Silvertip Mountain the storm approaches

He's calling for Fitz, but since Andrea's on absence and the pups are happening any day maybe @Mason or @Steady can fill? :D

Though Charon'd wanted to go to Neverwinter Forest first — it was closer, after all — he decided to skirt around it towards Silvertip Mountain instead. That way he could see if he could smell Jorunn around the outskirts of Neverwinter Forest, and anyway, maybe Fitz would somehow appreciate it. Besides, Charon was a little unsure about confronting things at Neverwinter again; it was where the Frostfurs lived. He hadn't liked Scimitar's frosty demeanour all that much, even though he did adore Eshe. So anyway, this way he could avoid going there a bit longer.

Not that he was looking forward to potentially meeting Mason again if Fitz and his mate were too busy with the pups, but hopefully the boy had learned his lesson after last time. The tables were turned, but Charon did not intend to submit to Mason; this was Fitz' mountain, he and his mate's. Tipping back his head, Charon called for @FitzDutiful , and then he waited while birds chittered around him to announce the morning and the skies were painted in pinks and oranges.

Fate had a funny sense of humour. Mason heard the call but didn’t immediately recognise it; that voice had made an impression of course, but he had not heard Charon’s specific howl, and he had other things on his mind. Beta he was though, and Zaria was about to pop. Mason happened to be with his Dad, and he nudged his father’s shoulder – “I got this” – and loped off. He would call if he needed help, as his dad well knew.
 
Mason approached the borders with a free and easy step. It faltered when he scented Charon. Great he thought internally. He edged on more cautiously, finally spotting the freckly pink-tinged Alpha lingering near their borders. Mason had a shot of fear flutter through him – had Charon come to complain about him?
 
Mason plodded forwards, coming to a halt a few metres away from Charon and gazing at him keenly. He knew that the line of respect he had with the other male was thin at best – he didn’t want to stamp on it and cause more issues for his father right now. Mason kept his posture similar to what he would with Steady – not dominant, but not submissive. Charon wasn’t on his lands. Sure, he was near them, but Mason didn’t expect Charon to splatter himself on the floor in submission. It didn’t occur to him yet, the irony that this is what had happened at Moonspear.
 
“Hi. Dad’s pretty busy; Zaria’s going to give birth any day now and he’s trying to make sure she is comfortable and safe.” Mason’s fluffy fur rustled in a slight breeze as he gazed at Charon and wondered what he wanted. He may as well ask: “I can pass on a message?” And then it occurred to him that maybe Charon had been to visit Neverwinter like he had promised he would. “Or if it’s important I can call him down – he can come if you really need him. We didn’t realise it was… you.” He finished lamely. They had thought it was probably the average visitor, not Alpha of a nearby territory – that was evident in his tone, and he felt uncomfortable now, having to deal with this sort of situation. Mason yet again felt a stab of uncertainty about being a Beta. It didn’t escape him that this only appeared to happen around Charon, though.

thanks for joining :D

Charon waited, his posture neutral and his tail hanging loosely at his hind legs; he was a visitor here and so did not carry around his usual air of dominance. Although he was enraged by what had been done to a wolf of his pack, he was not going to manifest it on Fitz; his relations with Silvertip were far too good for that, anyway. Much to Charon's disappointment, it wasn't Fitz that showed up at his borders. When he saw Mason approach in the distance, Charon felt his hackles raise but momentarily, but he forced his anger away and kept a neutral position as well as face as the Beta approached. Charon had expected him to be all uppity since the tables were now turned and Charon was near Mason's land, but to his surprise as well as pleasure Mason remained fairly neutral himself. It seemed that the boy had learned a lesson that day, after all.

It made sense that Fitz would stay with his mate — Charon would've done the same if it were Amekaze — but it pleased him somehow to hear Mason ramble on about how they didn't realise it was Charon and that maybe Fitz would've popped by himself had he known. As if he was some sort of VIP around Silvertip, or something. Enjoying the feeling of being important, Charon smiled confidently at Mason as he said, "No worries, you can pass him on a message. Do any of you know a wolf named Goober? The weirdo attacked one of my wolves, so I want to track him down and see him brought to justice." Charon hoped that Mason knew of this Goober wolf, because that'd make things easy, but throughout his angrily trotted journey towards Silvertip he'd realised that maybe it wouldn't be as easy as he had imagined to track down the guy as all he had was a name.

