Emberwood silent crow

(click map)

this is the first movement of saatsine! future-dated for 11.14.24. no posting order! single posts welcome, mostly for reference. future dated so far with the intention that timelines hopefully arent ruined/things can be plotted/finished/etc

saatsine is headed into the rising sun valley to camp by the mountains as the caribou cross over and come back into the taiga (click for visual) the emberwood is where they will stop for now. herbalist's cache, otaso wetlands, phoenix maplewood, and apikuni mountain are all examples of territories they would be hunting/sleeping/playing/patrolling, though do not feel confined to these areas! <3 the nomadic bit is still experimental for me. once they leave the qeya river, they will not be coming back for at least a month, if not more! feel free to thread accordingly! hostilities are handled on a ‘dont give trouble and there wont be trouble’ standpoint, but otherwise the choice is up to ur char!

@Anselm @Kekoa @Ksura @Senka @Sulukinak @Ilse @Ghelan @Redd @Gideon @Ezra
@Ruckus @Aerilyn @Darrow for visibility (sun eater would accept him since hes ksura’s son but idk if he wants to come! still wanted to tag u for ref <3)

more had come to join them; a cardinal-wolf and a child who sun eater assumed was her own. there had yet been little time to speak with her, to name her, and less as the lanzadoii man prepared to leave.

he had shouted to them the day before, saying that it was time to quit the river for a time. they would be back to weather part of the winter here, though the spring, and then they would set off truly again.

anticipation was hot within the man, whose voice rose deep and delighted, lanzadoii words flowing from him for the ear of his sister, his niece. his son; and his single eye was often on the boy, proud. ghelan would travel with him at the head of their column.

it was in jubilation that sun eater at last led them out of the qeya river and down into the maplewood. it did not matter much to him who was at the head of the column; he had made clear that the smudge of distant mountains was their destination. leadership then could take its turn among their ranks.

snow blew in slanted drifts almost constantly. fallen to icy cold when the sun went down, each morning was marked with glistening frost, and he rose at dawn to shake flakes from his coat. two dead caribou, elderly victims to the first of winter and announced by ravens, fed the saatsine as they traveled. sun eater promised them fresher meat when they had come to the stone teeth but was pleased to see their bellies filled. with ghelan, he cut the dewclaws from the carcasses and stuffed them into a thin pouch of hide slung around his neck.

welcome was the autumnfire of a woodland wherein many caribou roamed. sun eater called a halt in the soft loam, glancing toward the shadowgirl. sulukinak would scout with those who wished to count the herd, while the lanzadoii man made a slow patrol for any wolves too close to now the chosen camp of the saatsine.

”keep watch. be careful.” the slate eye glowed. ”walk brave. you are sun clan. this world, it is yours.”

Redd kept up as best she could.  Travel in the snow was hardest, but she kept to the paths that others broke, silently tracking them like a whip-thin shadow.  All she had wanted was a place to recover, but the healers who once claimed the river were gone.  It was too late to reconsider.  This was their pack now.  They would keep up.

There were kills, at least.  She did not have the strength to assist, but by the time others finished, plenty was left.  She still ate her fill.

All the while silent, observing, learning their hierarchies and ways.  The leader a restless man but strong.  Firm.  Without the warmth of Mountain Boulder and thus without the deference.  Clearly Wealda here, if such a thing existed.  Yet this pack was not a family.  Not in the sense that the rise shared blood.  It would take time for her to learn what drew them together.

Kekoa felt some excitement at the prospect of travel, yet he was filled with anxieties. He kept close to the center of the group, as though he was afraid they would leave him behind.

He was young, energetic - yet as of late he could not stop himself from seeing what other's did not. Swirling colours and shapeshifting wolves had once thrilled him, but now that it would not fade as it once had he felt a sense of frustration towards his newfound ability.

He supposed he should be grateful, for the mushrooms that had once gifted him his abilities would soon disappear.

