Whitebark Stream this banana bread has walnuts

She wasn't coming back. It had been several days since their scheduled rendezvous. He had wondered then if she meant not to keep her promise to return, but he was hopelessly optimistic and trusting, and had believed she would come. He was wrong, and woke that morning feeling deflated. Again. It was not long ago he had gotten over his last dark cloud and now another threatened to follow. He set his jaw and shook his head. He could not, would not allow it.

He had scarcely thought of Smash before now, and while she had left him with unanswered questions, there was nothing he could do but move forward with his own life. Which meant doing his best to not think of her anymore, though he wished her well and would embrace seeing her again if they happened to cross paths. So, the blue-nosed wolf strolled the edge of a stream bank overgrown with the bright white bark of birch trees.

The sky was clear, and the air growing ever hotter. Soon, his paws sought the cool of the stream, and intermittently he swam and walked the stream itself.

Saena kept her head slung low, working her nose furiously over the loam, as she stepped skillfully around maples and birches alike. She displayed excellent proprioception as she weaved, scarecly having to even look up to avoid crashing into anything, even with her limited knowledge of the wood's layout. This trait was one of many that made Saena a splendid hunter and outrider.

It was, indeed, a hunting trip that brought her this far today. Ordinarily, she stuck to the ridge whenever she wanted to fell game, but now she yearned for new sights. A change of scenery always did wonders for Saena. She was also on high alert for Redhawk Caldera activity in the north, so this trip was as much an excuse to scout for them as it was a chance to stretch her legs.

The last thing she expected to see when she reached the edge of the wondrous maplewood was a familiar face, but when she lifted her head to gaze at the glacier in the near distance, it was Luke she saw. Even from a fair distance, and even though his coat was white and unremarkable for it, his blue nose was unmistakable. Surprised, the pale Redtail abandoned her search for game and loped in his direction just as he splashed into the stream and began paddling along it. Her tail waved above her back as she signalled him with a loud call of, "hey, Luke!"

It was his nature to be optimistic and carefree, to go along with the ebb and flow of life and embrace it for what it was; but it was also in his nature to care quickly and deeply, a trait he was coming to understand since he arrived in the area. His nonchalance was not impenetrable to emotion, but then he would be a cold wolf if it were. In times like these, it would take effort on his part to remain grounded in the now, not losing fleeting time to the the past and future. Fortunately, he was adept at finding something to smile about, and sometimes that something, or someone, found him.

His gaze had been cast to his paws, watching the rounded stones beneath his paws as they stirred beneath his step. He did not see nor hear his companion until she called to him. He jerked his head up, to behold the white and red of her warm face. Immediately his mouth split into a broad grin, and his tail waved quickly behind him. "Saena!" He hastened to make his way to her, and leaped from his spot to the bank in one smooth, graceful leap. He swept to her side, pressing his muzzle to her cheek in an affectionate nuzzle. "I was not expecting you!" he beamed as he stepped back and reclined upon his haunches, his fond gaze holding hers.  

He was always up to meet new faces, but after being stood up by one friend, it was a relief, and a complete joy, to have run into another.

"I wasn't expecting to see you either!" exclaimed the yearling. She chuckled as Luke pounced out of the stream and closed the distance, and she received his affection with a friendly nudge to the underside of his chin. So much had happened since she'd last seen Luke that she didn't really know where to begin. A lot of it was stuff her friend probably didn't want to hear, especially the bit about Sebastian. While Luke might've outwardly supported Saena, she had to remind herself that he was acquaintances with her father. No matter how much of a puppet Peregrine had become, she didn't imagine Luke would like the strife.

So instead she chose to focus on happy things. The first thing to cross her mind was Reek and their little tryst, but she didn't think Luke wanted to hear about that, either. It was private and it was adultery. Seeing as all the recent details of her life were quite messy in one way or another, she opted to step into the stream, inviting him with a gesture to return to it if he wished. "The Rise is doing well!" she told him, and then asked, "did your pack ever get off the ground?"

