Silvertip Mountain but i really want to know

Charon decided that now the decision to settle on Moonspear was as good as final, he'd drop by Silvertip Mountain on his way back to the Bay to inform whatever wolves might've stayed behind (and help Thistle move her herb stash). It had been some time since Charon had seen FitzDutiful, and he thought it wise to inform the Alpha of their move to Moonspear as well as his elevation to Alpha. The wounds on Charon's right shoulder and back were healing, not bothering him too much anymore now (even his movements were less stiff, although long days of travel between various locations were a little more straining and painful than before his injuries), and so he started to make his way towards Silvertip Mountain's borders.

Once he arrived at the borders, Charon lifted his nose and called for @FitzDutiful , hoping to speak to the Alpha himself. He wondered how his kids were doing. He'd met June the other day, but it had been really long ago. Everything before the fight seemed 'really long ago' now, though; and with that, so did his last meeting with Fitz. Charon's tail hung by his hind legs and he kept his head low, making sure to cause no offence and display no dominance upon another Alpha's borders, while he waited. Hopefully his patience would soon be rewarded with Fitz coming into view.

FitzDutiful was on a naturalist herb session today, one that had lead him into Neverwinter Forest. It was a strange day, first with June asking about other packs then sneaking off towards the Plateau. He didn't fear too much for he knew the plateau wolves - well Lasher at least - would be kind to her. He started to wonder about teaching his wolves to fight. If his children (June) were going to insist on heading out of the pack lands then he wanted to be sure that they knew how to defend themselves. Then again, no one had schooled him and his instinct had helped him just fine.

When a call went up from the borders, FitzDutiful recognised it as Charon - the beta of the bay - and trotted off, approaching from the side instead of from down the mountain as Charon probably expected. His second visitor in as many days, he smiled to see the yearling. He looked much more grown up than he had the last time they had met. FitzDutiful could see the adult that would grow from within Charon, though the wounds momentarily distracted him.

"Hi Char —" he had started, before his eyes caught sight of the back of the white wolf. "My word, what happened to you?!" The wounds looked healed, old almost, but it was terrifying. And June was off by herself.

FitzDutiful was greeted with a confident smile when he came into view. Charon didn't realise the reason for Fitz' sudden startling at first — he had grown used to the wounds himself, after all — but soon found out that it was the wounds that caused the Silvertip Alpha to react the way he did. Charon was never quite sure what to say when someone asked him about the wounds. He didn't really want to go and spread word everywhere that Dante was a dick without self-control, but neither did he want to lie about this particular detail. So usually he just mentioned he'd gotten into a fight.

"Hey Fitz," Charon said, glad that Fitz' name had caught up to him in the months since their last meeting. "I got into a fight with someone." Well, that much was obvious from his wounds (although 'someone' suggested it was a wolf, at least). Charon thought back to the days he had spent after the fight. If it weren't for Ame, then he might not have survived it. "It was personal, I guess. Some asshole didn't like hearing the truth." Charon didn't look like he regretted anything; he wasn't about to let himself get censored just because someone hurt him after he'd said something honest, even if it was brutal.

Charon nearly shared running into June, but he wondered if she was allowed to leave Silvertip Mountain nowadays. So instead of saying this and potentially getting her in trouble, Charon instead decided upon: "How's the pups?" He imagined they were old enough to leave home now; after all, that time he'd met June felt like a really long time ago now.

With the explanation of a fight, FitzDutiful got the gist that Charon didn't want to go into details and decided to let it be. Understanding that sometimes the hard things were just better left behind, he didn't resist when the yearling turned the conversation on its head and delved into the talk of pups.

"They're different than I expected," he chortled, amazed at how much they had grown up too, "June, I thought, would be a quiet one, but instead she's the one that's hard pressed to stay on the pack lands. I wonder if teaching her some sort of defence may be a good idea." He paused for a moment, allowing that to sink in and debating internally about whether it would be a good idea or not, before turning back to Charon.

"How are things with the Bay? Being a beta any easier?" Charon had never said it was difficult in the first place, FitzDutiful had just assumed that someone taking the beta position so young was bound to get some hassle for it - belatedly he wondered if the fight had been related to the beta position.

Fitz didn't press the issue of the fight any further, instead moving on to the subject of his children easily. He mentioned June exploring a lot. Charon found himself searching for the other pup's name. Had Fitz ever mentioned it? Perhaps on a previous meeting. "Yeah, I met her once," Charon said, forgetting that she'd snuck out that time and he wasn't going to tell Fitz. Fitz mentioned her exploring anyway, so it probably wasn't that big a secret.

The subject shifted towards Stavanger Bay, which was a perfect opening for what Charon had come here to talk about in the first place. "The Bay's been small for a while, and Thistle's not been feeling well after all the bad things that happened. We recently decided to move and merge with Amekaze's pack at the Sunspire. We're probably going to be pick Moonspear, due south of here." Charon left a small pause while a proud smile spread across his face; he was clearly bursting to tell Fitz the news. "Me and Amekaze will be its Alphas."

