Firestone Hot Springs With this knowledge he will fall

I hope this location works for you ^^ @Valette

Beyond the borders of the woods, he'd been called. A sort of silent summon, the idea of wandering having beckoned to him. How inviting had it seemed, and so compelled had the male been to give in to the desires he'd felt. Plagued had he become, it would seem, by the wanderlust that was so deeply ingrained in his blood. He'd needed to leave, and so off he'd gone, having alerted only Kendra of his choice in direction. For her, he would find the grandest of mountains and the most breathtaking of sights, and then for her he would return with the purpose of leading her away. No longer were either of them children, no longer could they be held back. He would show to her the entire world, and then, at night, it would be beside her that he'd rest. The girl would be his purpose, his treasure to guard, and in return for it all he'd receive her affections; it was the manner in which his delusion operated, but never had his thoughts been voiced aloud, and so yet had he been to undergo a reality check.

Xan had trekked through the land, stopping when necessary so that he could rest, but rare had it been for his pauses to last any longer than an hour. The young Inuit was determined, and so onward he'd pressed, finding himself stopping for a longer period of time only just after he'd entered the springs. The stench burned his nose and even made his stomach churn at times, but when he'd slipped into one of the many pools, the feeling of the heated water against his weary muscles had urged him to relax. It'd felt pleasant, but he'd not lingered in the first pool for very long before exiting and walking around, testing many reserves of water to find out which one was the best.

I thought you wanted a thread for Kendra. xD Set before she left on her scouting mission to the taiga then! :3 <3 Hope you don't mind it is backdated a bit, haha.

Valette was very keen on getting her ranger specialty, but it wouldn't be much of a ranger specialty if she stayed within the territory or their surrounding ones. She was planning on going further this time. The girl had been around the hot springs before, but she hadn't gone through it really. Frankly the steam and the heat were kind of confusing her senses.

However, today, she felt brave and determined enough to cross these strange lands. She didn't know why they were so different from the grasslands, but she thought it would be good for her as a scout to learn how to navigate through all kinds of lands. Not just fields and mountains, but also landscapes with steam and were scent was limited.

Valette walked with care around the pools, not daring to touch them too much. Her eyes focussed on what was ahead. She stiffened when she saw a ghost. She was certain she saw the frame of her father walk in the distance. Valette inhaled sharply which wasn't the best idea because she instantly started coughing and snorting with the strong scent. Her eyes teared and she looked up. The ghost was still there. Her ears flattened in insecurity.

As he'd been exiting one pool of water in favour of another, his movements had been brought to an immediate and sudden stop. Away from him, there'd come coughing and some snorting, attracting the boy's attention. When he'd turned to investigate, he'd found the other to be there staring at him, which had caused for his body to lower down into a crouching position. For a moment, he'd done nothing more than stare at her, a silent snarl finding its way onto his lips every now and again. Yet, when he'd determined that the stranger was of no threat to him, he'd straightened himself out and started to approach, walking with his legs somewhat locked and at a moderate pace. He could not recognize her face, his mind having been filled with so many other things since their last encounter, and so he's stopped once he was close enough to determine her sex and view her overall appearance.

Xan hadn't bothered with hiding his doings as his peculiar eyes scanned over her form, leaving not even an inch without inspection. Even still, nothing had clicked within his mind, keeping them as strangers and nothing more. "Do you know how to breathe?" he'd asked, tone snarky. He wasn't the least bit pleased by her disturbance, having found it to be troubling and a complete distraction from his previous task.

Valette watched the figure crouch down, she was pretty certain that this ghost was going to jump her now. The young female stepped a bit back when the white figure came forward. Then however she noticed it was a white male that came up to her, slightly bigger than her too. Valette watched him come closer in a creepy way, though she instantly recognized those reddish blue eyes. The girl felt disgusted how Xan had his eyes roamed over her like some piece of meat. That was what if felt like.

