Ocean's Breath Plateau Could this one be my last?

..Where did everyone go?

Rusalka had started to make the movements to leave, and while reluctant to leave the supply of herbs and spiders she had gained- there was no choice. The reaper could not easily bring it all with her, and she did not have a desire for the spiders to wander her pelt for the next few days or weeks. So of course, providing a good comfort, she made a move for them to enter the tree for a nicer home instead of the hole, so they could survive.

However during this moment of trying to give kindness- Grímnismál lost where everyone went. As far as she was aware, they were moving down the coast, but at some point lost the sight of them..

"Where am I..." 

A little yearling, black and white with a cherry gaze, small little crystals dropped from her white mask as she stressed.

Some minor assumptions about the meeting based on Starr's comments!

The boy was still missing. Valravn. Deep in his heart, Kaertok did not care for the child any more or less than his own. A child who could not find their way back was not particularly useful to a pack. It was not his call to make, so he did as he was told. He would search for Valravn not because it was the right thing to do, but because Raleska saw it as the right thing to do. He knew she would disapprove of that notion, so he had kept that to himself.

He had wanted to make one final sweep of the moors before he caught up with the others. If there was any chance the boy would return, it would be soon. Kaertok considered staying behind permanently, but he wouldn't let himself do that to Raleska. He would not disappoint her.

So on he went, traveling up the coast, following the trail left behind by the others. He would likely catch up in a day or two, considering he would not be slowed by a gaggle of youth. However, he was surprised to see a lone straggler in the distance. He did not know her name, but he did recognize her distinctive coat pattern from a distance.

You are falling behind, he said, pointing out the obvious as he came up alongside her, motioning for her to keep up with him.

It was the bear that was beside Raleska, large and white, like the tundra beyond the isle her mother would describe. Nothing but white and the deep orange eyes, like a dangerous flame that certainty did frighten her. She saw him talking like a general of war, the reaper automatically straightened upon his presence and stiffened like a lowly grunt.

Though- that was just a norm for Grim, often being afraid of everyone she did not know. Only Raleska and Erzulie, alongst with the few children they had, were the exceptions. Wintersbane, not long gone, was the biggest of her fears. Tall and intimating, and proven so when he took down Annigan the Alpha, but in the end it worked out for her. She saw Erzulie as the Alpha.

The man motioned to have her keep up, and so she scrambled to walk behind him. With a squeak-like voice, "are they far ahead?"

Her voice was frail, Kaertok noted, and her appearance nervous and skittering. He disapproved, but at least she did not complain. That he was thankful for. There was little else that annoyed Kaertok than a sniveling whiner. His own pace was a quick trot, though he would slow if that seemed to be pushing her past her limits. She asked if the others were far ahead, and Kaertok lowered his head for a moment as the moved toward their new home. He sought impressions of their feet in the ground, their scent upon the earth. It was not here exactly, but there was the faint smell of them on the wind, which blew southward.

Not close, he replied, We can catch up with them before nightfall. Assuming she did not slow him down. What is your name?

"O-Ok.. Thank you." She offered gratitude to the man who not only was helping, but seemingly slowed down if she struggled to keep up. He was intimidating, large and white with deep, serious eyes. It reminded her of the men of her isle, who looked at the reaper with such a scorn, and simply caused her to flee into the witch's corner.

She didn't have many friends- or any, at all.

"I'm Grímnismál, uh, Grim is fine too." Her name longed and complicated for the english-speakers of these wild, she had settled with being alright on 'Grim.'

She thanked him, which was more than he had expected. Politeness didn't always get you far in Kaertok's book, but he did appreciate it. He was only doing what he thought he was expected to do: round up any stragglers. Perhaps that was part of the reason Rosalyn had instructed Raleska and himself to stay behind. If anybody got slowed down, the two of them were capable enough to get them to their final destination. Raleska knew the way, and Kaertok was a decent tracker.

I'm Kaertok Tartok, he said when she introduced herself. The name Grim spoke was not anything familiar to him. She did not indicate a surname, but Kaertok wasn't all that surprised by that. There were plenty of bloodlines (including his own) where surnames were not given until later in life.

You were not born in Rusalka, were you? he asked. It could have been considered small talk, to some degree, but Kaertok thought it important to know more of the history of the pack he now paid his allegiance to. He wondered how much had changed in the time since he had been gone. Could this have been one of the children that Rosalyn and Erzulie had been raising just before he left?

Grímnismál was a bastard, but she did not know it. Her father was someone well-known within the Keep, but to this day, she still doesn't have a clue to her lineage. They had held family names, but her mother refrained from sharing her own, or the man she had mated with during the season. So, she remained without a namesake.

Though but she knew about then.

"No," she shook her head, "I only joined a few months ago.. My home sunk into the sea." Her voice turned to a negative tone as she mentioned so, not for the fact she'd miss the group there, but it was all that Grímnismál knew to be a 'home.' It was sad, to lose what once was her 'home,' and now, they were moving from what she wanted to consider as one.

Grim clarified how she had come to live with Rusalka, stating that her home sunk into the sea. Kaertok found this hard to imagine, and he assumed it was merely a metaphor for whatever had actually happened to the place she had once belonged. Kaertok's own place of birth wasn't actually far from here. Sawtooth Spire was still around, although his family had long since abandoned it. He had been mere months old when they had departed, and it had set off a long line of moving from one place to the next. Sometimes by choice, sometimes due to outside forces.

He fell silent then, content to walk and listen to the distant waves to the left and the breeze whistling in his ears. There was something pleasant about just jogging and existing, even if he knew there was much work to be done at their destination. Raleska was likely not far away, and he expected she would find them before nightfall. For now, she roamed on her own, likely hoping to broaden the search for Valravn.

However, Cerculuean Keep had fallen into the sea. Perhaps not all of it, but enough where the storm and earthquakes had sunken enough land that it was no longer inhabitable for the coastal wolves of the keep. Scattered during the thunderstorm, she had lost them all, and most likely, they purposely abandoned Grímnismál and the sea switch.

She had watched her own mother sink alongside the earth.

"Ummm, why did you join?" She faintly saw him hover around Raleska, but wasn't sure if she was the reason, or something else.

She asked why he had joined, and Kaertok answered. Raleska, he replied, We are old... friends. Maybe that was the right word for it, at least for now. "Friend" was not really a term Kaertok used often, if ever. He tended to take everything a bit too seriously, and it was rare that he considered somebody a friend, especially outside his own bloodline. Raleska, though, was something else. He'd known from the moment he met her. It was a shame they had been separated for so long, but now that they had been reunited, he could not imagine a life without her.

Briefly, he wondered how well Grim and Raleska were acquainted, but he figured knowing would not give him any sort of advantage. He wasn't the type to try to get to somebody through their friends, at least not directly. Earning their trust, sure. But getting chatty with them wasn't really his style.

Onward they went, Kaertok once again falling into a silent steady rhythm.

wrap?

Kaertok was not much of a talker, and sadly she could only produce a few lines before dipping into her own silence. If awkwardness could kill someone, she'd be dead by now, and the uncomfortableness made her want to choke, but it was all the questions she could muster for the stoic guard.

Though Grímnismál was thankful toward him for leading her to where Rusalka was, as she became a bit lost. And now, the journey continued, in but a long, and silent pace.

Grim fell silent, and Kaertok did not press her for anything further. By nightfall, if they did not catch up with the group, they would camp for the night and in the morning continue to keep up the pace. Kaertok knew there was much work to be done once they arrived at their destination. It would give him an easy way to push out any thoughts of his children. Throwing himself into his work had always made him feel better in the past, and he did not see this time being any different.