Wapun Meadow it's where it's at daddy

@Indra!

Saucy was the queen of her mound, looking out at her kingdom of flowers around her with regal pride. This gorgeous meadow, the endless colors that stretched to the horizon - all of it was Saucy's today. Of course she had no actual claim to it, but in her mind she did. Besides, who would dare and take it from the white lion?

The young girl had been traveling for what seemed like forever, and while she loved having her freedom like that, and being able to do whatever the hell she wanted, she found herself needing a place to belong. She wanted friends again, to no longer be alone. A pack would suit her fine, any pack really. With winter coming she'd need some place nice to stay and she wasn't picky. As long as they had food, and shelter and weren't all cannibalistic crazies, they sounded perfect to her.

She let out a jovial hum, closing her icy blue eyes as a brisk autumn breeze passed through her thick milky coat. The queen of the hill then dropped to the ground suddenly, and began rolling about in the grass. It massaged her back, her tongue lolling out of her mouth as she twisted about.

bearclaw’s beta tiredly returned for home, exhaustion nagging the heels of her every step. perhaps it had been silly that Indra had hoped for finding Lucas, and she was finding now that hope was a fragile, dignityless thing - fast to rise, and as easy to tear as the thin strands of a spiders woven web.

as she dredged up the last of her energies to make for bearclaw’s stony mouth, she saw a rake of white against a patch of bobbing flowers. she knew well enough it was not the wolf she was looking for, but it did not stop her from tiredly watching the wolf’s antics in the sunlit flora with a solemn, dogged expression as she approached.

sorry for the lil wait!

Saucy continued to play, a bright snowflake atop a hill, taking in the overpowering scents of the meadow. All of them the sweet scent of flora except- hey wait a minute. Who the heck? Saucy sat straight up when she smelled another wolf scent, her white ears perked like a meerkat's. After some vigorous eye squinting, the blue eyed girl saw a brown spot walking through the meadow. She waited for the other to get closer, her striped tail sweeping the flowers like a broom.

Upon better inspection, Saucy noticed the weary and let down expression on the other's face. She thought briefly about making it easier conversation by walking down from her hill to meet the brown wolf, but nah. That would also mean standing up, plus she wasn't even sure the other was friendly yet. She might be one of those cannibalistic crazies she'd been thinking about earlier, so it was best to play it safe. So with a friendly smile and wave of her tail she called out, What's up?

was no wait at all. also, lol'd at the imagery of a lil snowflake meerkat

little joy escaped indra's countenance to witness the playful antics of another; it reminded her of the puppies, which in turn reminded her keenly of lucas' absence, which in turn, reminded her sharply of hers' and laurel's own failing in keeping him safe.

the white she-wolf paused in her playful actions, shooting upright in an attentive stance that made her ears fly up and her expression sharpen; yet she did not move from the small hill she rolled upon. indra caught the slight wag of her tail, and the curious question -- she supposed there was no beating around the bush.

not that indra ever did beat around the bush; if anything, she was too direct most of the time.

"i'm indra. i'm looking for a puppy that disappeared in this meadow a few weeks ago. we've been searching since. his scent was last detected not too far from where you stand." her tone was level, but the cant of her eyes had a subtle accusation to them; she doubted this she-wolf was responsible for lucas' disappearance, but she wished to see how the other wolf would react to such a subtle cast of blame, for it would tell far more about her character than a question ever could.

<3!

The older female went straight into an introduction that made Saucy's playful tail slow. This was no laughing matter, and immediately the girl felt a wave of sympathy and intrigue. From the sullen way this Indra spoke, and how easy the words had flown from her mouth, Saucy could only infer this wasn't the first time she'd asked someone about the kid. Indra seemed beat, and Saucy pitied her.