The girl relaxed, already breathing normally. Her hazel eyes glared at him. "Xan, cut it out," she stated. He was becoming worse than she thought he would. Now he was an adult and clearly influenced by the brotherhood and the dark forest he lived in. Frankly they should have swapped coat colors. "What are you doing here anyways?," she questioned, wary of him and what he could do.

Had she not spoken his name, he knew not what he'd have done. Antagonize her, most likely, but given his previous irritation towards the disturbance she'd created, it was unclear. Never would he know, either, for the name spoken and the voice that'd come with it had struck some chord of recognition within him. Her features had soon morphed into a face that he knew, and then there before him stood his sister. A step back was taken, brows furrowing for a brief second before a shake of his head had wiped the expression away. "I thought you were someone else," he'd explained. Not a word, however, was said on how he'd forgotten his sister's face.

With a question thrown his way, it'd been easy to push past his mistake. "Nothing," was his response, blunt and joined by a slight shrug of his shoulders. "Why are you here? Doesn't seem like a place you'd visit." It wasn't overly bright and sunny, but shrouded by the steam from the pools. It just didn't seem like a scene she'd be caught dead in.

Valette was not even remotely surprised that he didn't recognize her. The girl looked at him with a skeptical gaze when he spoke. Not really that amused with him, or seeing him. Still he was her brother but that didn't mean that she had to like him. She was pretty sure that he didn't like her either. That thought saddened her.

The girl frowned how he pointed out that it was weird that she was here. Valette's ears fell back. "What is that suppose to mean?," she pointed out. The fact that he was doing 'nothing' was rather suspicious to her. She looked over him with a curious glance. Her hazel eyes fell into his. "But if you want to know. I am a Scout, wanting to become a Ranger. So I am just mapping out this area," she explained.

A frown; an expression that he wasn't at all unfamiliar with, nor something that he was shocked to have witnessed appearing across his sister's muzzle. Never had they gotten along, he knew, but to see her being what he perceived as displeased by his being there was troubling, still. He could not recall the moment in which they'd truly grown so far apart, having always assumed that it was when their mother had separated them. Truthfully, that wasn't the exact moment, but many of his memories from any farther back had chosen to lock themselves away within his subconscious, only ever to be dragged up at random. Seeing her there, though, was not one of said random moments.

Questioned, he'd shrugged it off. "Just that this place isn't flooded with light. It's too gloomy for you with all this steam, don't you think?" They were so terribly different, and those differences were something that he unconsciously exaggerated. It wasn't something that he couldn't move past, however, and so he'd listened to her reasoning for being there without interrupting. "Why a Scout?" was the only question that he'd managed to form after hearing her explanation. Curious was he, his inquiry lacking the usual harshness that was expected from him.

Valette shook her head. "I can handle dark places, Xan. I am not afraid of the dark," she pointed out. She was however disliking wolves that pretended to be someone else or wolves that didn't have the decency to be nice. To be murders and spies. She had been wondering something for a long time. And now it was her time to ask it wasn't it? She wasn't going to reply to his question, because she had to ask a dying question herself. "So are you going to become a murderer or spy?" Valette realized he didn't have a paw print like her father had last time, so he was probably in training then. She didn't ask it too unkindly she just seemed truly curious about it. If her brother was a murderer or not.

"I am a scout because I am good at it. I have been living alone for a long time and I noticed that I became better and better with remembering locations. I like to travel, depending on my own," she explained to Xan. It might surprise him that she had been a loner for awhile. She wasn't afraid to let him know that. However since she was working on her scout trade officially meant that she was in a pack, however she was not so keen on telling him about them.

A claim was made, but he found it hard to believe. In his mind, it was best to assume that she feared the dark, for why else would she have kept from visiting him? From returning to him and attempting to piece their family back together? He still didn't like the fact that she'd left him in the first place, nor that she'd urged their other sisters to follow her and their mother. It had bothered him—hurt him—for a long while, and still continued to do so deep down. Despite his growth and the continuation of his life, the past did not fade from his mind, and it was the continued lives of those memories that made him think the way that he did. To assume things, and to then speak or act based upon said assumptions. At times, what he made himself to believe was better than reality, and so to let go of such thoughts was a difficult, unthinkable task.

