Wapun Meadow I still get these simple thrills

@Reverie !

After his time with Inkeri, Turmeric decided to stay a little longer in the northern valleys. Here the land rolled out on every side, sometimes broken by rivers and trees, and sometimes even mountains - but even then, everywhere he turned, he could see. Wind played through his winter fur. He ploughed through snowdrifts when he found them. His ribs and his leg still felt stiff where the bones had once been broken, but he dared say that under these open sunny skies, his heart felt… glad.

He knew it would not last, but he enjoyed the feeling anyway. A little more like himself, as foreign and familiar as that even felt.

The snow had blown in heavy sheets this morning and had piled up against a strand of cottonwood trees near the edge of the meadow. Turmeric had aimed to find a river to fish in, but he could find fish later. For now, he stopped here and surveyed the best angle to lope through the snow that duned around the little copse.

She wanted to see Lestan again. Her time with Kvarsheim was thrilling and gratifying in ways she hadn't thought possible for herself anymore, but she was a wanderer and a whimsical girl at heart. Lestan seemed as far away and magical as one of the stories Rose always told her; how could she stay away?
The path to Swiftcurrent Creek felt longer when traveled deliberately. She was careful to avoid the place she knew to be Riverclan's territory, but even so, there were others traveling this route. She detoured to avoid two of the freshest wolf scents she crossed, but by the time she encountered the third, she was resigned and a little curious. This time, she followed the scent — it took her south, away from Swiftcurrent Creek, but that was okay. It would only be a small stop on the way. Lestan would still be there, wouldn't he?
The first thing she noticed about the boy was that he was smaller than her, and she took this to mean that he was younger. He was studying a place where the snow hugged a dark-wooded thicket nearly up to the branches. She drifted to a stop some ways behind him, close enough to be heard when she spoke.
Would you fly over it, if you could? Or would you climb a tree like a squirrel, and jump between the branches? She wondered aloud, her own eyes fixed to the massive pile of snow. She thought she would rather fly.

He rounded the snow drift once, twice, back again. The trick with these wasn't so much in making sure you didn’t hit a tree - he could stay clear of those just by looking. The trick was in making sure you didn’t charge right into a stray boulder or buried stump. Those could give you shiners that would last you days, and he didn’t need to make himself any worse for wear.

He found a perfect position from the snowdrift’s eastern side, and he poised himself to go —

— but found himself talking instead.

Oh, that’s easy! he stood up straighter and turned around to meet his company with a sunny grin, I’d fly, paws down! Climbing would be fun but you’re still stuck at the tree line. Imagine flying: the sky, without limits, all the places you could go — and he laughed, with a splay of his ears, realizing he’d overshot the question, as long as you can still fly after clearing the snowdrift, that is.

He thought she looked like sunlight, standing there, taller than him but surely no older, with gilded fur and gilded eyes, looking curiously at the snow. Inkeri’s pack-scent clung to her, if ever loosely.

What about you?

I was going to go to bed but could not help myself xD xD

I'm supposed to be getting ready for work myself, but writing with you is always too tempting <3

He would fly, and for the same reasons she would have given. The boy had a bright, easy manner about him that lent him an aura of youthfulness, but even so Reverie quickly realized that he was older than her. He had a soft roundness to him that she had never seen in a wolf before, but he spoke kindly to her, and that was what caught her attention.
I would fly, too. I've always wondered what everything would look like from above. Or what a cloud would feel like. Cold and wet, probably, but can you imagine it? Touching a cloud? She looked up, wondering what the birds would think of wolves who wished to fly. Where would you go first?

<3 <3 <3!!

She would fly, too!

Turmeric smiled and his tail swayed with warmth and delight. She reminded him of Inkeri in some ways -- the gentleness he sensed in her, and the thoughtfulness, too. And he felt, again, that refreshing sense of being with someone like-minded. Would any of the Saints have entertained these thoughts with him? Maybe some - but would any have brought the questions first, or spoken with such genuine wonder at these soft, whimsical things?

He shouldn't think so badly of them. He had been so distant in recent days -

I always thought clouds would feel like snow, Turmeric pushed the darkness aside, and turned his eyes to the heavens alongside the girl, the powdered stuff that gets over everything when the wind blows. But I hope I'm wrong. I hope they're warm, like the earth in the summer. I hope you can dance on them.

His voice trilled in a laugh, Oh, now that's a hard one! Hmm... Turmeric watched the clouds, and looked for creatures in their amorphous shapes, gosh, I don't even know. How 'bout you go first this time? he smiled and glanced at her with a shine in his eyes, and he swished his tail in a playful arc, There are way too many places to choose from, I need more time to decide.

