Cedar Sweep I went to blow the fire aflame

Set during Saena's journey from Silver Creek to Larksong Grotto. @Finley

Saena's pace was rapid as she crossed the expansive King Elk Forest and the plain that stretched between it and the distant cedars. While she knew the journey would take at least a week and a half or longer from experience, the woman wanted to shorten it as much as she could. To that end, she intended to travel briskly and for as long as she could handle. She practically jogged across the field and entered the cedar in record time, only to find her progress slowed by the density of the woods compared to the more open forest near the creek.

Already she could feel her frustration mounting, and she had many miles to go. Keep it in, she thought to herself as she hopped over a half-rotten log. She would need to channel her frustration, worry, and pain into anger when she finally came face-to-face with the ex-mate she'd hoped to never see again. There was a chance that he would try to kill her, and she needed every vengeful feeling she could muster to ensure he fell first if that happened.

So wrapped up was she in her thoughts that she didn't notice the root underfoot, and only realized she'd fallen when her chin hit the ground and began to bleed where the skin split.

Finley was agitated as she passed into Cedar Sweep. It had taken her some time to find a safe place to cross the river that stretched between the Strath and the Sweep. She'd had backtrack to the South until the water slowed to a manageable pace. Even then, she'd searched until she found a place in the river where some debris had become caught against a line of rocks that reached from one edge of the river to the other.  This was where she had chosen to cross. This was also where a branch had slipped beneath her paw and caused her to fall into the river.

Luckily, she hadn't been swept away by the current and had made it safely the rest of the way across. But she had gotten quite wet, and she was not overly pleased with that. The forest was thick with shadows making it cool and dark in many places - quite an uncomfortable combination for a wolf who was soaked to the bone. As time passed, her fur dried, and yet the chill remained firmly latched upon her veins. She hadn't found any trail of Lucy or her captor yet, and it was that more than the forest around her that caused the shiver along her spine.  And the severe agitation, of course.

A disturbance in the forest (lol see what I did?) caused Finley to pause. She narrowed her eyes in suspicion while simultaneously sinking down towards the ground. It was highly unlikely that whatever was making this sound was the same creature that had taken her Lucy, but Fin wouldn't risk it. She crept forward as quietly as she could until finally, the noisemaker came into view. Her heart froze upon sighting her, but not because this was the wolf she sought, but because this... This was that one bitch.

Fin stood to her full height, staring curiously through the brush at Peregrine's.. was she the eldest? Well. Junior was dead. The other one was... What even was that one's name....... Well whatever. Peregrine's daughter from his first litter. Except this one wasn't his, was it? He adopted this one after his.. whoever... had died.....

Good lord, his family was complicated.

Long story short, this was one of the bitches that had made her recovery at the Plateau a real shit time. The girl before her was hardly a girl anymore. She was obviously larger, and there was age apparent in the lines of her face and the tired squint of her eyes. Or maybe Fin was just bitter and exaggerated non-existent flaws. Whatever the case, she stood still for a moment, torn over whether or not to approach. Certainly, this girl had no love for her and likely wouldn't willingly be helpful even if she did know something. She'd barley turned to leave when Lucy's little face popped into her head, and she heaved a sigh as she began to walk towards the dappled female, knowing that she would never forgive herself on the very slim chance that Peregrine's whatever-she-was might be able to provide even the tiniest sliver of help in her search.

"You're bleeding," Fin commented as she came to a stop within a few feet of where the woman had fallen. She canted her head slightly, pondering until it finally came to her - Saena. Her name was Saena. And with any luck, she had grown out of her self-absorbed sucky-ness.

With a groan, Saena pushed herself up off the ground and waggled her tongue in an effort to reach the wound. She couldn't quite bend it past the crook of her chin, though, and so the blood was unfortunately left to pool and drip until the bleeding stopped. Great, she thought bitterly. As if she wasn't easy enough to track, now the scent of blood, however minute, would follow her up into the mountains. She could only pray that the abundance of mountain lions in these parts was less than in her previous homes, lest she draw them like sharks to a frenzy.

Saena's head rolled to the side at the sound of someone approaching, and she had only a few seconds to look over Finley before she spoke. She was a fairly standard greyscale wolf, light of belly and dark of saddle, with coppery brown eyes. Wholly unfamiliar to Saena, who had no idea the sort of thoughts going through the other female's mind in relation to her. Finley and she were not much different in stature, though Saena was willing to bet the other wolf was older than she was.

