Alpine Lake Afternoon: a wreck of paper & coloured ribbons. It rains & rains.

moving thread 1/3, dated march 3rd. this one's optional (& feel free to start your own). apologies in advance for all the tags!  thread titles taken from margaret atwood's "small poems for winter solstice"

hope. a tenative thing, but something the morwinyon clings to nonetheless. there is hope in leaving the forest behind. they (@Mato and delight -- he is not so foolish as to think the others cared nearly as much beyond what is proper) mourned their dead elk, their dead elder, hell, even their dead stranger, if only for the sake of the children he has now been put in charge of. the forest has not been so kind to them. delight can hold their stories close even as they seek out better fortune elsewhere.

he asks @Jomyo to help lead with mato, following their path back across the teekons toward the vale. even if mato's rannoch is no longer there, it seems like a good place to start. he knows mato loves the vale, after all, and maybe they can find rannoch or the others along their way. it makes delight nervous, not having an explicit end goal, but y'know, every part of this journey makes delight nervous. it's a lot to coordinate. he asks @Gracious to keep an eye on @Ramsay and @Euron as they travel, has @Queenie and @Nathaniel on lookout. (he doesn't really have a job for @Mona, @Kota or @Malice, but let's get them tagged in here anyway.)

there's not really a timeline or a need to push hard beyond the anxiety in his paws and the desire to get this over with and get them settled. delight slows as they pass the copse where he first met mato, watching the end of the mountain ridge come into view as they near a large lake. "we can rest here tonight," he tells his wolves, curious how close they are to the pack jomyo's mentioned before. there doesn't seem to be any activity and so delight leaves everyone to get settled, going to catch his breath by the lip of the lake and take a drink. tomorrow they can pick up moving again.

where a broad, glimmering lake spilled into waterfalls was where they paused, not quite out of the tuktu yet. mona had not visited silver creek before they left, hoping to erase her memory of the place; of the expressions on the faces of casmir and rowan when she had turned and run away. 
nathaniel; mona nipped his muscular shoulder gently, stretching one slim red limb after another and shaking out her velvet ruff before sweeping the tindome wolves with her murkwater gaze. the nuro paused when she reached the two strange boys who accompanied the elk-wolf pack; they did not seem to fit beneath delight's delicate rule. it fired mona's curiosity, and slowly as the others dispersed did she begin to slowly approach the melonii brothers, her stance affable and non-threatening.

The move was more stressful than she had anticipated; being on lookout was all fun and games until there came things to actually look out for. With Nathaniel at her side, the two mercenaries were given (in Queenie's mind, at least) the most important job: Don't let anyone die. 

The relationship she'd had with Nathaniel had been a rocky one, so she wasn't in any rush to be grouped into his party, but she thought that it made sense to try making peace with him while she had the chance. If Queenie knew how to make peace, then she might have actually done it.

Delight offered to stop for the evening and although Queenie was grateful, she knew that there wouldn't be much sleep for her tonight. I'll watch, she told Delight, eyes flitting over to Nathaniel to see if he was planning the same thing. Shifts?

minor pp of the ramsay and euron! pm me if you would like this changed!

She knew moving was going to be a hard trip, the path they set a course on was long and probably hidden with perils and dangers. They'd have to be careful where they decide to tread. However, Gracious couldn't be a downer, not now at least, she needed to keep a positive attitude for the sake of the others. While she watched Stephanie and Nathaniel serve as lookouts while Jomyo and Mato led the way, she made sure to stick to the job she was assigned, watching the new children that had appeared with the pack.

"Come along now" she called gently to them, seeing the two brothers become interested more in their surroundings than actually walking. The last thing she would want them to do is to get lost or left behind because they stayed back and out of her sight. She wouldn't let it happen on her watch.

As long as her goal was to guide their route, Jomyo could take to heading the group. She was learning as she went, though. Usually she traveled solo most times, and cutting a path for a whole pack of wolves is a whole new animal than for just her own set of small paws. A new sort of mindfulness was quickly necessary and immediately explored, but thankfully, she's confident enough in her grasp of the wilds to make it almost look like she knows what she's doing.

Thankfully with Mato there too and Delight not far, it works. A touch above her typical sorts of contributions, sure, but comfortable enough among the company of these pack mates as she is, they really did make it easy enough. No one was overly needy (even the suspicious pups, all things considered) so far, they all minded their tasks to help it all fall into place around them, even here on the move. This relative simplicity in such an upheaval bolstered her quietly, so now in earnest, she was starting to get interested (excited?) in what could be next for them.

Anyway, they had recently reached a good stopping point for the day so the ambar attempted to wind down now that it was decided. After a short lap of the vicinity to scope it out and ensure they were mostly alone here, she came jogging lightly back into their fold still in good spirits. She had nothing to report except a bunch of vacant space, so only passed a quick nod to Delight and Mato as she settled in for a little rest.

The ex-soldier remained close to his firebird as often as possible, but the Morwinyon's instruction did not go unheeded when it was given. He shot Mona a gentle half-smile in response to her nip, but the expression was brief and faded the moment the girl turned. With nothing else to do, he ghosted a few steps away, nearer to their leader though it was not his intention.
Nathaniel ignored the strange feeling of coldness as he turned his eyes first to Delight, then to Queenie. He could not deny his distaste for the girl, but her skills as a mercenary were not lacking. This admission was bedgrudging and only to himself, but it earned her the slightest bit of respect. He held his tongue. It was all he could offer.
When the girl's gaze settled on him, he was already looking at her. He nodded once to her, half-wondering if he should let her take the first watch. But with his firebird preoccupied--
Why don't I take first watch? The ex-soldier tried to sound cordial as he made the suggestion.