Moonspear sentient arcanum

By some bizarre stroke of luck, she was back to three puppies (what seemed like the right amount for this litter) with everyone healthy with four good limbs on them. On the whole, Galaxy was mending well from them thinking she was gone and probably dead too; so she ought to find no complaints. Amekaze was, in truth, a might bit unsettled by the bear's possessiveness over the starving wolf pup--as if she needed more reasons not to trust the creatures. She tried not to dwell on it, but something about the image of her daughter caught up in a literal bear hug was sticking around. She only wanted to be further away from the memory, and hoped time watching the brood grow up on the mountain, alive and well, would ease it away entirely.

Nevertheless, Charon was with the trio so she was free to prowl and find something better to do than stew on the matter. First she had passed over the rendezvous site to make sure it was all alright, and it was.. just as her mate had said so soon they would be moving. She was glad, despite all the recent upset--it all had to work out in the end because she wasn't keeping them nor herself tethered to a den much longer. Anyway, next she defaulted to the borderlands and headed down the slopes that way. It was a good enough place for her to burn off some frustration, and do work, all together.

! for korei !

Korei had headed for the border. After her fight with Charon, she had been thinking. Only thinking about what she could do...and one of those thoughts had drawn her to the border. 

She did not notice her mother, not until she was right there at the border as well, just a little down from where korei was at. She felt like talking to her mother, she had not done that for some time. Yet, then again she was not sure if Charon had told her about the fight. So, instead she moved halfway across the distance.

When she did finally reach the borderlands, she clicked neatly into stride and rhythm. Before she delved too far, she realized she was no longer alone here. This brought her to a brief pause, mostly to identify who it was--and, then relax when she realized it was Korei.

But, this brought a weighty undertone. She was not privy to the details of their most recent blowout, but the tensions recently running high between the pale-coated black sheep and Charon (plus Hydra too) were not something she was able to overlook. However, her involvement only went so deep, especially now with Galaxy back among them alive and well; she did not blame her to the depths they did, although could agree she would do well to find her strength and then some if she intended to rally effectively among the rest of her littermates--no matter how different from them she seemed sometimes.

Amekaze didn't say anything to acknowledge her quite yet, but peered at her intently to gauge her status in silence and softly waved her arced tail. Next, she gestured with her muzzle down the route she was pointed on before in subtle suggestion: join me? She could find out more along the way if so, and maybe, decide how it was she was going to handle it then.

Korei watched her mother. Her mother waved her tail, Korei waved back in return. Then, she nodded, hesitantly. She still did not know if her mother knew of what had happened between father and daughter. She kind of hoped that she didn't, but her gut told her that mother knew already, considering her mother and father slept in the same den. 

She trotted over to her mother's side, remaining silent. She gave occasional glances up to her mother as she caught up to her, tail hanging low.

As far as she was concerned, simply put: she knew enough. Although it mattered little to her here suddenly, when she was just glad to have her accepting her invitation and coming closer. She chuffed softly to show this. "Yours is not a face I expected to see down here on the borders," she said through a small smirk. If it was any of her almost-yearlings, it was usually Hydra who appeared to shadow her patrols. Then again, since the puppies had been born and just before, she'd been tending the rounds personally less--something she desperately wanted to see shift soon.

Early on, the dark alpha knew Korei was bound to be different and as they grew, this translated and manifested in a few curious ways that she believed all played into this here and now. Charon had always been strictest on her, not that Ame could often disagree--but had it helped or hindered, she could not say. Still, when her pale daughter joined up beside her, she felt better; a step in a good direction, so she lengthened her stride, chock full of purpose to rove the borderlands. The company was welcome and, they were now two sets of eyes and ears on the task. "How are things?" she asked with just a quick glance over her shoulder. The question was vague enough for Korei to steer it where she pleased, Ame felt. Otherwise, her attention was forward, following her nose along their marked edge.

Korei almost opened her mouth and let loose the reason for herself being near the border, but she quickly closed it after. She couldn't tell her Mama why she was out here, she didn't want to make her upset. She instead remained silent, until Mama asked her a question.

"It's going okay, Mama...I've been teaching Galaxy things" she added, putting a happy feeling over her more saddened mood.