"Really? I had no idea," she replied sarcastically, but there wasn't any hint of recognition or hateful venom in her tone. The sarcasm came purely from the pain in her split chin and the other wolf's unhelpful comment. Finley was a perfect stranger to Saena, a perfect stranger who didn't seem to have anything better to do than point out the obvious to a disgruntled wolf down on her luck, it seemed. A completely unfair assessment created by her annoyance with herself, but Saena wasn't well known for her fairness when it came to others. "And you're not. Did you come down here just to tell me that?"

Finley's droll comment was met with sarcasm, but not the outwardly vicious kind that suggested that the woman remembered her hatred for her. She narrowed her eyes slightly and canted her head, hesitant. Saena had been young when they'd had their little bitch fight, if you could call it that, and the only reason you wouldn't would be to spare Fin from the fact that she'd had a bitch fight with a child during the earlier years of her maturity adulthood. Perhaps enough time had gone by that she had forgotten Fin entirely. Or maybe the span of time they'd known each other had just been too brief in the mind of the once-child.

Either way, Fin was absolutely going to cash this check in so long as she could get it signed. Hell yeah non-descript metaphors.

"No, not really," Fin replied slowly, still trying to test the waters to see if they could maybe skip past the whole awkward history portion of this meeting, "I actually just came to see what the noise was. Thought it might be a free meal."  She was sorely tempted to say more, but she held back for the moment. If things moved forward more amiably, Fin was completely ready to go ahead and pretend they'd never known each other. Hopefully Saena wouldn't realize the connection between them until after Fin was gone, and the Blackthorn could skip on off without adding another bitch fight to her history record.

The female plopped her rear end on the ground heavily and expelled a light puff of air from her lips as the weight of the rest of her followed. She panned one ear to the side to survey the woods whilst the other, along with her eyes, remained suspiciously trained on Finley. Something about the wolf caused her memory to niggle persisently, but try as she might, she couldn't fish out the specifics. She figured that Finley just resembled someone she'd once known, but she couldn't place a paw on it, and only dwelled on that a little while longer.

"Yeah, well," she grumbled, "I ain't no free meal, and I need to go." She got roughly to her feet, attempted to shake out her fur and rid it of the debris she'd picked up off the ground, and stumbled to the side. The impact of face and dirt had discombobulated her more than she realized, and for a second she stood there, light-headed, staring at the ground with her ears twitching back and forth. Even when the feeling began to clear she still felt unsteady, and lightly dropped to her haunches once more. "Soon, anyway," she grouched to her companion, who was at this point probably as unwilling to hang out with a grumpy Saena as Saena was to waste valuable time here.

Still nothing. Fin wondered over it as Saena continued to treat her like a complete stranger, but soon enough she was giving an inward shrug. It didn't particularly matter if the girl remembered her or not, and it seemed to be working in Fin's favor that nothing had clicked in her memory yet. She seemed to have somewhere urgent-ish that she needed to be, and Finley was all about giving her something to keep an eye out for on her way if she didn't prove to have any useful information herself.

"Well, I won't take up your time," Fin replied, "But I do have a question for you, and a request that I hope you'll consider." She paused as her previous wariness slipped off of her shoulders to be replaced by a tension that had nothing to do with Saena and everything to do with the fact that Finley did not particularly enjoy the feeling of vulnerability that came over her when asking for help.

"My daughter is missing," she started, her gaze shifting down towards her paws as her ears slipped backward, "She was taken from my pack by a black wolf with red eyes. You haven't by chance seen anyone that matches that description? She's only two months old." Fin felt the plea enter her tone and fell quiet, raising her eyes back to the other wolf.

Saena readied herself to leave at the tail end of Finley's first statement, but she was halted by the second. Had she been any younger, she might have rolled her eyes, but instead she turned, tense in her own way, to listen. She was glad she did, for her ears popped forward and her features creased into something resembling empathy as Finley outlined her predicament. After all, Saena knew exactly what that felt like.

"Are you sure he has red eyes?" was her first question, but it came out a little inappropriate and abrupt, and she snatched back her ears as if her very tone scorched them. "Sorry, I mean... me too," she said unhelpfully. "Both of my daughters. Their kidnapper fits your description, only his eyes are brown, not red." And, unlike Finley, Saena knew exactly where she could find this kidnapper. Maybe there was a small chance that Reek was even more crooked than she believed he was, and had taken another child from somewhere.