Rather than answering his question right away, she'd inserted one of her own into their conversation. Xan frowned, brows pinching together as he looked at her as if she'd just kicked a puppy. "I'm not interested in what spies do," he began, shaking his head as if that might assist in wiping his features clean—it didn't. "And I've never killed anyone. There aren't any murderers in the woods." In a way, that was true, but it also wasn't. "I've never seen anyone being murdered, and anyone that has been killed in the past was guilty of something. Innocent lives aren't taken." Again, it wasn't anything more than an assumption. If someone were to request that the Brotherhood take the life of another, then it had to be for a good reason. Thieves, liars, and cheats; these were the types of wolves that he believed to be killed by the wolves of Blackfeather, not beings that had never done anything wrong. There had to be a reason to everything, after all.

Xan fell silent after his answer had been delivered, ears back. Did she really think so lowly of him as to suggest that he'd do something without a purpose behind it? It bothered the boy, as did the response that he'd eventually received to his earlier inquiry. "You were alone?" he'd repeated back, ears perking up for a moment, only to return to their previous position no more than a second later. "Why didn't you come to dad and me? We could've helped you out, given you a place to sleep..." Words trailed off, a frown pulling down the corners of his lips. "Do you hate us that much, Desna? That you couldn't even come to us for help?" A step back was taken, disbelief present in his tone. All that had happened aside, they were still brother and sister, so why hadn't she come to him?

Xan seemed to think about her words a bit, and although she didn't mean to hurt him with her words, she noticed that they had been pretty sharp. Xan started explaining about the pack, something that she was interested in. Because she wondered how a pack of spies and assassins lived together. Xan explicitly told her that he hadn't seen any murders, but how much of that was true? And they they didn't kill innocent wolves? She doubted that.

Valette wasn't sure what to react to it seeing that their were liars and thieves in that pack, and their dad was a liar. She let out a soft sigh. "I guess I won't have any way of knowing it is the truth or not but I guess I will believe you," she spoke to him then. When he continued though, how reaction to her being alone, was not the reaction she expected at all. The dark colored female raised her brows a bit. Xan seemed hurt by her statement.

The girl shrugged lightly. "I don't know Xan. The last time we didn't part on good terms especially not me and Dad. I guess you are alright. I mean now you make some comments, but so did I. And I don't think that you are a bad person. It is just dad who I don't like, especially after last time and how he reacted to the news of mother's death." She shivered a bit. "I don't want anything to do with him. You might like him but our relationship is over for me. I have another wolf I see as my father figure now. It didn't feel right for me to come to you when I needed help, just because I casted dad out. Frankly going to dad's pack wasn't even an option for me," she shrugged lightly.

"And, well there was also a need to prove to myself that I could take care of myself alone. I've always been ambitious and stubborn," she spoke with a tiny smile. "I didn't mean to hurt you with it. I just-- I don't feel the need to rekindle with .... Kov-Dad. But I would be interested to get to know you better," she offered then. Her hazel eyes looking into his. "If you want that at least?"

Sorry for the delay (again). You gave me so much dialogue to reply to, I really had to think about my response to get everything just right. * . * I also forgot about it a few times because my memory is terrible, ahhh

Whether or not his words had been believed, he didn't know, nor could he tell. When he spoke of the woods, he'd only shared that which he'd believed to be true. Whether or not it would be seen in the same light as he did was another story, but as far as the boy was concerned, he'd not lied. There'd been no reason to do so, for he truly believed that Blackfeather wasn't nearly as bad as everyone seemed to make it out to be. There was darkness, yes, but where was there not? He'd yet to learn of any land in which their existed only light and nothing else, thus making his home just the same as any other. The only difference being that, whilst many outsiders tended to flee from the shadows, the wolves of the woods embraced them. That, however, was the only difference that he could see.

