Hushed Willows in the hollow heartland

Since his sister's fall, he had only withdrawn more. Once the initial mourning of this had passed, he learned to work his days away better bit by bit. At least she lived.. albeit barely, and seeing his mother despair for her as well only came as salt to his wound -- but with time, he eventually learned to turn it into motivation when he could wallow no more.

He wanted to balk at the sheer amount of misfortune the little Ostrega family seemed to find so consistently, and yet all he found he could do was stare stone-faced back at it, blank and hollowed out by all his sorrow. So, since he could do nothing else, he worked. Hunting, tracking, and occasionally a silent sentinel posted nearby his sister's resting place, he was doing well to keep out of the way of things. He felt like time alone, at least not immersing himself in the pack socializing all that much, was all he could handle.. and besides, he wanted little to do with Amara's puppies (a matter he'd not been keen on since the start, and much less so since Larkspur's injuries) anyway and everyone else seemed to have their own doings. He simply did not want to participate.

Just like right now, loitering on a reluctant path leading him towards the Crook, he was around -- always quietly putting his extra catches in with the pack's stocks, and watching over the woods in his own little way.. but never was he out to make a noteworthy presence for himself. Not right now. How could he?

Silas exhaled a tired huff of a sigh, and plodded forward stride by stride.

The days grew shorter and colder, yet none of this had any apparent effect on Tambourine's spirits. He continued a relatively blithe existence in the Keep, aware of the less savory aspects of life but apparently impervious to their mental and emotional impact. He was happy, more or less, and tried to do his best to spread gladness among his pack mates when he saw them. Strangely, he saw a lot less of them than he would have liked, especially considering their communal den space, but luckily the young wolf was pretty good at keeping himself entertained.

But today he was legitimately bored and in dire need of some company. He swung by Amara's den but found the space strangely empty. Although baffled by this, he supposed she must have taken her children on a stroll or something. Tambourine shrugged and went on his way, traipsing about the willow woods for a while before finding himself crossing paths with the pack's eldest pup. Only Silas wasn't a pup anymore, was he?

"Hi, Silas," the Xi greeted, his voice upbeat but his demeanor not nearly as loud or obtrusive as once upon a time. Although age hadn't worn on his optimism, it had tempered his social skills a bit. He noticed that his young pack mate looked a little down and queried, "Are you all right?" His tail waved as he regarded his fellow youth, pale eyes brimming with genuine curiosity and concern.

Then he abruptly remembered about Larkspur. He felt guilty because her condition had entirely slipped his mind lately, though now Silas's careworn expression made sense. Furthermore, Tambourine was now self-aware enough to recognize the idiocy of his own question. His ears fell, abashed, and he muttered, "Sorry. I forgot." Um. "Can I—how can I help?"

The sounds of someone else lifted his head, effectively shaking loose a few of his more soggy thoughts. Although he'd once been far more leery of the pup who'd once been mostly just obnoxious, Silas didn't exactly feel any of that here and now. The distraction was welcome enough and he meant to flip his tail a bit to suggest that he wasn't opposed to this, but didn't quite get it done. "Hey Tam," he greeted, sounding tired as he did.  He'd not really spoken much recently, either, so he supposed that didn't help.

"Uh.. yeah, just.." the juvenile began to sputter, and thankfully before he could really get anything resembling information out, it seemed to have clicked for Tambourine somehow. Silas certainly didn't question it. It saved him trouble in the long run so he just nodded slowly when he apologized.

But, how could he help? He knew something bitter would come to mind if he let it. He'd asked himself that very same question far too many times lately, only to come up horrifically short. "Are you doing anything? Would you.. wanna just maybe track stuff with me for a little while?" Some company could even be good? He peered Tambourine's way, realizing he didn't even know if he had any skill or remote interest in the matter at all; Silas just wanted something to do, and something he liked seemed best. It had at least jumped to mind first, especially when the other thing he did most of the time was lurk on his ailing sister. Inviting Tambourine to that sounded pretty crummy. "I don't plan to go very far but was thinking if I found something easy, it would be good to do.." he spoke on quietly, and glanced away.

There was no immediate connection between the ailing Larkspur and tracking, not that Tambourine could see, but maybe they would eventually procure some food for her or something. In any case, he wasn't doing anything in particular and quickly nodded. "'Course!" He paused, then felt the need to add, "I'm not sure I'm that good but I can help." Hopefully his enthusiasm would make up for his lack of experience and skill.

