Stavanger Bay It's quiet, I'll bet that everybody thinks I'm done.

For @Dalia. Please allow @Opalia to post first.  :D

When the scent of a pack that was strange to him filled his lungs, Dacio's guard hair bristled. He veered to interrupt his sister's stride with a warning chuff, the tip of his charcoal tail curling anxiously about a dark hock. The ashen boy lifted his head and peered across the shore, grey-green eyes squinting against the light of a new dawn, before he blinked over a shoulder at his blonde sibling. "Ears up," he said, suggesting that they maintain on edge as the approached.

They hadn't come across another's claim since leaving the cliffs, and he realised that the only other pack he'd ever had any dealing with were their neighbouring Rusalka. He recalled another, one mentioned by a young scout shortly before his dispersal from Drageda, though he couldn't quite remember the name provided. Lost... something. All he knew was that it had sounded rather unpleasant, and he was certain that it wasn't to be found in this direction.

The duo maintained a comfortable distance from the strongest markers, unwilling to venture too close to a territory that was not their own but driven to remain near by a desire to locate their elder sister. Dacio didn't know these wolves, nor did he trust them. He supposed that feeling would be mutual.

"I don't like this," Dacio referred to the discomfort of vulnerability, regarding Opalia with a cant of his ear in her direction as he gazed ahead, "but I think we should ask if anyone here might've seen her." . Mother had told him Dalia could be found somewhere along the coast, but hadn't stated how near or far that place might've been. He flared his nostrils and inhaled deep, though found himself unable to pinpoint her specific scent among so many others. 

Days passed, and they continued on to scope strange old forests and sprawling capes by the sea, within which she had truthfully found a good routine. While progress had slowed at times, steadily, they worked onward and the young Drakru went willingly into this rhythm.

However, at her brother's warning, and as the scents of so many strangers grew concentrated, Opalia felt her shift come immediately. Wary prickles lifted up her shoulders the more she realized, then understood. A pack. Good news, and bad alike, so she shot her brother a quick, low look--she was guarded, but could this be something?

Wholly unknown to her nose, not the foul odors of Rusalkan and definitely not Drageda's sense of home, of course, but coastal all the same, it had to be worth a closer look when therein could lie their goal. But they knew nothing about them; this was not like when Aure had approached the welcoming gates of Elysium's sanctuary. Opalia wouldn't know them from saints or murderers, or anything in between, and yet.. they had to keep pressing on. This was an opportunity and she was determined to see it as such, no matter how daunting it seemed as they lingered beyond.

She kept the reminder close that they were a pair at least, with two sets of eyes on the situation, and they had grown into hale wolves trained by Drageda--not some mannerless weaklings without some cause for their roaming. They could do this, and if not, well.. then they would have to deal with that then. I don't really either, but... she agreed, sparing him one last quick glance before she pivoted partially away to look on towards their territory, her back to him only. Her mismatched eyes narrowed as her nose wriggled constantly, wishing for some answers, hints--anything! Well... hopefully it won't hurt to ask, she winced. We can deal if not. Opalia said, trying to be stonefaced, maybe in part to hear it herself, though her heart was racing in her chest.

Ready? she asked before a pause, after which she tipped her nose back to howl and ask for a moment of someone's time.

she'd be lying if she said she recognized her siblings voices. 

it'd been so long by now, and they'd grown. but dalia was near the borders when the call was made, so she came like she'd come to any other call... feeling a little more anxious than usual after her recent romp with velen... she couldn't believe it was all suddenly coming into motion. what if something happened? it'd been a little over a week, and dalia knew all the signs. she'd studied under her mother, she learned from the best. so the morning she woke up feeling nauseous, dalia knew that their efforts had been fruitful... as if they wouldn't. 

but of course, when she spotted the two wolves along the border, her heart almost exploded -- for a few reasons. she yipped, immediately, her tail beginning to wave wildly as she picked up a trot to come to them. oh but what did she do? did she embrace theme? stay away from them? dacio had always been such a rule follower -- such a loyal babe. she would be surprised if he didn't harbor any ill feelings towards her. and opalia! ah! she was beautiful. but strong, dalia could hardly believe how sturdy she looked -- and yet, she still had the same frame that portia had. 

but.. where was sequoia? 

her head dipped low as she approached the borders, her tail still daring to wag excitedly at her hocks. "dacio, opalia," she greeted gently, seaglass gaze glowing as she looked back up at them, "welcome to storm rift."

