Blacktail Deer Plateau he ain't heavy

@Grayday

It had been a pleasure, these past few days. With the implication that he would be invited more permanently into the fold with time, Shale had stayed on the plateau, waiting for the return of Grayday and his scouting party. In the meantime, he had made himself as useful as he could--hunting small game for the caches and all that. It felt good to be a small part of something again.

Picking his way through the thick forest in the east of the territory, Shale found himself filled with contentment for the first time. Even without Day here, he had met some wonderful souls, including his own blood relatives--his nieces! It had been a delight.

The gray man sat in a small clearing, eyes closed momentarily as he took in the sounds of the small woods. The moon was a mere sliver in the sky that night, so the light filtering through the trees was sparse and the forest was quite dark. Rather than finding it spooky, Shale thought it was. . .peaceful. Like a womb--or what he imagined a womb was like--save very cold, rather than warm.

He hadn't known what he wanted while on the journey to Morningside, but he had finally made up his mind upon being here, being among these people. He wanted this, he wanted to stay--if Day would have him.

After reconnecting with his daughters and saying an extended hello to his wife, the first thing Graday did was seek out his brothers. Of course, they couldn't make it easy for him and had separated since arriving at the plateau. It'd been so long that he wasn't sure which one was which anymore, but he suspected the trail he was following belonged to Shale, his long-lost littermate.

Well. He supposed he was the long-lost one.

"Shale?" the male called as the scent intensified. "It's me," he added unnecessarily, sure that the other would recognize him, somehow. He padded further along the trail, not quite sure the male was even around him. Perhaps the trail went on for some time. Still, he might as well start calling.

Then a voice came, one he hadn't heard in quite some time. It was changed, true; a little rusty around the edges with age, and the tone altered from the worldly experiences he had not shared with his littermate. But damned if it wasn't his voice.

"Grayday," Shale called out hoarsely, trotting half-blindly through the trees to find his brother. He just about ran into the man, the man who also sought a brother in the dim light of the forest. His brother. Brother.

"Day," he said, voice half-choked, and did what any sensible brother would do in this situation: tackled Grayday halfway to the ground, tongue lolling in happiness. "Day! My god. . .you're here!" He drew back in happiness, only to let slip an astonished gasp from his lips, though regretting the sound the moment it came forth.

Grayday had one eye. He had just one fucking eye.

It wasn't long before a blur of grey fur had fallen on him. The male bristled for a moment, but soon joined in the impromptu wrestling match, hoping it wouldn't be weird for the other that he still smelled like sex and Catori. Soon enough, thoughts of his mate all but fled, and Grayday was peering through the ever-present gloom at his brother - who was doing some peering himself.

"I guess you are the handsome one," Grayday snorted, realizing that a long-standing argument had finally come to and end. His tail wheeled in happiness as he beheld his long-lost twin, pleased to note that his scent was strong and healthy. "I can't believe it's really you," he admitted. "Up until I ran into Spot a few seasons back, I was sure you all were lost to me forever. But now all four of us are in these lands."

His expression grew contemplative, and a little sad. "I heard about Mom and Dad. I'm sorry I wasn't there, Shale."

He thought to ask what had happened, but erupted in laughter instead at Grayday's response, amber eyes sparkling at long last with joy. "I was always on the right side of that debate," he teased, grinning. "You didn't have to give me an even bigger edge over you."

Wagging his tail, he continued, "God, I haven't found Spot yet. But I've met your wife, and your daughter. . .boy, if she doesn't have the look of the family about her," he added, his tone slightly awe-filled. Then Grayday brought up their parents. . .and his heart sank.

"They're gone?" Shale asked rhetorically, his voice sounding frail and almost childlike. Guilt immediately swept over him. He had left. . .and they died. Hardly anyone left to care for them--save Spot, he supposed. But she should have been there. He should have been there.

"I wasn't there, either," he murmured, looking down. "I left last summer. They. . .they were still with us, then."

