Nova Peak back to the start

Bazi had known grief before, but never like this. Though she knew her family was most likely dead, she had never seen their bodies - and by simply not thinking about it, she could live in the hope that they were writing stories of their own. It was something she had pondered no more than a handful of times since joining Swiftcurrent Creek, but she thought about it today. Next to their fuzzy end, Danica's was a full stop.

She had not returned to the place where Danica had died, nor sought to hunt down her killers. What good would it do? Her head would be a skull by now - an anonymous wolf with a sad story.

Bazi paced outside her den in a tight figure of eight. It was cloudy, and a brisk wind made regular dives at the ground. The pups had been fed and watered, and Bazi was restless.

Maybe @Tryphon :)?

On my phone but we''ll see how this goes. Sorry for typos!

The boy had not been the most valuable member of the pack lately. He had wandered off on numerous occasions, either due to his own cognizant will or because of his drifting mind. Some things had become clearer (sort of) but for the most part Tryphon was still a mess. He knew to avoid water now - or thought he knew this - as it was triggering; thus the boy hadnt washed in quite a while. He was dragging a large bone through the shadows of some trees, intent on lounging in the shade, when he spotted Bazi - but the only indication he gave was the sound of the femur being discarded. It flumped in to the grass, and he flumped his rear down next to it.

Tryphon announced his presence with a series of thuds. Bazi whipped around, startled, and frowned at the befuddled wolf and his bone. "Startling an agitated mother will get you killed," she half-snarled, unable to keep her irritation from spilling over. Nature mirrored her feelings, dive-bombing through gaps in the dense tree cover to nip at her ears. The mother cast a quick look at her den, confirmed that none of the pups were making a bid for freedom, and trotted briskly over to where Tryphon sat. She hadn't seen him in a few days, but then they both had reasons to be distracted.


"How's your addled brain doing?" she inquired, taking a seat on the needle-strewn ground. Sunlight had a hard time reaching the ground, and only a few choice patches of very determined foliage managed to grow here.

The femur could have come from anywhere. Tryphon didn't know where he had found it, but had been carrying it for a few hours now. A layer of mud clung to the bone, and tendrils of grass to the mud. It tasted awful - however, he had only begun to gnaw on one cleanish section of it when Bazi interrupted. 

He trembled at her voice, and cast his eyes away sharply when he spied her teeth.

"Sorry... I.." he started to apologise, and her next comment tied his tongue. With a downcast look at the femur (as if it held any answers) he gave a pitiful shrug.

Tryphon tried and failed to string words together into a sentence. Bazi watched his attempt with tired eyes, pushing aside the nagging thought she had who this boy reminded her of. Paunchy, listless, confused.. was this Whittier's future? Bazi exhaled deeply through her nose and slowly re-gathered her wits. If she, Bazi Frostfur, had anything to do with it, neither Tryphon nor Whittier would succumb to their fat and their wimpishness.


"Come on," she ordered, rising up with the intention of leaving the forest via the northern border. "We're going for a walk. I want you to show me the last place you remember before Nova Peak. It'll be a field trip." Without waiting for an answer, Bazi stalked off into the woods.

"Uh --" He gulped back some words, and listened while Bazi made her commands. He was quick to get up and follow, and even left behind his bone (but he'd find it later, maybe). Bazi seemed agitated, or stressed, or something. Tryphon couldn't tell what, specifically, only that she was very stern, which was new. But he said nothing while they walked - or rather marched - through the northern forests. Not until they were at the edge of it, and he felt his legs tremble.

"No, this isn't right." The boy blurted without thinking - they were headed north, right? Then towards the coast? While he had claimed to be a coastal wolf, something deep down within him screamed that this was wrong. Tryphon just knew he couldn't go near the water, if that was the plan. His ears flattened against his head. "Are we going to the coast? I can't -- I won't --" The boy was clearly frightened now; then again, losing one's mind wasn't an experience he wished to seek out.

"Everything is worse when I'm near the water." At least he'd admit to that. "We should... Can we go east instead?" Yes, that was safer. That was better. At least the ocean couldn't touch him there and all he'd have to contend with was the ice; plus, the mountains made him feel.. Something.

Bazi sensed his reluctance behind her like a dark cloud. She turned when he refused to go further, frowning at the terror in his expression. "What's east?" she asked impatiently. Every fragment of conversation she has managed to squeeze out the boy had suggested that he had left his wits at the seaside.

What was east? What was it about the coast that scared him so very much? He had no true memory of growing up upon the sand - but he did remember the giant trees, and the taste of the salty air. But it wasn't so ingrained within him, not the way it should have been. Bazi was impatient (or frustated, he couldn't tell), and Tryphon said whatever came to his mind first: "Th-the, the glacier."

There was a chill in the air as soon as he said it. Ice set in to his veins, but it was different from his fear of the coast. The fur of his spine began to spike as if someone was dragging a brush along his lower back, and as soon as the sensation settled in his shoulders, Tryphon's head dropped.

"I mean... I don't.. I don't know." He really didn't. But the ocean was not a nice place, and he would avoid it at whatever cost. "I remember trees. Really big trees. And I know those lead down to the beach - but I can't go there. Not to the ocean again." This wasn't making sense. He looked to Bazi apologetically, pathetically, hoping she'd understand his fears. Or at the very least, heed his apprehension.

Bazi's patience took a nose-dive. She heaved a dramatic sigh, shook her head, and informed the trembling boy in a terse, acrid tone of voice that he could "Do as you please. I'm out." With a look that perfectly combined her irritation and disappointment in him, Bazi swept past her befuddled subordinate. She was going to the beach, whether he wanted to or not.