Flycatcher Downs I'm a giver

tags are for reference but maybe an @Illidan? No rush <3

Maia had been sure to tell @Wraen and @Eljay where she intended to go before leaving, but now that they were settled again, she couldn't help but think of Terance.  It had been years since she saw him it felt like, and she wanted to pop by the creek to see if she could find him to let him know where they were (and that they were okay).  This was twofold because Ibis was maybe joining them!  Maybe she'd even run into Sarah.

She skirted the pack's claim and kept oddly alert for her usual travels.  She was definitely nervous.  Every time her mind started to drift, she remembered, and it kept her better paying attention to anything around her that might take her by surprise.  She wasn't about to be caught off guard again.

Luckily the place she walked now was extremely open.  Looking off she could see for miles.  It was pretty, if a tad boring for her liking!  She paused to admire the view briefly (and to scratch an itch on her shoulder).

WC: 176

illidan had ventured outside of ursus that day, seeking peace that only the wilds could offer him. there was an itch to his step that led him beyond the claim of the valley and into the unfamiliar world. with no real destination in mind, he wandered until he found he had no real idea where he had ventured to. the terrain was one that he had never visited before, or he did not remember it.
 
once in the downs, the space around him was open and clear to see. he did what he could to make sure that he was not quite as visible, and he slunk across the terrain with a quickened pace. the gold of his gaze traveled back and forth, following signs of more dense foliage some miles ahead where he could find peace in the hold of the wood. illidan did not notice that there was a figure to his left, stopped to scratch during her own excursion.
 
the wind was in maia’s favor; his scent would have been carried to her easily, but his gaze had brushed past where she had stopped. if she did not see him and did not catch the scent that was carried by the wind, there was a good chance he would pass her.

Fortunately Maia did catch his scent.  Maybe even more fortunately, she recognized it!  She'd resolved to be on the lookout now for strangers, but that didn't apply at ALL to friends she hadn't seen in way way way too long.

Ohmygosh ILLIDAN!!  Maia took off towards the wolf in the distance, closing the gap hopefully before he could disappear.  She'd slow to a stop breathlessly in front of him when she did.  HEY!  Wow, this is... this isn't where I'd expect to see you!!

Somehow, there was no real awkwardness.  Maybe it was because it had been so long, maybe it was because she was older, or maybe it was because of the millions of times she'd imagined him happily paired off.  But it was easier to talk to him now.

it had to have been a fever dream.
 
the ghost peered at the young woman he had met when he had been only a boy; she didn’t look as though she had changed at all in the time he’d been away. there was a cheeriness that surrounded her features and sparkled in her starlit gaze. she even greeted him as though no time had separated them from their last interaction, and this stung the weary young beast more than he cared to admit. how could she have gone almost unchanged in that time? how had the world not dampened her joy?
 
“maia,” he breathed in a hoarse voice, familiarity sweeping across his features and changing his expression from being dour to being confused and surprised. he wanted to ask her what she was doing there, but it didn’t seem like a fair question. after all, had he not abandoned his roots by the sea to venture inland? was he not the same – far from home and searching?

He looked like he could hardly believe she was here, though it was hard to tell at first if his surprise was happy or just... shock?  Maia definitely felt the same.   She could hardly believe that after all this time he was just kinda here.  In a random field.  Her smile didn't dim in the least, though his hoarse tone made her ears shift.

Wow, it's... been a while, huh?  She added, quieter now that she'd closed the gap some between them.  He still wasn't much of a talker, but she'd never minded that much.  Well, she had, but only because she'd always felt awkwardly talkative to compensate.  This time it was too good to see him for her to care about that nonsense.