Grayday seemed to guess at Shale's thoughts. After all, he'd thought the same thing when Sunspot had shared the news with him. "There were children enough around them that they wouldn't have missed us too badly," he promised. "Children and grandchildren and even great-grandchildren, if Spot's to be believed." And they were old. He didn't have to say that for Shale to know. They were old, and it was kinder this way.

"I still dream about Da sometimes," he shared, despite having kept this fact to himself for some time. With Shale, he felt that instant connection that he'd left behind. Sunspot had be different, colder. But Shale was still his brother. "Will you be staying with us?" he asked hopefully. "Spot left a few months ago. She said she'd be checking in. I'd hate to lose both of you after finding you again."

He'd have to see about Murdock. Grayday still had a funny feeling about the older male, despite Valette's assurances that he was quite cheerful these days, and even being friends with pups again.

He nodded, knowing Grayday's words to be true. Their family was massive; their parents would not have been alone in death. Still, the weight of personal failure lingered, creeping and crawling at the back of his mind until Shale smashed it, pushing it angrily aside.

"I do, too," he responded, his voice suddenly thick. "And Ma, and everyone else by the river. I didn't, for a while, after I left. But when I lost. . ." He cut off suddenly, stopping himself and shaking his head. "Anyway. Yeah, I dream of him, too."

Shale's heart lightened considerably when Grayday extended the offer to stay, thanking the gods above that his littermate's pack had room for him. "I would love to, if you'll have me," he said gratefully, smiling. "I asked to stay at Easthollow, but they're full up. Lots of pups to feed, apparently." He thought of Mur's, well, interesting relationship with the alpha female and her children, and grinned wider.

The male's ears flickered at the change in Shale's voice. Apparently, tragedy had struck many times against the Sameth boys. But he wasn't going to ask about that, and he wasn't going to keep talking about Da, either. There'd be time for all that later on when they'd figured out how to be brothers again.

"There were only three when I left," he replied. Three pups wasn't very many, in Grayday's opinion, even if his own could be a handful sometimes. He wondered if Valette had had a reason other than full ranks to turn Shale away, but quickly dismissed the notion. A lot could happen in a few short weeks. "Either way, I'd be glad to have you. We're brothers." Even after all this time.

His throat grew suddenly thick once more as Grayday spoke. We're brothers. Bonded by blood, and would be forever. With a smile of gratitude, Shale nodded. "Then I'll stay," he said, his voice firm.

He soon tired of squinting and blinking in the dim light, and gave Day a wry look. "I'm sort of tired of not being able to see you very well in the dark," he chuckled. "Let's get out of this forest, at least. I'm sure it's even worse for you. You know. . .with the one eye and everything."

Shale started to walk at a pace slightly quicker than glacial, motioning for his brother--and now leader, as it always should have been--to follow. "By the way, that one eye. What the hell, man?" Likely Day trying to be a hero, or some shit.

"Good," Grayday retorted, feeling as though he'd won a great prize. Sunspot might have wandered off, but he felt things would be a bit different with Shale. They'd been closer, while Sunspot had been more concerned with bossing them around. Grayday hadn't been surprised to hear she'd taken over after their mother and father. Unlike Grayday himself, Sunspot had shown great capacity to lead in her youth.

"I don't need to see," the male replied with a wag of his tail, though he obliged Shale anyway and began heading toward a more open area. "It was nothing, honestly. Just a fight on the borders, and when it was over, no more eye. Sometimes it happens like that."

He'd been in far worse tangles, and yet, this minor altercation had left him mostly blind. Life was funny that way. He'd probanly die tripping over an acorn or something silly like that.

They emerged into a more open area, and Shale turned his head to get a better look at his brother. Despite the years marking his face and body--and of course, the missing eye--he looked more or less the same. Which was both an immense comfort and a concern to Shale. Ever since running into Murdock in the maplewood, he had convinced himself that he was merely talking to and running around with the ghosts of his past.

But Day had been a solid body beneath his tackle, Mur's shoulder a comfort as he told the tale of his long-lost Lucy. They were real. And they were here.