He had so much to say! And there was that feeling again, that longing for the moment to last forever. He spoke beautifully and with feeling, even about such trivial things. And he'd thought of these things before, it seemed; things she'd always thought no one else would care about. It was like a brief glimpse into a mind of intricate brightness, starlight in dazzling patterns. She could only look at him for a moment, even after he prompted her to speak again.
She hoped clouds were warm too, and that he would get to find out one day.
Oh, I... I don't know, She said shyly, when she could finally speak again. I... would rather just listen to you talk, if that's okay. It was a childish, outlandish request, and maybe a little selfish. She should have been horrified. Maybe part of her was. But she was so tired of herself, and so captivated by him and his quick smile and his endless cascade of words and ideas.

She was quiet for some time. Turmeric didn't mind. Hers was an easy silence, a thoughtful one. He sometimes worried he didn't give enough time for the quiet, that space to fully think, and he admired the girl for it. He admired them all, these gentler, softer folk.

Well, that's a new one! And hardly fair, he laughed, and his mouth flickered with a teasing smile, you strike me as someone who'd have many places she'd like to see! But I'll talk if you'd like me to, and I've got a place now, and he looked to her with an eager lift of his brows, have you ever seen the ocean?

Was there anything better than the company of someone so thoughtful and kind? She smiled back at him, appreciating his teasing humor almost as much as his willingness to oblige her. It was getting easier, she thought, to allow herself to want things; to take up space in a meaningful way. For so long she'd just drifted, trying not to impose on anyone and slowly becoming a shell of herself.
But she was finding that some people were quite happy to be imposed upon. He asked if she'd ever seen something called the ocean. No. What's the ocean? She wondered aloud. She decided not to tell him the full extent of her own experience, which was quite limited. She had traveled for months, it was true, but she remembered very little of it.
Strange, how she remembered more of these past few weeks than all those prior months of traveling combined.

What's the ocean? he gave a little excitable gasp, and his whole face pulled into a smile. The ocean is just the most awesomest thing ever! he said, with a little bounce of his forepaws, and by awesome, I don't just mean cool, I mean the kind of thing that actually leaves you in awe.

Turmeric hadn't been to the ocean many times at all, but the times he had, he remembered. Sandy beaches and wheeling gulls. The smell of salt water, digging holes and building things in the sand. Little crabs that grabbed your nose and didn't let go. Gosh, how long had it been? Somewhere in that year between the fall of the Saints, and when he'd joined them in the summer. Had it only been this summer that he'd joined them again? And had it only been a year since his mother had first been taken? So much had changed - but as a pang of sadness struck him, he thought again on the ocean.

Imagine... mmm... imagine a field, like this one, he tapped the ground, but imagine it goes on forever and ever and ever. That's what the ocean's like, but instead of ground, where you can run along and eventually find some river or mountain or tree, it's all water, and it's water so deep that you can't swim to the end of it, and there's a whole other world with plants and fish and huge water beasts underneath it - or so I've been told. Turmeric's grin broadened, So I'd like to fly over the ocean, and see what's on the other side. Just imagine what kind of worlds might be out there!

The kind of thing that leaves you in awe. She thought again of Lestan, for some reason, and wondered if he would like the ocean. Maybe he'd been there before.
It sounded like The Gilded Sea, but so unlike it too. It was all endless golden grass in her birthplace, but when the weather turned hot and dry, it was consumed by fire. And there was no other world beneath it; nothing that could not run or fly could survive the flames. She wondered what plants would look like underwater; were they the same, or did they look as strange as a fish did when compared to a rabbit?
That's... amazing, She breathed, a far-away expression on her face as she tried to picture endless water. Mother Rain was far more generous than she had ever imagined. I have to see it. I wonder if the water tastes like plants, or if the plants taste like water.

Turmeric realized he’d been holding his breath for her reaction to these wonderful things they pondered together. Her awe brought a renewed glow to the brightness of his smile.

You’ll say that even more breathlessly when you actually see it, he said, with a hushed sort of note to his once animated voice. And as he watched her, gaze distant but brimming with thought, the sunlight stringing highlights through her already gilded fur…

… how had he forgotten that wolves like she and Inkeri existed in this world? And why had he stayed in the Strath so long, confining himself to the lonely corners and inner tunnels, holing himself away from prying eyes of packmates, of his mother, even? Eating, but never satisfied. Sleeping, but ever restless.

And he had missed so much. But even when the clouds came again, he swore he would be a different man.

It would just take some time.

They say the plants are an acquired taste, he said with a smile, and the tease of a laugh, one I have never acquired. I don’t think the ocean is actually very far from here. It’s in… mmm… he squinted about, identifying landmarks, before he settled his nose to point to the northwestern range of mountains, that direction, maybe 4, 5 days travel? he laughed again, I’ve been through these Wilds a lot in my life, remembering the time he had spent circling and circling in search of his family, but I haven’t been out much lately. If you wanna go see it, I can take you there. Then you can see for yourself if you like sea plants or land plants or no plants better!

