Stone Circle there'll be plenty enough room in jail

set to the 7th of october

She swayed on her feet in the slightest, limbs sore and pelt bedraggled, having made record time across the mountains. In the past she had hardly cared about being away from the pack for long, but after what they had all done for her in her injured state she wished to repay. She could hardly do that while away from her packmates, and thus strove to complete her father's wish as quickly as possible. A night's rest had her feeling certainly more awake then she had the previous night, and the excitement of travel proved a good way to banish sleep, but Dawn could hardly hold out against exhaustion for long. 

She howled, melodic and full, summoning @Sunny. Her voice was unmistakable, and as the last notes of it faded, she sat on her haunches, blinking tiredly and giving a stiff shake of her pelt to appear more presentable. She ought to have hunted before coming here, she supposed, she felt hollow and hungry; but that could wait for her return to Morningside.

Sunny was taking a lazy day after several days straight of working, he had caught a young turkey himself plus a few rabbits that were still out of their burrows. He was laying by his den with his chin across his forelegs, eyes closing as he almost fell asleep when Dawn's call rang from the borders. His eyes flew open as he realized it was a call for him from his sister. Pushing himself to his paws he moved quickly toward the borders.

Sunny had grown quite a bit taller and he was coming into his adult fur, muscles from the constant hunting and border marking showed through his grey and white pelt. He looked much different than the last time they had met, but he was taken aback by how different Dawn looked. She looked like an adult now too with less cream on her fur than he had, and her eyes had become quite shocking just like his had. He cleared his throat realizing that he had been staring at her, and dipped his head striding forward until they stood within two feet of one another. That was when he realized how exhausted and worn down she looked, and his eyes softened with concern. "Hey Dawn, Are you okay?" he asked in a worried tone.

He came into sight soon enough, and she was taken aback at how different he was. He was a darker version of her; from his fur to his eyes. Her own optics had always been their fiery golden bronze, but his had deepened, changed. He had perhaps an inch on her in height; but where she was all lean muscle, he was bulky and rugged. He asked how she was doing immediately, but she didn't respond to his question, instead launching into the words that had been running through her head in her journey here. "Khoe left. Easy, Lavander, Dauntless, they just have Da now; like we did. Easy; she's like me. She's angry, I can tell." Already her rehearsed words fell apart, but she blundered on, unhindered. "I can see it happening; they'll drift apart, get angry at each other, like we did. But I talked to Da, and I realized, it didn't have to end that way for them, nor did it have to be this way for us. So I came."  She had promised, too, at her father's urging, and she stuck to her word.

Hardly eloquent, but she rarely was, and she tacted on a softer, less direct "You've grown" She had too, and changed, and she supposed he had too. He was young, and he missed home, and he wasn't as strong as you.  Her father's words echoed back to her, and she sat still as she watched him, gaze ever fierce but stance peaceful. She wondered how much else her brother had changed, if he still retained some of the childhood traits that had had her hate him so much. It had been so long, though, and her grudges and hatred was ever prey to time.

Sunny's question wasn't responded to but instead he was met with a tirade of words, a flood of words that seemed to be an explanation as to why she was here. Khoe had left. Just like Amber. Dad was alone again raising babies. They were all hurting but Easy was angry. Angry like dawn....


Sunny's eyes darkened and he flattened his ears back. His decision was made in that moment, And while he felt guilty for leaving when there was so much going on at Easthollow, his family was suffering and they needed him. Dad needed him. "Dauntless..." the young boy was the first to come to Sunny's mind. His young half brother was so enthusiastic and happy, so innocent and pure, he didn't want the absence of a mother to ruin it like it did for him and Dawn.

"You and Da want me to come with you then? Back to Morningside?" he asked calmly, brushing aside the comment on how he'd grown for now. He kept his emotions guarded, shielding the fact that he had already decided he was coming back from her just so he could hear her say it. It wasn't so much of a pride thing as it was he wanted his younger sister to say that she wanted him home. He had his doubts though, he had the assumptions that his father had asked her to come and get him.

 Dawn  regarded him passively, not knowing what to think of him yet. He thoughts first of Dauntless, leading her to think that he may have met and bonded with the boy before they had left their summer home. She said nothing, but to his next question, answer truthfully. "Da wanted me to come see you. When I left, I wasn't sure what I'd say. But he misses you, and I'm tired of this distance. The pups could use another friend, an example that things don't have to turn out like we did." 

She rises gracefully, sigh leaving her lips as she regards her brother. "You felt your family was here. I get that; after Amber left, Da didn't act much like a father for a while. You have a family in Morningside, too, a father that's tried so hard for you."  she pauses a second, canting her head a fraction.  "And if; if you stopped trying to box me into the role of a helpless girl that needs protecting, I could use a brother, too. A friend."  She made this statement unsure of how he would respond, if he had changed, truly. He had a family in Morningside that could use him, might fare better with him. If he didn't see that, she'd leave. She'd made her original promise; having him come back with her was something that she hadn't mentioned to anyone, knowing she could not keep that promise for certain.