The woodlands ahead hosted a plethora of caribou, and Kekoa found himself curious. He was not an experienced hunter for he had not been properly taught - but maybe now he would have the chance to learn.

His tail lifted high and waving at the thought.

Their coat had become thicker than its previous iteration, but it still lacked the comfort and luster of a "normal" child their age. Their vision remained what it was: insufficient for most things. They kept close to Redd as often as they could, which was more than they had been able to in months past. The young wolf was still awkwardly growing into their body, which would never truly reach its full potential due to a lack of nutrients for the first several months of their life.

Still, they kept up well enough, even on short legs. They ate when Redd ate, which was more than they had eaten in their entire memory. They observed other blurry figures, known mainly by their scent. They were still gaunt, but their stomach descended whenever a fresh kill was offered to them. The feeling of fullness was a new, somewhat unpleasant one. Redd rarely spoke, and neither did Ruckus. They preferred the silent connection the two had shared for as long as they could accurately remember.

Ridgeback, as he was now known, travelled quietly. On caribou meat he fed, appetite whetted for a season that would mean hunting as they travelled- roving in the wake of the mighty herd. The caribou were not as large as he'd been told- and were closer in size to the ones that he had seen at the wildlife sanctuary; he was grateful that they were not, in fact, larger than moose. They were easier to fell without having the moose's mighty strength. 

What they did have, however, was stamina. It would push all of them to learn to travel long days, sleeping when they could. He moved at @Senka's side, occasionally moving to pace along with Kekoa, or visit in with Sun Eater. From his wife, he learned what words he could of their language, but he was too shy still to request that Sun Eater teach him. 

Like Sulukinak, he was curious to count the herd, take note of their strengths and weaknesses, as quietly as he could. He wanted to know if they could sustain themselves, preying mainly on those who struggled and became stragglers. This would be the way of their life; one wrong move, and they go without eating. Without food, they would not be able to maintain the pace. He began to learn, as hungrily as he could.

how DARE you forget to tag your sister!

Meleys remained at the head of the convoy, with quiet announcement of her place among them as Lanzadoii. Her words are sharp barks when spoken, words of her people offered to her family as they moved. The excitement to be on the move again was obvious by the smile on her face and pep in her steps. 

The cardinal woman was still recovering but kept moving, the same as so with the child she brought here with her. Those who had signs of physical weakness trailed the back of the group, yet none so weak thus far to be left behind, as such had been done time and time again.

ghelan followed in his father's shadow, passing glances towards the dark tower that guided them. sun clan looked much like the very herds they stalked. and perhaps that was the point.

but despite so many bodies, ghelan still felt so cold. he kept pace to chase warmth. but he couldn't find it.

they — the sun clan — are called to travel, leaving behind the qeya river. he stays close to @Anselm and @Gideon, trying to adapt to being a sun walker ... though it this nomadic lifestyle was not much different than the weeks spent traveling with his mother in search of his father and brother.

he feels harder; harder like the cold earth and unrelenting stone since leaving rivenwood, since leaving his mother behind.

golden ankh gaze shines with fierce life, despite that he feels as if a part of him has died that the fact that his mother had yet to join them.

ezra takes in the other members of the clan, pausing when they are called to halt. he looks to anselm then for direction on which group they'd go with.

It was good that they moved, for Anselm felt black roots settling about him. Had they stayed he might have anchored to the place, limbs turned to unrespondng stone, eyes flat and fur gradually grown over with the hungry crusade of lichen.

It was only his sons who bid Anselm to shake off the settling of existential decay. He sensed in them a change, too -- and he mourned for them their lost innocence, their childhood now warped by a stain that could never lift.

He traveled close to them both, sharing a small glance with Ezra as the procession is called to a halt. Standing between the two of them, Anselm was struck by how tall they had both gotten -- not long now would they come into their own season, and call upon the wilds as practiced caribou hunters.