Firefly Glen she knows the highest face

for @Dreamgirl or @Etienne!

She'd returned home after speaking with Ludo, spending plenty of time with her mother and new baby brothers. She could still smell them thick on her pelt, and it made her ache with anticipated sorrow at the idea of leaving them once more.

But she had her own life to live, and she knew she had to go back to Sega and see what there might be for her there. And Elowyn! She didn't want the other girl to think she'd been abandoned.

Still. She was a bit listless as she wandered the huntings grounds, sniffing around for someone familiar. As much as the atmosphere of the hunt invigorated her, she felt as though she were a ghost walking through, disconnected from the rest of them by her turbulent thoughts and feelings.

She paused as she came across a beautiful owl feather. It must have come loose from someone's fur. She sniffed at it, wondering if she might track down its owner and return it, but discovered only the scent of the bird it came from.

I'll throw Etienne in this one and maybe another for Dreama or i can just have her pass by the pack some day

Etienne felt adrift among the wolves here. And though he had searched in every face that he had passed. He did not see many he recognized. And none so far from the sea. Except for his sister's daughter Fabienne, but she was far into the wilds and feral.

The quiet healer was walking. In his maw herbs and plants that could help with healing. Upon his back a few furs. he looked quite wild he imagined. The feather and pearl in his fur. Tangled there by his throat. But his gaze was warm when it fell across the younger girl.

'ello. He spoke softly, his voice barely disturbing the silence.

She caught the rich scent of the other wolf before anything else, and stood for a moment, tense, before the sight of him relaxed her. Wild though he did look, there was a gentleness to him as well. Something in his voice, perhaps.

"Hello," she replied, her tail giving a tentative whisk. Her eyes tracked over him in interest — this was a wolf, surely, who could tell her many stories. "What's that?" she asked him, pointing her nose at the pearl in particular. "It's very pretty," she hurried to add, lest he think she wasn't awed by him.

His items quickly laid at his feet. Golden gaze on the girl. Paying attention as she spoke. A twitch of his ear, the only show that he was listening so closely. There was much to be said for his listening skills. And she was quiet, her voice didn't hurt his ears.

Dat be my pearl. I be a wolf from dey sea, we were all tasked wit' findin' a pearl. My mama 'elped us. It's said to give away wut it is dat be in our 'earts. Mine is true. It say I be a 'ealer and I been for dis many years now.

A small smile. T'ank you. I don't 'ave Mama anymore, but i still got it.

"Oh," Angel breathed, entranced by the concept he told her of. To have a special pearl you found for yourself, unique and story-telling without being able to speak a word. She admired the item once more before looking back to his face.

"I am glad you have something of her," she said, saddened by his loss. "I lived by the sea when I was tiny. I'm glad you have a piece of that, too."

Healing wasn't something she knew much about, and she thought of it as a skill that only the most revered wolves possessed. Her estimation of him went up even further.

"I'm a hunter and a scout," she told him, which was what she thought most wolves were, really, when one got down to it. "But I'm trying to become a great storyteller — and to get better at making fine pelts."

"How did you learn to be a healer?" she asked him. "Did you have a teacher?"

He blinked surprised. Then made a soft sound of irritation with himself. O Bondye. Mwen regrèt sa.

Then he shook his head. Sorry. I was sayin' i'm sorry. My name be Etienne, but most call me Eti.

A gentle smile for his pearl, but it was tinged with sadness. He had nothing left of his family, but this and his name and the language that was lyrical. It saddened him to watch a once great tribe leave the wilds.

He was surprised. Not many made it by the sea. Dey sea is beautiful and ugly all dey sametime, but I love 'er.

Dey wolves of moonglow be good at pelts. I 'ave met a few. And dere used to be a trader by de sea, but 'e is long gone. 'e did pelts too. Not realizing that the very tribe the girl came from was one he spoke of.

A dip of his head. Dey wolves of Moonspear be story tellers.

He nodded. Sadness glimmering in his gaze. My manman and my granme bot' tot me to 'eal. And den dey rest I learned on my own. A wolf name Kukutux tot me too. And other's as I 'ave traveled.

Angel was entranced again by the strange tongue that he spoke. She wanted to learn every language that she heard, but she found this one especially compelling.

"It's nice to meet you, Eti," she told him, her tail whisking. "My name is Angel."

She did not know what he meant about the sea, exactly, but she supposed she remembered some very dark times over there. The sea gave, but the sea also took things away. Wolves, mainly.

She shivered, though perhaps it was not noticable.

"Rodyn," she named the man, a sad but fond smile on her face. "He was the leader of Moontide, where I was born. Now he lives at Moonglow."

Her smiled dimmed at the name of Kukutux. Angel hadn't known her, not really, but she'd still been a powerful figure in her young life. In her adulthood, too, though she had since passed.

"Where do you live now?" she asked him, though she had her suspicions.

Etienne loved his language. Even Anselm had seemed to like it when he spoke it. At the thought of the mountain born his chest hurt. And he wanted to cry. Anselm had finally gotten emough of Eti and left him, at least that is what he thought.

Nice to meet you, Angel.

He loved the sea. But the sea, she gave and she took. And she had taken almost everything he loved. And she refused to take him. As many times as he tried to follow his loved ones especially lately. But this young girl did not need to know this.

