Ocean's Breath Plateau tagadal

Set for tomorrow — 11/3!

Nantahala and @Nasamiituuq had made it to Moontide in record time. They’d stuck to their agreement to try and get there as fast as possible, and had only stopped occasionally to hunt, relieve themselves, and sleep. This’d been especially hard for Nantahala—who wanted nothing but to explore the new territories—but she remained faithful to the plan they’d devised.

Moontide was unlike anything Nantahala had seen before, and as they stood upon the borders, she found herself speechless. While she’d heard of the ocean before, and had thought she’d known what it looked like, the vision in her mind’s eye paled in comparison; it seemed like it stretched out forever—far beyond the horizon. She watched it for a beat as she took in new sights and smells of the territory, as she familiarized herself with everything that came with her new home.

When she was ready, she glanced at her sister and smiled. Let’s do this, she said, and then tilted her head back and howled for @Rodyn.  Excitement stirred in her belly at the notion of the beginning of her new adventure.

They would not let him leave. Dutch, particularly, had been no help in escaping the seaside pack. Instead, he was told constantly to rest, recover — but could Dutch not understand that rest would not come to him until he could see the faces of his daughters and his wife once more?

It rankled him that he still needed the other man's cooperation. That he could scarcely get past the borders without his cousin's shoulder to lean on.

He had set off again on the dawn of this new day, determined this time to press onward until he reached the spine. Exhaustion pulled at his nearly skeletal frame, but to his consternation, he did feel more strength after a night of restless slumber. Sorer, too, but he had endured much pain in his life. A little more was hardly a payment worth fussing over.

He had already passed the borders when he heard her voice.

"Lilyflower," he breathed, tears already swimming in his eyes.

He spun toward the sound, joints creaking, and forced himself into an ungainly lope. The shape of her was blurred by overflowing emotion, but he recognized the pale, sun-kissed shade of her even on a larger, less familiar frame.

"Nantahala," he called, his voice hoarse and choked. "Lily — "

He stumbled, his foreleg folding beneath him in a tight rictus. Cramps such at these were familiar to him, now, and he pushed himself back up to continue limping closer. And it was only then that he wondered if his appearance would frighten or disgust her. If she would even recognize him like this. If she would recognize him at all.

Just a cameo, can be powerplayed <3

Her warm laughter at Nantahala's eagerness was quickly cut short by the horror of — oh, oh no, was that Valiant? All at once Nasamiituuq's vision blurred with hot tears, her throat burned with hot bile, her ears rang, yet she stepped forward to catch the falling man as if she'd expected him all along.

Valiant, let me help you, Nasamiituuq's voice was gentle, lightly scolding. She would guide him to his daughter — and if her heart raced, if her paws trembled, if her thoughts were a jumble of bitter horror and half-fearful questions that would not be answered, at least she would be the only one to ever know it. Nantahala needed her strength in this moment. Her father had returned.