Moonspear forget about your worries and your strife

to coincide with the bear necessities :) probably doesn't have to be very long but !!

His dark fur was all disheveled and dirtied and he felt like he had just been jumbled around far too much in the last while. What had been a relatively normal (after he suddenly had far fewer sisters) afternoon trailing mama and trying to combat her humor that usually left him either squished, lovingly smothered, squealing (or all three) had ended abruptly when howls rose up to the winds. She had taken off in a wicked hurry, but not before leaving him with the golden-masked male he knew alright enough to not feel concerned.. although it certainly wasn't a normal order of events for Jarilo to watch her disappear off down the mountainside in such a rush.

That alone had left the boy reeling a bit once it set it; seeing her tensions rise had made him feel oddly anxious, and then before he could make sense of this, @Charon had collected him and he was back in their fold with @Vela too! Morale improved significantly at the sight of them both. Together they made a path back towards the safety of the territory's heart and once there, he sprawled out in the grass and panted. He hadn't caught his breath about all of this until now!

"Papa.. why was.. that?" he asked, still panting and clearly not able to grasp onto the entire concept of what everyone had been howling and hustling about.

Charon and Vela had arrived safely to the point where Jarilo was, at the territory's heart, relieving whomever was taking care of Jarilo in the timespace between. It was about time that they move to the rendezvous site, Charon thought — though admittedly, he'd been keeping them in the den a bit longer this year because he felt more protective after what had happened to Galaxy. During the trip back towards the den in the foresty lower slopes of Moonspear Charon hadn't spoken much, but once they were there — he figure he should've perhaps brought them somewhere further away from the threat, but at least here everyone knew where to find them and they could always dive into the safety of the den were it needed — Jarilo instantly voiced a question of 'why'.

"Mama is taking care of it," he said in a manner that was both curt and sweet, not explaining much on the matter. It was clear that he, too, was nervous, a thing that he hadn't shown at all around his children before; even when Galaxy had died, he had only ever shown anger towards Julia, not fear or nervosity over his girl or his other children.

"Do you want to play?" he asked Jarilo and Vela; "Or hear a story?" He'd leave it up to them what they would play or what story he would tell. Hopefully they'd be easily distracted and their stream of questions would stop.

A symphony of strange calls had dismantled the father-daughter outing. As Charon and Amekaze exchanged words, Vela was left to eavesdrop at Charon's side and attempt to make sense of what had derailed their perfectly normal day. Naturally, even when she did the best that she could to follow, she found herself lost in translation to what it all meant. All she had gathered was that it seemed serious-- as serious as the night that Galaxy had disappeared. 

From where they had paused to receive the message, the pair rerouted their previous meandering to collect Jarilo. Vela was eager to reunite with him, even if it meant sharing Charon, and remained silent until they found him. Though curious by nature, Vela was silenced by the sensation of her nervousness. Had it been any other occasion, Charon would have been met with her prying mind and the questions that blossomed from it. 

Exhaling sharply at the sight of her brother, Vela pushed forward to meet him, her tail whipping in a manner that appeared as though it was propelling her forward. Whimpering happily upon impact, Vela nudged his cheek fondly in greeting while sampling every scent that she could on his coat. Unfortunately, nothing seemed out of the ordinary and gave her no help in deciphering what was going on.  Once the trio was acquainted, they set off towards the heart of their territory. Vela kept close to her brother and father, knowing that she would be safe as long as she stuck with them. 

By the time that they had arrived where Charon had decided to take them, Vela's breath was labored. Her pale sides heaved, and her tongue lolled as she sat next to Charon, looking at him expectantly. Thankfully, as she couldn't seem to catch her breath, Jarilo took the initiative in tackling the white elephant in the room. Charon reply came sweetly, and it was through the simplicity of his words that Vela felt somewhat calmed. Though an edge remained, she felt better about it all. 

When it came to the agenda, Vela spoke up quickly in hopes of getting her way. "Story!" She decided happily, looking up at her father while not particularly caring if it was what her brother wanted to do or not.