I was just going to see if I could find my brother's pack.  My sister Wraen and I are claiming a forest wayyy that way,  she indicated with a jerk of her muzzle, and we wanted to let him know!  Do you live around here now?!  What had happened to the shore?  She'd passed by there a couple of times, so that would explain why she never found him.  He didn't look as happy as she had hoped, she thought, searching his features a bit.  But he looked good, still.  Just about like she remembered him.

it had indeed been a while since he had last seen her. the more he thought on it, the harder his head ached. he believed he had seen maia before running into cadeau and venturing with her. it frustrated him to think that he could not even recall the last time he had seen cadeau, let alone the last time he had crossed paths with maia. the idea that she had not changed felt bittersweet in the pit of his stomach; he had hoped that she would remain a joyous radiant light, but he had not fully expected that to have stuck. life was often dreadfully hard, even on those who did not deserve it.
 
there were several things he wanted to say to her, but he couldn’t find the strength of spirit to do so. he wondered if she was happy – if she had found someone who loved and cared for her the way she deserved. he wondered if she had a family out there, in the woods she sought to claim with her family. all of these queries and none of them felt appropriate after not having seen her for so long.
 
“i’m nearby,” he answered her in his gruff voice, looking back toward the valley and the ursus beasts. “the valley back there accepted me a short while ago and i’ve been serving them to repay their kindness.” the rest of it was much too complicated to drop in her lap. he knew well enough that the residents of the bear pack were not fondly regarded by other beasts in the nearby wilderness.
 
“how… are you?”

Their thoughts were echoes of one another.  While he wondered about her happiness, she wondered about his own.  What had happened to the girl he was with?  Had he had kids already?  Did he have a mate to go back to?  She assumed so; how could he not.  But as he spoke, he didn't mention it, and she began to feel a bit of doubt as to the narrative she'd pushed on him in his disappearance.  He was accepted a short time ago and repaying them, but he spoke as if he were alone in that.

I'm... really great.  She answered, smiling, but she continued to study him as she did so.  She didn't mean to stare, but she couldn't get a read.  And suddenly she really, really wanted to know if he was happy too.  So much had happened since the last time she ran into him, and despite growing up a lot in that time, she felt like she'd been frozen in place in a way too.  A lot has changed,  she said, a little quietly, but then picked it up, but when I have someone like Wraen, nothing's ever too much.  And Eljay, she thought silently, though for some reason she hesitated to mention it.  Immediately she felt guilty, like she was betraying him, but she would rather be dishonest than drop that here now.  She didn't know why.  They're pretty lucky, to have a prince indebted to them.  What kind of tasks have you had to do to prove your worth?  Slain any beasts, or conquered any foes?  Maia smiled, joking back to her nickname for him and trying to bring some semblance of a smile to his face.  If she remembered correctly, those were few and far between, but they were well worth the effort when they arrived.

how was that so much time had passed and yet she stood there the same as the last day he had seen her? at least, it felt like she hadn’t changed. he knew that he had a tendency to peer through rose-tinted goggles when looking at his past, but maia did not need the adjustment in pleasantry. illidan could not think of a time when the silver-eyed girl had not brought joy into his life. he did not want his perception of her to change; he wanted to keep the joyous maia at the forefront of his mind. the fear he had swallowed long ago threatened to crawl from his stomach – the fear that she might change forever.
 
when maia called him a prince, illidan’s eyes lifted to her face and remained there for quite some time.
 
how had he forgotten? how could he have let it slip from his memory that she had once called him a prince? nostalgia lashed at his heart and he swallowed heavily. yes, maybe he had once been a prince to her… but that was no longer a title he believed he could carry. the kingdom where he had been intended to stay had been moved or destroyed and all those who might have followed him had continued with their lives.
 
“well, there was a battle i assisted them with. one of the neighboring packs wronged the woman morgana and she led an assault against them. it’s how i got this,” he told her, nodding down so she might see the three gashes that had sliced open the bridge of his muzzle. it had since healed and scarred. the dark hair around it made the pink of his flesh stand out more.
 
“you said a lot has changed though,” illidan then ventured, his gaze not having shifted from her face. “tell me about it.”

When had she seen him last?  It had been right then, hadn't it?  She didn't remember what she'd been like, honestly... but she didn't remember much about those months.  She didn't really like to think about how she'd been then either.  It seemed like such a different person.

