Falls of the Hinterlands suckin' on my tendies

Bat decided today was a good day to visit the grand waterfall due east of the plateau. The journey took up most of the afternoon, the air cool and crisp as she trekked through forest, plain and stream before finally arriving at her destination. She licked her chops and sat on the shore, watching the setting sun glitter on the falling water. A sense of peace stole over her, so juxtaposed to the events unfolding back home.

Bat sat there contently long enough for the night to fall around her. The waterfall slowly faded from sight, though Bat gasped when she saw a light dancing in the mist at the foot of the falls. It was just a blink-and-you-missed-it flash of color. She squinted, trying to catch it again, ears folding in disappointment when the night remained dark.

It was evening again and Apple had to face the question of, where she was going to spend the night today. It would have been wise for her to choose one, cosy place and camp there for a while - after all 90% of hinterlands consisted of unclaimed land and she had passed many nice forests, fields and mountains that could make a lovely and safe home. The old lady had to admit, this idea of settling down for time being got more attractive by the day, but fear that any day could be last, drove her on. She had seen but fraction of the big world, since she had left her Blackthorn nest. 

By the time Apple reached the waterfalls, she was worn out and quite ready to drop "dead" on the first remotely suitable place, but her thoughts about sleeping and getting up, were diverted, when she spotted a young wolf sitting in few feet away from her. It was getting dark and her sight was not, what it used to be, therefore Apple must be forgiven for mistaking the stranger for someone else and approaching with a friendly: "Haven't I met you somewhere before?"

The sound of footfalls crunching in the leaf litter scattered on the forest floor distracted Bat from her hopeless endeavor. She turned and watched as a ghostly pale figure materialized out of the surrounding darkness. The stranger was rather short and stout. Bat's mercurial eyes traced over the details she could make out in the low light, which included the stripe down her back.

She opened her mouth to say something when the woman's question caught her off guard. Bat's mouth clapped shut, then opened, then closed again. Aside from the stripe, there wasn't anything remotely familiar about this-wolf. And the question intrigued her mightily. But the roguish youngster couldn't resist.

"Hey, yeah! It's good seeing you again, old friend! How's—" She brain farted for an instant before pulling a random name out of thin air. "—Finnegan doing these days?"

Apple was perplexed - the face that was looking at her was totally foreign and judging by it's youthly features, it could not be a very old acquaintance. Her long-term memory might be lacking acuity, when dealing with events that had happened 4 - 6 years ago, but it was still keen on more recent events. Therefore she narrowed her eyes to get a second good look at the girl to be 100% sure that this really was not someone she had met along the way. And when her mental face-control had run through all of the potential suspects, seeking likenesses and had found none, Apple understood that the girl was messing with her and had no idea, who the old Blackthorn woman was. 

A good-humoured grin set in her lips, as she sat down, pondered the question about Finnegan and replied in all seriousness: "Oh, he is fine, he is fine. Promised to seek you out and announce my arrival, but I see that he has not kept his word again. That bastard. How have you been, how is family?"

The indulgent smile on the stranger's face gave her away—she knew it was a game and was prepared to play along—and Bat matched it. Her eyes danced as the pale wolf imparted some news about the fictional Finnegan and she snickered when she cursed him. Next she asked after Bat and her family.

Once more noting the stripe on the woman's back, she rejoined, "Mostly good, although Tegan's missing." Although this was a game, a genuine frown flashed across her face at the authenticity of this statement. "You know about Tegan, right? He's one of Finley's kids with Elwood."

Apple had not expected to stumble upon true facts in the beginning of the conversation, but the mention of Elwood and Finley, made her face light up in recognition. It had been many, many weeks ago, when she had met Lucca and they had had a dinner table talk about family name traditions and other stuff. 

"Can't say that I have had the pleasure to meet the two in person, but I met one of their brood - Lucca, who spoke about them highly. I assume that Tegan could be his brother?" she canted her head.