He was quietly nervous. Coupled with the anxiety that brewed as the duo lingered so close to claimed territory, Dacio wasn't sure how he might feel should they manage to gather some information on Dalia's whereabouts. He felt bitter, of course, that his elder sister saw fit to selfishly leave their family behind - but deep down, the sterling Gona had never stopped feeling the hollowness left in her absence. Too stubborn to admit that the hurt remained as he grew from boy to adult, Dacio maintained a stony face whenever someone mentioned his absent sibling.

He'd been so small when she left, but had known exactly what her departure meant. It was something he'd always taken so personally, something that tormented him often and something he still couldn't understand because Drageda had provided him with everything he'd ever needed. His family resided there, on the cliffs he'd been born to, where he'd found his life's purpose. How could anyone have it all, and let go so easily?

"Sha," Dacio murmured when Opalia asked if he was ready to proceed, then peered ahead as she rose her muzzle and sent forth a request for attention. He supported her voice with his own after a moment, then turned his frosty green gaze to seek her own as they lowered their crowns to await response.

It did not take long for movement to draw his attention elsewhere, and the ashen yearling pricked his charcoal ears forward as his eyes settled on the approaching figure of another. His immediate reaction was to step defensively toward his golden littermate, though a glimmer of recognition was swift to replace his uncertainty. Breath held, his heart skipped an uncomortable beat before it fluttered wildly in his chest.

Part of him wanted to run to her, to close the distance between them and rally to her as he once did as a pup, but he was not that same boy. Dacio, disciplined and steadfast, remained rooted to the spot by Opalia's side as the lithe she-wolf padded closer with a cheerfully sweeping tail. The tip of his own twitched, as did a whisker as he blinked down at the sister who'd been a guardian to him once, and remembered how insignificant he felt following her choice to turn her tail on them.

"Drageda has fallen," he said at once, unable to find the strength to look beyond the part that Dalia played in the pack's demise. "Wildfire abandoned us after you left, Kiwi and Sequoia with her." Natrona - just like her. His brow furrowed as he resisted the urge to spit blame at her for leaving them to struggle through the heartache on their own, and fixed her wth a stare that was pericing as he tried to bite back the venom that was sure to accompany the words that followed: "our mother vanished in the storm soon after. Father found her body washed ashore, days later." 

Her summons tapered off and as their voices faded to the seaside winds, the wait began in earnest then as she lingered on Dacio's expression just a little extra. Afterwards, she stood poised, anxious, and watchful while she kept a careful, shaky lid on the tumult she could sense swirling in her gut, now spinning with anticipation that was very real her with a stranger's borderlands in her nose. So much had happened and even for her, who had been there to see it all play out and then remain in the aftermath, it was not always easy to place it all on a timeline, or see how it had affected her. Dalia had grown into a more distant memory than she truthfully liked to admit--but hopefully, they could remedy this here, soon.. assuming this was a good lead based on the hints their mother told her brother in his dreams. One step at a time, she reminded herself, breathing deep, and putting her best foot forward for what may come.

She had started to grow suspicious that soon they wouldn't be alone, but in all of her tension, a yip prompted a start from her--yet it never blossomed into full-formed panic. One glance, and relief came rushing fast in its place. She was really, truly, here! Much as the almost-yearling remembered, too, from her prettily pale silvers, to her own shades of mismatching eyes. She was maybe not as tall as she could remember, but then again, Opalia was not so small any longer--and there were pieces in the subtle ways she was put together that were a sight for her sore eyes, for they reminded her of their beloved mom. Dalia! wide-eyed she chuffed back before she could even catch the name to stop it, and even besides the conflict in her heart that wanted her to reach out desperately and whine excitedly all over her long-gone (natrona) sister, she stayed at Dacio's side and composed herself soon; he began the news shortly after, starting with one of the heaviest pieces of all: Drageda has fallen.

Opalia listened with a short nod of her own, sobering quickly, for she knew what else they had to tell her and dreaded it. Sequoia abandoned them. Their mother was dead.. and dad had lost a part of himself then as well. Heda, too, has gone. The sea.. the past commanders took her back, she added quietly, for that had likely sealed Drageda's fate then and there, or at least been one of the major turning points towards what had landed them here. And, since she might wonder, considering the bad news they bore about Portia, she felt the need to mention where dad had gone before she could worry about him. Father went with Blixen, Tirgatao, and the others back to Trigeda not too long ago.. we've scouted since, and.. Well, this had been the plan's goal, here face to face with Dalia--the main stepping stone forward that they had needed to get done. There was so much else she could say but this was already a lot all at once, so Opalia searched her sister's face for her understanding, or otherwise.

while dacio stared at her with a cold expression, dalia did not miss the twitch of his whiskers. he was angry, she couldn't blame him, but something was there that she could only pray they could rejuvenate. and opalia. her voice, filled with something like excitement... oh, she could have broken down. at the excitement she stepped a step closer, but dacio's stoniness kept her from sweeping her siblings into an embrace. perhaps not yet. 

