where we got left to run

For @Jorunn and Bazi. AW to other adult wolves of NP. I figured we needed a thread of Jorunn's arrival to NP.. :o  

He was unsettled – the boy tagged along, orphaned in the simplest sense, and Scimitar had been unable to simply leave the youth behind after coming upon him. Bazi was unpredictable in what she would think of him – would she view him as a threat to their children? He would hope not – it was possible he would need to take the boy to their neighbor, Redtail Rise, if she refused him entrance to their home.
 
Perhaps that would even be a better idea, given they already had four mouths to feed.
 
“C’mon,” he beckoned, knowing the silver and sandy youth must have been exhausted. Scimitar had strode past the borders, though not before stopping the boy, attempting to explain to him what a pack border meant.. and then inviting him over as well. As they maneuvered their way further in to the territory, the agouti wolf tipped his muzzle back, calling for @Bazi – requesting her presence before he bring the boy straight to their den site.

Scimitar was about to catch his wife in a favourable mood.

She could not imagine turning a healthy child away, although she would - eventually, after biting off his face - have understood her mate's reticence. She wasn't the most predictable wolf, and having pups of her own hadn't done much to improve the situation.

She left her spawn in the care of packmates, leaving the rendezvous site at speed. The road to Scimitar was a downhill run, so fast that she could have been mistaken for a run-away avalance.

When she reached them - he wasn't alone - she was gasping for breath and flushed beneath her dense coat. Bright eyes crossed from Scimitar's face to the child that accompanied him. A boy - young, her own childrens' age, clothed in silver and gold. Bazi stared, confused. "What's this?" she asked rather than demanded, still breathing hard.

Slight pp of Scimitar — I'll gladly change it if you wish! c:

Jorunn had been uncharacteristically quiet as he followed along behind Scimitar, head and shoulders slumped as he shuffled, obediently, along. Jorunn on what was surely his best behavior yet was caused by a mixture of things though mainly his exhaustion and the fact that he was not comfortable around Scimitar enough yet both battled for the role of top reason. Perhaps his silence was setting a bad precedent, considering he was not, in any form of the word, quiet by nature; a false expectation of him. For the moment, he adopted it as a quality. He had nothing further to say or ask to Scimitar, deciding that it was easier to just tag along and skip the questions for when he had some (hopefully) real food in his belly and some decent rest. The idea of sleeping around wolves he didn't know didn't necessarily strike fear within him but it heightened his instinctual sense of caution. Scimitar was the first wolf that Jorunn had met that wasn't apart of Stavanger Bay — the first stranger; but would not be his last this day. Distrust was in his nature now. The bear had admittedly shaken him up and had given him an unfortunate dose of reality before he'd truly been ready to bear it. Whatever life he'd lived in Stavanger Bay was dead now — just as the Jorunn he'd once been was dead. All he knew was that he wanted to train, to make himself strong ...like Scimitar appeared to be. Like Atreyu. Like Ragnar had been, from Thistle's stories. Maybe if he could, despite that he was hindered by the time it would take for his body to grow into it's adult size, he might be able to prevent something like this happening again.

Maybe he could find that bear and fight it; become a bear slayer. Wrapped up in his fantasies as Jorunn was, he was startled to find that they'd stopped when he bumped his head into Scimitar's back leg. Giving his head a shake he stumbled back a few swaggering steps offering the older male a sheepish look. “Sowwy.” It was the first word he'd spoken since they'd left Dawnlark Plains, and possibly the first time he'd ever apologized in his life. He watched as Scimitar crossed over the borders, which Jorunn could smell, though he offered a nod of his head to show that he was paying attention and understood when Scimitar explained what they meant. He was inquisitive by nature but bit back his questions for the moment by biting lightly on his bottom lip as he crossed over it, sniffing eagerly at the unfamiliar territory and scents. The scents of Stavanger Bay had long since been washed off of him and  he sniffed at a golden blonde foreleg, allowing his curiosity to get the better of him for a moment. Like a child that might find a crayon appetizing he licked his leg, crinkling his muzzle in distaste making a 'yuck' noise as he stuck his tongue out, scraping it against his teeth as if it would rid him of the taste of sea water, among other things that clung to him. 

