Ghost Lion Crag i left my home still as a child

@Wraen - tags for reference <3

moonspear, in short order, had become unbearable. charon was still notably stalking the fringes, and amekaze still sequestered in some hidden hall. @Hydra's heat had brought ruin, it seemed, on arcturus' family, and when he went to seek out @Lyra  (since he was a turd and still not talking to @Revui) he found she too had taken brief escapade from the turmoil.

he wanted to follow after her, and for a while did so halfheartedly -- but then he somehow did a 180, distracted by the scent of elk crossing over the range. he followed them until he was in ghost lion crag, a desolate landscape he scarcely visited. in the haze below where the mountain basin stretched into flatlands, he could see the band fording the river. they were too far for game, not that he would have been able to bring them down alone anyway.

he slunk to the ground in exasperation, hanging his limbs over the ledge and savoring the way the breeze seemed to tickle his toes. repositioning himself so that he was draped across the stony lip, arcturus rested his head on his broad paws and studied the goings of wildlife in the basin below.

Wraen had been pretty busy with so many other things that Charon and Maia's relationship and where exactly it was heading to had not crossed her mind often. And she had never found the right moment to ask her sister about him herself for the fear of being rebuked and thought as a meddling know-it-all. She did not mind them being friends, but she did not wish to see this grow into something more significant. Funny, really, were it any other guy than her former alpha, she would not have cared half as much. 

This all came to her mind, when she caught scent of a Moonspearan wolf nearby, while she was out hunting in the vicinity. She froze, she tested the air some more and after some deliberation went to investigate. If it was Charon, she would probably tell him her mind politely and as harmlessly as possible (with a very real chance of demolishing, whatever truce they had sealed weeks earlier). However, it was not the King himself, rather one of his subordinates. Someone she did not recognize. 

"Good afternoon," she greeted the fellow from afar. "What has brought you so close to Firebirds' realm?" she asked in a friendly and neighbourly curiousity.

for a while arcturus amused himself with elk-watching. the herd below was over ten strong, with two very young calves nestled in the center. for now they appeared to be nursing at the flanks of their mothers, and the rest of the herd seemed to mill about in the spring tranquility.

he was far too high above to pose a threat - either the elk knew this, or he was not on their radar at all. in a somewhat instigating manner, arcturus amused himself with pushing pebbles off the brink, wondering if the noise of them clattering down the cliffs would be noticed by the herd below.

it was then he heard a noise behind him; stiffening and critically aware of his precarious position on the edge of the cliff, arcturus turned around and moved from the brink in time for wraen to appear in his sights. she was not so close that her presence presented as danger, but arcturus was still quite close to the edge of a very steep drop, and seemed mindful of his position as he responded. "i was watching elk," he tried not to sound defensive, for the woman seemed polite -- but he had not realized he was so close to another pack. "are you a firebird?"

"There are elk down there?" Wraen walked in a polite half-circle past Arcturus, stopped at the edge of the cliff and peered down curiously. Really - he was telling the truth. And quite a few there as well. She thought of Kiwi right away and felt a pang of guilt for the previous failed hunt. She could do some investigating of the state of all herd members and bring the information back to the new leader as a way to get back in her good books. 

"Oh, yes. In my firey flesh and being," she turned to face the young man and introduced herself in a whimsical way of hers. It was an annoying habit, truly, but it was her way of testing people to see, whether they were made of the same or similar clay as she was. "And you are the mountain-dweller. Your home is atop a mountain, whose spire touches the sky and there is one jump left to the moon, huh?" she sat down and smiled at him.

arcturus could not help but stiffen as wraen breezily brushed past, peering over the ledge with carefree abandon. it was hard for him, a wolf who knew the peril of heights, to let go of his defensiveness -- it had nothing to do with wraen, and everything to do with his innate mistrust of both wolves, and the gentleness of gravity.

once she sat down a distance away from the ledge that was disarming, arcturus' posture seemed to settle. he could not help but eyeball her discretely; she seemed to know where he came from, which set him at a disadvantage that he tried to ignore. "yes, from moonspear." he half-corrected, noticing he lacked the poetic manner wraen seemed to effuse with ease. she did not look very fiery, but he supposed that was a joke he was too serious to appreciate. "how do you know of my pack?"

