Dragoncrest Cliffs just because it's full of spiders doesn't mean it's not a piñata

The first few days in Drageda without Étoille is a little lonely but she doesn’t make much of a fuss with it. Eske is busy a lot of the time and Furi doesn’t want to get into the way anymore than she already feels she is. Blixen isn’t around either and the other young wolves her age doesn’t seem that interested in the newest and youngest recruit. She can’t blame them, she supposes, for Tapat and Seri never received her approval after determining how useless they were at the time.
 
Today, a certain set of anxiousness has settled in her. She doesn’t know when she’s supposed to expect the wolves back. Their timeline had never been defined. While she knows it could be a long while yet, the brute had promised he’d come back and she still holds on to that. Furi inhales and holds a long breath, clearing her mind when she’s able to release it. She locks on to a scent of @Eske that leads her to the borders, finding the freshest lead possible until she locates the woman.

With Thuringwethil and Dio away on the second scouting trip in the search of Wildfire, Eske’s been busy and unfortunately, does not have much time to spend with her young Second though she makes the time when she can. This rise to power is temporarily, though, just as it was the last time though these circumstances are a lot better than the previous time. A good chunk of Drageda had gone on the trip which is what drives Eske to the borders even more: to tighten her patrols and ensure that they are freshly marked and patrolled. Footfalls draw Eske out of her focus upon the scents along the borders as she searches for anything that does not belong. Her head rises from the spot she’d been investigating, her black leathery nostrils still flared, and her ears swivel atop her skull as she glimpses over her shoulder and see the familiar form of Furi approaching.

Wanlida’s tail wags in a manner that freely expresses her delight at seeing the young girl. “Furi.” She greets her, turning her back to the borders to properly address the girl beneath her care. For a moment, she feels guilty. Guilty for not spending as much time with Furi as she would have liked. “Is something the matter?” Eske inquires with a soft frown, her ears slicking back to rest at half mast atop her skull as her sea blue-green eyes focus upon Furi, undoubtedly giving her Second her undivided attention.

She knows it’ll be a while yet before they are home but she still feels awash with worry. When she has Eske’s attention, and she asks if something is wrong, Furi is prompted to speak her worry. She misses Étoille the most but there is some sort of pull to the other wolves. Blixen is with them, too, and the rest of their family searching for their mother. She feels the pain of their loss in the way she’d mourned Roarke and she can’t stop the wonder about her family and how they feel. Furi blinks back her sudden frustration and her blazed look is brushed back. 

Unfortunately, she can’t stifle the dramatic sigh of teenage angst.

Quickly, the girl shakes her head. “I’m… kind of bored,” she confesses and glances away. She can check the borders as much as possible but she doesn’t do much. She can’t defend against a grown wolf with any fighting ability so her use as protection is limited. She can hunt small things and expel energy for caches or her own meals. She can even pester a few of the other wolves that remained behind while the others search. Worried that she may appear ungrateful for everything Eske, and by default Drageda, has done for her, she steps closer with her head and tail low.

Eske’s ears swivel atop her skull as her young Second lets out a hefty, angsty teenage sigh, an echo of a frown tugging at the corners of the Drakru’s lips. Eske’s a bit out of her depth, admittedly. Of course her experiences with being a teenager are still rather fresh in her mind because she’s not yet so old that she’s forgotten them but just because Furi reminds Eske of herself doesn’t mean that Eske has any idea how she should handle things. It makes her wish ( and not for the first time ) that Gyda were here to ask advice from. Eske’s expression turns pensive as Furi admits to her that she’s bored. Bored? Eske draws in a deep breath as she thinks about what she can do to remedy the young girl’s boredom. Her paws are a bit tied at the moment with most of Drageda on the second scouting trip and her the anointed leader in her Commander and Dio’s absence. What would mother do? Eske asks herself, her ears slicking back to rest at half mast atop her skull as she shifts her weight. “Ok,” She takes another steps towards the girl. There are others patrolling the borders and Eske thinks that if she gives her undivided attention to her Second for a few hours that the world is not going to end. “What would you like to do?” Eske inquires, inviting Furi to speak up if she has something in mind to cure her boredom.