He couldn't help it. At the mention of Charon being an alpha there was the ever so slight raising of a wolf-like eyebrow. FitzDutiful quickly replaced it with a beaming smile instead. Charon might be growing up, but he wasn't grown up yet - not in a father's eyes - but he tried to be a friend instead of a father, the two of them weren't close enough for that anyway. "Wow! Moving on up in the world!" The enthusiasm he didn't quite feel managed to make it into his voice at least.

"So Amekaze... is she someone special?" he asked, with a little sly wink in Charon's direction. He had never met an alpha pair leading a pack that weren't in some way mated. Then again, his experience with packs totalled only three; his father's, Perry and Fox and now his own. It was entirely possible that different packs had difficult standards, FitzDutiful just failed to see how two wolves that weren't on the same wavelength in life could work together for a pack.

i love Fitz' father-like look on this.

Charon didn't notice that Fitz looked doubtful a moment. He was too excited about things himself, which coloured the world in glasses that showed him what he wanted to see; he only noticed Fitz' enthusiasm, and not the scepticism that he tried to hide through his enthusiasm. "Yup, it's gonna be great." Charon spoke proudly, and he looked like either he genuinely did not notice any scepticism there or that he worked hard to hide it, too.

Fitz went on to ask if Amekaze was someone special. While Charon had been forced to grow up young, he had not been busy with love, mateship or even sex much. "Well, she is pretty special," he found himself saying, though he looked a little unsure, as though he thought it a weird sort of question. "It's like I'm totally at peace with everything when she's there. I think we complement each other well." There was no other way to describe just how Amekaze made him feel. Charon had never been a very happy or empathic wolf, always striving for more than he already had, and somehow it was never enough. His Beta position at Stavanger Bay was a prime example of that. Amekaze made him feel like things were just fine.

Charon made it seem like he and Amekaze were somewhat special to each other, in a relationship sense, and it made FitzDutiful smile quite tenderly. "I know the feeling." he said with his eyes set on the distance and his mind reminiscing about Zaria and how he felt around her. Oh to be in love was a wonderful thing, but to stay independent too was so important.

"How big is your pack looking to be?" he asked out of blatant curiosity. When he had started his own it had been fairly big but then fell rapidly. He had made his on the way out of winter whereas Charon was starting on the way into winter and with two packs merging; it was probably a pretty big expanse. He had been to a location on the moonspear before and recalled it being quite big and open, though he didn't remember any water features. He was sure the two alphas had thought of food and water as part of their location choosing.

The downside of being a counsellor - having to resist ensuring others don't make all the mistakes you can foresee; or finding a way to ask them without causing offence at least.

Charon just figured that Fitz had found a co-Alpha that really worked well with him, too, though he did look a little dreamy for that. There was a fuzzy feeling in Charon's stomach as he thought of Amekaze and their future leadership together. Whenever she was around, he didn't feel any of the anger and disappointment he normally did. He didn't feel like he could get riled up by anyone's pissy comments. He just felt like none of that mattered. It was like she exuded peaceful feelings or whatever. He couldn't even explain.

Fitz then asked him how big the pack was looking to be, and Charon considered this question a moment. The Bay'd been with only four when they left, the Sunspire with five or so, and a few extras had joined. "A little over ten," he said after a thoughtful moment. He looked at Fitz, expecting a follow-up question because he couldn't imagine Fitz being genuinely curious over numbers.

Need to tie up some threads, hope you don't mind if we end this and have a new thread once I have a bit more time?

FitzDutiful didn't have another question, so Charon's answer seemed to end their conversation. He nodded, pleased that things were going well for the youngster - even if FitzDutiful had his own doubts. He almost questioned himself over the doubts, who was he to judge? He hated being judged and hated those that judged others and yet, here he was judging the young male for running his own pack because he was shook. With a shake of his head to rid himself of the hyprocital thoughts he made to traverse up the mountain.

"Mind if I come visit sometime?" he questioned, before setting off. More and more packs were becoming border intolerant for reasons that he couldn't quite understand. If Charon didn't want any of the Silvertip wolves there then he could understand, no matter how strange it might be to him. If he was welcome, though, he would make an effort to get there before the worst of winter arrived.

no prob, I could do with ending some myself, have loads going on with the creation of MSP and all :) we can have a newer one sometime :3

Fitz had no other questions, and when he asked if he could visit, Charon nodded. He had no qualms with wolves being at his borders, and he had good relations with Silvertip Mountain anyway. "Sure." Fitz then turned away in silent good bye, and so Charon did the same. He offered a brief nod before he turned away from Silvertip's borders and started south, to continue his exploration. He was pretty sure of his choice, but he needed to be absolutely sure first.