The invitation was received with a second jump back into the stream, which unapologetically sent water cascading over his red and white companion. He grinned foolishly at her, his tail fanning back and forth."Oh good!" he chirped, pleased to hear that her pack was flourishing under her lead, but she was quick to follow up with a question about his own pack, and he could not help but sigh as he replied. "No."

He swatted the water surface. He was visibly deflated to have to report that he was still a lone wolf. He had made a strong effort to continue his optimism, to be hopeful - and he was to an extent, but he was also bothered by it. It had been about three months since he had agreed to follow her. It was not a terribly long stretch of time, in truth, but it had been long enough. That he had been so excited, riding high on the prospect of a new home, was likely the reason he struggled now. Not to mention, those he waited on had a home, and need not worry about spending the cold dark days of winter alone.

"If it hasn't happened by the end of fall, I think I am going join up with another." He shook his head. "I don't want to spend another winter as a lone wolf." He didn't even want to spend tomorrow as one.

Luke's sigh caught Saena off guard so much that she stopped walking entirely and turned to him with knitted brows. She pressed her lips together and regarded him with utmost concern, and only then did Saena note the slightest hint of sorrow pulling across his face. Her ears fell back against the nape of her neck as he explained that the pack wasn't ready yet.

Saena felt a slight rush of anger in her breast at how long her friend was being made to wait, but she knew it wasn't her place to judge a wolf she didn't even known. She'd at least grown up that much. She wanted to comment on it, but knew it would do Luke no good. Instead, she pressed her nose to his cheek for comfort. It was all she could really do right now to help him.

"I'll keep hoping for you," she said quietly, pulling back to watch him for more signs of distress. "If it gets to that point and you don't know where to go, you'll always be welcome with me." Even temporarily, if that was all he needed. She was learning to let go. There were other places Luke could go, wolves Saena knew that he was partial to as well. She thought with a sickening twist in her stomach of how they'd once discussed Peregrine, and though she didn't want to pressure him to come with her eventually, she found herself hoping and praying to whatever gods might exist that he would not choose Peregrine when the time came.

It might not even come, she reminded herself. His friend might finally found her pack before that ever happened. She sincerely hoped so.

His news, or perhaps his change in mood to one more solemn (which was for him an unusual thing) set her back. She touched her nose to his cheek, and he leaned in to the gesture appreciably. She, too, offered her home to him, and he passed his tongue along her muzzle in an affectionate thank you. "You don't know how much that means to me," he smiled warmly as he drew back to meet her eyes. It struck him then, and he chuffed at the thought, that here he had three different packs which would welcome him, and here he was still wandering around the wild on his own.

"You know, it's funny," he said, striking off on a tangent rather than dwell on the previous subject. "I had actually come up this way to meet a former packmate of yours. Smash. She said she'd meet me in the Emberwood." But that did not happen, and, realizing he had touched on yet another displeasing subject he followed up with an honest, more cheerful comment. "But it worked out, seeing as I got to run into you!" With that, he sprang sideways and dropped into a play bow. His hips swayed and his tail tossed side to side. The shimmer in his eyes and the impish curl on his lips invited her to play, scuffle and romp.  

"Seriously," the alpha reiterated, "if you need anything, don't hesitate. If I can spare it I will." Space would likely never be an issue in Redtail Rise. For one reason or another, wolves weren't easily attracted to it. Maybe they could smell the recent drama a mile away and avoided it, or maybe the location just wasn't ideal. She was willing to bet the latter.

Luke started on another topic. Saena expected him to say something actually funny, but the name that came out of his mouth was far from it. The alpha female hadn't thought much about Smash since her departure, but she was pleasantly surprised to know Luke knew her as well. Evidently, Luke knew everybody. Saena envied him that; if living as a loner had one perk, it was getting around.