Rodyn, Etienne nodded. My family did not trust many men. But 'e is one dat dey allowed to traded wit'. I am glad 'e be well.

Eti made a soft noise in his throat. W'ereever dey wind take me as of late.

While she thought that "well" was not a great word to describe Rodyn, she supposed he was the same as ever. She worried for him, but what could she do? He probably thought of her much less than she of him. She'd only been a girl when he'd been her leader. She thought of him as a pillar of safety and wisdom, beloved and constant in her earliest days. He'd been the same in Moonglow, though even she had seen how leaving the coast had pained him.

She hoped he was still doing "well".

"They trusted you, though, right?" she asked in distress, before she could think better of the question. She hardly knew this man, but it hurt to think of him being treated unkindly by his family.

She felt she could trust him already, somehow.

"I mean — I just mean that you seem lovely," she assured him, though that hadn't been all she'd meant by it. "I didn't mean any offense."

That was true, at least.

Etienne had only seen the moontide leader from afar. He had been handsome he supposed in the normal sense. And always kind.

A nod. Dey trust de boys born in pack yes. But dey dont expect us to be as great as our female counterparts I suppose. But I was loved deeply, truly, kindly. Trusted to 'eal.

A small smile. T'ank you. You also seem lovely.

This came as a great relief to Angel, empathetic as she was. It showed clearly on her face as she said, "Oh, that's good — everyone deserves that from their families."

She flushed with pleasure under his praise, feeling something like what she felt when Valiant complimented or encouraged her.

"I don't know you very well, but I feel certain you are great," she told him. He was, at least, something she'd never seen before. "You should come home with me, Eti," she told him, serious again. "There isn't a healer yet at Great Sky. It's a young pack still."

Etienne smiled. He missed his family and it hurt to talk about them a little.

Etienne studied her. He didn't have anywhere to go. And frankly he had no immediate plans. But he did need some sort of purpose.

A nod. I will come.

Something warm bloomed in her chest. Though she didn't have a personal relationship with Rodyn, he was still something like an uncle to her. When she'd been very small, she had pretended to herself that he was her father — he looked enough like Sumac, anyway. Enough like her distant memories of him. Perhaps that was in part responsible for their lack of close relationship. She'd been scared back then of shattering the illusion.

And Valiant. Angel had tried her best to think of him as a father, but that illusion, too, had broken with her move. She knew she could always rely on him when she was home, or in an emergency — but she couldn't take him with her.

She didn't know Etienne. How could she? But she felt better imagining him there in Great Sky with her. He was wise and kind — she could see this already — and he would be a help to all of them if someone were to get hurt again.

"Thank you," she said, just a little breathless with a relief she hadn't expected to feel. She grinned at him, bright and happy. "I'll call for you when I head back. I'm visiting my mother right now, but it'll just be another day or so."

She eyed him, critically for the first time.

"Are you hungry?" she asked him. Healers could hunt too, she knew — but it was the job of a pack to support them, so that they could focus on their work.

A soft shake of his head. I am not 'ungry.

The thought of food actually turned his stomach a little. He hadn't eaten a lot recently. Because he had simply not cared, but he would try now to be better.

He tilted his head. You need not worry after me ti pitit

She was dubious. He looked hungry, she though, though perhaps it was a quirk of his figure. Sometimes coastal wolves carried a rangey look about them. Either way, she supposed it was not her place to insist. Not yet, at least.

"Alright, she conceded, though she was not convinced. She allowed herself to be distracted by more strange words.

"What does that mean?" she asked him, eager to learn more.

Etienne was not a fool. He knew he looked thin. Amd he knew he was weak from lack of food. But he had truly wanted to die as of late. But the gods continued to laugh at him.

A small smile. It means little one. I mean no offense, but you are younger dan me. It fits you. It is my manman's tongue. 'Er always sounded so beautiful.

An ache in his chest. She had been beautiful, mind, body, soul. His mother has been a rare pearl.

'er 'ad golden fur like wings on 'er back. And 'er sang like de most beautiful birds. 'Er made a song for eac' of us w'en we were born. Something Dat was only ours.

Though she did not often stand for being called little, she found herself charmed by this instance. She flushed with happiness, a warm glow in her chest. Perhaps she ought to have been wary of allowing a strange man to be so familiar with her — but she was not.

She listened, enthralled, as Etienne spoke of his mother, who seemed to be a figure not unlike Kukutux in his recollection. She was dead like Kukutux, too, Angel knew at once, but deified now in her mind.

"She sounds wonderful. What was her name?" she breathed, wanted to know what to call this golden woman when she thought of her.

Etienne meant no offense by his words. He meant them kindly. Etienne was not often mean.

Etienne breathed her name like a prayer. A sad song that ended on that heartbreaking moment.

C'acal chacal

The lament in his voice was clear. Angel ached for him deep in her chest, thinking that he looked awfully like a man in need of a hug. Only now did her sensibilities catch up with her. She didn't press forward into his space, though she would dearly have liked to. Perhaps, even for her, it would too forward too soon.

"That's a beautiful name," she said after a quiet pause, leaving space for his mourning before she spoke. And then, because she had nothing better to say, she offered him something of herself: "My momma's name is Raindrop."

I almost forgot that Raindrop and Etienne knew each other lol