Mount Apikuni slate

tag for reference, we can assume he’s always close even if he doesn’t join <3
Can’t sleep and wanted to write a bit!  Redd muse is strong this week

Redd took them into the mountains.  @Ruckus was a constant shadow at her side, mirroring her even now as she struggled up the slopes.  The wounds, never treated, were fire as skin pulled and muscles flexed.

It was hard to know what she searched for.  The truth was still settled like a nettle, buried deep in her chest.  She did not want another claim.  She had only ever wanted the Rise, and to find another family to replace them felt impossible.  Perhaps she would simply wander alone.  The prospect, for a moment, was almost soothing.  Yet there was danger there.

She was not made for alone.  She had only ever lived for the pack.

In her first moment of weakness, they had cast her down.  Was it natural to feel despondent?  She did not know.  She only knew what she felt.  For so long she had wanted the hunt lead’s guidance.  Finally he had risen; she should have been glad.  Instead there was only hurt.  Perhaps she was not built for a pack after all.  This selfish ambition was what guided her now, a flame that had burned her home from her heart.

She was glad that her companion spoke as little as she.  Redd did not wish to answer questions or to speak these feelings aloud.  Instead she would sit with them until she had burned them too from her.

Looking back, she could still see the rise in the distance, a shadow on the expansive taiga.  She would continue until she could see it no longer.  With mountains between them perhaps she could forget.

Loyalty was for family and family was pack.  Still she struggled, even knowing this.  She did not know if she could feel again what she had felt for the Rise.  She mourned this most of all.

The two traveled in silence, which suited the stunted child. They did not think deeply as Redd did, but instead allowed themself to focus on her every movement. It was easiest if they stayed close together, so Ruckus could more clearly see her. When she looked back, Ruckus did the same, though they saw only a blurry horizon beyond a few feet in front of them.

Their whole body ached from traveling so far so quickly, but they did not complain. It was the default state of their life to feel this way: exhausted, achey, hungry, and frazzled. Ruckus's fur was dull, and their paw pads had become dry and cracked, but they made no mention of this pain to their guardian. After the death of Raider and Riley, they had no longer been a child in any sense except their age and size. Even prior to those chaotic events, Ruckus had felt a distance between themself and their siblings. Now they no longer remembered Riot or Rowdy's existence—there was only Redd.

The travel was not easy but the younger kept up well.  Redd held a quiet appreciation for that, approval for the ways that they rose to meet what was given.  It reminded her, in moments, of her own mother.  The drive she had given those around her.  Redd knew such a drive was not hers to command, but to feel such a thing, even in part.  It was new and welcome.

In front of them, spoor and tracks.  She stopped and silently looked to Ruckus, then to the tracks that crossed their trail.  She would have him investigate and learn.  Was it a path worth following, or something to avoid?