Scimitar released a howl into the air, causing Jorunn's ears to splay back against his skull as his eyes furiously scanned the unfamiliar terrain for any signs of approach. While he could hear Bazi's approach, he could not immediately see it, her ivory form blurring into the monotone grays of the landscape, unaided by the speed in which she came towards the two. He took a cautious step back as her footfalls rapidly approached, followed by heavy pants, unsure about her. He blinked up at Scimitar when her voice reached him and reluctantly he looked for her, finding her outline and the subtle shadows of her form to give her shape. She was like Atreyu — initially hard to find; but now that he knew she was there and closer than she'd been before he was able to pick out shaded details. Figuring that her question hadn't been aimed towards him, he kept to his silent demeanor, assuming that it was something the adults needed to talk about; but his ears rose slowly from his skull curious about the words they would exchange with one another in regards to him.

I'm going to assume they at least exchanged names! Let me know if you want me to edit. :)

Scimitar had not minded the silence -- as they had walked back to the Peak, he had made mention of areas, wondering if anything he said would trigger the boys mind for something familiar, but he would receive nothing.

So he had fallen to silence, his own mind wondering what to do at this point. As they waited for Bazi, he could oly hope his mate would not turn the boy away, and as she came, his eyes would shift between the two. Side-stepping, so as to allow her better view of the youth.

"This is Jorunn," he began, his eyes settling upon Bazi's slender features. "He's been separated from his family. I couldn't leave him behind.." He waited then, resisting the urge to look back to the boy once more. 

Scimitar answered and stepped aside to give her a better look of the timid stray. Bazi stared intently at the boy, studying his every awkward angle. He couldn't be older than two or three twists of the moon. "Where?" she asked of her mate, taking a swift step forward to sniff at the aura of scent around the child. Nothing particularly strange or notable about it. Just earth, and the still milky scent of pup. Bazi flattened one ear and refocused her attention on Scimitar. "Doesn't he remember where he's from? We can't .." The mother cleared her throat, searching for more appropriate words. "He belongs to someone. What happens if they track him here?"

“Dawnlark Plains,” he responded, studying his mate. She was apprehensive – it was something he could understand, and his eyes glanced down to look at Jorunn, curious to what his reaction might be to her. He was quiet.. well behaved. Exhausted.
 
“He doesn’t seem to know anything about his home – he doesn’t know his parents’ names.. his pack’s name.. Where he came from,” he finished, his shoulders lifting in a shrug. Trauma could have played a role in the boys’ memory, or, perhaps, in his safe world before, the attention to such details had never been important. He would be making sure to teach his own brood everything about the pack in terms of names.. if anything, he would take that away from this entire situation.
 
“Then hopefully they find a happy, well fed pup and will be relieved,” he offered. He knew what she indicated – he could only hope they wouldn’t be suspected of kidnapping.

All sensible answers. Bazi eyed her mate, wrestling with the desire to corner him with an unanswerable question simply because she wanted to set the scene for a future 'I told you so'. Eventually, she let it go. "Alright," she nodded, letting go of the word with a sigh, "but you'll have to explain to me why all these head-cases keep finding us." She meant Tryphon, of course, the first amnesia-stricken wolf to attach themselves to Nova Peak. Bazi herself was masterful at suppressing less desirable memories, and in one of her better moments she might have related to the two boys.

"Come on, then! I'm guessing he's hungry?" Her tone was brusque, but Bazi did take the time to kiss her mate's nose before she turned and marched towards the nearest cache of food. He was a good wolf - nobler than she was, and far kinder. One day, he would realize that.

Last post from me unless we need a filler to get to 10. :)

One more from @Jorunn, and then I can do another and we can conclude to reach 10?

“That, I have no answer to,” he admitted with a sigh. They certainly had attracted interesting wolves in their past to their realm, but Jorunn seemed a far cry from that. He simply seemed a victim of being uneducated by his first family, and lost.
 
With a kiss to his nose, Scimitar allowed a relieved sigh to escape him as she turned to lead the way. Shifting his muzzle back, the man bent it down, nudging Jorunn amicably with the implication that the boy should follow Bazi.. and he would be right behind him.