"Your children," he remarked absently, face splitting into a grin as he thought of them. Out of the three brothers that had been on the plateau recently, Day was the only one blessed enough--to his knowledge, anyway--to have living offspring. It was a great boon to his spirits, to talk to and to play with his nieces and nephews. "They're wonderful, Day. And more soon on the way, I'm guessing?" he added wryly, thinking of the lovely Catori.

The male was a bit surprised that Shale hadn't heard more on that story, actually. From what Grayday'd heard, it had the pack in quite the tizzy, and it had aparently been talked about by several different parties for several weeks after the incident. For Grayday, it was more of an annoyance. He was infuriated that Lavender had gotten hurt, but his eyesight had been slowly worsening for most of his life. He'd not had much time left with it, anyway.

Shale pulled him back from his thoughts.

"Yeah, more soon," he replied with a wag of his tail, shooting his brother a sly look. "What about you? If you don't have a woman, we have something of a surplus, lately. Pema especially would make a good mother. She's a sweet-tempered girl, loyal and strong. I'd hoped Dawn's brother, Sunny, would fall for her, but it looks like he fell for the road instead."

His own bushy gray tail wagged in response as Day responded, both confirming his suspicions. . .and giving him an opportunity of his own. "Yeah, she met us at the border. She's very pretty," Shale agreed, smiling. "And kind.

"I think Murdock was kind of hoping your lady was. . .well, wasn't your lady. Well done on that front, too," he laughed. "Mur hasn't changed a bit. Has Sunspot?"

He wondered where Spot was, now. She clearly hadn't chosen to stay at the plateau, as he had not seen hide nor hair of her since arriving--and surely she'd seek him out, right? She had always been the bossy one, the mother of the gang. Did she have children, now, too?

The man's fur bristled without his knowledge or permission at Shale's words. He'd known, of course, that Murdock had been eyeing his wife. It wasn't surprising, and he didn't exactly care... but spring was approaching, and his naturally long-fused temper was on a hairtrigger at the moment.

Still, he was able to swallow the anger after a short beat of silence. "Who can help it?" he said, trying for levity and achieving malevolence. He cleared his throat, averting his eyes at the mention of their littermate. "Sunspot is... quieter. Moodier," he said uncomfortably. He didn't want to speak ill of his family members, but he thought he should say something. "Did you notice anything off about Murdock? When I asked her about him - I think something happened between them."

What had happened? Only those two could truly know.

He saw Grayday bristle at his mention of Murdock's interaction with Catori, and vowed never to bring the subject up to his brother again. Mur always did know how to piss someone off, and, well, mating season wasn't too far off. Tensions were high.

But it was his turn to bristle as Day mentioned a possible tension between Spot and the older male. He felt his paws squeeze the ground in reflex, lips peeling back in a half-snarl. Shale had always felt protective of his littermates, above almost everyone else in his life. What had Mur done to her?

"No clue," he muttered. "But if he did something to upset her, and I find out. . .we'll have words."

Grayday shrugged - if there was something going on between those two, he wasn't going to get in the middle of it. Sunspot had always been able to take care of herself in the past, and Murdock had a certain way of making Grayday feel like a puppy again that would make trying to hold him to any sort of accountability difficult. It would be like telling his father to wash between his toes.

"What about you?" the leader asked, hoping to change the subject. He thought it was pretty obvious what he had been up to, but he was curious about how the years had treated his littermate.

sorry for the wait on this! i'm gonna fade with this post

Ah, the dreaded question. How are you? What about you? What have you been up to? Involuntarily, Shale shook his head, throwing off the question. It took him a moment to find words, to reassure his brother he wasn't just being rude.

"Not much of anything," he said coolly, breaking the momentary silence. "Just wandering here and there."

He hoped Grayday would not pursue the topic. Knowing his littermate, Shale thought he would not, and his heart grew a little lighter at the thought.

His nose dipped toward the horizon, an black line against the inky dark of night. "It's a beautiful land, this place," he said, looking back at his brother. "I'm glad to be here." With you, his eyes added. He was, truly, glad. At last.