It had taken Ira a while to get used to the uneven plains of their new location, the rocky terrain and the looming shadow above him had slowly began to become a comfort to the Princeling. It had begun to become home. He did not see the need to form attachments to territories - what was the point, he had often wondered, when it was likely the path of life would only take them to other places? Already, he had been in four packs and he was only seven months of age. He was reminded, with some past tendril of a memory, of Cain and how he had been cursed to wander the earth for eternity. Perhaps that was what Ira was ultimately destined to become. A wanderer. A wraith that haunted because it was all he had in life. No, no. That wasn’t true. He had Jinx. He had Silvertip. He had a home and as tentative as he dared call them: a family. Perhaps an extremely dysfunctional one but it was some semblance of a family, nevertheless. And he had Bones even if they remained parted, only seeing each other sporadically by circumstance. It was better than not seeing her at all, the Princeling reasoned, though the growing span of time between her last visit and now left Ira was the confrontation of the simple fact that he missed her.
Crystalline eyes snapped up in the direction of his Alpha and Guardian at her low grunt to announce her presence to him and as he took her in he felt a warmth spread in his chest; Ira acknowledged that he was genuinely happy to see Jinx. “Hello Jinx,” He greeted her with a wag of his tail, closing the distance between them easily, offering her a lick to her chin in submission and affection. He pulled back some, to give her space, and frowned for a few moments, fidgeting before he decided that it was definitively better if he just asked her right away so he could either get permission or he wouldn’t and that would be that. Ira, despite his self training, was still impatient in many aspects and he loathed the idea of beating around the bush. He wasn’t afraid of Jinx, only that she would deny him what he sought. “I must ask you something,” He broke the brief silence that he had allowed to form and fester, inhaling deeply the sharp tang of rock and the warmth of earth. “Well before that I suppose it is customary that I inform you of something, first, so that my question makes more sense,” He was talking rapidly, as if he were nervous. In a way, he sort of was. Ira supposed he could have easily told her that he was going and she wasn’t going to stop him but …Ira respected her far too much to do that to her. Beyond respecting her he also loved her. Accordingly, that made some kind of difference to his normal insolent, ‘do-whatever-I-want’ behavior suffice to say -- at least when it came to where Jinx was concerned (everyone else was fair game). “Bones and I are seeing each other. Like boyfriend, girlfriend stuff,” He admitted to the Kesuk scoffing slightly at his own embarrassment. “It’s long distance but we’ve …been making it work, I guess.” Ira wondered if he could be made to feel any more awkward about this conversation.
“I let her know not to come anywhere near our borders and to be careful in the territories near Silvertip. So, she knows not to overstep or anything, and this is all relevant to each other, I promise, it’s just that it’s been way too long since her last visit,” Maybe it was Ira’s imagination playing tricks on him but something didn’t feel right about her absence. “So I was wondering if I could be given permission to go to Swiftcurrent Creek…just to check up on her, make sure she didn’t get eaten or anything.” He attempted to crack a joke, even smiling for a few seconds before it vanished, his expression turning serious once more. Ira really didn’t want to admit to Jinx that he was worried about Bones but it was likely his Guardian had picked up on it because he was worried about Bones and it was very obvious.“I guess…if you don’t want me going all the way to Swiftcurrent Creek I could see if anyone in Blacktail Deer Plateau - her father and uncles and little cousins live there - has heard anything lately.” In truth, he was kind of hoping she’d let him go to the Creek to find out from the wolves she lived with - or to talk to Bones herself, of course - but if she would not he wanted her to know that he respected her wishes and was willing to compromise if he could.
