December 09, 2024, 07:42 PM
RO or AW to one replies! This is a departure thread for the Morningsiders. It has been so lovely writing Dutch with you all, and I hope to bring him back someday! Please let me know if I need to make any adjustments. <3 @Sirimiri @Seelie @Kitimat
One by one, their family seemed to disintegrate. Seelie was returned, but Tullik and Kilarlurak departed. Marina disappeared. Chakliux lost at sea. Sirmiq roved. Even his own wife, though here in the flesh, seemed so very far away. And his little selkie girl, nothing like he remembered her, might as well have been a stranger. It did not diminish his love for either of them, but it hurt his heart to see.
And now, his father was dead. Dutch knew it in his bones; had sensed it drawing ever closer, and had understood what it meant when his father's pawsteps led far from the borders. But he did not follow them; not this time. For he understood, now, what Aditya had been telling him: that wolves came and went through a man's life. That he must hold fast to the ones that mattered, with the understanding that his paws could only hold so much.
He came to @Simbelmyne with this quiet plea. That they should search for his seal hunter along the coast, together, with their children close and Round Valley in the distance. It hurt too much to stay here on this coast.
The remaining seal hunter children were sought out: @Sea Hunter, @Chagak, Puffin, and @Raiyuk, too. Dutch gave them directions to Round Valley, which he promised would welcome them as family if they spoke his name. Whether for a visit or a stay or in search of succor, it was a place that was open to them, and a place to which he would speak their names — for her planned to make a visit, to see his mother and meet new baby siblings. He embraced each one if allowed, and the invitation was implicit: Would you like to come along? —
But he would not ask them to leave this place. He could only hope that, whatever they chose, it would bring them happiness. Just as silent as his invitation, Dutch pleaded forgiveness from Chakliux.
Next he sought @Rodyn, giving thanks to the alpha for sheltering his family, and a quiet apology for the way that they would now depart. "If we cannot find Chakliux, I will go to my mother, and perhaps Simbelmyne's, too," he told him, his voice soft, his eyes immeasurably sad. "If you go to moonwoman, she will receive you with open arms. It will be a hard winter. Love will make it easier."
But he did not had any more advice in him than this. The panther then gathered his children about him and, with his wife, led them along the beach into a grim and foggy dawn.
It would be hours before weak winter sunlight filtered down through the clouds to warm their backs. But, eventually, it would come.
December 10, 2024, 01:18 PM
It was hard to see more go. Rodyn had been right—their numbers in the village Moontide now dwindled, and there was no reason to migrate, no way to sustain it.
When Dutch came seeking him at his father's lodge, Raiyuk found himself filling with an unexpected rage—but he swallowed it, and he listened, and he learned the way to Round Valley. He looked from brother to brother to uncle. A part of him wished that Dutch would swoop in and take the boys so that they would have the stability of someone familiar in their lives—a bigger part wanted to deny them the choice, even if it would be more work for Raiyuk. He could not lose more family. Dutch was family, though. He was beloved by their father.
The man left to seek out their chieftain. Raiyuk returned the two boys to the lodge, which he had been trying to organize in the days following their father's departure, and saw that they did not want for anything. When the time came for the departure of Dutch and his family the offer to see them go was presented, and whether Sea Hunter or Chagak wished to say their final farewells or not, Raiyuk would go and he would watch them depart, too. He tried to imagine Chakliux in the shifting winter light; perhaps he had forged a path for them to follow.
In the emptiness after Raiyuk walked the seaside with new mourning.
When Dutch came seeking him at his father's lodge, Raiyuk found himself filling with an unexpected rage—but he swallowed it, and he listened, and he learned the way to Round Valley. He looked from brother to brother to uncle. A part of him wished that Dutch would swoop in and take the boys so that they would have the stability of someone familiar in their lives—a bigger part wanted to deny them the choice, even if it would be more work for Raiyuk. He could not lose more family. Dutch was family, though. He was beloved by their father.
The man left to seek out their chieftain. Raiyuk returned the two boys to the lodge, which he had been trying to organize in the days following their father's departure, and saw that they did not want for anything. When the time came for the departure of Dutch and his family the offer to see them go was presented, and whether Sea Hunter or Chagak wished to say their final farewells or not, Raiyuk would go and he would watch them depart, too. He tried to imagine Chakliux in the shifting winter light; perhaps he had forged a path for them to follow.
In the emptiness after Raiyuk walked the seaside with new mourning.
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