Moonspear no place i'd rather be

@Amekaze maybe?! I know you're snotty though so take your time <3 otherwise all welcome~!

Charon was pleased with Amekaze's arrival at Moonspear. They could finally start piecing together their pack. He had already done some border-marking, but he wanted to talk over some last details with Amekaze. He hadn't met many Sunspire wolves yet, and he hoped that she'd brought some recently. He had met Lex, but that was all so far. Another thing Charon wondered about was if Amekaze was going to search for her two missing pack mates, assuming they were still missing.

Beside the more practical reasons to call a Super Secret Alpha Meeting and go looking for Amekaze, Charon also just wanted to see her, though he hadn't a clue why, exactly. The yearling decided to search round Moonspear's slopes to catch Amekaze's scent trail, hoping it would lead him to her.

for my reference i'm setting this before she goes back to the sunspire and runs into dante/nishu bc that seems like a good place to stick it

Time on this mountain had treated her well. A bit to her own surprise, she took readily to the slopes and was finding herself quite pleased with the paths she had covered so far. The hunting was favorable, the resources suitable, and the wolves already gathering here had her morale lifted. Together, it inspired a fresh possessiveness that put a new sharpness in her every move, and she felt far more purposeful than she had in weeks.

However, she could not say much for some of her fellow former Sunspire wolves. A scarce few were around, not that she saw much of them (a bit worrisome), but Rain was still missing and Nishu out searching. She was doing what she could to search too, and had covered the area around the Spear, but it all turned up nothing. Which left her at a grim crossroad. Soon, she would cut all ties to the Sunspire. The thought of trekking all the way back was beginning to appeal less and less by the moment. She had tired quickly of the trip once she'd become better acquainted with the Moonspear. Perhaps just once more, and that would be it. She sensed it would have to do, for now she had better business here.

In preparation, she was laying somewhat low today to rest up. She covered ground slowly, browsing along a path just beyond the stretch of woods where the elevation climbed, but trees were still frequent enough cover. She had half a hunt in mind since she knew she wouldn't make time to catch anything if she headed back for the Sunspire for one last sweep (and farewell) soon, but wasn't finding herself committed to any trails in particular yet. So, when she noticed an approach, her attention was redirected readily -- more so once she realized it was Charon.

Her tail swayed slowly and she regarded him with a customary greeting of a low whuff. She knew he had been keeping plenty busy, they all were to keep things moving forward, and it had become time to regard him as equal -- a dynamic she had never tested before, so was curious to see it play out in the weeks to follow. Otherwise, she wondered what had brought him and said so with a curious cant of her head.

Charon was glad to find Amekaze's scent trail and once he did, he started to follow it. It was fresh, and he hoped that meant that she was nearby. He quickened his pace until Amekaze came into view, a cheerful smile on his face as he was greeted with a wag of her tail. Charon felt his heartbeat quicken as he approached and bumped his nose against her cheek in greeting.

"How's things? Did you find our missing wolves yet?" Charon was already getting accustomed to calling Amekaze's wolves his wolves too. He hadn't yet worked together with anyone on equal rank, let alone at the very top of a pack, but Charon was looking forward to working with Amekaze as he thought them a great team already. And he adored Moonspear; living on a mountain was coming a lot easier than Charon had thought. "I met Lex the othe day." He wanted to meet the other Sunspire wolves soon too, but figured it'd just take time. Soon enough he would get to know all of them, and they would fall under his and Amekaze's combined rule of Moonspear.

She mirrored his greeting, licking back across his muzzle and nudging against the ruff of his neck before she withdrew. Less and less, it occurred to her to eyeball his injuries as the scars hardened and it was just part of the rest of him. She was glad to see that his healing had gone smoothly, even with how busy he had been not long after the injuries.

"I did find Nishu.. and as I feared, they had been separated in the storms with her injured. He was looking for her still." He still was, and she sensed he wouldn't stop until he found her one way or another. "He went due north from the flatlands and I have gone south along the Sunspire range plus all around close to here. He seemed to think she would be near some mountainous terrain.. something about a cave," Ame frowned and sighed. Not the best outcome. But better than nothing at all.

Regarding Lex, she was pleased to hear this. "Ah, he is new. I ran into him when I was searching for Rain.. and he has been back and forth from the Spire a bit to help clear things out there," she reported. "Jace and Echo have been scarce, the latter especially." This was another problem she'd noticed, but the dark-coated female had never seemed entirely too attached. Amekaze had thought her to be excited about the idea of a move, for the slow days on the Sunspire had likely grown tiresome to the female who thrived on social interactions more than the introverts.