Wraen sensed that she had managed to confuse him already, which was not the first hime this happened to her. In her early years she had felt awkward and stupid for doing so, now she had learned to enjoy the process of seeing, how far she could lead the person, until they deemed her entirely crazy. 

"You are in luck today, for you have met the devil in person," she said with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Which means that I have been around for a very long time and I know many things," she went on. "Apart from your name - we keep it pretty informal and infernal down there," she beckoned to the figurative hell below the Earth and with such a confidence that you could convince there really was such place.

"But I hear it is a custom in the Over-Ground. You can call me Wraen and I can call you...?" she let him finish the question.

Informal and infernal quote from here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91DSNL1BEeY

wraen's explanation was met with a cold squint. arcturus misinterpreted wraen's genial cheekiness as the kind of whimsical joking an adult did to a child, and he did not much care for that. he felt he may be the butt of a joke here that he wasn't sharp enough to pick up on, and it made his face darken with disapproval.

"arcturus." the moonspearian supplied, his tone clipped. "i'm not a child, you know. so you can quit with the fairy tales."  his voice was sullen, composed by a narrowing of his gaze in dislike.

"No need to keep that frown on your handsome face," Wraen grinned at him cheekily, amused by his defensive manner and the fact that she had managed to ruffle his feathers a bit. "There is a myth going around," she let her voice go down to a conspirational whisper, "that you might get that expression plastered there forever."

So much for quitting with the fairy-tale telling. She thought that Epic would be proud of her, if he saw her here now. "You may not be a child - that is true, but I have a feeling that I am still way older than you. Be it an eternity or couple of years," she pointed out, for once feeling that her age was an advantage. Especially if it meant being annoying to over-serious yearlings.

"With that said - I will take some liberties. Sorry in advance, habit of the old people," she finished, watching him with a careful and measured gaze. She might be carelessly throwing witticisms around and teasing the guy mercilessly, but at the same time he was in the process of being tested and evaluated according to Wraen's own scale of awesomeness in regards of people.

arcturus' frown only deepened as wraen continued teasing, ready to fire a riposte simmering on the tip of his tongue until -- wait, what? had she just called him handsome?

his ruffled feathers unruffled in rightful conviction. of course he was handsome; he was a young male, proportioned, fit, and very conscious of his appearance. he thought he was quite handsome (getting narcissus vibes yet?) but to hear someone else validate it, well, it was quite assuring.

the scowl slightly lessened. she had called him handsome, and that was all arcturus was going to take away from this conversation, besides the fact she had called herself old. "you think you are old?" he forgot she had just been teasing him a moment prior. maybe it was because his only guideline on "adults" were wolves much older than him (his mother, his father, dirge, even hydra and lyra..) but he did not necessarily think wraen was just yet into 'old crone' territory. glancing her up and down in a very clinical way, arcturus arrived to the conclusion she was older than hydra, but not quite his mother's age. "my mother is much older than you." not that.... amekaze was old... right?

Wraen had hit the right notes, when she had opted to praise the boy, because he looked a lot more pleased with himself and less put off by her whimsical theatricals. For a moment there the Moonspearan strongly resembled someone she knew, but at that point she did not have much curiousity in the ancestry or the exact origins of the man. She wrote the feeling off to the fact that she had 245 finished threads in her threadlog already and that only meant that she had met tons (her writer lost count by the 100th character) of people in her three years of life.

