Northstar Vale maybe, maybe we all are selfish

And so the adventure begins! @Luke @Andalusia and powerplaying with express permission, @Harlyn. Figured this could be a general rallying thread for us before they make headway? IDK, feel free to move it along as you see fit! Incidentally, nosy parties are welcome as well for recruitment and what not.

With the events of the Plateau behind them, Harlyn had taken the lead in heading east. This place she had in mind had only been described to Mordecai, but he found intrigue budding as they had set off at near daybreak. Having scaled through the lower reaches of the mountains by the time the sun broke over the lowlands, the faint light revealed the destruction of the narrow valley beyond the Plateau. The storm that had come through had ravaged this place, but it was far from being impassable.

As the earthy pair weaved their way through the terrain, silence had lapsed to them easily. There wasn't much to comment on, other than the repeat of fallen trees and windswept grass, and truth be told they were quietly seeking out the familiar faces of those who were to join them. At some point, through an open break of canopy that wasn't too terrorized, Mordecai called for them. As his call faded away into the ambient din of morning, his eyes sought through the greenery for his niece, and the blue-nosed Luke.

murder by death — the devil drives

The emotional turmoil that had so bothered him for weeks, months, was lost when Mordecai's howl rose into the sky. He had doubted if he could wait for them, if he could go through with his promise to follow the druid and her beau, and he had wondered if he should go to the plateau to be at Lasher's side. But now that the time for Harlyn's pack was here, truly here, he was committed fully, and excitement was all that he felt in his chest and belly. He threw his head back, howling to let them know he was on his way.

His leg was improving by the day, and he was able to move reasonably swiftly. When he found the pair, he greeted his companion with an enthusiastic nuzzle and lick to her cheek, and then turned to Mordecai and bumped his head against the man's neck. "Mordecai! I am so glad you came. This is going to be great!" He grinned as his tail swatted the air back and forth in a ridiculously rapid cadence.

The vibrations of her howl still tingled her throat, the confirmation she was ready and coming. For too long she'd lived like a leaf on the wind, her loyalty offered to none but herself. The times had been interesting, to say the least. Challenging and lonely, but they were behind her now. The loyalty to family had led her to the Wilds nine months ago, and this same loyalty moved her today.

The sandy outrider took her time to wind a path through the carnage of the once noble Vale. Every now and then, when the path cleared of fallen trees enough for her to look up, she lifted her eyes to the Sunspire. The mountain remained firm and unshaken, a protection to the wolves who made claim upon the peak. But her future did not rest with them.

Andalusia arrived to a gathering of three, and crooked grin cracked face. Their presence finalized the reality of what they were setting out to do, a prospect the Ostrega hadn't even considered until her uncle had mentioned the desire to find a new place and settle there. The epitome of Outriding, an offer Andalusia had been unable to refuse. Approaching her fellow travellers, she offered a nudge of affection to both Mordecai and Harlyn, but held back from the stranger. The first thing to strike her was that parts of him were blue, but Andalusia imagined he knew that well enough by now. Still, her gaze did linger on his face a beat longer than normal. He didn't smell sick, and looked otherwise clear in the head, all good signs. "It'll be different, that's for sure." Andalusia offered him the same crooked smile, but held back from nudging him as she had the others.

The first of the wolves to emerge was Luke. Mordecai hadn't forgotten about him, or what he had done to unite them all in the first place. It surprised him to see him favoring a leg, but given the storm that had so apparently ravaged the terrain, maybe they should have all been thankful they were even still alive. A smile came easy to his features, and it had to. The time for doubts was to be long gone, and the bridge leading back was already long burnt.

Before he could begin to articulate a response to Luke, Andalusia came out from the scenery beyond them next. His thin smile merged into an easy grin as he spotted her own. "Andalusia, I'm glad you were nearby too," he said as she joined them. She hadn't been acquainted with Luke yet and it showed, but he was certain that the bubbly blue-nosed wolf would have no qualms about introducing himself.

It was not long before the trio became a foursome. Luke's head turned to see a slender beauty approach and greet Mordecai and Harlyn. He surmised immediately that she must have been another recruit, and he wondered briefly why the druid had not mentioned her. Then for another brief moment his mind switched to the young male he himself had recruited; would he come? Was he still around? It had been so long, the white wolf would not fault the boy if he had moved on. Indeed, Luke almost had.

