Stone Circle On the look out

While here Howl had had some time to meet others of the pack and explore the territory. A good few encounters to get him settled in before he could start really considering himself a member fo the pack. And with that somewhat self given title he thought he should start acting like it. He had been fueling the cache with some small catched in the past few days, but there he really thrived was scouting and mercenary work. Still being farely new he didn't want to leave so soon, so he took to patroling the border.

Aside from watching the border and making sure the scent marks were up to date, this would give him a good chance to encounter those of the pack comming and going. He might come across some of the more scout worthy member of the pack or simply those that liked to wonder the territory that he might encounter on his rounds. In either case he watched over the border vigilently.

With her health still not quite up to par all she allowed herself to do was patrol the borders daily, sometimes even multiple times a day. After seeing the stranger by the borders she had felt spooked and upped her own patrolling, feeling the need to watch and protect the pack even though she was quite sure there was no threats coming. 


She was out patrolling again as usual when she caught wind of a scent she had smelled around the pack recently but had never met the owner to put a face or name to. She followed it quickly and came upon howl,offering a low chuff of greeting. Forgetting her injury she attempted to wag her tail and only got a slight wiggle of her nubby tail in response. "Hello, we haven't met yet" she said stating the obvious in what she hoped was a cheery sounding voice.

Neither comming or going Howl comes encounters a black female with silver like accents and a facial pattern that reminded him of a racoon - not that there was anything wrong with that. She smelled of the pack and so he didn't think that she could be any possible danger to the pack. He took a pause from his patrol and nodded to her, introducing himself. "I don't think we have either ma'am. My name is Howl. I'm still rather new. Haven't had a chance to run into everyone yet." he said with a smile in his gentalmanly tones voice. Another part of her appearing that his eye, or rather didn't catch his eye, was that she was missing most of her tail. He wondered if she had been born that way, or if it had happened through other means. Something he would hold of asking for now.

Illecebra flicked her ears at his introduction and offered a friendly smile back "I'm Illecebra, but you can call me Cebra. I've been a member for a while in total but I was gone for a few months...long story" she said and her eyes darkened as the face of the BFW kid she had been brutalized by came to mind and the moments of her injury played on repeat.  Realizing she had stared off into space for a few moments she cleared her throat awkwardly and motioned for him to follow "if you want we can patrol together?" She offered.

"It's nice to meet you Cebra." he said, taking into consideration he nickname. He offered he a similar friendly smile and nodded when she offered to accompany him on his patrol. "Sounds great." he said before continuing his patrol and walking by her side.

He was interested to know what this 'long story' was. After all he didn't have anything really pressing to do and had the time to hear it. "So what is this long story if you don't mind me asking. I've got nothing but time on my paws for now." he asked. Wanting to get to know her better and see what she was like.

She moved along beside him and gave a soft sigh of displeasure even though she figured he would have wanted to hear it. "Well...me and my mate Mawk came to Easthollow with our three children,Burr,Rowana, and Cyron. Cyron went missing about a month or two before winter and me and Mawk went to track him down. After finding his whereabouts but failing to retrieve him... blackfeather didn't want to give him up..we set out to return." She paused as she remembered the scent and the way the borders were strewn with gore and bones at Blackfeather Woods. 


Clearing her throat she continued on. "I was distraught and quite out of it after failing to save Cyron and I fell behind Mawk and got lost. I gave up for some time and refused to find my way back instead growing Ill and weak by myself in the winter. I ended up coming across a blackfeather wolf and attacked him, getting my ass whooped and then I came home" she said finishing with a sheepish glance in his direction. "I'm..not Normally so foolish.." she murmured and rubbed her fur against a tree trunk to leave her scent before continuing.

So this was Mawk's mate, good to know, Howl thought. He listened to her story and felt a bit of the pain she must have felt. Even though he had had virtually zero time with his children he had loved them just the same and knew the pain of not being with them. After listening to the story and emathizing with her more then considering her to be foolish he responed. "I don't think it's foolish. You were trying to get your family back. Got alittle disorientated on the way back her, but all in all very unfoolish to me." she tried to assure her.

"So they didn't want to give him up. Does he want to stay there? Is he safe there?" he asked, thinking that if her child was in any serious danger there would be no way she would be back here at the Easthollow borders right now. He found a bit of cyote scat and burried it.

Illecebra turned to look at him for a long moment, eyebrows lifting with surprise as he seemed to genuinely understand where she was coming from. This comforted her in a way that simply being home hadn't done yet and she smiled genuinely for the first time in a while. 

However the conversation took another painful turn and she sucked in a shaky breath her face falling "they were very vague...we aren't even sure he's alive. At the time it was me and Mawk, if we had tried to fight our way in it would have ended badly. But....when I'm healthy again I'll be speak to valette. I know blackfeather is having a war right now but...I want my child" she said firmly her eyes flashing with anger.