"She didn't show?" Saena wondered aloud. "Y'know, she told us she was leaving forever. Or, I guess she must've. I actually didn't hear the reason. I was too busy ah... overreacting." The responses from Reek and Arion suggested that Smash had no intention of ever returning to Redtail Rise, though. "I didn't know she was still in the wilds at all." But, oh well. It's not like Smash had signed a binding contract when she joined Redtail Rise. The bad blood was behind them and she didn't know anything about her former subordinate's pregnancy (from Luke no less), so she didn't dwell, especially when her white-haired friend bowed.

God, it's been a while, thought Saena as his playful nature infected her. She dropped into her own bow, parting her jaws to pant happily, before suddenly springing at him with every intent of wrapping her forelegs around his neck and wrestling him to the ground.

He was one with an open mind, who believed that it was part of life for wolves to come and go from the packs they called home, for however long or short a time. Change: it was inevitable. However, he also understood how conflicting it must be, especially for a young leader with a new pack she was trying to build, to have to contend with it; to welcome someone in only for them to turn and leave down the road. He could not fault her for having a strong reaction. Not wanting to linger on the subject, he made no further comment, not that he had much time to do so, for she accepted his offer of play and sprang at him.

He barked as she came for him, ensnaring his neck with her legs as she attempted to wrestle him down. He resisted for a moment, spreading his legs for balance and growling playfully as he nipped at her neck and shoulder. His teeth sought her scruff and suddenly, purposefully, he collapsed. If she wanted him down, she would get her wish, but only because he would let himself fall with an effort to pull her down with him!

Succeeding in wrapping her arms around his neck only drove Saena further into play mode. His teeth playfully raked her nearby shoulder and the side of her neck whilst the alpha female nipped at the tufts of fur on his cheeks and the blunt side of his muzzle. She hoped to eventually initiate a jaw spar, but Luke had other plans. His head snaked around her side and found purchase on the looser skin at the side of her neck.

Growling joyously, the female made to engulf his vulnerable ear in her own mouth, but then suddenly she was being dragged downward. She struggled to keep her balance as Luke dropped to the ground, but without the use of her forelegs, the alpha was unable to recover. She tumbled tits over teakettle, falling over Luke in the process, with an alarmed yelp.

His tactic was successful, he went down and with him came the leader of the Rise just as she caught his ear, which was freed in her surprise. He laughed merrily as she fell over him, pumelling her gently with his paws as he squirmed excitedly beneath her. He yipped as he resumed his assault of nips, his words lost in the joy of such carefree play. He then returned her previous move by capturing her ear and giving it a few tugs, all the while growling softly. He may as well been three months of age, rather than three years.

Although smaller, Saena managed to fall over Luke just as though they were two pups the same age. He captured the plush edge of her ear in his jaws and amidst his nips, she growled playfully and shook her head. She attempted, and failed, to rearrange her limbs beneath herself and ended up pressing a paw futilely against his cheek to try to fend off his assault. All the while, growls burbled merrily in her throat and her shortened tail wagged.

He held on to her ear for a few, entertaining moments, then in the midst of her head shaking let it slip freely from his gentle teeth, which immediately sought to nip at her some more. That was, until her paw met his cheek and pushed against it. This became his new target, and he opened wide to capture her paw in his mouth, his silly growl rumbling to the tune of om nom nom nom as he lightly mouthed. His eyes were lifted to hers, a spark of mischief in them. Seamlessly, his rambunctious disposition shifted into calm tenderness as he released her paw, leaning forward to affectionately press his crown to her chest and throat, crooning softly.

Ah! Thwarted again! Saena'd thought she would have an opportunity to plan out her next innocent strike, but Luke quickly wrapped his lips around her paw and chortled, or at least it sounded like that. Saena couldn't help giggling at the sound of his growls as he literally nommed on her foot. She tried to wrestle it away but she was only freed when he permitted it, and then his demeanour shifted and he pressed his skull to her breast. She nosed his scalp affectionately and shifted to make them both more comfortable.