Furi makes a sound in her throat of consideration, looking away. Part of the boredom is not knowing what she wants to do. If she did, she likely wouldn’t be here. Or she’d have started with it. Maybe. She shrugs inwardly, then rolls one shoulder with indifference. The wolves that hung back close to her age have nothing to do with her, it seems, when she’s used to siblings to keep her company. Now, most of her time is spent alone. ”I’unno,” she mumbles. ”I guess... I don’t really feel like I belong here,” she explains in addition. She wants to talk about her family and Teaghlaigh but she knows she can’t. Instead, she blinks back the frustration building in her eyes and slinks a few steps forward for comfort.

Eske’s ears slick back to rest at half mast atop the crown of her skull as Furi admits that she feels like she doesn’t really belong here in Drageda. The Drakru does not take offense to it, but she cannot say that she understands …because she doesn’t. Drageda’s been her home her whole life and she knows nothing different and she doesn’t wish to fill her Second’s head with false words, nor does she wish to force her to feel like she has to belong, either. Yes, Eske is very much out of her depth here and wonders if this means that Furi, too, will leave. She’s at least six months now: old enough that Eske will not stop her if that’s what she truly wishes to do. The Wanlida draws in a deep breath and lets it out slowly, thinking that a good place to start may be to try to deduce what makes the girl feel this way. “What makes you feel like you don’t belong?” Eske inquires softly, reaching out to the girl with her muzzle as she watches her draw nearer — ultimately letting if her muzzle makes contact or not up to Furi.

Unfortunately, Furi hasn’t really thought out this far. She has a feeling she doesn’t know what to do with and she doesn’t feel right in her own body, and by default, she doesn’t feel right in Drageda. How is she supposed to put that into words that Eske understands? Or even for her to understand? She sighs again, this time not as dramatic, and reaches out to touch her muzzle. She isn’t much shorter than the woman at this point so the reach isn’t too far. ”I don’t know,” she says again, twisting her lips into a frown. ”I miss Étoille,” she decides to say. He and Eske had been her little family for several days before Drageda and she feels like she can relate to him more than the wolf born here. She cares for them both but perhaps there are things Eske can’t understand about her and, in the same way, Étoille will have things he can’t either. Furi shrugs a beat later and lowers her rump to the ground and slumps forward.

Eske leans into Furi’s touch, glad that she has come so far in such a short time. Her young Second admits that she doesn’t know what makes her feel as if she doesn’t belong, and Eske is filled with silent relief that it is one the other children. Eske knows that would an outsider have come into Drageda when she was their age she would have been nothing short of hostile towards them. Returning her thoughts back to Furi, still leaves Eske with the gaping unknown between them: how is she meant to try to offer solutions to fix what Furi is feeling if she does not know a starting place? The end result: she cannot; and perhaps she’s not meant to offer solutions to this problem. Perhaps, Eske acknowledges, it’s something that Furi has to work out for herself. The Wanlida’s ears twitch thoughtfully atop her skull when the girl admits that she misses Étoille. This admittance does not necessarily come as a surprise to Eske: the titan and the young girl had grown close. “He will return soon.” Eske assures Furi with a sympathetic smile. That, at the very least, she can assure the young girl.

There is a silence that stretches between them, a silence that Eske can not fill with comforting words. Perhaps it’s a solidification to what she’s thought before: that it’s up to Furi to figure out on her own, or perhaps it is evidence that Eske is new at this whole taking care of another being thing. Only proof that she’d make an awful mother, in her mind. Eske asks then to break the silence and offer them something to do together, “Would you like to join me on my patrol?” Wanlida inquires with an inviting gesture of her muzzle towards the invisible borders that stretch out before them.

Eske doesn’t have much to offer her except the obvious but hearing her say it does seem to make a difference. Furi smiles a little and wags her tail, giving a slightly exaggerated nod. I know. If only she can speed up time a little faster and they’d be home already.
 
Awkwardly, she shifts, but so does Eske and she follows it up with a question. Border patrol isn’t really her favorite thing in the world but mostly because it’s boring. Having someone makes it a little more bearable but she won’t like it. “Okay,” she says a beat later, taking a step forward to follow the woman’s lead.