Charon wondered how special this Rain wolf had to be, if Nishu would spend his life, if he had to, searching for Rain. Ame had spent a lot of time searching for her, too. She had to have been someone that'd been with them for a long time. It reminded Charon of the time Atreyu had gone missing after the bear attack. He'd searched too, although luckily Atreyu had returned home (just at the moment Charon had thought maybe Atreyu was gone, dead, and would never return).

Lex was indeed new, something Charon had already heard from him, but was good to have confirmed. Still, fresh blood was welcome (if they stuck around, Charon bitterly thought, thinking back to Adya) and they were beginning to collect enough wolves to have a healthy start to their new pack, and therefore a strong winter ahead of them. The only thing they needed now was to create some more team spirit and bonding between all the separate wolves of their pack, but that would come soon.

"I lost some too before the move to the Bay, but we gained some followers as well." So all in all, things weren't that bad, even if they could be better. And even Thistle had packed up her things and had come along, despite her initial anger at the situation. At least losing Saskia would skip the awkward explanation of Charon about her thrall-ness. He knew not every pack had the same traditions as Stavanger Bay did, and Ame might've thought it weird. "We'll have a strong heart, with the loyal wolves at the core of both our packs together. That's what's most important. I can't wait to meet Nishu... And hopefully Rain, Jace and Echo." Charon smiled confidently, as though he were a psychic and had already seen into the future that everything would be just fine with Rain.

So it had been similar for them, too. She was most worried about Echo disappearing entirely, as it seemed the most likely and the other nearest reality was accepting Rain as gone forever. While she was not to that point yet, she had to be realistic here and understand it was coming unless they made real headway on their searches.

"We will, and we do, already." Even with her wolves scattered a few not seeming all that eager on the transition based on their scarcity, they were already better off than they had been before. "I hope you will have a chance to meet them soon. Many of the Spire wolves are used to our relative solitude and small numbers, but I think they will come around." She was citing Jace mainly, with Nishu and Rain as a slightly separate case. Ame still didn't know how Rain would receive the news of the move. That was still pending but if she was injured, she probably would not have a big choice on the matter. Here they'd have resources. Elsewhere? No such luxury. "I plan on one last good trek out for Rain, and I want to make it count." Perhaps after then, he could meet her and Nishu both.

"I myself am.. ah, interested to meet Thistle." As the former alpha, Amekaze knew it could become complicated if the matriarch pressured matters any. She knew so little about her so could not make a good judge of character. "And Atreyu, even if I have seen him around plenty.." A white, three-legged wolf was hard to miss sometimes. They had shared space now and then but never conversed and she respected his apparent want to keep a bit of watchful distance. Or so that was the impression she got from him. She wouldn't push it, though.

Charon nodded as Amekaze explained about the Sunspire wolves. Charon hoped to meet Jace soon, as well as Echo — if she intended to come round over to Moonspear, anyway — and, of course, fate permitted, Nishu and Rain. Charon almost offered to join Amekaze in her final search for Rain, but then decided against it. Someone had to stay here to guard the fort, after all, while Ame was out searching for the remainders of her pack and bring them home.

It was understandable that Ame wanted to meet Thistle, and get to know Atreyu better. Thistle had been absent, to say the least, and Charon wondered if she'd fall back into her old behaviour again, sinking into depression while thinking of all she'd lost. He worried for her, though it also confirmed, to him, that he'd made the best decision. "I can imagine," said Charon. "Atreyu's been a bit broody, but he's a great wolf, you'll see. Loyal, too." Though it was perhaps that very loyalty that was posing to be a problem, now. His loyalty to Thistle; which Charon understood, but he knew that they needed to move on. Atreyu knew, surely. He'd get past this, sooner or later, and direct his loyalty in the proper direction.

"I'm glad Thistle's come along, though haven't seen her much since. I guess she just needs some time to herself." Now that she was no longer Alpha, she could have that time to herself. How things'd turn out in the end, no one could tell just yet: only time.

A bit broody? She canted her head and made note of this, wondering if that was perhaps why she felt less inclined to shove her presence onto him. She did hope what Charon said was true.. and it had been, so far as she could see from the distance Atreyu kept for now.