She did not have the same boisterous enthusiasm as he had, but then he was a springy, frolicky creature and few could match him in that. He nodded in agreement with her statement. "I can't wait. I'm Luke, by the way," he directed a broad grin at her, his tail waving in compliment to his greeting. Then he turned to Mordecai and Harlyn, looking expectantly at them. He was ready. Let's go!

Andalusia grinned at Mordecai's words. "I never went far." Staying in her uncle's vicinity had been her only prevention against missing his rallying call. When she'd found his trail heading over the mountain range, she'd followed, and not in vain.

Her smile to Luke remained, held by the white man's unrestrained display of enthusiasm. She had her own degree of excitement, and subtler ways of showing it to watchful eyes. The gentle sway of her tail, the glint in her gaze. But every wolf had their differences, and she found no fault in Luke's choice to project his excitement to the world. "Andalusia Ostrega." she only felt proper to offer her name, though Mordecai had spoken it himself, "It's a pleasure to join you." Names were what mattered now; deeper knowledge of one another would come with travel and time.

For now, Andalusia followed the redirection of Luke's attention back to Mordecai and Harlyn. Her own legs itched to move, but she steadied herself, trusting the time would come. "Are we waiting on anyone else?"

It was hard not to carry some excitement, as it hummed through them all. The sensation was overwhelming to him to a degree, not having the rush of such a thing in a long time. It was intoxicating, but in spite of its best efforts it did not go rushing to his head just yet. There was a lot more left to do, and a lot more ground to cover, so Andalusia's query if they were waiting on anyone else left him to scan around before briefly resting his gaze on Harlyn.

"I don't think we are," he said, breathing out. If anyone else was coming, he would have imagined they would have come along. And from what he could gather, Luke was really about the only wolf Harlyn had roped in that was around still. "But I'm sure others heard the call, so I suppose we'll have to see as we go along." And hopefully, they wouldn't draw the wrong kind of attention either. His memory of the area was a little faulty now that it lied in ruins, but truth be told the mountains were still the same. With the Plateau draped along behind them, he knew of the wolves on the Spire were near too.

"Either way, we shouldn't linger too long. This place is a mess," he commented as he and Harlyn started forward, once more letting her take the lead to offer a passing nudge to the other two.

With introductions out of the way, the band of wolves set out. Mordecai and Harlyn at the helm, side by side, as proper alpha's to be. Luke trailed behind them with Andalusia, his excited gaze casting from side to side hoping to catch a glimpse of the yearling who said he would join them, or another lone wolf who might be persuaded to. In the coming weeks or so, he would make it his mission to bolster their ranks with as many recruits as he could find.

No one left to wait for meant only one thing: their journey could begin. A quiver pierced her core, and Andalusia returned Mordecai's affection with a gentle nudge before falling into step with Luke. The white man's excitement and jittering gaze only served to broaden the grin that spread across her face, and a bounce surfaced in her step.

When she had left her family, she had never anticipated this, and despite the broken landscape of fallen trees and tousled life, the Wilds stretched before them in limitless bounds. Andalusia knew well what lay ahead and what work remained to be done. The preparations for winter, the gathering of recruits and the securing of land. A future still hidden from them, no doubt filled with trials and hardship, but equally so with blessing. Troubles would come, they always did. But right now the promise of home brought a vibrance to the world and these wolves who would become her kin, and with each step the sandy Ostrega basked in the anticipation of the road they would travel together.

wrapping this up (finally)!

As silence fell in between them, Mordecai found his own thoughts turning away from what they were leaving behind. There would definitely come a time when those thoughts would surface again — they always did — but now wasn't it. Instead he found himself feeling a tad refreshed at the prospects ahead, and the further they left the sprawling flatlands and wilderness behind them, the better that feeling settled at the forefront of his mind.

Now what the road would hold for them ahead he could not say, but he imagined that it was much easier to travel in a quartet versus a duo or trio. So as the group moved on from the wreckage of the vale, Mordecai set his sights to the rise of the mountains that laid ahead. They would cross them soon enough, and venture into the valley beyond.