Wow.  Maia looked, and without thinking reached out to brush her nose across them.  They didn't marr his face much, but they looked deep, and she could imagine how it had been.  She hesitated answering, thinking of everything that had happened since.

Well, I went home for a while.  Home home.  It was weird, with my parents gone.  But it was good.  I didn't think I'd find any family left there.  She'd thought she'd lost everything, from what Sarah had said.  She didn't recall what she'd told him.

When I came back, Wraen and I traveled again.  I thought things were back to normal, but then I got into a fight.  Well...  she huffed out a laugh.  Hardly.  It woulda been a fight maybe if I'd done anything.  But I couldn't.  Cept run, barely.  Luckily I ran into a friend, and he... well...

She turned, so he could see some of it.  Most of the scarring had faded, but some she was still waiting on.  It didn't feel great doing it, not when she... for so long, she'd wanted him to think of her as flawless.  But she knew she owed it to him.  He was one of few best friends she had left out here.  He saved me.

Still, she found herself unable to go further right now.  She didn't want to gush about the good, not without pressing him for it.  It felt unfair.  Morgana.  She sounds impressive, if you are willing to fight for her.  What's she like?  She asked, wanting to hear more about him.  His life here, what he was up to, how he was.

the touch was like ice water. the dark-hooded figure stiffened immediately as her nose brushed against the gashes that had been left on the bridge of his muzzle. he did not move from where he stood. it had been longer than he cared to admit since he had been touched by another. something in him felt starved and he did what he could to swallow those feelings and listen to what she had to say.
 
maia explained that she had indeed managed to go through a number of things since they had last spoken. illidan listened intently to what she said, picturing what it must have been like for her to return home to find that it was different. at least she had been brave. at least she had gone back to see those who were still left behind.
 
she spoke about returning to the wilds and getting into a fight. his brow creased with concern, but he did not stop her. someone had rescued her in the end, of course. he would have been a fool to believe otherwise. illidan had known from the start that maia was a special individual. there was some bitter comfort in the idea that someone had realized the very same thing and had made an actual impact on her.
 
when the questions were flipped to him, illidan blinked daftly and gazed back at the girl.
 
“you uh…”
 
he stopped and shook the thoughts from his head.
 
“morgana is a good woman. she gave me a home without asking anything of me,” he explained softly after a moment of thought. “i’m not even sure if that’s her name. she doesn’t talk, you see…” and he trailed off again, feeling that he just sounded like a dimwitted boy talking about a woman who didn’t speak and had taken pity on him.

She saw him stiffen and pulled back apologetically.  She'd have liked nothing more than to give him a hug, honestly, but it seemed like he was a little less touchy than she was.  And while Maia wasn't the shyest of individuals, she was extremely hesitant to push boundaries once she knew they were there.

He started something, then switched, and she wondered what he had been about to say.  I what?  But instead he answered her original question.  It was weird.  The first time they'd met, she'd felt like a mess.  And now it was almost like... he felt awkward?  Was she even reading that right?

Whatever it was, she didn't like it, she decided.  Like it or not, he was important to her, and that meant she wasn't about to let them go their separate ways without closing some of the space that felt like it had opened between them.

She probably knew you'd want to give her something anyway, Maia said with a smile.  You don't seem like the type of wolf who takes advantage of others.  If you did, we wouldn't be friends.  

Okay, yeah, no.  That settled it.  And as your friend, I'm going to give you a hug, okay?  Because it's been forever, and because I'm SUPER happy to see you, and because I missed you a heck of a lot.  Maia watched him with a whole lot of amusement dancing on her expression, but also a touch of something else.  And unless he protested with any amount of sincerity, she'd step forward, wrap a forepaw around him, and press her cheek against his neck in an embrace.

They'd catch up, and conflicted, Maia would leave.  She made plans to visit his pack, but by the time she did... he'd have vanished into the wind once more.