Phoenix Maplewood The Promise

For Iota! <3 Backdated so it's set on the 10th of February!

"Iota!" Calida called, wandering further and further from the glacier. She had not seen the storyteller in over a month, and her worry was giving way to panic. Had he been injured? Had he gotten lost? Or had he just... left? This particular thought made Calida's heart clench slightly - he had seemed so eager to join. She secretly hoped he was only lost - at least that meant he could be find. Swallowing hard, Calida let loose a series of howls - anything to find the man alive and safe. Calida recalled only too easily her brush with death early on in the winter - she had finally healed, but it had made her more cautious, and more afraid. "Iota!" Another frantic call.

Iota had garnered a reputation for being a bit scatter brained sometimes... Perhaps it was due in part to the passionate nature of his curiosity that his minds wanderings were sometimes too much for him to ignore. There was a pang of guilt within his gut that he might have caused Calida undue stress, but upon hearing a faint call, he perked slightly and adjusted course. It seemed she had not given up on finding him out here and bringing him to her pack to see for himself if it were a place he could call home. As he came trotting over a rise he spotted the woman and he approached bashfully, head and tail both lowered in an unspoken apology. "I hope I didn't worry you over much... I got a bit more turned around than I bargained for."

Calida was beginning to panic when she finally saw Iota's form coming towards her. Her tail wagged joyfully as she told him, "Oh, thank the Gods - I thought something horrible had happened!" She looked him over, but found him no worse for wear. "Duskfire Glacier's moved - and we're called Atautsikut now. I stayed behind to find you..." The pack had left at least a month ago. Calida met Iota's gaze, uncertain. "It's across two mountain ranges - if you aren't up for the journey, I would understand..." No, she wouldn't. She'd spent a month on her own looking for him, but what if he didn't want to come with her?