However, Thistle.. she had even less of a read on. She'd at least seen Atreyu here and there. Evidently Charon had not seen much of her, either. Ame nodded thoughtfully. "Mhm, so it seems.. which is understandable. I hope she warms up to it all," since from her point of view she seemed reluctantly understanding. But Charon had unseated her from her position... although she evidently let it go without too ugly of a struggle since the freckled yearling had never mentioned any details suggesting so.

The notion of a former alpha, one de-ranked not necessarily of her own choice, could pose problems if the matriarch decided to make it happen. Amekaze understood the potential here but could not say how likely it really was since she knew so little of Thistle. While she did want to find her way to Thistle's good side (enough to potentially foster real camaraderie for she had no qualms with her), any shade of real insubordination would be sure to rile something up. "Had she led the Bay for long?" she decided to ask. There was a fuzzy period in her knowledge of the coastal pack, one sometime after it split from the Ridge -- which Ame had once kept a closer tab in based on her vague interest in the pack once many moons ago. She knew of Ragnar by name but nothing else and couldn't help but find herself curious in their pack's history, especially now that it was half of Moonspear's roots in a way.

Charon nodded, hoping that Thistle would see the necessity of it all. He knew she did, in some ways, but in others she still seemed upset. Charon liked to think he had a good enough grip on her to know that she loved him — so she'd never purposely hurt him by hurting his pack or his position — and that she knew, somewhere deep inside, that this was right for the pack even if it wasn't right for her Alpha position. Still, Charon felt that this was for the best for everyone, Thistle included. She needed the space and the breather, the break from responsibility.

Ame asked about how long Thistle'd lead the Bay, and Charon realised that he didn't even know how long, exactly. He knew some of the details regarding the history of the Bay, but not all. "As long as I can remember, she's always been Alpha alongside Ragnar." And that was fine, until the day that Ragnar died and the weight of the pack became too much to carry for Thistle's shoulders. Too much to carry alone, anyway. Charon thought bitterly that if his adoptive mother had seen his potential, perhaps he would have allowed her to stand beside him as Alpha still. But she had not yet. She had insisted, and perhaps she still thought this now, that he was not ready yet to be an Alpha. A surge of pride rushed through Charon as he looked at Ame and realised where he stood now, by her side, as rightful Alpha. Ame saw his potential and strength as Alpha.

"The wolves of the Bay moved there from some other place," Charon said. "I don't remember where from, I wasn't there. My real mom was there too when they moved, and Thistle and Ragnar were already Alphas then. So I guess it's been real long." As far as Charon knew, anyway. The question lead to one on Charon's end: "How long have you lead the Sunspire, anyway?"

Ragnar was a name that had floated about in the stories of the Teekon for quite a while. She'd never known him, never sought him out since there had never been a reason to, but time and again it seemed he managed to pop up more consistently than many others. Now that Charon elaborated on a few aspects of the Bay's recent history, she understood a little better as to why Thistle had let the strength of the pack slip as she had. Losing Ragnar was probably a huge part of it and while it was understandable on a certain level, Amekaze could not empathize deeply.

"I could be wrong, but perhaps it originated in.. Horizon Ridge?" she mentioned, mainly because it had been something to consider. "I used to have an interest in the Ridge, as I knew its founding alpha, and almost joined it once since I was living as a coastal loner back then." Akhlut had captivated a much younger Ame in a way few had ever managed as a wolfish manifestation of the sea itself to rightly appeal to her interests at the time. She had wondered more than once what it would have been like had she joined him. "But the alpha I knew disappeared, another rose up, and I lost touch with them when I moved inland. I had heard they relocated further down the coast.. which would make sense.." And given Charon's age, it was reasonable that he would not know for sure. She knew her information was pieced up at the very best, so that was why she had advised him to not take it as the absolute truth.

Anyway, on the Sunspire, at least her history was accurate. "A year, roughly." She had risen in the autumn, although the exact time was hazy since she had been.. distraught over Ferdie's leave. Remembering it still made her uncomfortable. "Our first alpha, Ferdie, went missing suddenly and I stepped up unchallenged. We were left to assume cougars had something to do with his loss, and we never found more than blood and a vague scent." And so that had been that. From there on out, Ame had led the Spire and done what she could to keep them afloat.

Charon bobbed his head as Ame spoke of Horizon Ridge. It was possible that they had lived there before — he wouldn't really know. It was a weird thought that they had lived there before. He'd spent so many days exploring the Ridge, never really thinking it might be a place that others had ever lived; let alone his own relatives. It also reminded him of how old Ame was, though he didn't mind. Her years of experience weren't necessarily a bad thing in his eyes. Charon couldn't imagine Stavanger Bay under anyone else's rule, as it had always been steadfastly in the Loðbrok family's grasp as long as he was alive.