His words brought a flush to her ears and cheeks. He seemed pleased by her, and she didn't quite understand why. She hadn't done anything special. But he must have thought she did, because he offered to take her to the ocean. It was only a few days' travel, he said, and she could try the plants. The acquired-taste plants. She'd never heard that phrase before, but she guessed from his tone that it wasn't great.
She wanted to try it anyway. Oh, I would love that! She exclaimed, but then she thought of Lestan. Can Lestan come? He's - my friend. I'm going to see him now. Well... I was. She'd gotten a bit distracted, hadn't she? But Turmeric was such a lovely distraction, and she thought Lestan would agree.

She would come with!

Awesome! he laughed, and added, and by that I mean the kind that means cool.

His brows raised a little at her stumbling of words, a request she seemed a little timid to share. Ears piqued especially on that slight hesitation before she named this boy - her friend. Lestan.

Somehow, Turmeric managed to control the crook of his brow, and the tease of a smile that threatened to break over his face. 'Course he can come, the more the merrier, Turmeric grinned, and if he's a friend to you, then I'm sure I'd like his company just as much as I've liked yours. Oh, this will be so much fun!

Turmeric spun in a tight circle, his tail thwacking some of the snowdrift and sending the powdered snow in every direction. When do you want to leave? I guess I'd better let you check with Lestan first, and he thought to add, hey, do you mind if I invite somebody too?

Omg a double date at the beach yes I'm here for it

Her own excitement boiled over as he agreed. Her tail whirred and set her body to wiggling, and when Turmeric spun she laughed and spun with him. And he went on; another would join them! A trip to the ocean, with Turmeric and Lestan and another new friend. It had been so long since she'd done anything in a big group like that. The meeting with the Riverclan wolves didn't count; she hadn't really been part of that.
That sounds perfect, She agreed readily, already excited to meet whoever Turmeric had in mind. We can meet here in... two days? Is that enough time? She thought she would be able to get to Lestan and back by then, at least. And what's your friend's name? So I can tell Lestan, too.

xD yeeess!!!

They must have been quite the sight, two fully grown wolves acting like puppies on their first snowfall! But Turmeric couldn’t remember the last time he had felt this… this… this much happiness, and his new friend’s excitement only continued to build his own.

He didn’t want the feeling to end.

Oh yeah! Two days is enough for me, but he had nothing much to do. The Saints were too far for him to tell about any of these wanderings, and right now, they didn’t really seem to matter all that much anyway. Is that enough time for you? Cause we could always give it a week instead, so nobody feels rushed or anything, and you can tell your packs. I know some wolves don’t do too well with spontaneous plans — even if it is something as cool as going on an adventure to the ocean, he grinned at her, and though he felt his face flush when she asked after his friend. Her name is Inkeri, he said, and thrummed the ground with his tail as though casual, like it was nothing at all. A packmate of yours, I think? You run with Kvarsheim, yeah?

He was more levelheaded about it, more thoughtful than she was, though that wasn't exactly difficult. She hadn't even considered that Lestan might have plans — or Inkeri, who apparently was her packmate! Reverie realized she should have known that, and this series of failings turned her somewhat demure with her next words.
I do. It hasn't been very long, though. I haven't met Inkeri, She was making excuses, but she knew it was terrible of her to not even know someone she lived with! A week might be better. Lestan might be busy or... oh, I should really go! Her gaze turned briefly to the sky. She hadn't planned to spend this long talking, but more importantly, she was beginning to get overwhelmed. There were so many things to keep track of, and she needed time to sort it all out. She didn't even consider that she was being rude to her new friend.

She hadn't met Inkeri yet? Well... he guessed he couldn't blame her. Turmeric hardly knew who was in and out of his own pack these days, and even if she hadn't been in Kvarsheim very long, he'd have understood what might have kept her away from her packmates - even though she seemed like such a free and lovely girl. But hey, who was he to say anything? Maybe he already had the whole of Kvarsheim fooled (or at least, the number he'd met).

But she seemed suddenly nervous - or maybe flustered? - and though she didn't quite dance off leaving Turmeric and his snowdrift in her wake, her words were like a flurry.

Oh - ah - oh, oh yeah, okay! he stammered at first before his words shook with a nervous laugh. Had he overstepped himself? Shoot! Maybe he'd come off too strong, too quick. Yeah, sure, let's say a week - and hey, if we meet up then and decide we need longer, he shrugged, unsure, really, but unwilling to make her any more uncomfortable than she'd suddenly seemed to be, we can always go later, too, whenever works for you, and Lestan, he laughed again, don't worry, I'll be around.

And he would let her leave without any questions.

At least, none he would ask out loud.

I'm good to fade & wrap up here! Feel free to archive if you're good with that too <3 <3