Not knowing the state of her child had to hurt the most. After all, if your children were head you could go through the stages of greif and cope with it in the end, but not knowing much be really painful Howl thought. She knew that they had him, or at least had him at one point and now there was a war going on. Howl just thought about a small pup being involved with someone elses war. Possibly put in danger, and if things got down to it why would they risk their lives to protect him if they got into trouble. 

Howl didn't know the boy, but he could imagine what Illecebra was going through, and he didn't wish that upon anyone. "I see... Well when you are better and go to talk to her, I'll go with you if you like. To talk to her or to help retrieve him. No child should be away from their parents against their will." he offered.

The offer surprised her and she stared at him for a long moment before giving a slow nod "I appreciate that...me and Mawk will definitely bring it up again however with the war it would only bring attention to Easthollow, I doubt Valette would allow it until the wars settle down" she said sadly. She would probably make the same decision for the pack if she were in valette's place but still...leaving Cyron there until things calmed was risky for the boy and torturous for Cebra to handle.

Hmmm... Ya. Lets have Howl learn of the war.

She took into consideration his offer and when the time was right they would speak to Valette about it. But...? What...? War? Bringing attention to Easthollow. He had to take a moment after she spoke to see what it was she was talking about. "I'm sorry, war? Is there a pack that wants to fight Easthollow?" he asked oblivious to the current news going around the Wild during his lone roaming.

Illecebra balked her good ear shooting up with surprise as she stared at him in shock. He didn't know? "I...well. all I know is that a few packs closer to Morningside are at war with each other and while we aren't nescessarily at danger, we don't need to draw attention to Easthollow. The pack that stole Cyron, Blackfeather Woods, is at war with..I don't actually recall the other two packs. But yeah...it isn't good" she said trying to explain. She hadn't been there for the announcement but had heard it around and gotten some details from Mawk as well. "Maybe by some miracle Cyron will escape while they're busy with the war" she said trying to brighten up the conversation with some hope,but her words were weak.

When she mentioned Morningside his heart began to beat. Even though he had left that pack, he still cared about those that lived there and to hear that they might be in a war, or indanger of falling inbetween a war made him tense up. He quickly thought it over as she spoke. Would they be able to defend themselves. He couldn't remember anyone from the pack sparing with him or remarking about their fighting ability. Had he left them exposed. 

He listened to what she said on the side and before she spoke of Cyron's possible escape he had to ask, "I'm sorry. Is Morningside involved?" he asked in a rather serious tone.

As the topic turned back to her child he calmed down and nodded along. He had to focus not on here. Not his past or Morningside, even though he could still care deep down.

She caught his question and tensed up "I hope not. I pray not. Burr is there healing a broken leg. Unfortunately I don't know, they do neighbor Blackfeather don't they?" It was a question that worried her greatly. She knew Sunny had moved there too but she hadn't known the child, so her only concern was for her own brood.  She flicked her one good ear back and stared off into the distance for a moment "Maybe...Maybe I should go to him. Try to stay with him incase they do attack there" she murmured mostly to herself.

Another one of Cebra's children not with her at Easthollow. But at least for Burr she knew that he was in good hands with Pema there. She spoke about the pack's procimity to Blackfeather Woods, but from Howl's experience there were multiple packs between them and Morningside which put him a bit more at ease. "They are both in the kintla flatlands, but on opposite ends I believe. Blackfeather is closer to several other packs. As long as they don't get involved I don't see why they would make the effort to go that far." she said encouraging Cebra and himself in the process.

When she mentioned going to visit him Howl had no instant reasons why she shouldn't though he didn't really think it was necessary. "I suppose you could. But I think he is in safe hands. Pema, there healer is probably doing a great job healing his leg and Grayday always seems to have everything in order." he stated.

She nodded at everything Howl said, her eyes staring thoughtfully into the distance over the borders. He mentioned many names she wasn't familiar with, Pema and Grayday. She assumed Pema was someone who would be charged with caring for Burr since she was mentioned as the healer. Grayday sounded like their Alpha. She noted this information and sighed softly. Howl seemed intelligent and sound of mind, and she found that she liked him and trusted his judgement. "It sounds like you know them more than I do...if you say he'll be fine there then I believe you" she said with a small smile.

Howl may accidently know more about the situation as far as where Burr was and his apriximity to danger, but he wasn't going to fool himself into thinking he knew exactly what the state of Morningside would be. He had an idea of how Day would handle it but much must have change since his time in the pack, but he wasn't going to voice this opinion to Cebra. It wouldn't only intise more worry and fear for her child, something she already had enough of. He returned her smile as a way of agreeing with her before continuing on their patrol.

Fade?