King Elk Forest become the thing i hate

She just needed to get away from it all and so she had travelled. Laurel had never gone very far from her home, but did she really have a home anymore? She felt horrible — but then, she always did these days — as she made her way through a forest.

Laurel wasn't paying very much attention at all when suddenly she stopped as the scenery turned more familiar and a distant scent came her way that she knew — @Spring . She'd stood here with @Heston one day. She could not help but wonder if the Creek was still around, but the scent was such a reminder that it was almost as if time had stood still altogether.

all welcome, she close to Silver Creek :)

With her due date nearing she didn't really leave the territory so much anymore, just wanting to make sure everything went nice and dandy as she didn't want any complications to have to deal with like when she's been attacked only some weeks ago.

Still despite all that today she found herself yearning to stretch her legs.  At first she'd mostly just been marking the borders, but eventually she found herself scouting the King Elk Forest right next to them.

And then she froze at a scent.

It was familiar, very familiar, but still for the moment she just couldn't place it.  So curiously she found herself following the scent, desperate to figure out who it was at this point.  It took her a couple minutes as she went slow, careful to not lose the trail.

And then she saw her.

Laurel.

A ton of emotions ran through her at that moment.  Anger for Laurel and Indra having been taken away, confusion as to why Indra wasn't here too and why Laurel was even so close to the creek in the first place, but over everything it was worry.  She hadn't seen Laurel in so long, she worried that Laurel would hate her.  She had missed Laurel and Indra, she would never wish any harm to befall them.

"Oh my god... Laurel is that really you?  You're so grown up.  I've missed you."  She watched Laurel with wide shocked eyes, as she had never expected to see Saena's daughter again, but was happy to now be able to see her again after so many months.

When she laid eyes upon her former caretaker, she at first experienced the same jolt of recognition as when she had taken a good look around the forest and had taken up the scents. But the longer she looked as Spring came towards her, the less she looked like one of her former caretakers. It was almost as if time had shaped Spring into someone different, even if the only difference was that Laurel herself was older, now. The scent and voice were far more imprinted in her memory than the appearance of the wolf she had told she hated before taking off with her father.

She felt frozen in place as the familiar voice reached her ears. The words were so loving that it was alienating, especially after how she had distanced herself from the Golden Glade wolves and her own family as of late. To hear someone speak to her without the knowledge that she was in truth a terrible monster who had tried to kill her own brother was a real breather.

"Spring," she said numbly, her expression still perplexed. "I don't understand. Did you move?" With all the moving around she'd done, Laurel felt like she had only moved further and further away from Silver Creek. She had thought she'd never see any of them again, unaware that in truth, they had actually moved closer to the Creek once more.

She still couldn't believe it was Laurel she was speaking to.  There were so many questions she had to ask her, but made sure not to ask to much now, because the last thing she wanted to do was overwhelm the girl.  Still the questions lingered.  Why was she here?  Was she coming home...?

Her head cocked for a moment, curious when Laurel asked if they'd moved.  She shook her head a little, unsure of what she was implying.  "No... I still live at the Creek.  We never moved."  For a moment she paused, unsure of what to say.  "I must say I'm curious though Laurel.  Are you coming back to us at the Creek?"  She gaze full of warmth search Laurel's hoping that the answer was yes, but still, wouldn't be surprised if it happened to be a no.

Laurel's eyes widened when she heard that Spring had never left the Creek. The journey had seemed a lot longer when she was little, and it felt to her as if in all their journeys she'd never gotten closer to the Creek again; only further away. She wondered with a jolt why Reek would lead her back here — or was his internal compass as rubbish as hers, and didn't he know, either?

"The Creek's here?" she asked in disbelief, regarding Spring's question. "I thought we'd gone far away from it!" There was neither joy nor hate in her voice, only an indifferent surprise. "Are Casmir and Laika still here?" she asked quickly, not sure whether she hoped the answer to be yes or no.

Laurel seemed surprised that the Creek was here.  This confused her greatly.  If Laurel was not looking for the Creek, which she didn't seem to be, then what was she doing here?  What had brought her back to the Hinterlands?

Her heart hurt at the mention of Laika and Casmir.  Laika who was probably dead, and Casmir who had left them in the time of need with Rowan and her children.  Both gone in terrible ways.

"Laika disappeared," she responded a little sadness entering her tone.  She was careful not to mention that Laika had actually disappeared during the trip back from searching for Laurel and Indra, as she didn't want to upset Laurel and make her feel like it was her fault which was quite possible if she knew, so Spring just wouldn't mention it.  "As for Casmir, her left us," her voice took on a bit of a bitter end, still not happy with Casmir for just leaving them.  He could've at least said goodbye.

She sighed, her gaze turning somewhat curious.  "What's brought you back to the hinterlands Laurel?"  She asked.

Laurel felt the urge to run away with every word that Spring said. She was so nice, but all the niceness was surely a façade. Everybody left in the end, and so Spring would too if Laurel were to let her in again.

The words sounded hollow and Laurel's head was swimming with thoughts and dizziness as she tried to process it all. She registered the last question, though, as well as Laika and Casmir being gone — the how, what and why's unimportant to her — and looked at Spring at the end of that question.

"I didn't know we were so close. I didn't know that this was the hinterlands." She blinked, trying to hide her confusion and weakness but aware that her answers betrayed her unknowingness. She just didn't know how to behave towards Spring now.

When Laurel said we, a bit of fear struck her heart at the thought that she could be talking about her Father, and something within her told her that that had to be who Laurel was talking about.  She wouldn't push that topic any further though, trusting Laurel enough, to not give away Silver Creek to her Father.

She just nodded.  "These are the hinterlands Laurel."  She replied, then winced as she felt a kick from one of her unborn pups.  She shifted her weight, spending a few moments doing so.  "So Laurel, what have you been up to?  Any adventures?"

Well, that much Laurel had figured out from their earlier conversations — that these were the hinterlands, and that that meant Silver Creek was nearby their new home. Laurel watched as Spring adjusted herself and only then noticed she looked pretty fat, much like Jhala before giving birth to her boys.

Her ears folded back and forth in confusion and she wasn't sure where to look. Spring's question fell to deaf ears and Laurel looked up as she asked her if she'd had any adventures. "I — I gotta go. I'll visit later," she promised, though it wasn't a promise she intended to keep. Without another moment's pause Laurel turned away from Spring and she started to run as fast as she could. Not back to the Glade, but somewhere else — anywhere else — to escape the confrontation with the past she'd been given. To think, to calm down, just to be alone because she was the only one that she could trust in this world.

as i'm dropping laurel for now this is my last post here, feel free to either archive this as is or tack on an ending :)