Swiftcurrent Creek tell the wolves i'm home

"Sometimes, they'd kidnap younger or weaker wolves and make 'em slaves of sorts. Not in Blackflag, though!" she'd once told Ferdie. "We went by the pirate code on our crew..."

Her own voice, loud and horribly ironic, echoed from the past as Bones trudged across familiar ground in the direction of home. A trip that had only taken three days once upon a time had cost her nearly a week this time around. She was so weak now, following months of starvation and unspeakable abuse. The rawboned yearling wanted to run now that she was so close, yet she could hardly muster the energy to walk. She made her slow and painstaking way, stumbling at times and pausing at others to catch her breath and wait for the trembling in her legs to pass. Even if it took her another week, she would make her way to the creek.

At last, her overgrown ears detected the familiar burble in the distance. That joyful noise invigorated her enough that she managed to slowly jog the remaining distance to the borders, ignoring the twinges in her hindquarters from all the tooth marks there. The scent markers were different, though not unfamiliar. Bazi? Where's Cap'n Fox? Bones didn't have much energy left to wonder about it. She let out a great sigh and dropped on the invisible boundary line, her pale green eyes rolling toward the sky. A small smile crawled slowly onto her dry lips. She took a deep breath and let her bruised and sunken eyes close. She didn't fight as she began to lose consciousness, thinking only, Today is my birthday. And I'm finally home.

Star had woken up and fallen back asleep several times before finally getting up. She hated the bore of her everyday life. Nothing ever happened. She smoothed down any fur that had been ruffled up in her sleep. She stood and stretched, leaving her soft bed of short grass. She began walking until she noticed a large animal of some kind on the horizon. She sped her pace up and hoped the animal would not think she was a cloud. She had never addressed anything at the border. She could tell it was a wolf now, and it had collapsed. It seemed just a month or two younger than Star. She didn't want to be rude and straight out chase it off, but it could be one of Ferdie's wolves. She reached the girl. "Hello. Are you one of Ferdie's wolves?" She asked. Then she realized she didn't sound defensive at all, but she did not correct herself.

BONNESSS.

Bones would be greeted by the whitest and brightest that the Creek had to offer. A short while after Star set off toward the borders, Bazi too got a niggling feeling that something wasn't quite as it should be. The Creek's third Alpha rose to her feet, and made her way swiftly to the edge of the territory.

Star had beat her to it. It could only be Star - from a distance, she looked like an over-sized puffball mushroom. And next to her.. a slumped figure of some sort; someone begging for sanctuary, perhaps. Like Bazi had, once upon a time. She increased her pace, speeding through the grass on light paws.

"Bones?"

And it was. The bruised, battered creature on the ground was none other than the feisty little Tortuga girl come home. Bazi rushed forward, pushing past Star to nose at the familiar face. The little pirate even smelled exhausted, and didn't seem to have a very tight grasp on consciousness. "Star, quick - dig up the nearest cache you can find. Go!"

Despite her delirium, Bones sensed a presence and her green eyes cracked open a sliver. She saw a cloud floating above her and her lips twitched in amusement. Then the cloud spoke, greeting her and then inquiring about Ferdie. This seemed like just the sort of thing that might happen in the afterlife. Bones accepted her death calmly and thought to herself, At least I didn't sink into Davy Jones' locker.

A different voice called her name and the sharp familiarity of it caused her eyes to slowly widen. "Bazi...?" she rasped quietly. Her eyes flicked from Bazi to the cloud — who was not a cloud at all, she saw now, but a very fluffy wolf — as the former barked orders. "I'm home." That was, as long as Bazi et al forgave her for appearing to betray them that fateful and violent night last spring.

Star looked up as the alpha rushed forward. She heard Bazi call the wolf Bones. Star was filled with many questions, but she held them in. She did as she was told, rushing away to find a cache. She dug it up and brought the contents toward them, dropping some prey on the ground. Star's gaze fell again on the young girl called Bones.

Star did as she was told, returning with buried meat just as Bones' eyes began to widen. "Rip it into smaller pieces," Bazi ordered. "This is Bones. She lives here."

Details around the events of the Bones' last day with Swiftcurrent Creek were.. hazy. A lot had happened since then - most of the wolves that met the Tortuga clan in battle were no longer with the pack. In fact.. Bazi was the only one that remained; even Cutthroat had vanished, much to the northern girl's dismay at the time.

"Yes, Bazi!" she chirped, please that Bones' physical state was not a reflection on what was going on under her ears. "Star is going to give you some food, OK? Then we'll take you to water. What.. what did they do to you?"