"Don't you see all the white hairs on my head," Wraen arched her eyebrows, as she asked this, pretending to be oblivious to the fact that her coat was mixed with grays, browns and whites. "That's a lovely compliment, thank you," she said it genuinely, without the least bit of sarcasm in her voice, though her inner-self was rocking in laughter at this awkward statement. "Don't mind me snooping more, but are you by any chance the proud offspring of Charon?" she asked.

it was probably a good thing, in hindsight, that arcturus wasn't a smooth-talker. if he was, wraen would have been in trouble, because he definitely would have hit all the high notes of a lady-killer: athletic, tall, dark, handsome, and of course, eloquent.

who doesn't love an eloquent man?

the secret is, most women. arcturus hadn't lived long enough to witness this, but his poor grasp of being verbose did him many favors, in many ways he was not yet aware of. unaware that she could be laughing sarcastically (she was not - not that he'd know), arcturus gave a knowing smile. it was a good compliment, right? to anyone who knew him, of course it was - his mother was probably one of his favorite individuals, but she was also (in arcturus' eyes) old as dirt.

maybe even older.

he did not expect to hear his father mentioned next; his ears swept forward, and he propped up on his elbows. "that's my father," arcturus answered obediently, his gaze narrowing. "how do you know him?"

There is this ongoing joke about "the non-existant perfect man" and Wraen was well-aware of it. This helped her set her own bar to, what she believed, were realistic and achievable check-points, and be suspicious, if someone or something was too good to be true. Whichever heights of eloquent speeches, charming qualities and cunning mind Arcturus would achieve later in life, she would always prefer this inexperienced and therefore honest version of him now. 

"He was good friends with my mother a long time ago," Wraen chose a harmless fact, in case this boy was just as bent on hating people that had once left Moonspear as his siblings and parents. "Met him as a wee baby and saw him grow up," she explained a little more. Occasionally she wondered, whether the baby version of Charon was more likeable than the grown-up, and whether that impression would explain, why such an awesome, generous and nice person as her mom, had had liking for such a selfish, conceited and vain person as him.

"Is your sister Vela around as well? I saw her few months ago last and she was very interested in traveling, if I recall correctly."

most things were more likeable as youths: life had yet to callous them, and plus, young things were often undeniably cute. kittens, puppies, even goats -- all had their fluffy adorable charm that often their older counterparts did not. arcturus had yet to learn this fact, but he would soon enough -- what was cute and adorable as a youth, was often troublesome and tiring seen in an adult. it certainly explained why one would love young charon, and grow to hate him as he turned into an adult.

arcturus was surprised to learn wraen had watched his father grow up. to him, his father was immeasurably old; not in the sense of being ancient or invalid, but in the sense he was worldly and learned in a way almost no other wolf could be. part of arcturus' naivety about charon came from the fact charon was his father, and therefore, it was nature to adore him -- but of the long stretches he had spent traveling alone with charon, arcturus had learned his father was, in fact, a man very well learned about the world.

the conversation shifted from charon to vela, and arcturus' interest slid away. he had never known vela well, but neither had he known korei julia, or alya. or yami -- all he knew of them was that they were deserters of his family, and therefore worth little regard. "she is gone from the mountain." arcturus answered in the most diplomatic way he could -- he knew better than to speak ill of his family (even ex-family) to a stranger. "how do you know of my family so well, if you are not a visitor to it?"

Wraen was slightly disappointed to hear that Vela was gone - another promissing prospect of friendship wasted, but she hoped that the proud Moonspearan was doing well and was enjoying her journey. Wherever it had taken her. She had no doubts that the girl was doing well - Vela was that kind of girl, who would show any trouble, who was the boss.

"I happen to live in the near vicinity - you, people, are all around this valley and the next one," Wraen explained, without going into details of, how her career here had begun in Moonspear. "I happen to know your lovely trio of sisters - Hydra, particularly - and another one - pale pelt - was my friend, but I know that she left."

arcturus also was sad to think of vela's departure, but his emotion was brief. he had not known his older sister well, and while she was gone, he wished she would soon return. the mountain was better with all his family upon it -- he did not like how fragmented it had become as of late.

he felt a prickling of pride to learn that his family was well known to others, at least someone like wraen. he was always proud of his family, but to hear from the mouth of a stranger they were thickly settled made his chest puff ever so slightly. as a boy blindly devoted to his blood, he felt vindicated. everyone should know of his sisters (and him), he felt. "there are many of us," he intoned with a stern nod, glancing to wraen as he spoke. "the pale one was korei julia." he kept his tone empty, protective of his family's dirty secret that she was disgraced from the mountain.

if arcturus was a better conversationalist, he might have smoothly transitioned into shifting the conversation's topic to wraen; as it was, he seemed to enjoy his family was the topic at hand. rather belatedly, arcturus realized his faux pax and blurted: "what happened to your mother?"

