Bitterroot Valley The kombucha mushroom people

Aela holds strong following her journey northeast.  Her path has eventually brought her to a sprawling valley,  and a sight to behold it is.  Her large white paws pad upon the soft soil of a bitterroot field,  the dense span of flowers offering a stunning fuchsia coloring that she is sure she has scarcely seen.  She finds a game trail which offers smoother purchase and choses this as her path.  Her lips are dry with thirst,  thus the warrior follows the scent of the river until the path fans out and the bitterroot thins,  yawning into the bank of the river.  

Aela lets the cooling water wash over her front paws and lowers her snout to drink.  As she quenches her thirst,  she thinks of @Vilkas,  another lost sibling.  His presence in her thoughts is not an uncommon thing.  The she-wolf's loyalty to her family is unwavering and she ponders their location and well-being often.

thank you for starting this! ♥ tagging for reference. :-)

vilkas is loathe to leave @Lily for too long. with her broken ankle she is left defenseless and yet ...leaving her for a few hours at a time has become an uncomfortable necessity for the raptorial firebrand. if they want to eat he has to hunt and she's in no state to assist. he leaves her to rest near a fresh water source in the shade and protection of the only trees he's seen, ensuring that she's comfortable and wishing he could give her something that might help ease the pain; but the warrior's healing skills are so rudimentary they are practically extinct and he is likely to do much more harm than good. the bitterroot valley is covered in flowers of vivid some-shade-of-purple and he barely resists the snort that threatens to push itself from his flared, black leathery nostrils. the territory was so lily that he was both amused and slightly annoyed. he's not a big fan of flowers, admittedly ( which is ironic because his companion is named after one and he likes her just fine ...in fact, more than just fine but that was neither here nor there ).

he feels comfortable enough to leave her and venture towards the north, following the snake of the river in the hopes that it might lead him towards prey. or, if he is left with no other choice, an area of river that is more populated with fish. they are close to bracken sanctuary now — they would make it back in another day he estimates, even with their slow progression. at least it's summer, he thinks. the heat is not reached it's peak for the year and prey is plentiful and does not require him to venture out of howling range from lily.

the scent of another wolf travels down river, carried upon the wind and at first he does not recognize it. he stops and lifts his head, sniffing at the air as his fiery hackles bristle and his upper lip curls back and trembles with a low growl. he shifts his body, half turned to return to lily and half pointed towards the direction of the other as he visibly deliberates. another waft of the scent triggers recognition and slowly his defensiveness and hostility abates as he follows it. he knows that scent. and he sees her soon after, barking out her name "aela!" in pleasant surprise.

As she laps the cool water Aela thinks she hears a noise and her ears twitch accordingly.  She lifts her head and looks around with her usual stern alertness as water drips from her snowy snout. When she sees him,  he is in an obvious state of uncertainty,  positioned in a manner suggesting that he might turn and leave.  Aela watches him with perked ears,  canting her head as recognition dawns upon her.  

The deep bark of her name fills her with a joy which she scarcely displays.  A little smile appears and her thick, long tail swishes from side to side. Then,  the siblings meet to stand before one another.  Aela,  not big on affection,  taps her snout softly against his cheek and pulls away to examine her ember-furred brother. 

"You look well, brother."

no problem!  :D.

vilkas wasn't sure he'd ever see his siblings again — despite that he'd trailed after kodlak. despite the general assumption that his brother was in these wilds somewhere the firebrand had yet to cross paths with him ...and he'd spent some time searching for him before taking lily up on her offer and finding his way to bracken sanctuary. it's true that vilkas doesn't exactly fit in with the sanctuary's lax tendencies and it does not fall beneath his concern that it might lead to trouble one day. for now he channels his energy towards his trade, having to start from the bottom in these new lands. vilkas' gaze takes in his littermate the way a protective big brother might look to ensure his baby sister is free of any tell-tale wounds. it was ridiculous because aela could handle herself (and he was the youngest of the whitemane's anyway) ...but it is instinct to want to protect her and torvar whether the shieldmaiden's needed it or not.

she meets him halfway and presses her nose against his cheek briefly. he accepts the touch, rare though it is, with a small, albeit wily smile. "aw, aela," he teases her unable to help himself, barking out a laugh that bubbles up his throat before he's done speaking her name. he leaves his teasing at that, though, because he doesn't want to truly ruin the moment or risk earning her ire. "i am well," he confirms with a firm nod of his head, easily returning to a more serious disposition. he's got a few scabbed wounds from his recent scuffle with a trespasser in the sanctuary's borders but in lieu of his concern for lily he'd forgotten about them. not that it mattered, they were healing and he was never one to fuss over a few scrapes. "you look well, too." he remarks, glad to see and be able to say it.

vilkas feels a stab of guilt at having a social call while lily is where he left her, undoubtedly in pain and possibly hungry. he doesn't know unless she communicates it to him via body language as she hasn't spoken so much as a peep since he pulled her from the river and she woke up; and while vilkas cannot do anything for pain he can make sure she's fed, at the very least. "walk and talk with me while i find a good fishing spot?" vilkas offers his sister as he gestures to the river with his muzzle.