter is hard?" Maybe even the copse pack? Despite never experiencing winter himself, he recalled Iseuls' urgency to find a group before the snow set in. "Sorry I- I've never really met any other packs before but - um - what do you think of that idea?"
did the boy mean to live alone then? on a river island in winter? two steps and germanicus did not answer; he thrust his shoulders powerfully into the muck and yanked out a hapless frog, which he killed and offered to the young traveler.
the eagle would much rather the boy join the redhawks band than try to forge alone, but it was not his place to order this. and at any rate, it appeared the other would return to the coast.
"i range often. you may find me by name, germanicus, my son, aquillius, and my daughter, valiria. i do not travel so close to the coast, but i will remain in touch, as you say. what does moontide need?"
The seconds dragged into what seemed like hours. Matteo watched anxiously, shielding his eyes from the mud splatter as the man dived with practiced accuracy. There was a thing or two he could learn from his technique.
He accepted the frog gratefully.
"Germanicus - thank you," he swallowed the small meal. "I'll talk to Heph, but I'll let you know if there's anything we need. An' likewise if you want anything from us." The man seemed honest and skilled and it couldn't hurt to keep the line open with his family in case Moontide needed support.
"Also for um, helping me out back there. I want to see the isle one last time." Before he settled in Moontide for good. "I'm Matteo," he added as an afterthought. Matteo Two-Rivers - though he omitted that part, not really finding much connection to the name anymore.
the boy ate. the part of germanicus that was indeed fatherly was satisfied by this. matteo would keep himself alive with such small meals if he learned to catch them. a wolf could subsist on small game, even if hunger would be a constant companion.
"i will accompany you to the isle, if you wish," he offered. "for now, nothing is needed. how many days away do you believe moontide to be?" he asked, starting to move away from the muddy shoreline.
"Okay, thanks!" Indeed, he was relieved to have some company on his journey to the isle. He wasn't sure he was really ready to do it alone, though part of him felt guilty for taking Germanicus' time away from his own children.
"About 6 days from the edge of this swamp, maybe 7?" An overestimation; each paw he placed in the man's footsteps to avoid sinking back into the mud. His first trip with Iseul had taken nearly two weeks, but it was a fairly straightforward route to the coast (though not, perhaps, for a boy with a bad sense of direction). Someone with Germanicus' range would surely find it easy.
"Is your outpost far?"
shall we fade soon? since we have the other threat now :) sorry for the wait
no worries at all! lets fade here <3
"a day if you do not stop to rest and hunt. a day and a half if you do."
but he was preparing for the isle, for his trek thereafter.
the man set off, the boy beside.