She caught the hint of accusation, and in most situations would've delighted in turning it back around in a sassy manner. But not this one, she knew when to mess around and when to be serious. She couldn't blame her either, hurt put everyone on edge. She ignored the accusation with a instinctual curl of her lips, then replied, Saucy, and haven't seen him. Anything I can do to help look? I'm not too busy, she said, standing and shaking out her fur before making her way down the hill to be closer.

indra couldn't help but focus all of her attention on the milk-white she-wolf, eyeing her silken face for her reaction.

saucy handled indra's laden statement (and latent accusation) diplomatically, with a grace the russet redleaf would never master. it settled her nerves somewhat, though now all she felt was just a sense of lonely despair. at this point, asking strangers if they saw lucas was starting to eat away at the she-wolf; more and more she felt her breath was wasted, and her time hopeless.

at least this wolf offered to help. indra was too tired for an overt sense of gratitude, but her gaze softened, and the taut line of her lip seemed to lose its harshness. "that is kind of you. i don't have a scent to show you. it washed away a week ago.. but he smells like bearclaw, like me... and he's about six months of age or so. he looks funny for a wolf but if you knew his family it wouldn't seem so out of place. he's white with a tawny saddle, and blue eyes."

Seeing that Saucy was willing to help seemed to lighten Indra’s expression some, Saucy was glad of it. Her icy eyes drifted over the other female’s russet fur, those dark eyes. Indra launched into a description of the wolf she was searching for. He looks funny for a wolf, Saucy’s inner jokester wanted to reply, then what does he look normal for? but she held back. She had a feeling that her company wouldn’t appreciate her sense of humor at this time. She nodded when Indra finished.

I’ll look around, as there wasn’t much more she could do short of launching a full on investigation. Is he yours? she said with curiosity in her youthful gaze.

as indra finished her description of lucas she felt it was incomplete: things like he's always smiling, he's sweet, he follows the march of his own drum -- all of these descriptors clamored to be spoken, yet remained unsaid. indra, catching the look in saucy's gaze, considered there might be something on the tip of the she-wolf's tongue unsaid as well.

the russet woman didn't put much more thought into it; if it was important, it would be spoken -- and if not, it would perish with all the other afterthoughts, never to see the light of day. the stranger was game enough to look and that at least counted for something -- if indra took her words at face value.

a frown wrinkled her expression as saucy asked if he was hers; "no. he's my sister's." she answered truthfully, feeling that to an outside wolf, the bonds of their inextricable family might seem strange -- but in bearclaw, everyone was family and to lose even one of them was devastating. "she's looking too, but she has two others and.. it's been a while. it's not like him to disappear without saying anything."

The fact that the pup she was looking for wasn't her own wasn't that strange to Saucy. She'd always been close with her family, and if her brother or sister ever lost a child she would surely help look. She was actually slightly more interested in this Indra's pack now, assuming that it was a family oriented pack. She liked the idea of a close community, it was comforting and gave plenty of time for true friendships and relationships, of which the lioness craved.

Well I really hope you find him, like I said I'll keep an eye out for him, she said with friendly sincerity, and a light smile on her lips.

every stranger indra had met had shared their condolences, in their own way; some like saucy had offered help, others had simply said no and moved on. indra reflected on this, drawing a thin frown across her features as she did so.

"me too. it's killing my sister." such blatant transparency was not unusual for indra, though the baldness of her statement might be strange to, well, strangers who were not used to such plainspoken words. "i'm going to keep looking here. this is where he was last, like i said before." she glanced back to the rim of bearclaw, which lurked in the rolling fog grey and formless. "and that is bearclaw -- right between the two stones."

I bet, Saucy commented seriously when Indra said it was killing her sister. She couldn’t imagine the grief losing a kid, and she wasn’t even old enough to have one. She glanced back to where Indra had indicated, Bearclaw Valley. The place was truly enclosed, it had a wide rim that seemed regally mythical in the foggy distance. She nodded, committing the place to her memory should she ever need to return there. 

