Black Morass if it's the last thing I ever do

He made his rounds.

The uncertainty of what had happened to his family never quite let the medic settle. So he travelled instead. An endless loop, an eternal cycle, interspersed with meetings and adventures along the way. He didn't hate his life. He rather quite loved it. He had purpose, even in his purposelessness, direction even in the mystery.

Black Morass was one of his favourite stops on his cyclical journey. By now he knew the swaths of mire that cultivated the most precious herbs, and he cut a straight path there - eager to collect and to dry, and to deposit the bundles he'd gather into one of his caches along his weaving route, a gentle hum always on his lips.

Fury patrolled beyond the Strath today. 
Arlette was back. 
Slowly, steadily, The Saints were growing. 

The day drew long as she picked her way through the mire, eventually finding a boy that looked like a bigger, older version of a little pup she knew once upon a time...


"Turmeric?" Fury called out to the young man that seemed to be collecting or admiring the herbs.

Her tail waved softly as a sign she meant no harm, if this young man was indeed her adoptive nephew

It was a rarity these days to hear his name spoken before he'd had the chance to give it away. Turmeric turned around with visible confusion slapped across his face.

"Huh?" in some sense, he recognized her. A familiarity about her eyes. She was of the Saints; this he recognized, and this he reasoned on an intuitive level.

But for names? He'd known many white wolves in the Saints but none so scarred as she. And he, well, apart from height, Turmeric didn't think he'd really changed. So his name came much easier to her lips than her name came to his. With eyes narrowed and head pushed forward in that kind of searching look, he decided he'd try.

"Ssssssimmik?" he swung a guess, with clear uncertainty. He remembered her most of those who weren't his family, because in essence, she had kind of been.

Fury wanted to frown heavily as the boy, with clear uncertainty, guessed who she was.
Instead, she shook her head gently and corrected him with patience.
"I used to be called Nyra. I wasn't nearly as scarred over the last time you saw me. My name is Fury, now." She told him. 

"Your mom is with us, in the Strath, if you would like to see her again." The Warqueen offered after a brief pause. 
She wouldn't require the boy to re-join the Saints for that, even if the motherly part of her wished to haul him into the safety of their numbers.

She couldn't force him. 
Wouldn't. 
She had too much love and respect for both him and Arlette to not allow Turmeric to have a choice.

“Nyra! Of course!” his cheeks flushed alongside the light in his eyes, and he gave a bashful laugh, “sorry - it’s just been so long!”

He should’ve had questions prepared or something - after all, he always had so many he wondered! But his mind ran blank, and maybe good it did, because what she offered next just about stopped his heart and sent him to another life.

“Mom?” he said, slack jawed, “like -my mom - alive? With you?” His answer for her finally caught up with his mouth. “Of course!!! I can’t believe it - how did she - how did you find her!”

He had hopped forward in these short breaths, his entire body animated with a silly childlike dance. “What about dad? An Mulberry, and Thyme?” He didn’t have much hoped she’d answer yes, but he hadn’t had much hope on ever finding any of them again, so there was nothing left to lose.

Fury smiled mother-like to Turmeric's joy and recognition. 
She was overjoyed the boy was alive and in one piece, taking his answers in stride.

"She found me, in truth. Showed up at my borders almost a week ago, if time tracks correctly." The Queen answered before inviting the yearling to join at her side. 
"Arlette is settling in well. We have one other Medic she's working alongside. I will take you to her. She's been worried about you and your siblings." 
Fury almost forgot his last question...

"I haven't seen Derg, Thyme or Mulberry. I hope they too will show themselves soon." 

He fell into step beside her, and what a strange pair they made! Nyra still towered over him, but he hardly felt small anymore.

Arlette hadn't forgotten him. He didn't think she had, but still, the confirmation made his smile brighter. "And I've been worried about her!" he said with a hum, "I can't believe she's here! I never stopped looking, you know, but all her trails went so cold, I just ended up in a giant loop around the Wilds."

But that hadn't been so bad in the end. He had learned things on his own he never would have learned if life had been different - and though he still wished life could have been different, he had tried to make the most out of the lot he'd been given, and he was happy with what he'd made of it.

"I hope so too," he agreed, deflating a little when Nyra admitted they'd only found Arlette. What had happened to the rest of them would remain a mystery he was now more confident he would solve in time.

"Where did you go after Ursus attacked us? What happened to the rest of the Saints?" he ventured, having long realized, too, that he couldn't have been the only one who had lost someone on that day.

Fury's face saddened some as Merry asked what became of the others. 
"The three of us remaining originally went to Moonglow first, where they took care of my injuries. Then I pulled a stupid and they chased me out. War and Xynos followed me. Then we went to the Coast and were taken in by a pack there, Blackwater. War disappeared, Xynos died, and after a spat with another pack, I returned here with my now-husband, Arashi. Immediately after, I gave birth to four pups. Only one of my children are currently still in the valley. My sons are with Blackwater. One of my daughters has disappeared, and my remaining daughter is named Sovereign. She is my firstborn." 

It was a grand summary of the events that had transpired. She would fill in blanks ID the yearling asked though. 

"It was also in Blackwater I changed my name to Fury."