Lost Creek Hollow A wet world aches for a beat of a drum

@Cortland
@Arbiter @Terance

Golden, clumsy paws carried him to the borders where he skidded to a halt. He knew by now from their travels to stop whenever he scented a lot of wolves in once place. He had gotten excited and distracted the closer they got here and had bounded ahead of his dad, so he turned to search for him, a panting smile on his face as an impatient yip rushed from his mouth. 

When his dad did finally catch up with him, Pheiros fell into a play bow, tail wagging behind him, and then he bounded forward towards him to excitedly jump at his chest and nip at his chin. He wondered what new adventure they were on now. Had dad brought them here for a reason?

this isn't quite the place he'd thought their journey would take him, but the familiar scent lingering is undeniable. he'd almost missed it, faint as it is around the outskirts of the pack's territory, and part of him worries the wolf he seeks is no longer here. but... he has to try. so he follows pheiros to the edges of the border, pride lighting his gaze when the boy stops before he crosses the invisible boundary. he smiles, leaning down to affectionately brush his nose through his son's fur, and tries to steel his nerves. then, with a deep breath, he lifts his muzzle and calls for @Mona, and whoever may lead this pack. he can only hope he will be welcomed.

Arbiter was on her own for this particular patrol (as far as she knew at least, if one of the kids was following, they were being awfully sneaky about it).  She wasn't too far off when the call came.  Not anyone she was familiar with, but sounded like they wanted Mona?  Well, whatever, she'd find out soon enough what was up, not that she was particularly expecting trouble or something.  

When she showed up on the scene with her usual prowl, it turned out that it wasn't just one wolf, but two -- a gold man and his floppy-eared miniature. Hm.  She stopped and regarded them both for a moment longer before asking, Can I help you?

When the call came from the borders, Sarah had been working on a nearby cache, making it wider and deeper and eventually placing some treats she had scavenged from a feast table in the plains. She heard someone else going there to meet the people, giving her enough time to draw earth, moss and leaves over the place, and mark it properly as well. Then she too drew quietly to the scene of events. 

She remained standing few feet behind Arbiter - it did not seem that the alphess needed any help in dealing with the man and his child, but a back-up was always handy should the matters get ugly. After all two grown wolves against one and a half was an advantage to reckon with.

the flick of a red plume beckoned @Ashlar deeper into the territory. it was time to show the boy the hunting of larger creatures, and the firebrand was eager to begin.
however, the cry that rose stilled mona in her tracks; she lifted a trembling muzzle skyward, eyes widening. it was not a voice she had ever expected to hear again, and with a quick word to her son, the young wolf set off quickly for the borders.
yes — there he was, flanked by a golden child, a small figure of himself, and addressed by the lost creek hollow leader.
but mona had eyes only for her brother. ”i didn’t think i’d see you again,” she murmured as she drew close, tones fluttering with the threat of tears.

He gently nipped at his dad's chin in response to his affection. Pheiros sensed his nervous energy, but he didn't understand it. The sound of the howl had him returning his attention to the place where he had scented all of the strangers.

He stood up straight when the first stranger approached, puffing his chest out a little so that he looked bigger than he actually was. But, then she asked a question, and he had no idea how to answer, so he looked to dad, uncertainty in his expression. Dad didn't talk, he had just started realizing that, but Pheiros knew he had a plan; he always did. 

Another woman lurked in the background, and the golden pup looked at her curiously before his attention was stolen by the third stranger. Pheiros found her really interesting; she came closer than the first woman, and it seemed she knew Dad. His tail wagged a little, and he jumped forward to attempt to playfully nip at one of the reddish-brown woman's front paws.

several wolves join them, and his heart drops a little when the first two arrive with no sign of his sister. his posture lowers in response to their arrival nonetheless, head dipping as he greets who he assumes to be the leaders. but before they can get past the awkward stage of revealing his lack of speech, it happens — mona comes. his breath catches at the sight of the familiar red coat, lips parting (enough that an observant eye might catch his lack of a tongue), and he draws forward as far as he dares to meet and embrace her. he wishes now more than ever that he could speak, if only to apologize — for abandoning her, for ever daring to forget his family. he can only whine softly instead, trying to fit all of his sorrow and affection into the sound. for the moment, everyone else is forgotten, and he knows that even if this reunion is all he receives from the visit, it is worth it.

cameo, possibly my only post

Ashlar was eager to begin his training when Mona had told him what they would be doing, but their trip was unfortunately waylaid.  Her lanky son watched her go with mild disappointment coloring his expression.  Maybe Baba would be able to teach him instead?  Ashlar considered it for a moment, then slowly he began to follow his mother.