Imagine Arcturus's surprise and disappointment, if he had been able to look inside Wraen's thoughts and find out that (with the exception of Vela and - perhaps - him) she did not think very highly of the mountain dwellers. And that there had not been a hint of awe, when she had stated the facts of being familiar with the Ostrega family and their doings. With Charon's interest in Maia, which she had hard time to believe, was innocent, there was another reason not to be too phased about them. 

Instead she wisely let him preen his feathers even more and made him believe that his role in the world was more important and significant than it actually was. There were no malign intentions here - the boy was still young. Let him taste the glory, before life and experience humbles him. Though... if he was as every bit self-centred as Charon was, Wraen seriously doubted that this would ever happen. 

So - her mom. She sensed that he had asked this out of courtesy and not because he had any interest in her fate. Therefore she was not going to burden him with many details: "She passed away." Plain and simple, and her tone indicated that she was not going to say anything else on the matter. "What do you wish to become, when you are of age?" she asked. Was he next in line for the throne?

dumb little arcturus was lucky he had no insights into wraen’s mind: he loved his family immensely, and would have exchanged heated words with anyone who dared malign the family name. actually on second thought, arcturus probably would have only spared discourse if he believed the individual was worth converting; for most wolves he likely would only spare them the cold turn of his back. 

wraen was not like most wolves, not that it mattered to arcturus yet. she was still a stranger to him, though she was afforded an empathetic look as she mentioned her mother was dead. arcturus would likely wither away the day his mother died — he selfishly hoped it never came. oh. sorry. the boy offered, a measly apology for something so well beyond his control. 

now came a change of conversation arcturus knew all too well, and frankly, had begun to resent the adults that often asked him it. what did he want to be? it was a terrifying thought and he often avoided thinking of it on his own time. offering an indifferent shrug of his shoulders, arcturus responded with the well-practiced ease of a boy used to reciting: I don’t know. as long as it is with my family, i don’t care. he glanced to wraen quickly to see if her face would cloud the troubled way many other adult’s did when he answered them. did you grow up to be what you wanted to be?

Wraen did not blame Arcturus for not liking her question. It was annoying. Especially during the last year at high school and, when you are about to graduate from university. From narrator's experience at both milestones hardly anyone knows for sure, what they are going to do. And as the life goes on the question is still there: What are you going to do in five years time? What are you going to do with this area of life you are not satisfied with? Etc., etc. The idea that "here and now" might be good enough, is dismissed.

He had been honest with his answer and she had to think about the question herself a bit. "You mean, did I become a super-hero, got a pet dragon and ruled a kingdom?" she asked playfully, tilting her head to the side, smiling. "The pet dragon part, probably. But the market for dragons is very tight these days and prices are unreasonable," she mused. "Well, to be serious and honest, I think that I have become exactly, what I was supposed to be. Whether I realized it, when I was your age, or not."

arcturus' gaze settled on wraen with something new: a shade of suspicion -- not because she was being shifty, but because she had dropped the adult-to-child guise, and now seemed to be addressing him as if he were almost a peer. her banter, while still harking to the childishly fantastical, seemed almost engaging -- it made the tightly-lidded arcturus tempted to unwind his serious nature enough to joke back.

he did not have experience with wishing for a pet dragon (wasn't one dragon-sister enough?) but he canted his head to the side to consider her words about growing into exactly what she was supposed to be..  having never thought of this before, arcturus turned the idea over in his head much like a child might turn over a fascinating stone. did all individuals grow into who they were supposed to be? or did circumstance and chance warp or break them?

he supposed he would never know; whatever he was in this life would be the only thing he was. there was no other world to measure up to - no other 'arcturus' to compare. "i never thought of it like that." arcturus admitted after lengthy introspection. "what are you, exactly?"