She thought she spotted authentic recognition on the stranger's pale face, though she couldn't be certain in the darkness. Either way, Bat decided to continue on this trajectory.

"Hmmm, I've never heard of Lucca but it's totally possibru," she rejoined. "I mean, Finley and Elwood have apparently had a shit ton of kids, so..." Bat shrugged. "Hey, by the way, it's really late and I'm super tired, so can you remind me of your name again?" She bit her lip, smiling.

"Shit ton - that's one way to say it," Apple chuckled to herself at the expression the young wolf had used. For a moment, she felt old in the girl's presence as well, because, what juicy words would she use to describe the old Blackthorn matron's turbulent and passionate past? She would like to hear it and have a good laugh, but maybe not just now. She did not feel her years that keenly on this day. 

"Apple, Apple Blackthorn," she said her name and furrowed her brow in a pretend-attempt to recall the girl's name, "And you were Nancy? Or Bethany? Forgive me, my brain is not, what it used to be, when I was your age."

So she really was a Blackthorn! Bat's tail waved at the confirmation, then she chuckled at the possible names thrown out on the table. Her silver eyes glimmered with mirth as she considered taking one and assuming it. But the ruse had just about run out, hadn't it? Although she didn't mind being dishonest with strangers, she supposed Apple was sort of like extended family.

"It's Rory, actually," she corrected genially, "but you can call me Nancy." Bat winked. "Were you making your way to the plateau then?" she wondered in the next breath, head tilting. "To visit family?"

Before Apple could offer up a reply, a flicker snared the juvenile's attention, drawing it back to the foot of the waterfall. Her mouth dropped open as she saw a perfect rainbow dancing there in the mist, its colors muted to a mercurial patina not unlike the observer's own eyes. It looked liked the ghost of a proper rainbow. An instant later, it vanished.

Gaze flicking back to Apple, Bat questioned, sotto voce, "Did you see that?!"

"Rory, really?" Apple was not sure that the youth was honest with her, but did not comment on it. After all despite all of her anti-villain looks, there were documented cases in history, where harmless and nice grandmas had turned out to be the bad apples. Taking this apple joke in account, the old lady concluded that the kid was actually smart and cautious about not being too open, when dealing with a person she did not know well.

"You look like a Rorancy to me. I will call you that then," she declared and was about to reply to the next inquiry, when something at the waterfall caught the girl's attention and cut Apple off. Curious she also looked over to see, what was that thing, but since she was sitting at a different angle, she did not spot the rainbow. Therefore she assumed that the kid was messing with her again. Wouldn't be the first time. "No," she shook her head. "What was it?"

"It just—" How could she possibly describe what she'd seen? Ghost of a rainbow, whispered through her head. "It looked like a rainbow, just all washed out. That makes no sense. But I swear..."

When it was apparent the moonbow (not that she knew that term) wouldn't reappear, Bat belatedly smiled at the portmanteau Apple assigned to her, then rejoined, "It's short for Rorqual," which was the honest to goodness truth. "But I like Rorancy." She kept stealing glances at the waterfall, yet still the phenomenon did not manifest.

"Oh, I know, what you are talking about!" Apple exclaimed, once Rory described the kind of rainbow she had seen appear and vanish in the waterfall. She got to her feet and with her eyes focussed at the place, where the water was creating a mist, she walked in one direction for a little, then in the other, as if testing something. Finally she seemed to have found a good spot and sat down: "I see it right here. I think it depends on the light and the angle. Somewhere it's visible, somewhere it's not. Do not know the reason for it, though."

Apple not only believed her, she explained to Bat that she needed to get the angle just right in order to see it. Excitedly, the youth tossed herself closer to the older she-wolf, crowding into her space and squinting at the waterfall. She thought she saw a glimmer, then it faded out of sight again.

"What makes a regular rainbow?" she found herself wondering out loud. She turned sideways to look at her companion, suddenly aware of their proximity. She took a step back so as to avoid violating Apple's personal space, then sat.

Even as she waited for a reply, she realized Apple had failed to answer an earlier question. "Were you headed to the plateau? I know the way."

