The Heartwood is to see the sky

terance and @Rannoch pulled away from the group, scouting ahead to maybe find some lunch or... well, terance wasn't much in the mood for hunting, but he would if the opportunity came along. the redleaf-disarrino boy was still rather hurt, and trying not to take it out on his friend, who had explained his half of the story. he couldn't force himself to be mad at rannoch anyway, so he buried his feelings and tried to keep an straight face. his nose twitched, not scenting anything worthwhile, and turned to his friend. 

"how far do you think we're gonna travel?" terance asked, ears cupping forward. surely only a few days travel, he assumed, but who knows? maybe rannoch had plans to get months away from moonspear. that thought broke terance's heart-- just a bit, he hoped rannoch wouldn't say that.

"Only a few more days," Rannoch promised as he looked at Terance. The group was making excellent time, and Rannoch didn't foresee them diverting much from the route that he had proposed. 

The snow had tapered off recently, allowing the worn travelers some relief from the precipitation. Rannoch fell silent for a moment, letting his paw steps upon the fresh blanket of snow to be his only contribution to the conversation. 

"I'm not sure if any of my pack remains at the Vale," he said after a considerable pause, speaking on the thoughts that he considered in his silence. "But, I guess we'll see." Would they even want to settle in the Vale? After all, despite the protection it provided, Rannoch had found the upkeep of the territory to be difficult; it was too much real estate for the number of wolves in his pack. 

"I'd be down to scout the neighboring territories," he mentioned.

terance eyed his friend curiously, tail waving. "is that where you wanna settle?" he asked curiously. terance himself had never seen the vale, he didn't know anything about it, but he trusted rannoch fully... so if that's what he wanted he wouldn't fight it. "i'd like to scout out surrounding areas," he admitted with a shrug, "i really liked living at moonspear-- the mountains and all that, but you know i'll settle wherever you wanted to."

Rannoch shook his head in reply to Terance's question. "No," he confirmed, "I don't mind scouting out other territories." In his last venture in the Kinita, Rannoch and the rest of the Vale members had not had the time to properly scout the area. "I'd actually prefer it." 

When Terance shared his idea location, Rannoch nodded. "I'd like that, too," he admitted. "It feels strange not being on a mountain." Although Rannoch had only been a member of the mountain for a few months, he had already grown accustomed to the rugged terrain. 

"Did I ever tell you how I found the Vale?" Rannoch asked as he glanced from the path ahead to look at Terance.

"it's closer to the stars," terance said quietly, kind of not meaning to say it out loud but feeling so comfortable around rannoch that he just couldn't help it. besides, it was something that rannoch perhaps could've inferred on his own. then, rannoch said something that peaked terance's interest. his ears pricked, and he looked to his friend curiously. "you haven't," he replied, his nose twitching, "how did you?"

Rannoch smiled at Terance's sentiment. "I want you to be happy wherever we go," he elaborated, "So I'll make sure that we're as close to the stars as we can be." 

Rannoch had told Terance some genuinely ridiculous stories and, the one involving Harold was no exception. "A bear chased us out of Hoshor Plains. We ran until we were nearly over the mountainside that protects the Vale." He could vividly recall the panic that had overcome him; with was a miracle that they had all survived relatively unscathed. "We kept climbing after that, and when we got to the top and saw what we had found, we knew we were home." Rannoch smiled fondly at the memory. 

"I'm not sure I'll feel the same way when I see it again," Rannoch admitted after a pause, his smile fading, and his pace slowing as he spoke.

rannoch didn't need to do all that for him, terance just wanted everyone else to be happy-- he was only one wolf. but he appreciated the sentiment, it meant a lot. he reached to nudge his friend's shoulder to show that. 

"a bear??" terance then repeated, brows furrowing, "what's with this side of the wilds and bears? god damn." what horrible creatures, terance didn't like them one bit. but he took the story at face value, not questioning the truth behind it-- why would rannoch ever lie about that? or lie in general? terance had no reason to think he was. his next comment, however, was interesting. "why not?" the yearling asked, ears twitching.

Rannoch shook his head in reply to Terance's statement; he had no idea why this area was so densely populated with bears. If it were up to Rannoch, he would get rid of them all. 

"It's been a while since I've been to the Vale," he admitted, "And I'm not sure that the right fit for us." Although there was nothing about the Vale to complain about, Rannoch knew that he was amongst different wolves with different needs. 

"I think we need to send a scout to search the surrounding mountains," he decided with conviction.

terance wasn't sure how to answer, so he just nodded. it made sense-- it did-- but terance wasn't sure why rannoch didn't think it would be a good fit. but he believed him.

"we could send wraen," he then suggested, ears pricking. he glanced at rannoch before looking past him, nose twitching. he didn't like sending wraen out into the world-- especially after that cougar situation-- but he knew wraen had an interest in scouting so... maybe it would be a good fit. "and someone else, i don't want her to go alone," he added, despite knowing that wraen was fully capable of handling herself.

Rannoch nodded thoughtfully as he considered Terance's suggestion. Besides Liffey, Wraen was the best scout that they had, and he was confident that she would do excel in exploring beyond the group. 

"Perhaps Bernard?" he recommended. "If she runs into any trouble, he'll be able to handle it." 

terance nodded-- that was logic he could get behind. but something stuck out to him and he couldn't keep from voicing his concern. "what's up with that guy?" terance asked his friend, his voice sounding a little accusatory but that wasn't how he meant it, "i mean, he followed us from moonspear... followed wraen, more like... is that weird?" or had terance just not been paying enough attention to his sister to notice how close they were?

Terance's inquiry was unexpected, and for a moment Rannoch wasn't sure how to reply. Rannoch delayed his response as he attempted to find the best way to answer his friend's concern. 

He fell short. Not wanting to keep Terance waiting, Rannoch speculated, "Didn't Wraen introduce him to Moonspear? If she did, maybe he felt more comfortable going with her than he did staying?" he shrugged; Rannoch hoped that his perspective would ease Terance's anxiety.

terance couldn't remember, he only knew that he had fought bernard at the borders. his ears flicked, and he let out a soft sigh. "no you're right-- sorry, everything's just... freaking me out the last few days. i gotta just chill out," the yearling admitted, shaking out his fur. still terance wondered if there was something going on there... hm. 

"wanna head back to the group?" he asked, ears flicking forward. he was over it, mostly, kinda, well not really-- but surface level terance had moved on. his tail waved at his hocks, expression normal as ever.

Rannoch recognized Terance's anxiety, and his expression softened as he looked at his friend. "Hey, it's okay," he assured his friend, "A lot has happened, and these things take time to get used to." Although Rannoch appeared composed on the surface, he was just as anxious as Terance; he had no idea what would come of their deviation. 

With Terance's acceptance evident, and Rannoch was relieved to see that Terance had bounced back quickly. "Sure," he replied as he poked Terance's cheek. "We should probably start to slow down for the night and find somewhere to sleep and hunt." 

his tail waved. "good idea," he replied with a smile, he could go for a long ass sleep right now. all this traveling made his shoulder hurt-- and he wasn't helping himself constantly going out of his way to scout out new wolves for recruitment... but... whatever. and then with a bow of his head, terance made the playful gesture, "ladies first!" to which earned him a playful nip at the nose from rannoch, but ultimately rannoch did go first, because he was quite the lady. and so rannoch led the way back to the group, terance beside him becoming sleepier and sleepier by the second.