There came a sigh, and then words, towards which he'd frowned. It all tied back to the thoughts he'd possessed whilst speaking, of how his home wasn't all that bad. "I wouldn't lie to you," he'd muttered back, knowing not how great of an effect it might have. He wished that there existed a way in which he could make her see things the same way as he did, or at least understand that he wasn't there to lie to or hurt her. That even though they'd had numerous differences in the past, he'd not harm her, nor would he lead her to believe something that he himself did not. During their time spend separated, he'd learned a lot regarding family, particularly of how important it was. With his own two eyes he had witnessed the distress that came when one was torn down, and so he hoped for it to end. For Desna to accept both their father and himself, and for their family to be restored. He wanted all that, deep down, he knew he'd never be allowed to have.

The next span of words had been started off with a shrug, and all that'd followed had left the boy speechless. He, too, had noticed the way in which Kove had reacted to their mother's death, but he'd not seen it as an issue. For the boy, it was just another time that she'd abandoned him, even if her final moments hadn't been something that she could have helped. "She abandoned us," he'd voiced, clinging so desperately to his wish for a family reunion. "She left us in the valley and never looked back. She... she hurt dad, she really did. I saw it Desna—for so long I saw how it'd hurt him after she left. I don't think his reaction to her death was... wrong." No matter the scenario, he'd always side with his father. Kove had been there for him when no one else was, he'd given him a new home and taught him so much—he was the selfless parent, in Alexander's eyes. A brave front had always been put up, a mask to shield the world from seeing that which he'd truly been feeling. So many things he had done, and the boy admired him for each and every one of them. It'd been so long since he'd last seen Scarlett that he couldn't understand for why his sister didn't think the same as he did. The Inuit could not understand it, nor might he ever be able to.

"I want our family back together," Xan stated, ears back against his head. "No other wolf could ever be your father, because dad's your father. You can't just–" He shook his head, trying to clear his mind and speak better. "You can't just abandon him. He cares about us—about all of us. Why don't you see that?" Somewhere within the back of his mind, perhaps he knew that he'd make no difference, no matter what words might leave his mouth. There was nothing to be said that could change the past, and nothing to be shared that could alter her views. They'd been brought up differently, they'd learned to cherish opposite parents. That was the way in which their lives had come to be, and neither could do anything to change the other. This he knew, but wished not to recognize. Not currently nor ever, for he felt that doing so would mean that he'd given up. That it would somehow translate to him having lost interest in his family as a whole, to the boy having accepted that he was useless.

While there existed no hope, it seemed, for his dad and his sister, there was a chance for him to try and fix things with their sibling bond. An offer was made, which he'd jumped upon, wondering if it might better help their family in the long run. If he could learn more about her, then perhaps he might be able to someday drag everyone back together. It was a thought, another hope, and so he'd voiced, "I do want that."

It's alright. I do like this thread, it is a good development for both I believe. Haha.

Whether or not Xan would lie to her was something that she was still skeptical about of he would lie. But she would give him the benefit of the doubt. Valette decided that if Xan was so keen on repeating that he was not lying he perhaps was not. She wanted to let her suspicion behind. If only she really knew her brother better. Valette wondered if they would ever have a brother sister relationship even with their stubbornness and the parental side they stood on. It always seemed to go about this topic while they were together and Valette was kind of fed up with defending her mother. Perhaps Xan felt the same about doing so for his father.

"He left us first, Xan. Mother was not the alpha type and she had to raise us for and manage a pack while that Raziel figure would only help her out if she would mate him instead of Kove," she let out, followed by a long sigh. "I was not saying his reaction was wrong. I don't think we are going to agree about this. We both have our side to the stories and we are both stubborn. I am done discussing the mistake both our parents made," she admitted and looked into his reddish-blue eyes. Valette wanted to have her family back too, but compared to Xan she had already given up on that dream. Mainly because their mother was dead and their other siblings were also gone.

"We will never be all together Xan. Mother died. Sesi is probably dead too. She left without being able to fend for herself, even before mother died. And Nanook, well she is gone too. It is only us... and well... Dad. But I rather focus on getting to know you first than to even think of rekindling any kind of relationship with me," she spoke, still stubborn about that fact. "Every conversation we have goes about our broken family, and what side we stand on. Other than that I know your full name is Alexander and you live in those dark woods I don't know anything about you. Why don't you tell me the things you like doing? Or something about yourself?" Valette was hopeful that he would share some things with her at least. Maybe they did have some things in common.