There was silence for a moment before Dawn responded to his question. She said that Grayday missed him and he nodded silently, already painfully aware of this fact. He wondered briefly if she wasn't aware that he had met up with their father and half siblings when he had tried to visit, but caught them on the move. 

He watched as she stood up, the sigh leaving her lips making him a bit nervous about what she was about to say next. The words that came from her mouth was not what he was expecting and his gaze softened further. He kept silent for a moment feeling that if he spoke now his voice would crack horribly with emotion and embarrass him. He had always been the more sensitive one, and right now his heart was swelling up immensely.

"Dawn....I....I know I seemed like I thought you were helpless but it was more that I thought you would hurt yourself and by hovering like a worried mother I thought I was protecting you. However.....you never did get too badly injured and I envy your adventurous spirit a bit" he said in a lightly teasing tone, cracking a slight smile toward his sister. He too rose up and stood tall, his tail raised slightly and wagging behind him "You made a long journey by yourself to come here. That shows you aren't a helpless little girl, and I am sorry that I ever considered you one. I missed you and I missed dad, I never should have left" he gave an uncertain look over his shoulder back toward Easthollow and shifted his weight.

"I'm going to come back with you Dawn. I will stay in Morningside for however long it takes to make sure things get better, and I will even consider staying because.....I wanna stay, but Valette has newborn pups now and she needs all the help she can get I don't know if I can stay forever in Morningside"  He explained sadly his gaze filling with guilt. He was considered an adult now in Easthollow and as such he was expected to help keep everyone fed and protected. That being said he was on his paws almost all day every day, hunting and patrolling non stop because ever since returning to Easthollow he had been extremely restless. He really did want to return to Morningside and be with the family again, hunt with his father, go exploring with Dawn as equals. "I have to let Valette know I am leaving" he said and looked to Dawn to see how she'd react to all of this. "I'm going to tell her I may not return for a while, if ever."

His apology was less than perfect and left something to be desired, but the girl would be satisfied with it. She had her own shortcomings, understood that, and wouldn't drill into Sunny any longer. But as he continued, her gaze softened the slightest, and her stance relaxed, an angry weight taken off her shoulders. He wanted to come back with her; for that she was glad, her father ought to be especially pleased. There were whelps in the pack, she learned, and her past anger almost issued a reply; fathers pups survived without you and so will they.  But it was easy to hold back, as things felt shifted now, that she had gotten the apology she'd wanted. 

 "I'm glad" was what she said, though a smile revealed her true happiness that things had gone well, if only for her father's and sibling's sakes. Anger and resentment certainly didn't disappear in a heartbeat, didn't melt away at the wrong words, though she wrestled aside her pride for a moment to add, softer, "Thank you. I think - I think you'll make things whole, again."  or as whole as they could be, with the notable absence of mothers. She straightened slightly as he announced his attentions, practical again. "Do you want me to go? I need to hunt sometime anyway, I could meet you if you'd rather talk to her alone." She wasn't sure what would be best; she hardly knew Valette and suddenly felt distinctly as if she were stealing her brother. stealing him back, but stealing all the same.

Sunny's shoulders slumped with relief as he saw her posture relax and when she smiled he did too. He was glad that they had come to an agreement, and maybe in time when the two of them were back at morningside they could talk it out more and maybe reach a better point in the relationship themselves. He wanted to become close to Dawn again, not just because their three half siblings needed to see it.

"Meet me here tomorrow, when the sun is just beginning to rise. I get up early, so I'll do one last patrol and then meet you here." he requested. He wanted to offer to bring her something that he had caught earlier, that they could share so that he could sit and talk with her some more but he knew that would be wrong.

His shoulders slumped visibly with relief, and she was secretly glad he hadn't said anything touching, she felt oddly drained already. Or, perhaps, that was merely her exhaustion rearing its head. She dipped her head in agreement, not exactly warm, not yet, she couldn't adapt as quickly as her brother did, nor was she as sensitive. But civil, and her tone was even as she said, "tomorrow, then. I'll meet you here." She regarded him once more, a small smile fluttering briefly on her lips, wondering at the brother she had never seen grow up. And then she twisted on her heel and was gone, slinking through the trees in search of prey and a place to rest for the day. She felt that she deserved it.

It was agreed upon and he nodded once to her words and watched her turn and walk off. Once she was out of eyesight and he couldn't hear her anymore, he still stood there breathing in her scent. Had that really happened? Was he going to leave and go back to Morningside now? He gave a weary response and turned around, walking back to the den site and to his den where he lay within the walls for once. The very same walls that Amber had given birth to both him and Dawn, and the very same walls were he used to lay curled up against Dawn and his father.

He smiled to himself as he placed his head on his forepaws, trying to fall asleep for a bit before he would have to wake up once more.