The white lioness began to step away, deciding it was probably time to let the russet female continue. If Indra was going to continue looking right now, Saucy would come with. But if she wanted to keep looking on her own way, she would leave her to it and explore elsewhere. Well I won’t keep you here, you prolly wanna keep looking. I can come with for a little while, if you want, she offered.

indra had already started to nose along the grass; she kept an ear turned to the pale she-wolf, who once more extended her offer to help. indra considered it with a quiet nod, trailing the well-worn path that she had, from memory, recalled lucas' scent had last lingered. "this is the spot we last scented him," she motioned to a small mound, where the grass held nothing but the scent of late summer and the occasional tread of a field mouse.

"we canvassed the entire area." indra remarked, passing along the hidden trail that she and laurel had repeatedly gone up and down. "nothing, though. and now it's gone too."

Indra began to nose through the grass, Saucy bent down too when the woman accepted her help. She looked up attentively at Indra when she motioned to the exact mound, and moved over to it quickly. She sniffed through the grass, searching for a trace of anything but there was nothing to be found but the sweet scents of the meadow. That really complicated things, she would have to go solely on the fact that he smelled like Indra’s pack, though considering how long he’d been gone who knew how much of the pack scent remained.

Saucy followed Indra along the trail, which was known to the other woman but seemed like nothing to Saucy. There was really no trace. At this point there was truly very little that she could do, other than remember his physical description and keep an eye open. And of course give hope to the pup’s aunt, which she would do now, Maybe he just went further out, he had to have gone somewhere. Is there any reason he would split? she asked, wondering if he’d left because of something.

as they rifled along the grass indra gave thought to saucy's question; a lengthy pause followed.

there was no conceivable reason she could envision for him leaving. he had been a happy child - so unlike his mother, and her. there had been no strife among littermates, no discord in the valley - lucas seemed to love all of them with a child's unassailable earnest.

"no. he was too young to be that unhappy, and he wasn't the type." the answer finally came, the tone in indra's voice full of conviction she could not be wrong.

Indra was very confident in saying that nothing in Bearclaw Valley drove him away. Saucy had no reason not to believe her, just from what she’d learned so far she figured they were a pretty tight group. She just nodded, looking back at the meadow around them. After a pause, she returned her icy gaze to the russet woman. Do you think he got lost, or something else happened? she asked, hoping at wasn’t the second of those two.

sorry short :”/

no apologies necessary <3

indra followed saucy's gaze without comment, lost in her own thoughts that the she-wolf's question had elicited. in truth, the redleaf had her own beliefs about the nature of his disappearance, but indra firmly believed in the power of giving thoughts too much entertainment, and how dangerous it was to breathe life into darker thoughts.

yet she knew without a doubt that lucas had liked his life with them; he had no reason not to, as far as she was aware. "taken." she rumbled darkly, feeling hatred edge out each word. "but for the life of me, i cannot guess who would do it."

Taken. That definitely made the situation more critical. Indra said she had no idea who took him, and Saucy let out a long breath. The more she learned about the Bearclaw Valley boy’s disappearance the less confident she felt about being able to help. That was hard for her, it was her instinct to help and when she couldn’t she felt useless. To her that was a form of weakness, and she refused to be weak. So she would continue to try, Do you know if he was talking to anyone not in your pack? Or if there were any weirdo’s in the neighboring territories? she asked.

indra would have admired the woman's resolve, had she been privvy to saucy's inner dialogue: it would have been testament to the woman's good nature - a testament that was sorely needed in light of how critical and jaded indra was of strangers in general.

the lingering on lucas did her thoughts no favors; she thought of the wolves about them, and of her history here. she had been relatively safe in this valley; the last harm to come to her had been the loss of her tail and even then the days since that incident were swiftly drawing to nearly a year. not one wolf in rising sun valley had threatened to hurt her: but it didn't mean that they were safe.

she frowned as she spoke, ears pulled back in thought: "this valley is surrounded by lucas' family." she paused and her gaze flickered to easthollow: "they -- easthollow -- are family to lucas' father. i don't know, to be honest."

there; she was admitting defeat. and it felt even worse than she had imagined.