Now that he was recovering from being passed around like a little baton, and relatively comfy with where he was and who he was with, he could try to figure this out. Yet, the answer he got was really simple: Mama is taking care of it. It would explain why she had been in such a rush to get rid of him and go somewhere, but also make sure she knew where he was going to be. And, she always took care of stuff. She took care of Vela and him all the time. He was even convinced that she took care of the big sisters too, and probably all the other things around here, so he deduced this was probably just another one of those matters.

He left a long pause. "..Okay," the boy settled on, though his brows scrunched like he was preparing another question and trying to decide if he should worry about that or not. He was misplacing a lot of nearby family lately and didn't want to make it be more now too.. but getting some choices asked back at him and his sister derailed the focus from fretting easily. After Vela answered, he was a second behind, true to himself. "STORY." he all but demanded and threw his head back to the grass with a dramatic kick of his legs--obviously too spent from rushing here after being rubbed in the dirt to play just yet!

It was Vela who quickly chose for the story option, and Jarilo followed with equal enthusiasm moments later. Charon was glad that his ruse was a success and that he'd gotten their attention away from the strife that was going on outside. They'd be fine, he told himself while he quickly tried to find a subject for a good story.

"Do you want to hear the story of how mama and papa met?" he suggested, then went on without waiting for a reply; "Mama lived in a large mountain at the time, all the way to the east, almost as big as Moonspear. It was called the Sunspire. Papa lived at the ocean in a place called Stavanger Bay, where I was born. Our packs were both very small at the time, and there weren't very many adorable pups to fill the ranks when they grew older either. With winter coming, which is very cold and there's less food available, papa and mama decided to become one pack together. That's when we found this mountain, Moonspear, and quickly decided that it would be our home." He held a brief pause and glanced at the pups to see if they had any questions or thoughts so far.

Sorry guys!!

With Jarilo's input on the matter, it was unanimous that story time would soon ensue. Satisfied that she had gotten her way, Vela watched her father with a broad grin and waited expectantly as Caron sought the library of his memories for the perfect tale to tell. The subject matter was decided, a story in which the freckled child had never heard before, and in her excitement, she settled so that she was comfortable. 

Once Charon began to tell his tale, Vela quickly realized that something was missing in this story: Uncle Floki. Ever-present in the rest of what she had been taught, the Xi felt as though it was wrong to leave him out of this story, too. Once the floor was open to speaking, Vela asked: "What about Uncle Floki?" 

He was all ears and big eyes at the story that unfolded, chock-full of all sorts of information--from names of places to directions and with it being actual, real history (so it seemed!), he marveled. In his relative small scope of the world, he also found it difficult to imagine his parents living that far apart, and this winter thing Papa mentioned when food was scarce. He had known nothing but the cozy embrace of family and plentiful, warm summertime days.

Jarilo couldn't decide where to begin. He didn't know there had been other mountains, that Papa had been born at the ocean, and that a lack of adorable puppies was a problem they had in their previous homes--so thankfully him and Vela were here to take care of that now. "What's the ocean like?" he asked after Vela brought up Floki.

When he finished his story questions instantly came. He decided to answer Vela's first, though it was with sadness that he thought back to back then. It'd been a great time, but now Floki was no longer here. "Uncle Floki was really excited when I came home to tell him that we were moving. Of course he came, too. We did a lot of exploring together to find this mountain, too, to make sure it was the best place we could find." He smiled softly as he wondered where Floki was, now. If only he'd return so he could help teach the pups.

Then Jarilo's question. "The ocean's a really big body of water. When you look at the horizon, all you see is lots and lots of water, like there's nothing beyond there. At the shore, the water makes little waves onto the sand — when you get further into the ocean, there's a really strong pull of the current, so be careful not to go swimming too far if you're ever there. And unlike lakes, the ocean's water is salt. So if you're ever near the ocean and fancy a drink, don't drink it from there." He had meant only to explain but before he knew it he had filled his answer with little dad-disclaimers and warnings, the parent alarm triggered at all the potential dangers.