Deep down, she did worry for Korei in ways the pale girl had no idea about. This only made it more difficult, this whole everything with Galaxy falling, tensions running high, and her perpetually low spot among the pack standings.. and Amekaze often wondered what her approach should be. What would be enough? Just okay? "Oh? Good.." she said, pausing long enough to sniff the ground a little more. Subtly her muzzle scrunched. "Hopefully she is a mindful student for you. What all have you shared?" she asked--unsure if maybe she'd heard some of these details, just in a more scattered shape, from the younger girl. Although admittedly, Ame was personally more invested in making sure she mended in full and without any ill-effects from her bear situation. But, so far, the girl seemed quite resilient and well on the upswing.. yet ever the skeptic, it was not easy for the dark alpha to shelve all the concerns about it just yet.

Korei's ears twitched as her Mama spoke. She glanced up once, then averted her eyes to the ground and kept them there. She nodded quickly. Galaxy was a pretty good learner, in Korei's eyes. Reminded her of herself, with all the questions. And that, she did not want. She thought anyone like herself was...well, she couldn't put a word to it right now.

"She's good at learning...Taught her about the Big Dipper. And Little Dipper." And how to avoid annoying Papa. Thinking about Papa, she felt that a question was needed. "Did Papa...has he told you about..." She couldn't find it in herself to bring it up, and instead cut it off immediately. "Nevermind."

She did appreciate the positive report and rumbled softly through a short nod. "Nice. If you feel like tolerating him long enough, you can teach Jarilo stars all you would like. He can be a bitey on a bad day, though." the dark alpha lamented, half warning, and half veiling her permission to give it to him rough if he was too annoying--because that was what she did, anyway. For him, her patience was short but he was a curious subject to her nevertheless.

Her ears flicked and she glanced back to the pale daughter, curious to the turn of subject. Although she tried to put it away, Amekaze didn't intend to let her so easily. "He tells me many things," she mentioned. Her hint was far too broad for her to know where it was pointing, although she suspected it had to do with their bad vibes recently. "About.. what?" she pried.

Korei liked the idea of that. She had not met Jarilo, except on that day when she saw all the newer pups after they were born, when she and the other members of the pack were invited to see them. She had yet to see just how 'bitey' he was.

However, Korei's ears fell a bit. She didn't want to point it out exactly, but this was her Mama she was talking to. She trusted her, and got no treatment that she saw as unfair to herself from Mama. Mama was kind to her. "Papa and I...we had a fight." There was no scratching, or biting. Only hurtful words had been said. "Do you...ever fight with Papa?"

Amekaze felt the heaviness of her next exhale. "About what, exactly?" She had a pretty good idea already, and it likely wouldn't be anything new that she wouldn't come to expect knowing them both as she did with everything that had happened. Ame had not been too pleased about it all either, but she was looking past it and wanting to move up and onward.

Initially, she couldn't decide if she liked Korei asking about whether they fought or not, yet would respond all the same. Duly noted. She wasn't to err towards vaguely uncomfortable. How bad had their fight been? "No.. we do not fight," she answered thoughtfully. She might have had her moments in the past of wanting to throttle him before, but the good had long since outweighed the bad. With him beside her, she had a covetous lifestyle, and the fact that she'd not done away with him after this long spoke well enough. "I mean, we do spar sometimes, because I like it--but I do not think that is quite fight as you mean it now," she replied softly with a small hint of humor, since the girl wore so signs of such and she knew how ruthless Charon would be if pressed to it. That didn't seem like him, though, not even for Korei, lowest on the totem pole of his daughters. "I do agree with him often.. more than I have any other wolf I knew in these wilds. I also know he can be harsh on you, but he does care.." Amekaze explained, even prior to knowing the other details yet.

Korei refused to look her Mama in the eye as she thought of how to answer this question. Really, she had just had enough of being looked down upon, and her emotions got the best of her. She had never been more angry in her life. And she was upset that it had been her Papa that she had released her anger upon.

"I got angry...He just keeps looking down on me, and I..." She didn't want to say that she had had enough of it. That she had snapped. She pasued when Mama mentioned that she knew papa was hard on Korei, but that he also still loved her. She knew that, but sometimes in her mind, it got a little hard to. "....I thought he called me a loser...It made me angry."

It was obvious this subject had Korei distressed.. none of which she liked to see, but neither was she a master at easing such matters of the heart. She tried to keep moving on her route and keep her patrol going forward.. although to hear this, it was slow and definitely fading from the forefront.