He looked to the older boy expectantly, gray tail waving, eager to help Silas and Larkspur both. It occurred to him that maybe they wouldn't even hunt for her, that maybe her brother just needed something to do with himself and get his mind off Spur's state. In that case, Tambourine would really put in an effort to be good company.

Tambourine agreed, and Silas felt a little rush of relief. Thanks to him being familiar, a constant, he'd warmed up considerably to the boy's company over time (also with the help of both of them maturing along steadily) but the dark Ostrega would never really be the best at outright expressing this. The fact that he could be somewhat at ease around him was not something true for most..

Silas mustered a little tail wiggle -- a silent thank you that would perhaps go missed, but he didn't fret on it. "It's okay. It's usually not too difficult," he tried to encourage now knowing what he did. However the mechanics of tracking tending to come naturally enough to his experience. Good at or not, Tambourine could probably handle it. "Lots of sniffing.. listening, you know." he gestured, beginning to plod off while being careful to find a trail that would hopefully stay within the whereabouts of the Crook. Since his going was initially kind of slow, it gave him ample time to pick with scrutiny. "I usually do  though, so I may not be the best at giving any pointers.." he said over his shoulder by way of his little disclaimer before returning his squint into the woodlot ahead of them.

His nose and ears worked just fine, so Tambourine nodded, feeling confident that he could at least cover the basics. Mostly he figured he would observe Silas and take his cues from the older boy. In fact, he did that now. As Silas squared off with the stretch of woods just in front of them, Tambourine licked his lips and watched him carefully, mimicking his stance, from the arch of his head to the stiffness of his tail. When he figured he'd nailed it, he looked down at himself and smiled with satisfaction. He definitely looked the part. So far, so good.

"Ready whenever you are," he said gamely.

He slipped readily into his role as tracker, and there, he was cozy and knew what he was doing. On the trail, some of his unease and wound-up nerves seemed to slip aside. But, it was all in favor of business. He kept half a glance on Tambourine, although trusted he could figure it out. "Have you ever hunted birds before?" he asked rather abruptly then turned his ears out sheepishly before verbally clarifying: "I mean, I was just thinking.. I usually catch rabbit, and thought Larkspur might appreciate some variety, but I don't really understand how to track or corner them very well yet." Silas couldn't help but glance for the treetops then with the mention of birds, skimming along to see nothing before he put his nose back down to the ground and jogged on. Buchanan had laid out the basics for him, but efforts to really put that knowledge to good use had all fallen pretty flat. Silas, feeling a little encouraged by company, thought to try something a bit out of his ordinary if he could.

Silas led with confidence and Tambourine happily followed, still trying to mimic the older boy's demeanor. The question about capturing birds distracted him a little and he fell a bit out of form as he tried to jog his memory. He couldn't recall ever catching a bird or even making an attempt, though he did remember a time or two he'd made the mistake of going after bees.

"How can we hunt something up so high?" he asked with genuine curiosity. He didn't see how they could hope to either track or corner something with wings. He felt bad because he agreed that Larkspur deserved some variety in her diet. But if Silas didn't know how to snare a bird, then Tambourine certainly didn't either.

He followed Silas's gaze upward. Indeed, there were birds flitting about up there, well out of reach. How could the two of them get them to come down here? Tambourine didn't have the first clue, though he looked speculatively at his partner, wondering if he had any ideas.

He pressed on and on, eyes forward and ears flicking to and fro. "Gotta wait for them to come down, or make them.." he replied, wishing it could be done as easily as just running them down. He tried to understand the places that brought them down but.. easier said than done. "I'm still trying to figure that out, exactly.." he sighed, because that was one big work in progress that a little more experience might carve into something more earnest. "I watched Buchanan do it once, and it just worked. He made it look really easy..." the dark Ostrega explained. The mechanics of the hunt were the same, but aerial prey's added skills dialed it up to hard mode for him still.

Silas moved their path on to slightly warmer trails, content enough to chit chat -- so long as he could keep at least a good portion of the topics related to the hunt. He was in slowly improving spirits, and whether or not they actually found anything, he eventually didn't mind. The distraction, some easy company, and he got plenty.

an end bc old but <3