Phoenix Maplewood Are there any left who haven't kissed the enemy?

Detritus squelched between Nanook's toes, but the girl didn't give a care. Her gaze withdrew in a deep-set furrow, and the reality of the world around her blurred to a haze. For once the earth held no intrigue. She didn't care how the leaves had turned orange, or why the light seemed to shorten every day that passed. It was becoming clear that they were never going back to the Valley, and no one seemed to care but her.

The zeal that had consumed her at yesterday's rally gave way to bitterness again. For a few hours she had forgotten about papa and Xan, but once the adrenaline wore off and she remembered, a hatred boiled in her against this place, against her family, and against herself. Why hadn't she tried to get papa to follow? And why had mama brought them here? The sight of Scarlett's anger rose before her again, the fury in her crimson eyes. Nanook had had nothing to make of the rage she'd seen in mama, and the night refused to give way to a new order of thought. Mama had protected these wolves they didn't know, but why had she left papa and Xan? None of it made sense, and the girl's throat twisted with the urge to scream, but her pent up tension only released in a forceful kick and a flurry of mulch and broken leaves.

Juniper had busied herself with prepping her own quiet area within the pack borders for the past week, but the fact that the maplewood had gained a few members during that time had not gone unnoticed by the golden girl. Today she'd set out with half a mind to seek one of them out and introduce herself, but a rumbling stomach and a strong urge to add her mark to the northern reaches of the border had distracted her for a time.

She didn't know of the young family's turmoil, or their recent upheaval. All she knew was a healthy mother and her children now resided here under the care of Saena and her mate (who, by now, was known to her as Reek). So when she managed to climb out of a thicket of undergrowth and caught wind of the young pup on the gentle breeze drifting through the woodland, Juniper adjusted her path to greet them.

Sure enough, a sudden rustling of leaves and litter caught her attention, and she lifted her head to look on at the young girl's fit. A pang of sympathy and motherly concern cut through her almost instantaneously, and within a few breaths she was within speaking range of the young wolf. "Practicing for something?" She asked with a kind smile.

The buzz of pulsing blood caged her thoughts. She could feel every inch of her body, every prickle along her nape, and she tightened her muscles until she trembled from the strain of restraining herself. Around her, the rustling forest raged. The whisper of the leaves was hot breath down her spine, the tickle of the wind a worm beneath her fur. Her breathing grew quicker, and she would have erupted again if not for the gentle voice that quieted the world and lurched her back to the present.

Nanook spun around and gazed up at the stranger with a wild stare. A woman she'd never seen before, and the Apaata's gaze grew jaded. Practicing? Nanook didn't know what she would be practicing for. Her only goal was to make their family one piece again, no matter what the cost. She'd tried to get mama to listen, and the two women who'd brought them here, but they hadn't heard her. They hadn't even acknowledged her words. Who was to say that this new wolf, even with her kind smile and gentle look, would treat her any differently?

And yet, the arrival of the tall golden woman gave new motion to her thoughts. Though the past trampled her hope to get help from anyone but herself, the kindness in the face of the other made Nanook reconsider. Slowly, she lifted her voice, still as small as when they'd left the valley, but set in her resolve. "They left papa and Xan behind." She'd spoken the same on the day they'd been found by the two women in the marsh. No one had listened then, but Nanook wasn't about to give up yet. "I gotta get them back."

The girl was a hurricane; motionless, currently, but Juniper could see the turmoil brewing like an angry sea behind those coppery depths. Something deep within her rooted itself firmly in her chest. She could empathize, and she hadn't even heard a peep from her. The jaded look and the uncertainty. It made her both anxious and sad that a child could experience such great upset, or such rage. She thought, fleetingly, of Gareth and his father's acts. How he was so willing to steal their child away from her without so much as a word.

Thankfully, the girl seemed to settle just enough to explain herself, and it drew Juniper from her thoughts. The blond woman knew little about the situation with Scarlett and her children, though she was informed of their arrival in the woodland. The scent of four pups and an unfamiliar mother was hard to mask, after all, and it bespoke of hardship that they had to leave their own home behind and join the maplewood wolves. She hadn't pried, or gone looking for answers, until now.

Juniper slowly lowered her rump to the ground, tilted her head, and narrowed her eyes thoughtfully as Nanook explained. "Your mother did?" She asked softly, expression tight with confusion and sympathy. "Where are they now?"

With her words spoken, Nanook held the newcomer with a level stare and searched for any shift in her demeanour. She expected the silence and prepared to welcome it with an icy heart. What she didn't expect was the sound that met her. Not the constant shuffle of leaves or the gurgle of some distant brook, though those were always there. The woman's lips parted and Nanook couldn't keep her ears from perking, nor could she stop the strange rush of heat that pricked her spine like pine needles.

Nanook leaned forward, eyes bright, and nodded to confirm the woman's question. "And Desna, and Sesi." She added with a curt frown. Her sisters didn't seem to care that Xan and papa weren't with them. She tried not to worry what she would do if they didn't share in her passion to get the rest of their family back. It wasn't like their decision would change her mind. Nanook would find their missing half, even if no one else tried.

But the gentle emotion that slipped through the woman's words caused Nanook to turn her head and appraise the newcomer through suspicious eyes. The adults all had a way of acting nice to her, but they didn't really mean it. They would have listened to her if they did. The newcomer looked different, though, and her posture indicated what Nanook took as some sort of interest. She pressed her lips together before she spoke, cautious and slow. "Bearclaw Valley. I think." Nanook couldn't stop the twist in her chest, the fear that maybe Xan and papa were somewhere else, like she and the others were now. If they weren't in the Valley, Nanook didn't know where she would look.

As quick as the anxiety came, Nanook steeled herself against it. So what if the world was far bigger than her? Soon she'd be big too, maybe as big as papa. Then she would find them, and nothing in the world would stop her.