He reached the gathering slightly behind and spunk up to slightly at her flank.  He eyed the strangers timidly but said nothing - if he was to miss hunting, he wanted to at least see Momma's strange friends.

Okay, there were suddenly a lot of wolves here.  Maybe it was something to be said about how often random people came to the border that it was suddenly a party of sorts.  She looked around, then back to the strangers.  Uh.  Yeah.  Her question hadn't been answered either.  Mona knew the guy, apparently.  But it wouldn't quite make sense if he was the father of her own child if he somehow had one of his own.  Things didn't work that way, quite obviously.

And not having her question answered was one of those pet peeve kind of things, so she was a little bit irritated even if she was attempting to retain netural, So, care to enlighten the rest of us?  There was Sarah, Ashlar, and herself that were all just sitting here without whatever background info would explain it all.

arbiter's annoyance was perhaps mona's projection; she sniffed back her tears and reached to touch her brother's nose with her own. "this is my brother, cortland. and his ... son?" she whispered, glancing down at the boy, seeing how he indeed was such an image of cortland, of the mayfairs they both were.
"this is arbiter, our leader," she introduced, "and ... this is ashlar. my son," mona murmured, her eyes returning unbidden to cortland's own. oh! how long it had been.

His focus zeroed in on the other pup, his tail wagging fast behind him. Pheiros wanted very badly to go over and play with him, but he was still a little uncertain about the situation. Sitting down on his still wagging tail, he tilted his head at the lady's question. He tilted it again when the other woman began to talk. This was more talking than he was used to, and there were some words he hadn't ever heard before. En....tight...en? he repeated to no one in particular. Dad's whine he knew, though, and his capacity for complex emotions was still developing, but he still picked up on the sadness of the sound. Pheiros looked up at him with question in his eyes as he rose from his sitting position. He stood up on his hind legs, placing his golden paws on his dad's chest, and licked his chin. Don't be sad, he said softly, slowly drifting back down to the ground to sit and watch his dad with a worried expression.

so sorry for the wait! @Arbiter do you want to wrap this up with your next post since mona is inactive? <3

he does understand the pale woman's impatience with the situation, and briefly it cuts at him that he cannot offer anything himself — but neither can he bring himself to fault mona for lapsing, momentarily, in her responsibility (as the one with an intact tongue) to explain. the moment is... overwhelming. he meets mona's touch gently, then casts his own lowered gaze briefly toward the leader. he nods in response to the questioning end of his sister's introduction, and offers another dip of his head to arbiter as mona introduces her. then his gaze flits to the dark child, his sister's son — but he's interrupted quickly by pheiros. a slight smile tugs at his lips, and his gaze is warm as he leans down to comb his teeth gently through the boy's fur, trying to quiet his own subtle anxiety about the situation. he trusts mona, and therefore he will trust anyone she would choose to follow.

Yeah, I gotcha! But hey, welcome to the pack! XD

So, okay, that clarified a little.  So wherever they'd been, it had probably fallen apart?  Something?  Either way, it kind of made sense for them to stay here at the Hollow.  Eventually it was also clarified that the reason she hadn't gotten the answers she wanted was because Cortland plain couldn't talk.  That maybe made things a little more complicated, but at least it being due to injury meant that they could still communicate.  Thank freaking goodness -- that had been one of her problems with Nunataq, that she was never quite sure if the point had gotten through.

Anyway.  Arbiter certainly wasn't going to turn away new members at this point, especially when other family connections would probably make it pretty likely for them to stick around.  And so, she welcomed them in.  It was probably likely that Mona and Ashlar would be the ones to guide them in, catch up, and all that jazz, but at least Arbiter would make sure that they knew that her own pups also were around and probably ready to brawl if Pheiros needed additional playmates.  Hopefully they would settle in without issue.