Redtail Rise charcoal dirge

attn @Redd! aw for other RR wolves, but this can be super quick! he's far back from the borders! tags for ref/joining

@Elodie had spoken that this was not a wise choice. and @Swordfish had forbidden him.
lestan knew, however, that he had no idea where to lead them after this. the creek whispered, but his talisman was somewhere here. somewhere.
his call was a compromise, hailing from an almost no-wolf's-land below the ridge as to not worry or endanger his companions, who would surely be upset with him now.
i'm looking for a small old woman who thieves things. a coyote face. she has a black-and-white male wolf with her who is younger.
a second howl, harder; they've taken something of mine.

She was not healed but could not leave this call unanswered.  So Wealda came.

She approached with caution, but lifted her head despite the pull to the wounds at her neck.  Her teeth showed in a warning to keep his distance.  They were far enough from the borders that she did not feel danger to the Rise, but this also meant the pack was not near right away to intervene.

She did not understand why he searched here.  Why he summoned for aid from those not his kin.

And so she watched with guarded eyes and waited for an explanation.

ears splayed as the red woman approached, in silence.
lestan tried not to look at the rending of her hide, despite the fact that his spine prickled uncomfortably at the rough look of her. 
empathy warred with fear. 
"she ran — into the taiga. f-from t-the c-coast," he stammered, suddenly very out of depth in front of someone unknown. "i-"
he licked his jaws. "it's i-important that i f-find her."

Ruckus trailed after Redd, unwilling to be left behind for too long. They weaseled their way to her side, pressing shoulder into foreleg and staring blankly at the blurry shape of a wolf who spoke at their guardian. Ruckus was gaunt, having eaten only meat since Raider had met her end. Weaned too young, their growth would be stunted, leaving them smaller than their peers.

can be skipped!

There was a chance he spoke of a different she, but that chance was small.  It was likely one of the strangers who Mulherin followed.  No others had passed, to her knowledge, in recent days.  Not this near.

He had lost something too.  She wondered if it was the same.

Ruckus came behind her and her posture shifted, serving as both warning and command.  She moved to place herself between them, a message to the stranger that this one was hers and a silent cautioning of the younger.  This stranger was not trusted, but Redd knew that Ruckus would not be sent away.  Wealda would not be denied if there became a reason to order, but that reason was not present yet.

Gone.  This was the only news she had, and she shared it dispassionately, though a glint of something more lay promised beneath her expression.  The Berserker trailed them.  She would not abandon her rise to follow suit, nor could she right now, but if they met again the day would be bloody.  Her sister’s children had not been hers to claim.

Took the others.  She added, her tone frosting with the recollection as she glanced at Ruckus.  Implying to the stranger what was meant by others.  They are not hers.  If this man pursued her, then this was perhaps important for him to know.  She did not expect him to help.  And yet, if he was no thief himself, perhaps he would at least aid the berserker should the time come.

others? other — children? horror and rage mixed with revulsion upon the mayfair's thin face.
"where? when?" lestan asked, fighting the urge to press forward a step in his dark eagerness. 
the stare of the thin puppy haunted him.
he already had his reason. he just needed a direction. "i-i'll look for them too and bring them back if i find them."
his eyes hardened. "after i kill her."