Emberflame Ridge and i don't wanna get in your way

for my timeline purposes set tentatively before this thread as i'm not sure what's going to happen in it. tags for reference but as always, feel free to hop in if you'd like! <3

the morning is quiet, the rising sun cutting across the shadows of night that still clung stubbornly to the forest of the ridge. a bone deep chill lingers in the air, belaying that autumn and winter could be upon them soon. it would be his first, but there is an instinctual urgency that takes hold of his determination and digs in like barbed wire.

they had to find @Anselm and @Gideon. and soon.

ezra promises @Skaigona he will not be far, but does not expect his mother to let him go for long ( if at all ) without being beneath her watchful eye.

it is for his father and brother he searches, driven by a desperation that borderlines obsession with finding them.

The vale growing suffocating with her recent workload, Viskani had ventured to the ridge for a much needed break.

Her wanderings of the forest soon found the scent of another; odd, she thought - more wolves must be in the mountains than she originally assumed. She followed the path laid out, not particularly looking for the other but certainly not avoiding them either.

Soon she found who she had been looking for however, her brow furrowing. Squinting her bright eyes to better see through the shadow she spotted what she thought to be a rather young wolf; much too young to be on their own, or at least that was the case where she came from.

a figure moves into ezra's line of sight; and blindly, his heart rate ticks up with the hope that it is gideon. but disappointment comes crashing down in the resulting seconds. it was not his brother, nor his father. though pelage colors might've been deceivingly close at first, rapid glance there is nothing familiar about the woman's visage.

something in ezra whispers that he should return to his mother.

but perhaps the woman had seen gideon or anselm.

i'm looking for a pair of volves, ezra jumps right into it, voice rising to cross the distance between them; foregoing introduction. likely not traveling together, though. my brother and father.

perhaps, ezra clings to the resilient flame of hope he keeps cradled close to his chest, she could point him in a direction.

Ah, he was searching for others - that provided some explanation. Maybe they had left him behind, she thought, but it was too early to make assumptions. "I may have - what more can you tell me?" She asked, lifting her head.

"Though you look quite young - why are you searching on your own?"

She paused any further questioning for the time being; she would not overwhelm him too quickly. She needed to know the important information first.

his impatience threatens to swell like the rise of an unruly tide, but he bites it back; reminding himself that if he expected answers that he had to give information in return. how would she know if he didn't describe them? she wouldn't.

so, ezra does his best to temper it.

my father anselm, he is ash grey vith dark grey markings. his eyes are gold like mine. his left and right ears are torn. one of them is in half. but ezra couldn't remember which one. still, he felt like that was a plenty good enough description to go off of: the ears alone were distinct markers of anselm.

my brother gideon, is dark grey vith light grey markings. gold eyes like mine ... and two tails.

also a distinct marker.

ezra is confident if this woman came across either of them: she would know them.

i am not alone, he says a bit more sharply than he means to; though he does not apologize for it. my mother is vith me. and he was not too far from her: not wishing to make her worry.

She thought back, but no wolves who matched such descriptions had entered the vale while she had been present. "No my dear, I haven't seen them - not in the vale at least." She paused for a moment, clicking her tongue.

The mention of a mother eased her worries for the child - so long as he had not been left behind she would make no move to assist. However if the lost relatives were in the mountains, she wondered how long they would last.

"Are you sure they're in the mountains? Where were they traveling from?"

ezra's disappointment is a palpable thing. it takes up it's space in the air around him like a forcefield. she has not seen them. he hadn't realized just how desperately he'd been holding onto the hope, despite that it couldn't have been that easy until he is forced to face it.

he can feel the shift in his body, the slamming of the fortress' massive metal doors. the turn of the internal cannons. he is abruptly ready to move on, to keep looking.

it takes him a long moment to answer, because he does not wish to.

no, the admittance is torn from him. he wished that he knew where they were at, where to begin looking. he wished they were all together. he wished that amadeo had never came into their lives like living rot and that druid hadn't attacked his mother and that everything was as it should be.

i don't know. my dad fought this other guy and just vent missing, this ezra knew because amadeo had said as much, had the wounds to prove it. as far as ezra cared, his father been injured and had been left by amadeo and had went to find help and that was all ezra was willing to believe. and my brother vent missing. he vas there and then he vasn't... it was all that he knew, which in the end wasn't much.

if ezra were to examine the jagged puzzle pieces of what he knew the outcome was grim but denial was strong and so he would keep looking until he found them.

A careful frown on her face, she couldn't help but feel sympathy for the child. It was never easy to have relatives missing, to be unaware if they were alive or dead. At her age she certainly knew such a feeling. "I can only send my prayers. I do hope that they will return to you soon."

"Should you and your mother remain in the mountains, please feel free to join myself and my pack in the vale just south of here. We will be happy to assist you."

Nodding to the young wolf she then prepared to take her leave.

the word 'prayers' echo hollowly in his chest, so much that he almost spurns the sentiment. but he realizes it for it was: a sentiment and one that did not come from a bad place. a quiet muttering of thanks is given, barely audible; hesitant to touch anything that felt like God.

i vill pass that along. thank you for your time. he keeps moving before giving up and circling back to @Skaigona where he gives her the rundown of the interaction.