Indra explained how the whole valley was his family, she knew not one wolf who would wish him harm. Saucy would’ve continued to ask questions, to try and see if she could help Indra come up with any suspects, but the last statement had a hint of defeat weaved into it. I don’t know, to be honest. she said, Saucy closed her mouth and pondered her words. Not knowing was sometimes worse than knowing a sad truth, Saucy understood that. She could only imagine the pain the Bearclaw wolves were in, her inability to ease that pain caused an anxious lashing of her striped tail.

She paused and let a pensive silence sweep over them, as she thought of her next words. Her new tactic was to at least make Indra feel better, something she was usually good at. She turned back to face the russet female, a warmness in her icy eyes that covered up her concerned thoughts. well he has to show up at some point right? We probably won’t find him today, but he can’t be gone forever, she said with absolute resolve, hoping to see even a glimmer of hope back in Indra’s defeated gaze.

the snow-pale woman was silent a moment, perhaps pensive in light of indra's sudden defeat. truth be told, indra had been on the verge for weeks -- she was run ragged and bone tired, and just... exhausted.

she wondered what it was like to not be tired all the time. to be happy. and then she remembered so few were afforded that luxury, and that she was wallowing. coldly, she steeled herself to better thoughts -- and returned saucy's absolute resolve with a feigned half-smile. "i suppose we'll find out."

that was as optimistic as saucy would get out of her. it was clear she wasn't exactly the type to be cheery in the first place. "anyway... thanks."

Saucy could tell that Indra didn’t feel the same sureness about Saucy’s statement as she did herself. She personally wasn’t even that positive of it. But she had thought that it might help to remain optimistic, it’d always helped her in the past. She wished there was something more she could do, but there truthfully wasn’t. The thank you she received next felt sort of like a dismissal, and if it was Saucy didn’t blame Indra. 

She glanced around one more time, as if to see the boy described walking towards them through the flowers. Then back to Indra, i wish I could help more, I promise I won’t forget what you told me. I’ll make sure to look for him while I’m traveling, she said, hoping that her promise would help somehow. She knew though that a promise from a stranger wasn’t often trusted. She would keep it though, if there was one thing she was adamant about it was keeping her word.

While a stormy hardness had sunk into Indra’s gaze, it did not remain as the woman looked over Saucy as she spoke. It struck Indra peculiar— and perhaps sweet — that strangers like her were willling to put their wariness aside for a common good that likely was of little benefit to them. She wondered if she would have been so generous with her time.

Probably not.

She sighed; she didn’t like the person she was becoming. Cold. Untrusting. Unsympathetic. There was a time in her life she was much more like Saucy than the withered beast before them; maybe Bearclaw had sunk black roots into her, or her hardships had bled the joy clean from her.

”thank you. That’s nice of you..” A similar arrangement of words as before. She labored and finally let it out:”If you get tired of traveling... we’re here. My sister is the alpha and I think you earned her good graces.”

Being offered a place in Indra's pack felt somehow encouraging. Saucy had hoped to find a pack to settle in someday, and to know that at least one would take her felt good. She was unsure if Bearclaw Valley would fit her or not, but she would remember it. And even if she didn't return to join, she certainly hoped to see Indra again, and prefferably with good news about her nephew.

Thanks, that means a damn lot actually. I'll see you round Indra, she said, giving the Bearclaw wolf a small dip of her head and a smile. Then she turned and began to head away, away from the mound that she'd claimed, and out to look not only for adventure, but also for the one that it'd used to belong to.

Thank you for the thread <33

there wasn't much more for indra to say. words had such clumsy impact sometimes - they failed where gestures did not, and often were at the mercy of the ability of the tongue that wielded them. indra's eyes spoke of her gratitude, but she said little more as saucy announced her departure.

for a while she would sit there, lost in unfathomable thought. she was thinking, naturally, of lucas -- but not of his whereabouts. saucy's questions had posed new questions for indra, and all were unanswerable: in a fervent sort of mental triage, indra labored well until dusk had hold of the world.