A year was such a long time for Charon that he couldn't help but looked a little awed someone to be Alpha for that long. Apparently it was circumstances that drove her towards stepping up as a leader, and not ambition, like in Charon's case. He liked that, because though Charon thought ambition was a good thing to be driven by, he appreciated it less in others than in himself. It was good knowing all this history, and Charon nodded as he took it to heart. He hoped there weren't many mountain lions here at Moonspear, though he never met any himself. It was perhaps one of the first times in his life that Charon considered dangerous animals nearby a bad thing instead of laughing at the challenge and thinking he could easily punch their faces out.

"Do you know much about the other packs around?" asked Charon, curious what she could tell him that he might not yet know. "I know of a few, but not really super much. I know from Redhawk Caldera from Dhole. My uncle leads a place called Lost Creek Hollow in the far east, but it's on the other side of the Sunspire. Oh, and I know someone from Blackfeather Woods. I've never been there, but it's somewhere to the east, before the Sunspire though." Charon knew little else about the packs, knowing individuals from each pack and not really knowing a great deal about the way they operated or what they stood for. He suddenly remembered: "Oh! And Silvertip Mountain, which is led by Fitz. I know him, we've visited each other at times back at Stavanger Bay. I informed him about Moonspear, too."

In detailing the history like this, she realized how long it really had been. To her, it didn't seem like that much time had passed. Life on the Spire had been quiet with each day much like the one before it. It had been easy for them to bleed together as they had but through it all, she believed she had become greater. At first she had been wary of herself in such a position since she'd not felt "ready" in the truest sense of the word, especially to embark on it by herself essentially. Sure, Jace had been there, but she knew it would have been much different had she stepped up alongside Ferdie, for example, instead of only taking his place because he was gone.

But her focus went elsewhere, now towards the packs of the region. Charon covered many of them already it seemed, especially the nearest ones which were decidedly the most important. She nodded along, finding that most of her knowledge matched up. "Blackfeather is closer to the mountains, and they have been there a good while now but usually seem to keep to themselves. There is also a mountain pack not too far from them as well though I cannot say I know much of them. I have met just one of their wolves.. They were well south of the Spire, and a more recent presence as I know.." They certainly had not been there early in the summertime and she didn't know where they came from. "Silvertip I know mainly by name, but have met one of theirs weeks back, who was formerly from the plains pack that was short-lived.." She had mentioned Alpha Fitz too, but Amekaze did not know him herself. "Redhawk I have interacted with very little, mainly because I have had no need to and one of their alphas was formerly the leader of Swiftcurrent Creek -- the pack Ferdie was ousted from before he founded the Sunspire, and some bad blood followed that. But that was so long ago it hardly matters now," she mentioned.

Charon nodded when Ame mentioned Blackfeather Woods. "I only ever met Potema from Blackfeather Woods. She's a little younger than me." He figured that she had been born in that pack too, but he'd never really asked about it, assuming that that was how it was simply because he'd been. Charon wondered if the mountain pack Ame mentioned was the one that Dhole had mistaken Sunspire for at first. "I think that mountain pack's also called something-spire. My friend Dhole met one of them once." Charon didn't really remember what they had been like, thinking back; he just remembered Dhole saying something or other about them.

It was interesting to hear that there'd been some bad blood between Swiftcurrent Creek (from which one of the Redhawk leaders came) and the Spire. Charon knew little of the Creek though, never really having heard much about them, but he nodded anyway as he took the information in. You never knew when it would come in handy. "Wanna get something to eat quick, and then do a patrol to make sure no one's getting up in our business?" Charon asked. Now that they were all here, they should work on solidifying their claim by doing the usual rolling around in and on stuff and peeing on things along their borders. Soon this place would be officially theirs and they could howl to let the world know — until then, Charon's daily routine consisted pretty much of drinking, eating and patrolling while marking their borders.

want to finish this up and have a more recent one sometime? :D

yess, sounds good

The name Potema meant nothing to her for now, although it could be useful later. The same could be said for the other mountain pack being a Spire as well. "Perhaps. They probably do not want much to be known," she reasoned based on her sole encounter with one of theirs, who she did not even know by name. After all, she had never been overly public with information about the Sunspire either. It was easy to be secluded in that mountain range.

On the next shift of subject, she nodded readily and shook out her coat before taking to motion. She began to sniff out meal possibilities, and would head towards the borderlands in due time.