"Well... I think that the biggest milestone I have reached in these three years of my life is that I have come to terms with my flaws and I no longer worry, what other people think about me," Wraen gave the most focused answer, knowing that, if she let herself wild, she would ramble Arcturus' ears away. One thing she knew about herself was that she always had an opinion about everything. Unfortuntely for the listener/asker in 1000 words, instead of 80 that were required.

"Power is my weakness - I like it, I strive for it, but I am unable to rein it and use it properly," she thought back to the days, when she had been part of a leadership."Maybe such skill comes with time and experience. Perhaps my past failures were due to me being too young," she mused more to herself than to Arcturus. "What do you believe your flaws are?" she asked, but did not expect to hear an honest answer. Arrogance was a dominant gene that Charon passed on to his offspring.

a slim ear tilted wraen’s way, its owner digesting her words with a distant expression. she no longer cared for what others thought of her — did arcturus? he cared immensely about how his family perceived him, so perhaps he had yet to reach wraen’s milestone. 

the boy was not equipped to answer the woman’s inquiry immediately. it was a question that required honest and great introspection; arcturus worried so much of what was happening around him (and how to contain it) that he rarely thought of his own deep set flaws. his brow scrunched; to be honest in front of wraen was to be vulnerable. he would not speak of his flaws regarding family, so he had to draw from some other source. i’m not as smart as i’d like to be. he followed this admission by a roguish shrug, wondering if he would regret being so transparent with his own shortcomings. i like power too, i guess. he wondered what kind of ruler he would be — and wraen too — his delusional ideal was as long as he was as good as his father, he was doing something right.

Just as Wraen had asked that question, she had realized that it might have been a notch too personal and that she would not and should not expect an honest answer for Arcturus. After all it would be a long time, before he reached her milestone and even then, she would still have two whole years of experience ahead of him. And yet... yet she enjoyed digging for the hidden gems and so far Arcturus had impressed her more than Charon had ever had. Perhaps, the fellow took more after his mother. From what she could remember of the woman, she had been quiet and reserved. A person of few words, but with an unmistakeable aura of power. 

"Good news - wisdom comes with age and learning. No one was born smart right away," Wraen gave the young man a warm smile. "And even then there is no end to it. World throws new lessons and challenges at your feet every day," she told, being aware of that she sounded like an annoying know-it-all, who loves to show off. But she was not shy to admit that this was the case and Arcturus' quiet nature was just the dark background she needed to let her colours shine.

"I know that Charon is fond of stories - are you too?" she asked next.

arcturus did not find wraen sounded a know-it-all; rather, he seemed a sponge willing to soak up her words, though a prickly one at best. he kept his composure, of course -- he did not want to let her think he was hanging off of every word... but he was.

wraen's mention of his father's love of stories intrigued arcturus -- for wraen offered a snapshot into the life of what charon was like outside of his family; here was a perspective of his father he had yet to exhaust, and of course, he was quite interested in learning more. mutely, the boy offered only a nod in response -- maybe wraen would spin him a yarn that happened to be charon's favorite, and arcturus would come away from this meeting knowing just a little more about the enigmatic and confusing man that was his father.

Unfortunately for Arcturus Wraen did not know, which stories Charon had enjoyed or what her mother has shared with him during her time in his life. All she knew was... "That's, how my mother Osprey became friends with him," she explained. "She met him first, when he was no bigger than a cat and pretty young too. And they used to play "Adventures" with each other."

"Ever played that?" she asked, expecting the answer to be negative. Arcturus did not strike as a type, who would enjoy a good game. He seemed more like one of those people, who were born old already.

eagerly, the boy drank in what he could. it fascinated him he could meet a stranger that knew his father — but it fascinated him more, that this enigmatic, quizzical wolf, knew more of the world than he. 

he shook his head in negative. adventure? he found himself repeating dumbly — it sounded like a game that was better than childish ones like hide and seek — but arcturus would wait to cast his judgment. expectantly, he glanced to wraen. surely, she would elaborate.