Even though she’d started to speak, Xan hadn’t listened. He focused on something else, distancing himself from her voice. In his ears, he could hear the thumping of his own heart, a cocktail of distress and anger having caused for his thoughts to spiral away. If their father had left at any point, then it’d been for a good reason. He’d grown up alongside the man, he knew how much he valued his family. Only death or something important could have been able to drag him away from them, he was sure. The thought was one that he clung to, holding it close until his sister had finished speaking. Though stubborn, they could both agree, at least, that they’d never view the situation in the same way as the other. They’d been raised apart from one another, taught different things and brought up in entirely different environments under the watchful gazes of two separate parents. In some forgotten depths of his mind, perhaps he knew that they’d always be at odds with one another, but his conscious self refused to admit it. Someday, he believed, she would see the truth, and then they could bring their family back together.

We will never be all together, Xan.

The statement brought him back to the present, and it was directly at her that he’d stared with a hurt expression. Shock flowed into it, mixing with the rest of his emotions and creating something of a mess within his eyes. Sesi and Nanook were both fine, they had to be. Their mother didn’t matter to him, not anymore, but they did. He shook his head, but said nothing, still. To think that something had happened to either one of them… no, it wasn’t possible. They would return someday, and then they’d all live together once again. It would happen—he’d make it happen. Even if he had to hunt them down himself, he’d not give up. Alexander would fix everything, and then no one would hurt any longer. They’d be together, and life would be enjoyable at last.

An interest in him was shown, towards which he’d responded by working to try and settle the war of emotions taking part within his head. She wanted to get to know him, but what was he to say? What could he share? “I like going out at night,” he’d eventually said, the words having been hard to find. Thoughts of their previous conversational topics still resided within his mind, but he did his best to keep them at bay for the time being. “When the sun’s out, it hurts my eyes.” Mother’s fault, he'd thought sourly. Given Scarlett’s appearance, she received the blame for the irritation felt whenever he was trapped out in direct sunlight, for he knew not of how genetics worked. That, in the DNA sequences of his father’s side, the very same gene was present, but primarily recessive. It was for that reason that he’d been burdened with sensitivity to the brightness, but he’d never come to realize that. “I… don’t know what else to say,” Xan had then gone on to mutter, having suddenly forgotten everything about himself. “Tell me about you instead.” Maybe things would be easier that way.

Xan was silent all the way when she talked about she thought what happened. The male did not agree or disagree that they were always talking about this. None of her comments were really responded to, only the one where she wanted to get to know her brother. He told some random facts. Valette nodded slowly. She was not sure if her mother had been sensitive to light. She had never heard that from her. Her mother basically the perfect omega. One that would try to stop fighting from happening or try to relieve the tension in the group.

"Alright," she agreed. "Though you know a few things already. I can take care of my own, being a lone wolf for awhile. I always liked food so I've become a hunter, now working on my specialities. I also am working on my scout specialties. Tracking is something I enjoy," she returned to him, but this was not really something new. How much did she want to open herself up to her brother? She did want to give him the feeling he could share something personal with her. "I have friends but I tend to keep ones I grow closer with at bay because I am afraid that they will leave me," she shrugged lightly and battered her eyes at Xan.

An agreement was made, and so he’d kept himself quiet so that she could speak without being interrupted. He’d nodded a few times to show that he was still listening, but was otherwise still and content with doing so. Then, when a pause in her words came up, he’d offered another detail about himself. “I’m training to become a warrior,” he’d stated, knowing that he had a long way to go, still, before his specialty was acquired. He was determined, though, and was unlikely to give up on his goals. “I’m not sure what else I want to do, though. I’m not really interested in anything else right now.” He wasn’t even entirely sure if he was good at anything else. Xan knew how to use his teeth, he knew how to move, but what else did he know? There wasn’t anything that he could really name off the top of his head, save for the stories of his—their—culture. But, without a clear interest in telling them having been realized, he’d left that out for the time being.