If she thought back to Regipre and Sart, and if she wondered where they had come from, it wasn't too farfetched an idea. Her ex-husband was anything but morally straight. "Look," she breathed, unable to hide a pang of sorrow for the possible fate of a child only two months old, "I'm going to get my daughters back. I know where he took them. Maybe yours is there, too. I'll keep an eye out. What does she look like?"

Fin hadn't expected her to say anything more than I'm sorry, I'll keep my eyes out. She was not an optimistic creature by nature, and though she had all the faith in the world that she would find Lucy, it was not her confidence in her luck with strangers that made her feel that way. She would find Lucy because she would not rest until she did. She wouldn't find her because some random wolf she came across would be like oh hey yeah I saw that dude.

And yet... Saena didn't use the exact wording, but it still took Fin by surprised. Her expression grew serious and thoughtful at the girl's words. "My son said red, but.. he's the same age as her," Fin replied, wondering. Lagan had described the kidnapper as a monster, which was probably not the most accurate description to go on. Perhaps the red eyes had been an embellishment as well. She had not considered it before, though now it seemed so obvious that anger at herself swelled in her chest.

Fin had no idea what exactly she was talking about when she continued. Apparently Saena was going to get her daughters back, from someone she knew, and from a place she knew of. It was cryptic and strange, but Fin couldn't have cared less about the shortcomings of the delivery when the other female suggested that Lucy might be with him as well. "She's all black with blue eyes, and she's tiny. Like, smaller than average," Fin said, remembering every feature of her little girl's face with a painful clench of her heart. "Would this guy have taken her? Why? Why does he have yours?"

Much of what Finley said received noncommittal nods from Saena. After all, she wasn't one to comment on whether or not someone else's kid had got their memory of a situation wrong, unless it had something to do with her. She was the last wolf qualified to talk about memories and how warped they could become, anyway. She was unable to recognize the twisting of her own memory at times. It was what Finley asked that grabbed the cream wolf's attention, and she sighed softly.

Despite the niggling sensation in her brain that there was something about Finley she should remember but couldn't, the woman had a right to know. "Their good for nothing father," she answered, "and I don't know if he had a reason to take your daughter as well, but he might have. It wouldn't be the first time he took a kid, thinking he was doing it a favour." She again remembered the coyote pups, and grimaced. "He took them because he doesn't understand boundaries," she concluded, although she believed it was much more than that, all stemming from his inherent greed and perhaps a desire to get back at her for doing what she felt was right, "but I'm not sure what motive he may have had if he took your girl, too. It's possible, though, so I'll keep my eyes open. Where should I go if I find her?"

So their father had taken Saena's girls. Finley frowned, considering. There was a clear motive behind his abduction of her kids. If there had been no motive, she might have had an easier time believing he was the one who had taken Lucy. But why would he have grabbed Lucy on his way to kidnapping his own kids? Or had he snatched Saena's daughters, then decided to steal hers because the first kidnapping had gone so well?

But Saena seemed to think there might be a reason for her ex's actions. And if Fin was going to bank her trust, then she would need to reciprocate and accept what Saena had to say. "I run with the pack at Redhawk Caldera, South and a little East of here just past the Moonspear mountain range," she replied, "Where is it you think he went with them? My plan was to continue North until I reached the sea, then head East. If you'll be searching too, I'll try to cover different ground."

Finley's mention of Redhawk Caldera should have raised red flags for Saena, but all she did was nod. As far as she knew, she'd never heard the name before. The same uncomfortable feeling that she was missing something caused the back of her neck to tingle, but Saena dismissed it readily. "If I find her, I'll come to your pack," she vowed, "if you don't hear from me within a fortnight, she wasn't there." After all, Saena had no intent of making a journey for no reason. Heading back to Redhawk Caldera without Finley's pup in tow wasn't very productive.

"He's in the taiga," she said with absolute confidence. She wouldn't have been able to guess where he'd slither off to if not back to his rocky little grotto. The possibility of his leaving the area entirely never occurred to her. She would be pleased to learn it never occurred to him, either. "I'm heading north now," she shared, "so if you wanna keep looking down this way, be my guest. Silver Creek, my pack, hasn't encountered any pups but mine in these parts, though."