Her ears fanned back and expression hardened. "Even if it was a misunderstanding," which she thought it was based on her phrasing.. unless Charon had called her a loser. This was believable enough. His tongue was sharp and maybe Korei's skin was not tough enough to withstand a lashing from it, especially right on the heels of all the other distress around the mountain. "It is understandable to be angry about that. No one wants to hear, or think they hear it. But.." she replied, eventually slowing up more. Maybe that said enough--maybe even if he had not said it outright, she'd drawn the connection. "Do you think getting angry over it helped you any?" Could she channel it into something constructive? Was it good for her to get it out of her system? Prior, she had never shown her a need to but now suddenly she was left to wonder. "It seems to be weighing you down. I am sorry," she shook her head.

As for Charon looking down on her, she felt like addressing it when she finally paused fully to look over her shoulder to Korei. "He has always had high expectations for you all, and your sisters set a high standard. He wants what is best, I know, but what is best for you may not be the same as for them. However you have to show him it may be just as worthwhile.."

Korei began to stray behind, her legs moving slower than her mothers and her strides shorter. She missed her mother's expression hardening. Her Mama spoke of it being a misunderstanding, and that she got why the younger wolf got was angry. Had it made her better though, that she had gotten angry? In all honesty, it had not. "N...no. It didn't, I felt terrible Mama! I never wanted to get angry at Papa." Although she had taught Galaxy about the stars, but she wasn't sure if that had any connection to how she had felt. 

Korei glanced up in time to see her Mama looking over her shoulder, continuing on about how Papa expected high things from her. "I know...And I try, I do...But what can I do when I can't hunt, can't fight! What can I-" She stopped herself, taking a deep breath to calm herself before she got into another fight.

As she had suspected, anger did not seem to suit her--made in her feel terrible, in fact, so that was another piece for her to consider. She nodded slowly, thoughtful, as she tried to devise how to make Korei not feel so badly about this. The whole topic seemed to stress her out quite badly and truth be told, this was not what the dark alpha was used to facing. "I know, I know. But it happens. You only have to rebound from it best you are able, and be better because of it.." she said. Maybe now the anger had made it something she realized more clearly now.

Sensing this to be a more soured subject for the speckled girl, Ame proceeded tactfully. "Look, I am sure there is plenty you can do, maybe you just do not know what it is exactly yet. You already said you have taught Galaxy stars--is that not something?" she asked, peering back at her sincerely. Maybe she did not see it as such, or maybe it was not the sort of something she wished to do? Ame could not yet know. "Everyone starts from the bottom, too. Even the best fighters, scouts, scholars, or hunters had to learn and practice and want it." Although she did believe wolves possessed a natural inclination towards certain skills, her point remained valid enough in that motivation was key for a finely-honed, skilled being.

Korei looked away as she thought about these words given to her, this adivce from her Mama. Could she? With others like Mama to give her talks like this, and how Terance had comforted her with his words, she was beginning to think that she could.

"Yeah...I guess I can teach Galaxy about stars..." But was it useful to the pack? It seemed her only strength so far was learning...some things, at least. 

She was thinking to herself, pausing in walking for a moment. She needed to learn. To practice...To want it. She felt determined to do this. It was a small feeling she felt, but in time, with the right nurturing and talks like these to keep her going, that feeling would grow. Into something bigger. Once done with her thoughts, she quickly went to catch up to her Mama, nuzzling her shoulder. "Thank you Mama...Thank you."

She nodded slowly, building momentum gently as she did. "And that may just be the beginning. Study the stars, study the weather, the earth around--or take on even more puppysitting or storytelling, who knows. It is all connected, so do not let yourself get constricted by one single thing. Keep going," she mentioned, wanting to inspire the golden-eyed daughter to find what made her feel happy, strong, and useful, and build upon it.

Her tail swayed gently as it seemed to work for her. "You are welcome. Glad it helps," she purled, and leaned against her fondly momentarily. After, she quickly swiped a small kiss over the bridge of her daughter's snout. She believed in her, still, and loved her as dearly as always. Even with all the unsavory tensions circulating from Galaxy's fall, she did not think of her as a lost cause. Should she learn from all this, Amekaze held to the hope that it would be alright. All the same, she chuffed softly, and moved on down her patrol once more.

Korei smiled up to her mother as she nuzzled her shoulder, feeling a small kiss on her snout. Her tail wagged at the feeling. Then, she started to head off, she had many things to think about today. But just before going, she reached up to plant a kiss on her Mama's cheek. "Love ya, Mama" she said before going off on her own.