Sheepeater Cliff I'm only human; you look at me like you never knew that

In the days following his altercation with Sunspire, Ramsay had holed up in the mountains. He hadn't gone far from the pack's borders before he slowed down, favouring his injured leg as he picked his way along deadly ridges and shelves. @Euron had taken off before him and he had lost his brother in the ensuing chaos; even with his excellent nose, tracking the patchwork Melonii in the mountains proved arduous. He didn't dare to go back to Tindome's territory to look for him; the raven-black dwarf was smarter than to think their actions would go unpunished.

And while he didn't much care for the opinions of others and openly mocked the idea of punishment from such soft wolves, Euron was missing. Finding him was of paramount importance. Delight and the others were hardly acquaintances, so Ramsay felt no obligation to return to them.

His was a rolling gait as he crossed over a heaving clifftop with grass and stone intermingled. Lichen coated the vertical services and cracks, while scrub grew close along the ground. The scents and signs of mountain goats were all around, unidentifiable to a forest wolf like Ramsay, but he wasn't looking for food anyway. In fact, the dwarf was far from self-sufficient. A terrible hunter with no teacher and no real need to practice, he was doomed on his own. The hunger had turned to pain, and the pain had turned to numbness; he was shedding weight fast, but had no hope of regaining it without his brother, so Ramsay searched tirelessly in the gloaming.

For @Iliksis and Euron if he's close enough to find Ramsay here.

iliksis favored the cliffs - if only for the reason souls rarely ventured there. he was content with this lot - a wild-man, he made for company when it suited him -- and when he wished to haunt the mountains in solidarity, swept back into the void of timber, dirt, and inexorable stone.

he had not anticipated coming across a scent he knew; the tracks imprinted on the ground confirmed his suspicions, as they were succinctly condensed. curious to find what brought the deformed dwarf of blackfeather to his realm of the world, iliksis followed the tracks until at last he came upon the half-starved, almost-comical form of ramsay.

wordlessly, he pointedly trailed his gaze along the truncated spine of the boy. he assumed euron to be nearby, perhaps even the quiet girl maegi -- but curiously, scented neither in the bitter wind.

He was being followed. Ramsay became acutely aware of it only because of an uncomfortable prickle at the nape of his neck; he spun around suddenly and found he was face-to-familiar-face with a Blackfeather wolf. He wondered if they'd ever gone home, and he wondered if this man had taken over the Brotherhood after challenging Vaati. Ramsay hadn't stuck around to find out. He'd been too concerned with the movements of his siblings, and had believed that Vaati needed bringing down, anyway.

Mostly, he wondered what the man was doing here. Licking his lips, the dwarf straightened as best he could and asked, "yes?" He hadn't found Euron yet, but suddenly wished his sleek brother was around. Two against one was far better, and he didn't yet know if Iliksis was friend or foe. Or food, his hungry belly thought for a moment, and then banished it entirely.

His reflection had kept him away, carrying him away from the imminent death upon that mountain to the quietude of slopes south of the pack that had sheltered him and his brother. His brother — the only thing he was concerned with. He had shared words with his reflection in a small spring, insisting that they had to find Ramsay, but Jyggalag hunted, and drank, licked their wounds and rested, and that was all they did.

Finally, days later, Euron woke to the sensation of being able to flex his toes. He knew then that this was his chance, and spared not another moment before he backtracked toward Sunspire and searched for his brother's trail. He did not expect to find another's scent with it, least of all someone he recognized. He had been intimately wreathed in this scent before — he could not mistake it. His paws quickened, until he located the dark pair.

"Rams!" Euron called out as he took to his brother's side and frowned at the emaciation that had claimed his brother's muscle. "You are not good looking," he remarked quietly, disregarding Iliksis entirely for the moment. "This is being my fault. I am sorry. I could not stop him." Euron's ears fell, but erected again as he turned to the shadowy coywolf. The young wolf's eyes raked over him, sliding from his spine down his legs and then back to his face.

"Why are you here?" He asked with a twitch of his tail.

Warmth coiled like a snake in the pit of his belly.

iliksis watched as ramsay turned around -- he kept his visage smooth of reaction, though he observed in a predatory manner as the condensed black wolf licked his lips. iliksis' dull gaze flicked around them, wondering where the other two were. he needn't have searched hard, for shortly after ramsay spoke euron's mottled form came into view.

what iliksis witnessed next lead him to believe that perhaps they had been separated -- his tail hung limp and his posture rather loose as he studied them. euron, upon completion of his examination of ramsay, seemed to glance over iliksis in a manner the male could not describe. ignoring the question leveled in his direction, he lifted his head slightly and spoke in a gravelly tone.

"where is the girl?"

While Iliksis' vision scoured the scrubby cliff for signs of who-knows-what, Ramsay's remained firmly fixed on the stop where the rapist's muzzle met his forehead. His indigo eyes began to narrow as silence stretched between them and he parted his lips as if to growl, but his attention was snatched away by Euron's voice.

Relief washed over him as he turned to his brother, stubby tail wagging softly. "My fault," he insisted, and it truly was. If he hadn't relied on Cicero and Euron to find food for him so much, he might have learned to hunt small things by now and he would have been able to provide for himself. He couldn't know that he wasn't really suited to solitary hunting; his body was too inflexible for the low-to-the-ground lunges necessary for trapping small animals. He blamed himself.

"Who?" he asked his brother, frowning, but any forthcoming answer was presumably interrupted by Iliksis' sudden question. The dwarf's ears stiffened as he faced the stranger again and his voice was a little cooler as he repeated, "who?" He thought he knew to whom Iliksis referred, but if he was asking about Maegi, then he thought the answer was obvious. She wasn't here.

