Larksong Grotto Let's play catch-up!

This is totally going to have to be covered in multiple posts :P

If she wanted the full story -- unabridged -- they were both sure to be stuck here for a while. Before taking the time to recount his entire history, Reek figured it was best to get as comfortable as possible. Reek nestled his head and body in close to his old friend's side, clinging to some sort of warmth to give him the strength to make it through to completion."Alright then," he spoke on the same breath as a winded sigh. "The whole story."

A lot had happened in the span of a year, but Reek knew exactly where to begin.

"After we split, I spent about a month on my own. It was relatively uneventful and most of  the time, I was just searching for my next meal," he began. This had been a simple, yet lonely, time of Reek's life, focused purely on survival. It was neither bad nor good in Reek's eyes, but nowadays, he missed the simplicity of this sort of emotional ambiguity. "Once winter was in decline, I finally made it to the coast— it was as beautiful as I expected it to be, maybe even more." With that, the promise he had made to his mother before her death had been fulfilled.

"I was ecstatic... and in my excitement I made such a commotion that one of the nearby packs came to intercept me on the beach. They called themselves the Sirens." Reek's time with the wolves of Ankyra Sound was brief, but it had left its permanent mark. "They let me stay with them for a while in exchange for my service... I thought that was fair, but apparently my service entailed serving in a war." An unjust war at that: one fought under the pretenses of false information. "The pack was unable to take the strain and it fell apart soon after. After a month of living with them, I was homeless again."

"But, I wasn't alone. I traveled south with someone else from the pack who I had gotten pretty close to, Wynter." The thought of his first mate caused a wave of guilt to travel through him. "We crossed over the mountain range south of here and met an ambitious yearling who was intent on starting a pack of her own. Her name was Saena, and she offered us a home." With nowhere else to go, Reek and Wynter had gladly accepted.

"And so, Redtail Rise was formed." Reek motioned to the charred mountainside that was visible from the grotto. "That was the place. That was home." His memories of Redtail Rise would always be tinted rose with nostalgia, but Reek felt himself to have been truly happy when he resided on the mountain. "Wyn and I, we became a mated pair, and Saena, she made me her beta. For a while, life was perfect."

But, all good things come to an end eventually.

"Saena eventually gave Wyn and I permission to breed. The thought of starting a family was so exciting for me, but I didn't think much about how Wynter felt about it. It scared her... and so, she disappeared without a word and I was heartbroken." The heartbreak, it eventually turned to bitterness and to anger.

"A month later she came back, but I couldn't move past it. That's just one of those things you just don't let go you know?" He felt abandoned. Tossed aside like yesterday's news. "I told her I needed time and I wasn't sure our relationship would take the hit."  In short, it didn't.

He paused, waiting to continue in case Emory had any questions.