"Oh, do ask me something simpler. Making babies is easier, for example," Apple said and rolled her eyes, because physics and naturalist trade that dealt with this field of science weren't her strong suite. This kid was a tad bit too old to believe that rainbow was made of unicorn dust, flying nyan cats and some dwarf gold. Or was the gold hidden somewhere at the end of the rainbow?

"Many have spoken about the Redhawk nest, but you are the first, who has actually offered to take me there," she replied. "I can't say that I know anyone there, but meeting at least a couple of Blackthorns from a different branch of the family would be nice."

Bat snorted at Apple's observation about making babies, finding the subject as humorous as any other adolescent. As little attention as she'd paid to pretty much anything as a child, she distinctly remembered that particular lesson with @Portia. But the light in her mercury eyes flattened and her lips pressed together at this brief reminder of her previous life. She'd been successfully repressing most of her Drageda memories since her foray into King Elk Forest. Bat forcefully took this errant thought of her birth pack's medicine woman and threw it into a dim closet in the back of her head with the rest, slamming and locking the door, then wallpapering over it and putting a bookshelf there for good measure.

Blinking back to the present, the youth smiled at the mention of the Redhawks' nest. What a great term for it. "I'd take you there now but it's pretty late and I'm gonna stay here and keep an eye out for another sighting of the ghost rainbow," Bat said. "But I can give you directions, or we can meet up sometime and I'll take you then. Up to you!"

"Let me think," Apple said, laying out all of the options before her in order to choose the one, which would work for her. Plan A "Giving directions" was put aside immediately, because despite, how good the native would explain every single detail, she would get something wrong in the end and would not reach the place, even if it stood right in front of her nose. Plan B "Meeting up some other time" - not very likely either. Chance meetings rarely happened twice in row. Once Rory was out of Apple's sight, she might consider the very real possibility of never seeing her again. So - the short conclusions were "no" and "no" to both of the offers. 

"I have walked many miles today, therefore I am not up to another journey today either," she told. "If you do not mind, I will rest here and we can walk the distance together tomorrow?"

"K," Bat replied in a moment of typical teenagerism, "sounds good! You gonna hang out here for the night, then?" she asked. It didn't make a difference to her one way or the other, though she wouldn't mind Apple's company or her warmth, for that matter. Nights were cold lately, especially without Tegan (sigh). "Just so you know, I'll probably get up at the butt crack of dawn and meander a bit before going home. But you're totes welcome to tag along."

With a smile, her attention once more returned to the dim waterfall. She stared until her eyelids grew heavy and definitely fell asleep without realizing it. Bat dreamed of rainbows. In fact, she chased one to its end, where all the color leeched out of it. She found Kiwi standing there and froze, then made an about face and began to run, unaware that she'd risen in her sleep and begun to do the same in reality.

Fortunately for Bat, she managed to avoid a head-on collision with a tree. Her ungainly, unawares lope led her back toward Sun Mote Copse, where she eventually stepped in an ice cold puddle and startled herself awake. Her dream of her sister was entirely forgotten and—in her haze—so was Apple. She began making toward home.

So I'd written myself into a bit of a corner with Bat's timeline and had to come up with a reason why she didn't guide Apple back to RH, lol. I hope this is okay! I'd love another thread soon (where Apple yells at Bat? :D)!

"Sounds good to me," Apple agreed and then went to seek for the softest spot on the stone-hard surface. And found a nice compromise in patch of grass and moss, with a wall of a rock to lean against. There she did a quick grooming ritual, got up to turn around three times and lied down. Her eyes fell shut in a matter of seconds and she was deep asleep soon, snoring quietly. Had she known that this was the last sane evening she was going to have, before a very long journey inside mental confusion, perhaps, she would have done some things differently, or tried to achieve something notable. But most likely, being the shameless person she was, she would leave everything as it had been, not fear the difficulties ahead and dive in the new chapter with much enthusiasm and head-first.