"Why can't every day be so good?" she asked no one in particular, though she smiled appreciatively at Luke. There was more stress than anything, but lately that had begun to change, and her friend certainly added to that. Maybe one day, every day could be light-hearted, every day could involve such play... or maybe Redtail Rise was doomed to cycle back around to tragedy.

Why can't every day be so good? Luke hummed in agreement at these words. He would be hard pressed to imagine a time he was more content than when he was cuddled up with a dear companion. He lingered at her chest, before drawing back to flick his blue tongue against her nose. "They would not seem so good if all of them were. It is said you cannot appreciate the sun without the dark." His mouth curled into a warm smile as his tail swept the earth. He liked to think any day could be great with the right attitude, but it was simply reality that not all were quite so carefree and happy. It further emphasized the importance of living in the moment, and right now, right here, both of them were. No one knew what was in store the next day, and you cannot go back once you find out.

Although the yearling would've liked to disagree, there was a simple logic in Luke's answer that was undeniable. As much as she hated dark days, given how many she'd seen either by her own construction or by nature's, it would be hard to appreciate the good without them. It would be hard to smile on fortune if that was all there was in life.

"It would be nice for a while though," she sighed, believing at least that much was true. Maybe she was just born unlucky. A tiny part of Saena knew that many of her problems were created by herself, by overreaction or hyperbole. The rest of her was much too stubborn to admit that, though, and so she would enjoy a period of time where everything was good and nothing bad happened. At least if everything was good, she couldn't self-inflict misery. There would be nothing to draw it from.

Luke lifted his paw and placed it on top of one of hers, patting gently before he withdrew it and curled it to his chest. "Maybe it will be," he offered. He held his tongue from one of his talks about how attitude and outlook make such a difference on how your day goes, and instead merely smiled at her. "And if not, well, you can always come find me and we can wrestle around like a couple of pups with no cares or worries in the world," he winked.

His reassurance, while largely unneeded, brought a warm smile to Saena's face. How could she sit here talking about how lovely good days would be when there was a wolf like Luke around? His mood was perpetually cheery. She didn't think she ever would see him down in the dumps about anything. While she didn't get to spend time with him often, Saena could easily see Luke becoming an emotional pillow of sorts. A buoy for her mental state.

"I'll take you up on that sometime, I'm sure," she said, letting her tongue drape across her lower jaw. Silly as it was, it made her feel like a kid again. "But where can I find you?"

wrap up? :)

She asked a good question. He did not have a concrete answer for her, but he did the best he could. "I'm usually south in the wilderness and flatlands, handy about Big Salmon Lake." There was a lot of area there, he knew, and he also knew that he wandered, which is how he came to be up north in the first place. "Yeah, that's not very helpful," he frowned. "I'll stop having baths so you can smell me from the other side of the mountains, how's that sound?" He chuckled as he bumped his muzzle to hers. "I know where you are, so if you can't find me no worries. I'll be sure to check in on you once in a while and see how things are!"

Luke rose to his paws, and swiped his blue tongue across her forehead. "Until next time? Hopefully by then I'll be able to tell you exactly where I'll be." he grinned, bowing before her with his tail swinging playfully before standing up straight again.

Luke thought aloud through the dilemma while Saena listened patiently, grinning wider when he suggested he would just not bathe. There were plenty of wolves and animals that had poor hygiene around, so finding him would still be difficult, she knew. Besides, a bedraggled, unkempt appearance wouldn't suit him. She could only hope he wouldn't make good on that promise.

With reassurance that he would check on her once in a while, Luke rose and planted a friendly kiss across Saena's head. She returned it by jabbing her nose quickly against his chin, a brief bump of farewell. "I'll see you around," she promised, "and you better have a bloody pack by then, or I'm dragging you home with me!" Maybe she would do it anyway, if the pack he chose wasn't one she approved of (and there were only two of those). Smirking playfully after him, the young female swished her short tail and then turned about.