Mason watched Charon, who appeared appeased if not quite pleasant. Perhaps he could turn around their terrible relationship. Did he even want to? Mason wasn’t sure if he did want it, but he supposed it would be better than having animosity with an Alpha. He licked his lips as he listened to Charon’s reply. At the thought of another wolf attacking a Moonspear wolf, Mason’s fur bristled in disgust and anger. Safe here on his mountain, fear did not currently factor into his feelings.
 
“I will pass on the message. I don’t know this wolf. Who did he attack?” Mason had a worrying thought – what if it was Floki, who had been so kind to him? Mason added “what does he look like? Someone might’ve seen him from a distance.” Although, unless he had an unusual marking or gait, it was unlikely to be foolproof. What the heck sort of stupid name was Goober anyway?

"Dhole, but she's fine now," Charon said. He knew that she wasn't 'fine' and that things might never be 'fine' for her, but he didn't want Mason to know the specifics of the attack that had taken place and so he decided to play it off as something small. It was bad enough as it was for her. Charon didn't even really expect Mason to know Dhole at all, for somehow the wolves he knew outside of his pack were bubbles that only he knew of, in his mind. He didn't even know that Mason and Flóki knew each other at all.

"She doesn't remember what he looks like, but a name like Goober ought to stick out when you do run into him, I guess," said Charon. "Dhole's still recovering, maybe she'll remember more later." He hoped to run into someone else who knew about this Goober wolf first, though, so that he would hear from someone less confused what the dude looked like.

Dhole made no impact – had he known that this was Wildfire’s formal name, he may have been more concerned. It was clearly a traumatising event for Dhole, if she couldn’t remember the specifics of the wolf in question.

Mason eyed Charon quietly, inquisitively, as he continued. When he had finished the teen politely interjected with: “I’ll keep an eye out – I’m gonna go down towards Broken Antler Fen soon and I’ll let you know if I find out anything. He could’ve been lying… about his name?” He finished tentatively. It could be that they had deduced this in another way than Goober giving it, but if he had given it, perhaps that was why it was so stupid – it was fake?

Charon was pleased that Mason was going to help them. He mentioned Goober might've been lying about his name, and though it was a possibility Charon didn't really like the idea too much. It would make their search pretty impossible and so he decided to dismiss it for now. "Nah, I'm sure he wasn't lying," said Charon, though more out of self-preservation — knowing his search was moot if it was true — than actual reason. "Thanks for the help! I'm going to head down to Neverwinter Forest to ask Eshe for help, too." It was then that he realised that Silvertip had been at odds with Neverwinter last time they met and he wondered idly, "How's things between you guys, anyway?"

Mason felt a bit betrayed when Charon spoke about swanning down to Neverwinter next – clearly, he didn’t stick to his offer of potential help. Mason shrugged it off internally because he realised Charon probably didn’t want any beef with anyone if he could avoid it. “They’ve stayed away, so that’s all I care about really.” Mason hestitated, and decided against speaking about how much he disliked them still, because he worried Charon may inadvertently pass on the message.

“I take it you visited?” Mason’s tone was as pleasant as he could make it, but there was an edge to his voice. “Did they say anything about us?” Any insider info would help his siblings’ safety.

Charon didn't even realise that Mason might think poorly of him for befriending Eshe. He didn't even think that his friendship to Neverwinter would infract with anything he had promised FitzDutiful, because he'd still help them if he needed to. No matter how hard Charon had tried to hate Eshe for being a Frostfur, it was just impossible. Charon looked at Mason as he answered rather neutrally, then asked if Charon had visited.

Charon thought to hear some displeasure in there, but he wasn't entirely sure and he didn't really want to pick a fight with Mason at his own borders — however interesting it would be to see if he could make Mason submit even here, to drag the humiliation out further and teach Mason that Charon would best him everywhere. He had more important things to attend to, however, and so he stuck to the essentials for now. "Yes, I did visit them. They just want peace too, as far as I could tell, so I don't think you'll have to worry about moving if you're cool with up-close neighbours." Charon shrugged, since he didn't really care much about the subject, then decided he needed to get a move on. Every second counted, because Goober might've already fled the area. "I gotta go now. Say hi to your dad from me." Charon turned away and, unless Mason had anything more to share, disappeared towards Neverwinter territory to further his quest for the slaying of Goober.