The smell of meat roused the yearling much more fully. Bones gave the pair of white wolves a grateful glance, them shamelessly bolted down the proffered morsels. She suspected eating so much so fast might give her a bellyache after months of little food, yet she didn't care. It would be worth it.

The food definitely energized her. Positioning herself like a sphinx, the young she-wolf gazed up at Bazi, eyes shining from her sunken face. "Thank-ye, Bazi, Star. I'll be ready to stand in a minute." Some clean, fresh water to wash down her meal would be perfect.

Bazi wanted to know what they'd done to her. "Me mother made me a slave to punish me for... everything," she answered, her voice light despite her heavy words. "She and the crew, they..." Suddenly, her voice faltered and she looked down at her paws. Although they hadn't been able to break her spirit, Bones still felt vulnerable, ashamed and distressed about the abuse she'd taken these past few months. She hoped Bazi understood the implications so she wouldn't have to relive them.

"But," she continued after a lengthy pause, pale green eyes lifting again, "they couldn't break me!" Bones smiled, her sterling silver tail thumping softly. "And I'm back here to stay, if Cap'n Fox will have me. Me mother and her scouts won't be coming after me again," she added because it was an important detail, complementing the words with a tired sigh of relief.

Star tore the meat into peices as told, passing them to Bones. Bazi explained that Bones lived there. Star wondered who they were. She felt terribly sad for the yearling, who had been enslaved for something. Then Bones mentioned a Cap'n Fox. She realized that this wolf must of been from a while ago. She believed that Bazi should probably deliver the news. If she told Bones, she'd probably mess up and deliver it too harshly. Blurt out that Fox had gone to Blacktail Deer Plateau, without explaining to the yearling why.

Bones recovered quickly, gulping down the strips of food that Star gave her without really chewing before she answered any questions. Bazi flinched when the yearling revealed that she had been systematically abused at the hands of the Tortuga wolves - her own family!

"That's horrid, Bones.." she murmured, but smiled when the little pirate's spirit shone through, bright as ever. Unfortunately, that wasn't the end. At mention of 'Cap'n Fox', Bazi's ears drooped slightly. "Er.. look, Fox is fine and healthy, but she isn't .. she isn't the leader any more. She went to Blacktail Deer Plateau, with this fancy-pants guy named Peregrine - annoyingly handsome, they're mates now.. so I'm the Alpha. Do you.. do you still want to stay?" Ferdie, Jace, Njal, Tuwawi.. the wolves that Bones had known and loved were gone.

Bones's small smile faded somewhat when Bazi informed her that Fox no longer led here. She feared the worst, though the white she-wolf quickly explained that she'd gone to Blacktail Deer Plateau to be mates with Peregrine. The yearling's jaw dropped slightly.

"Ye mean... Cap'n Fox is me aunt now?!" she said after a moment, staring between Bazi and Star for a moment. "Peregrine is me dad, Atticus's, brother," she explained, then fell silent to continue marveling at this unexpected development.

A visit to the plateau was in order, just as soon as Bones recovered enough to make the trip there. She knew that was days if not weeks away, though, and that was one of the reasons she said, "Aye, Cap'n Bazi. The creek is me home." She had practically died finding her way back here and she wasn't about to hop up and leave again.

The young she-wolf stood on shaky legs. "I'm ready for that drink. Then I'm going to sleep for a week," Bones joked wearily. Although she hated to freeload, she knew she honestly wouldn't be able to do much but eat, sleep and heal in the coming days. After that, she would make up for it. She began to shuffle toward the creek, after giving Cap'n Bazi a look seeking permission.

After a long drink, Bones settled on her belly again and looked up at her comrades. "Thank-ye for everything. It's good to be home." She could feel herself losing consciousness again, though this time it was out of satiation rather than weakness. "It's me birthday, by the way, so I'm ready for an adult rank," Bones murmured before promptly falling asleep at their feet.

Star listened as Bazi explained. She hadn't known the two were mates. She watched as Bones went to get water from the creek. So the girl was Fox's neice now. When Bones came back and mentioned it was her birthday Star felt the urge to congratulate her with Happy Birthday but knew she should stay silent.

Bones melted into a puddle of snores and relieved dreams at their feet. Bazi glanced at Star, then back at the rangy, exhausted little pirate. "I'll watch her," she told her subordinate softly, giving her leave to go. "You go on."

With that, Bazi took a few steps away from the returned Bones and settled down on her belly, watching the rise and fall of the younger girl's ribs until she, too, fell asleep.