The Sunspire They call to me and strike at night

for @Rannoch!

It was hotter than hot today, and Maia was taking advantage of some shade halfway up the mountain for a little snooze.  She hadn't slept super well the previous night, and was feelin a little off anyway, so a nap seemed like just the thing to kick her back into gear!

A tickle on her nose woke her up, though, and she opened her eyes to see a grasshopper standing on her nose.  She pulled back sharply and let out three successive, powerful sneezes, likely the first of which blew the crawlie pretty far from her.  "Ugh, why?" She sighed, then stretched.  Well, it had been nice while it lasted!

terance and rannoch had just finished a patrol and were headed back up the mountain to catch a meal. terance would, as always, bring some home for seabreeze-- and soon the babies, who were starting to grow old enough to eat actual meat. wow, what a thought. 

terance chuffed a quick joke to rannoch, bumping against his shoulder and chuckling at himself when he spotted maia stretching out a little ways off. "hey!" he called to his little sister, exchanging a glance with rannoch before padding over, "what're you up to?" though it was pretty clear what she was doing. napping. or at least, she had been.

"That was a good one, Tee," Rannoch managed once his chuckling had subsided. "Even though the kids won't understand, I'm totally going to tell them that one." 

Rannoch's attention was soon redirected by Terance; Maia was in the distance, stretching. "Hey, Maia," Rannoch greeted once he and Terance were closer to Maia. His tail waved gently, and his posture straightened; he was curious to see what she was up to, too—aside from the obvious.

Maia was just getting ready to sit up when her brother and leader arrived, and they seemed to be in high spirits. She scowled a minute, glaring at where the bug went. "I was sleepin, but then this dumb bug came and bothered me.  Woke me up.  Who does that?". Oh, right she had.  To Wraen... just a few days ago.  Anyway!

"Didnt sleep well last night.  What are you two doin? " she asked, brightening suddenly.  Luckily she'd at least gotten enough sleep to disappate most of her bad mood from that morning.  "Please tell me its fun and I'm definitely in.  So I better be invited!". She looked at Terance in particular, totally ready to pull that little sister card.

well, they had been going to grab a bite to eat-- but maia seemed intent on doing something and terance didn't really mind a detour. so he shrugged, giving his sister a broad smile. 'well," he began quickly, eyeing rannoch, "we were checking on a fox scent-- pretty old, probably nothing around, but still worthwhile to check out." that fox was probably either dead or long gone by now, the scent was so stale-- but with puppies in the borders it really ne ver hurt to check it out. "whattya say?" he asked. rannoch could opt out at any time, of course, but he figured his friend would want to tag along.

Rannoch smirked at what Terance offered. Although the proposed activity wasn't what they had initially intended, Rannoch wasn't opposed; he nodded in agreement and committed himself to the plan.. "It could be fun," he added, and looked at Maia. "Especially if we catch 'em on our land."

"Um, yeah!" she responded, enthusiasm evident! She was totally down for some fox hunting, it involved a lot of her favorite things - hanging out with her brother, probably competing with them to see who got it first.  And they were big like her so she could probably even keep up! Hunts with Wraen were more taxing because running? Not a forte of hers.

"Dumb fox won't even know what hit it once we find it.  C'mon!". She definitely didn't know where they had first scented it, but that didn't stop her from jogging ahead eagerly.

Maia's agreeing set the group into motion; they stalked the mountainside together. Although they did not find the fox, they spent a considerable amount of time tracking the scent trail. Just as the sun was beginning to set, Rannoch excused himself from the group so that he could return to his family.