The Sunspire funny how we, we go down

keeping @Maia super-vague but i think they'd be back by now

they were home -- as they crawled over the last rocky precipice that barricaded sunspire from the rest of the world, coelho loosed a quiet howl for @Rannoch. doubtless, he, (as well as the others) would be interested to learn of their travels -- what they had seen, what they thought, and perhaps most importantly, whether there was habitable land in the valley below.

coelho could not withhold the smile of excitement in her expression -- while her lips twitched in a struggle to remain neutral, it was her eyes that betrayed her: bright, sunny eyes that communicated she had good news and could not wait to share it.

Maia was Tired, capital T included, but she was also excited as they made it home.  She followed Coelho, breathless from the climb and the final leg of the journey, so she was secretly grateful when her friend called first.  It gave her a bit to catch her breath before he came.

Hope you don't mind me! I can be skipped if necessary! :)

Coelho's howl was clearly intended for Rannoch, but Breccan felt entitled to pretend that the message was for him. His sisters were boring him, anyway; he was reaching the age where, in his mind, it just wasn't cool to hang out with a bunch of girls. But shadowing his dad, the Alpha? Now that was awesome.

So the lanky boy was quick to greet his packmates, arriving even before Rannoch. "Dad'll be here soon," he reassured Coelho and Maia, and then, with eyes wide as dinner plates, he asked, "How was it?" A month ago, when Rannoch had first announced the idea of moving the pack to a new location, Breccan hadn't understood what was happening. Now, though, he knew that there wasn't much prey to be found around the Sunspire -- as evidenced by his thin frame -- and that they needed to find a new place to live. It was a little daunting, but his adventurous spirit was excited.

"Man, I thought that I had gotten here quick!" Rannoch mused out loud as he stopped beside his son; despite his excitement of Maia and Coehlo's return, his attention was focused momentarily on Breccan. "Good work," Rannoch praised, and turned to poke his child's cheek. 

Without missing a beat, Rannoch re-directed his attention to Maia and Coehlo. "Welcome back!" he stated, and took a step towards the two subordinates. "Seems like you have good things to share."

as much as it had been nice to explore, coelho was glad to be home. as she and maia caught their collective breaths, coelho looked about sunspire's kingdom - a glimmer of a frown was apparent, but it evaporated soon as a bright face surfaced. coelho's ears turned to the young boy that greeted them, and a warm smile fell across her features. "it was good," she glanced to maia, her voice low: "we saw lots of stuff - valleys, swamps, rivers.."

she would have continued, but caught the tall shadow of rannoch's form out of the corner of her eye. her ears folded and she humbly adjusted her posture: "hello -- we do." coelho glanced to maia first as if asking permission -- if maia wanted the honors, the omega would gladly bequeath them -- otherwise, she might just ruin the fun and blurt out the good news herself.

Maia was tired, yeah, but that definitely hadn't tempered her enthusiasm.  So when Coelho offered the chance, was there any choice but to jump on it? Nope!

"We found someplace, and it's super great! Lots of trees and rivers and other awesome home stuff, and best part, no other wolves! At least not yet, but it's a sweet spot, so we might wanna hurry."  She finished proudly, glancing back at Coelho with a grin.  That was the gist - she could fill in anything Maia might have missed, but she thought she did a pretty darn good job of summarizing it.

Just as Breccan had predicted, Rannoch was quick to arrive just seconds later. Coelho only had a moment to begin to describe their expedition to Breccan, but his mind was already filled with questions about the valleys, swamps, and rivers that she mentioned. Rannoch's approach drew his attention away from the two girls, however, and he grinned up at his dad as the Alpha complimented him and gently pressed his nose against his cheek.

Excitedly, the boy fell back onto his haunches next to his father, ears cupped towards Maia as she gave a cursory explanation of their findings. It all sounded good to him -- trees and rivers and other awesome things! -- and he was excited to hear more.

The news was told, and Rannoch brightened considerably in response; the territory's description seemed to perfectly correlate with what he was hoping to find in a new territory. "We'll need to act fast," he agreed. 

"How far away was it? A days travel? Two?" Rannoch wanted to get a better idea of what travel that he was about to commit to.

last post from me <3

coelho discovered the entire time, her tail had been wagging like a fool. she tried to stop it by abruptly sitting on it, which was not, in hindsight, a great idea. wincing a bit but hiding her discomfort, she grinned in breccan's direction -- he looked just as excited to go as she was.

rannoch's question prompted some thinking; some calculation was going on in that absent brain of hers. both she and maia had not gone directly from sunspire to the hollow - they had traipsed a fair distance before getting there, and it had not been as the crow flew. she surmised that, as the crow flew (or in this case, the wolf walked) that it was not that far a distance at all -- a few days at best, entirely manageable for a pack as cohesive and careful as her crew.

"two days, i think - but it is not a trying walk. there's a lot of nice landscape between here and there."

*concludes* :)

Although he wasn't a key participant in the conversation, Breccan listened raptly as Rannoch asked questions and Coelho and Maia shared the subsequent details. His excitement mounted as he sensed his father's anticipation. He even asked if he could tag along on the scouting mission, but was, of course, denied. Nevertheless, he couldn't wait to eventually lay his eyes on what would potentially be their new home, and when the impromptu meeting was adjourned, he went with Rannoch to share the news with Liffey.