Feeling satisfaction in the inclusion of their Uncle, Vela smiled.  She knew that he had helped in the foundation of Moonspear, as Charon had told her previously, and it only felt right that he be included in this story as well. 

The topic changed to what Jarilo had inquired about, and despite her disinterest, she listened to what her father said. Though the general gist of the information she received did not intrigue her, the last point caught her attention. "Why can't you drink it?" she asked as her brows raised in tandem with her words.

Floki was a very abstract concept to him, so was the notion of an uncle, but he liked hearing about it anyway. He wiggled his tail and since this seemed to be a happy sort of topic for Papa to tell them about (the excitement of finding a new home, and a good one too) he fed off that energy and enjoyed.

When his inquiry about the ocean was addressed, he squinted as he worked hard to take all that information in and commit it to memory. Large bodies of water were also foreign to the mountain-bound boy.. so he defaulted to a curious, look of wonderment when he had nothing else to go by, and unsure what else to ask yet. Okay, cool. Waves, a current, don't swim out too far, and don't drink it. He could.. probably remember that, since he would likely see it up close one day--although traveling that far, or even planning to, went above him still. Vela next asked a good question, so he nodded vigorously at that. Why not?

They listened patiently, perhaps the most patient they'd ever listened to a story, and Charon patiently explained, "There's a lot of salt in the ocean. It tastes really weird and it makes you dry out instead of feel better when you drink it." He paused momentarily to listen, hearing a howl far off. His heart hammered in his chest and just as he began to think on a new story to tell or an elaboration on his story, @Lyra arrived.

He couldn't believe that he saw his little princess there. Emaciated, yes, weak, and unconscious, but the howl had warned him and the slow but steady rise and fall of her chest proved that she was alive, however much by a thread she might be hanging. "Take care of her," Charon told Lyra. He fondly nuzzled Galaxy's face, licked her on the cheek and then left, forgetting completely to say good-bye to Vela, Jarilo and even Lyra. As fast as his paws could carry him he started to run towards the location of the earlier howls, targets locked.

hooking it back to the bear thread. we can finish this w/ a fade maybe? :D

Despite her not knowing just what "salt" was, Vela scrunched her face in reaction to what had been explained, apparently put off by the very thought of consuming the ocean water. It was as she mulled over this fact, and made faces to show her family just how she felt about it, that Lyra came to them. Breaking from her dramatics, Vela watched as her sister approached and soon the freckled Xi took an interest in what was being carried towards them. 

Watching the lifeless body with interest, Vela missed out on what Charon commanded. Instead, she only found herself back to attention as he made his departure. With confusion on her face, Vela watched after Charon with a frown, wondering why he didn't say anything to her before her left. Once he was out of sight, Vela returned her attention to the gathered wolves, looking to the conscious ones with confusion as she awaited any explanation of what was going on.

Details about salt being the reason why the ocean was not for drinking came at him, and he concentrated on these facts. Having water dry you out, as his father explained, was an unnerving thing to think about. Actually so was drying up at all, for any reason. He'd only been really thirsty before, and that was bad enough. It was quite the opposite of what he knew all the water around here to do, so now with this info cataloged into him, he could watch out now at least: no drinking any of the salty water, the ocean.

Before he could begin to put together his next question, an older sister arrived and with her, the mood shifted. Papa had seemed kind of on edge, like he was waiting for something.. so maybe this was it, or maybe this related to why mama had ditched him so badly. Jarilo sat up, attentive, and curious of course. When he realized what was happening--namely who was back with her, he started to wiggle his tail.. albeit hesitantly since he could barely recognize his littermate. The scent was muddled up with something different, she wasn't moving, and looking a lot less hearty.. but who else could it be?

Jarilo stuck close to Vela, ready to be obedient if it meant finding out more; he didn't know if he should be glad or worried yet. She didn't look very good.. but she was here, and that had to be important. He was distracted enough by eyeballing Galaxy that he hardly noticed Charon leaving.