Again had he fallen silent once she’d returned to speaking, relating to what she had to say. After she’d finished and looked at him, he’d turned his head away, inwardly stumbling over whatever he’d planned to say next. “You’re like me,” he’d eventually decided on, stealing a quick glance her way. “They say they won’t leave, but… we know that isn’t true. They always leave someday.” Family, friends, and everything else—it didn’t matter what title they held in his life, he knew that they’d all leave eventually.

Valette could see that he would want to be a warrior. Especially being in such a pack and with their father also being a hunter. She never really defended anything but her food. She was good at that. So she figured that Xan especially had fight in him. She nodded at her brother. "I'm sure you will find something, besides, you don't have to pick a second you could specialize in three warrior things if you want to! Because a superior warrior!," she suggested with a light smile. She was ambitious and even though she was not sure if Xan had the same level of ambition as her perhaps he did like the sound of that.

Valette's face turned into a bit of a sad smile before it turned into a warm one she learned from her mother. "Perhaps we should realize that we always have each other then," she spoke to him quietly but there was quite a lot of emotion behind it. She liked to have a better bond with her brother, and perhaps they both had been a bit prejudiced because of which parent they picked. Valette stepped forward and snuggled against her big brother's chest, burying her face into his thick fur around his neck. "I'm sorry I was mean to you." She realized she had been a bit of a hypocrite towards him..

Awww. *dies*

< 3

Ambitious he was, disinterested in giving up on his self-set goals. To achieve them was important to him, and he’d allow for nothing to get in his way. And so, at her suggestion, his ears perked up. It was an interesting idea, but he wasn’t entirely sure if it was something that he’d pursue. The majority of the specialties were ones that he didn’t mind, but it was always the thought of obtaining a guardian title that stopped him. Xan couldn’t see himself as ever defending the borders or refreshing them like their father did; in all honesty, it sounded rather boring to him. Still, he’d ponder the idea later on. “Maybe,” he’d commented, his voice trailing off towards the end. Some more time would have to go into thinking about it, and so he didn’t act as if he’d decide right then and there. It was made known through the thoughtful expression that he wore that he’d consider her suggestion, but wouldn’t say anything more on the topic for the time being.

Desna’s features were adorned by a smile, which had shifted from seemingly sorrowful to… warm. It reminded him of someone—now a distant memory—but he couldn’t figure out the who, exactly. It was familiar, though, and made his stomach twist. Swallowing, the boy nodded slowly, wanting to believe that she had a point no matter how skeptical he was. “Maybe we should,” he’d come to agree, deciding that she wouldn’t leave. They’d experienced the same event, they knew of how it felt to be left behind, and so surely neither would do so to the other. Alexander allowed for himself to believe that she’d always be there for him, even if they weren’t physically next to one another. Solidified had his beliefs become once she’d approached, even if his muscles had tensed with uncertainty. He’d not known what to expect, but was quick to relax again once she’d nuzzled up against him. The sudden closeness had shocked the Inuit, but he’d not distanced himself. Acting against his near obsession with the concept of personal space, he’d leaned his head down to rest his chin atop her head, enjoying the closeness to another being for once in his life.

When she’d apologized, he’d had no problem with accepting it. Within his head, he’d viewed the apology as having been unnecessary, believing that he’d deserved what he’d received; this was not voiced, however. “I’m sorry, too,” was his response. “For everything—even from when we were kids.” Now that he was older, he understood just how wrong he’d been. Alexander knew that he’d acted terribly towards her, and regretted it. He was supposed to watch out for his sisters, he’d always been supposed to do that, but he’d always excluded her and that hadn’t been fair. He wanted to make it up to her somehow, but without knowing how he might do that, he’d ended up doing nothing other than stay there with her. For as long as she’d allow him to be near, Xan would remain there within the springs with her. And whenever the time came for them to part ways, he’d plant a kiss on her forehead—if she’d allow it—and then watch her leave before heading back towards Blackfeather.