Iliksis interjected before Euron could answer his brother. It was just as well; this was neither the time nor the place to explain it.

Ramsay asked who and Euron briefly wondered the same, before he arrived to the same assumption that the dark coywolf was referring to Maegi. No other girl had been a more meaningful presence in their lives.

"Shouldn't you know?" Euron asked, his eyes narrowing. He took a step forward and extended his muzzle to draw an obvious and audible sniff. "Hmm." He hummed, not picking up the familiar scents he expected from Iliksis' coat.

"So..." He licked his lips, stepping backwards and sitting down, his forepaws coming together neatly as he canted his head. "Did you not win?"

Euron had neither seen nor heard how the challenge for the reigns of Blackfeather had ended.

the male swept his gaze from the stunted form of ramsay to the splattered grey of his brother; he felt no shame for crashing their reunion, and simply stared at both blankly as they turned their attention upon him.

if he was aware he might be in danger, he certainly didn't reflect it. even his ears seemed held in some lax posture, and his lifeless yellow gaze seemed rather listless. he did not answer ramsay's question, for euron's query seemed to answer it for him.

it was disappointing they did not know where the girl was -- or that they were not forthcoming if they did know. the very tip of his tail twitched once, as if in displeasure.

as euron surveyed his scent, iliksis took the opportunity to do the same -- his eyes half-hooded as he regarded the duo. "no." he answered honestly, no shade of ruefulness or shame in his voice. "ithrik did. vaati is gone, and they are back in the woods." iliksis only knew this for no evidence of the male's existence remained, in all the times the dark shade had revisited the blackened copse for relmyna.

Neither Iliksis nor Euron answered as to who they were talking about, and Ramsay's teeth came together behind his lips in frustration. His short tail flicked irritably but he otherwise gave no indication of his feelings. He was left to assume that the girl was Maegi, in which case he was glad he didn't know where his sister was. They'd parted from her on bad terms and Ramsay would maintain that he could not choose someone who hadn't chosen him in return, but he would never betray her to a total stranger.

"What do you want?" Ramsay asked, nose wrinkling as he fixed his attention on the inky black wolf. Whatever moment passed between Euron and Iliksis was of no concern to the dwarf, who only wanted to get on with leaving. He didn't know who Ithrik was—he scarcely recalled the patchy wolf who had tastelessly threatened he and his siblings in the chaos of that fight—but Vaati had lost. That was enough news for him. They had all returned to the woods.

He chanced a glance at Euron—did his brother want to return there? Ramsay did, but also did not. There was freedom to be had in living alone, and Blackfeather had rules and expectations. He had become very keen on not being held to such things.

He did not know who Ithrik was but it did not matter. He zeroed in on the last part of Iliksis' sentence — that they were back in the woods. Euron's face twitched as bitterness welled up inside of him. He had been made to leave his home twice. He had lost his sister and his father for it; and for what exactly? For his idiot older brother's flock to hide away long enough to have a nap and then go back to living in the dark woods while he and Ramsay were dragged from one end of the world to the other and back again, with wolves they did not know, and hunger in their bellies?

His teeth clenched and his expression hardened. He had nothing to say, and was eerily quiet as Ramsay posed his own question. Though he did share a brief look with his brother as Ramsay glanced his way. He wondered too if his sibling wanted to go back to Blackfeather.

He would ask him later. For now, his attention fell back to the coywolf.

it was rare that iliksis was interacted with so directly -- as ramsay's question tersely met the air, the savage man offered only a smile. he did not miss the shared glance between the two brothers -- but it was simply that, shared -- iliksis had no understanding of the silent communication between them. he surmised the news that blackfeather was re-habituated came as a surprise to both of them - whether or not that was correct was simply left to be seen.

but what did he want? iliksis wanted many things -- the list, long and indefatigable and obscene -- a quiet, knowing smile played in the corner of his lips. "everything." he answered with an equally direct tone, his gaze now upon euron who, unlike ramsay, seemed far less unaffected. "why are you here?" iliksis repeated euron's question from earlier with a subtle twitch of an ear.

His short tail twitched with displeasure when Iliksis dismissed him and turned his attention solely on Euron; his lip curled slightly and he scooted one forepaw closer, ready to close the distance in seconds if need be. Protecting his brother was his foremost priority, even as hungry and tired as Ramsay was, and he didn't trust this inky wolf. He had hoped the creep would win in a fight against Vaati only because he had recognized his brother's dark, gnawing inanity, but now that Vaati was out of the picture, he had no use for this man.

He remained where he was, eerily still with only his hackles shifting in response to the flap of Iliksis' ear. He meant only to hear out the man as he questioned Euron, and then he meant to shepherd his sibling away from her. This wraith of a wolf was offering them nothing but wasted time. At length he moved away, removing himself from the present conversation and company.

For a long few moments, Euron stared absently at the coywolf, observing from the corner of his eye as his brother moved away from them both. Iliksis was not forthcoming in his answer and Euron felt no need to be either. "Does not matter." He replied, shrugging his narrow shoulders. "I am not being here any more." He flashed Iliksis a fiendish grin, then rose on his toes and nimbly stalked after Ramsay. The queer attraction he had to the cowolf was no match for the loyalty and attachment he had to his brother.

Euron had only meant to refer to the exact spot in which he was standing when he delivered his answer, but before long the brothers had moved on from the wilds entirely.

he might have been compelled to follow them, had they been sisters and not brothers -- or had they carried any scent of the girl on their pelt. as it was, the two brothers departed without intervention -- iliksis watched their backsides recede with a dull expression muffling his countenance.

he did not linger long either; as the sun set behind winter-withered trees, iliksis' figure dipped into darkness.