and before she could speak again, dacio fell into a monologue. word after word, dalia took the blows with dignity, as their parents had taught them. nevermind the sinking feeling that caved into her stomach, or the stone that formed in her throat. opalia made quick mention of dio before dalia had the opportunity to worry, thankfully, but the sadness that swelled in her did not cease. her expression, though filled with shock, made no room for tears. "mother has... passed," dalia said quietly. sequoia, gone. blixen and dio, back at trigeda.

her head dipped again. "i'm sorry you've endured so much..." she murmured softly, ears pressed to her skull, "i'm sorry to hear drageda has fallen." i'm sorry i wasn't there. the words stuck to her tongue, and she ended up cutting herself short. another question lingered, and she hesitated before she simply couldn't help it. she'd derived a need to know from their mother. she needed to know. "why... are you not with them?" she asked them both, not eagerly, but certainly in a matter that sounded pressing.

Opalia chimed in, sharing further news of Heda and relocation of what was left of their pack. The young Gona stood quietly then, frowning deeply as he studied Dalia's expression for any changes. He detected surprise in the arch of her brow and sorrow in the gleam of her mismatched eyes, but frustration swelled in his breast at her gentle apologies.

Her words did not matter to him. No "sorry" could ever lick clean the wounds of a childhood that was troubled, but it was her question that brought forth the low rumble in his throat. "We came to find you," Dacio countered, a defensive edge to his tone. He narrowed his frosty gaze somewhat, daring his silver sibling to share with them her reason for needing to know why they hadn't followed their commander at once to Trigeda. Was she suggesting that they'd abandoned their family in favour of life as natrona?

The young gona kept her ears slicked back as she felt the weight of their news settling, and as their sister's expression shift accordingly as she drank in it. She hated to be the bearers of bad news like this, one heartbreak after another, but felt this necessary for them all--so Dalia could know what had become of their family, and so Dacio and herself may continue to cope, heal, and move forward; they had seen the last waning days of their mother before she had gone missing, and then Drageda as its cornerstone in Heda sank to the bottom of the cliffs. Somehow, this simply felt like part of the process for the youngest pair especially.. simply something that must be done. It was that attitude that helped her survive and gave each day with her chin up.

But, she gave a little hint of a nod. Indeed, their mother was gone and her eyes stung at the thought, and everything she wished she could have done before. Neither was she prepared to grasp any apologies for that, or what had befallen them and Drageda at large.  Quite frankly she didn't know what to do with it. She had hated it all at the time of course.. each time, over and over when grief pulled her down, but now that she was adapting to a life removed from those aches, it was now just a part of her--no matter how foul. 

Dacio's chill wasn't lost on her, either, and perhaps that was what suggested her next words to be little cryptic. We still had something to do here, she added when finding their older sister was definitely part of this, but not all. Why here--for you? Why.. Stormrift? she asked in return with the claim's name strange on her tongue.

both comments were so vague that dalia was unsure what to even respond. it was nice that opalia at least asked a question, which allowed her to find words to say. the question wasn't favored by the poor moreau girl, but it was still something. 

"i couldn't leave the coast, i guess," murmured the girl quietly, ears flicking forwards as she thought, "the man in charge here, ford, is strong and capable. he was just starting the pack when i found him, and i wanted to be a part of something like that. so i vowed to follow him." and then the pack became whole, nevermind the trouble that lurked behind the corner. she hesitated to speak again, because she didn't know if they would want to know. "i met someone here, too," she offered, a bit more gently than before, "mother always spoke about how great her love was for our father, and i wanted that for myself. i found it, here."  with velen.

She spoke of a wolf who meant nothing to him, and Dacio stared at her in silence. He let her speak, though seethed in silence with every word. Their sister had turned her back on a family who'd loved her wholly and completely, in favour of the unknown. She chose some guy and a budding pack over Drageda, over their parents, over them.

A fire burned in in the frosted sage of his eyes, and he frowned deeply at his sterling sibling. "You promised to visit," he reminded her coolly. He had been so young when she decided to move on and had run from the scene, but he never forgot her vow.

It seemed she had, though, for seven long months had ticked by without even a sniff of her. For a long time, Dacio had longed for the day his sister would come back to them with tales of her travels, if only for a little while. Dalia's lack of appearance spoke volumes: she was made of empty promises, meant only to disappoint. "Why didn't you come?"

How lovely for her, he thought bitterly as he made to exchange a frustrated glance with the only sister he could count on, to have been playing happy families with a group of strangers while her real one suffered just up the coast.

Very well, she heard every ounce of Dalia's answer but evidently that didn't mean she was going to understand it fully—and really, quite the opposite. There were bits of it all she picked out above the rest, namely the notes that seemed important like names and such, but the rest somehow didn't really set in for her. Maybe she was too young to really grasp it all, the love two could create between and the urge for something new, something of their own too beneath the watch of their parents and birthplace.. Maybe her upbringing had been a little different thanks to that time's brand of Drageda tumult, among a great many other things as well but Opalia simply couldn't add it up in the same way that her older sister did. This realization placed her somewhere between frustrated and sad, but it was Dacio's reminder then very related question that did not give her the time to stew. His iciness about this all was certainly not lost on her either, and carefully aware of his influence, she knew it would be his that would influence her before any others.

Silent after that with only a soft nod, but thoughtful in her expression, she blinked at Dalia to let her answer that much next. The golden gona was curious enough, but she didn't think anything she heard would change these outcomes. Like so many times before, all that was left was to move forward, stronger than before. She didn't think anything would alter that course.

dalia was quiet as the accusation came. she expected it, but she didn't want it to. she didn't want to answer. it would have been so much easier to lie. to tell them she just never got around to it. to pull excuses out of her ass. to tell them she couldn't bare to see all of her mistakes in action. or... something. she could've said a hundred things. but... they were family. and they deserved an answer... right? 

she couldn't come up with any other excuses not to tell them.

her demeanor, seemingly strong moments before, appeared to crumble before them. her gaze fell to her feet, ears slicked back, and she shuddered once as she worked up the courage to give them an answer. without looking up, the moreau girl murmured in their native tongue, unable to speak it in the common one, for fear an outsider would hear? she did not know. "i was attacked," she said, and then slowly raised her head to meet their gazes again, "my first... moon with the pack, maybe. i haven't left the territory since then. i've been a coward. velen promised to come with me one day to visit, but i haven't been able to bring myself to do it." 

she shifted. "it's not an excuse. i'm just telling you why."

"I was attacked," she announced, a hesitance in her tone. Dacio's charcoal ears swept forward in surprise, before they tilted backward as he swore he felt his heart skip an unomfortable beat. He recalled his first real encounter with danger: Sequoia had wandered too far from home, and he'd followed Portia right to her as she conversed with a golden rogue. He remembered the fear and uncertainty that gripped him, how he'd failed to understand until their mother shared with them the reason for her hostility. He blinked at the silver wolfess then, wondering inwardly if the sort of attack the late Fisa had feared could have befallen her young daughter that day was the reason Portia had requested that he find her.

His anger flared once again, though Dalia was not the source behind it - this time, it beat for the one(s) who dared bring such harm to her. It thrummed through his system, bubbled uncomfortably in the pit of his belly, pulsed like thunder in his ears until his head spun. "Who?" Dacio boomed, brow furrowing as his dark tail lashed between hocks that quivered with anticipation. He stalled for a moment, wondering if he should ask her what they did to her before deciding against it; he was sure he didn't want to know. "They'll pay for it."

It was not an explanation she came prepared for. Her ears stood tall, though her expression darkened. Dalia had left them, true, but she could not help the anxious glance she felt pass over her when she tried to imagine what had happened to her older sister. What had they done to her? An attack was vague, and could mean a lot--from the what to the who to the where, it was just the start; instantly, the young gona wanted to suspect that their usual enemies might be involved somehow, even if the timeline didn't match all that well. It was easy to hate them for her after everything. This could be another slight in their direction, and she wouldn't complain if it was.

But, even if not them, Opalia nodded small when her brother asked who, and she settled her seething long enough to want that answer more badly by the instant--so much so that her heart was racing, hungry for more information.  Was it.. here? Or..? She was already interested in vengeance for what they had lost and the hurts they endured before. This could be another possibility.. another purpose, maybe.

Whatever it would be, she intended to hear it out. As much as Dalia would share--Opalia just desperately wanted to understand.

she shook her head. the surge of protectiveness that dacio displayed warmed her heart -- to know that he did still care. opalia, with all their parents gentleness, asked a hesitant question. she looked between her siblings, feeling slightly more at ease. "a man. i don't... remember his name. if he even told me. he was sandy colored, sort of.. sharp features. he didn't strike me as dangerous until it was too late," she said, for dacio's sake, because she knew in her heart he wouldn't accept what she would say next, "my pack mates searched for months for him. every trail we found was lost. it's not worth your time to search, brother. i have healed." 

her gaze turned upon opalia now, and she shook her head again. "the territory over, the scorched ones. i was told it used to be magnificent, i liked to imagine what it'd look like when all the trees were full and the greenery had come back." she doubted, especially now, she'd ever see that happen.