Ravensblood Forest The last wish.

From the Heartwood, Ciri followed the river. She meandered her way at an easy pace along the route, hopeful that to keep moving might alleviate the weight of her fresh grief. In some ways the new sights, scents and sounds served as a reminder of all she'd lost: her mother and sister had perished, yet the world carried on as though they never existed.

Exhaustion pressed heavily on her, and she felt it weigh her eyelids as she ventured deeper into a dark forest where the tree trunks bled crimson sap - a place she and her family had rested for a time on their trip toward Moonspear the previous Fall. Ciri didn't remember it, having been as tired then as she was currently. She ambled through like a zombie, not knowing what to do with herself and not really caring, either.

The sound of her little paws on the twigs and pine needles that littered the forest floor alerted a family of ravens, particularly its matriarch. She lifted her obsidian beak and peered down at the she-wolf with a single black eye, watching from her perch high above before cawing to loudly to alert the others. Together they cried out in response, offending Ciri's ears which she pinned uselessly to the tousled ebony fur of her nape.

With gritted teeth she shouldered through, eager to leave their shrieking far behind her.

Tagging for reference and light pp (which I can remove if you want!)

While most of the children lingered with their mother it was @Vesper who had managed to escape the group, ambling off on her own adventure. Mou only noticed after the eleventh head count of the day and when he did, a new panic set him on-edge.

As he looked for her trail he was aware of how dark and twisting the paths were, and how familiar this place appeared, with watchful ravens winging between the trees, or distantly calling out to one-another. One might imagine he would feel right at home here - but that was far from the truth.

The longer the family lingered here the more unnerved Mou became. It was like Blackfeather, or Onyx Hollow, both places filled with misfortune; so he hurried along to find the lost girl, head low as he sought scent after scent, trying to catch sight of their dark body with his one yellow eye.

The shape he did find was larger, older. He found them not with his eye but his ears, as there came an uproar of sound which shocked the air and in turn, the unwitting father. He looked up and saw the stranger, his entire body rigid with stress.

Ciri rumbled a low growl in frustration, not wishing, to draw any further attention to herself by glancing toward the branches on which the nuisance corvids gathered. She quickened her stride a little, keen to place distance between herself and the birds as swiftly as her aching limbs would allow without having to run, and refused to acknowledge them by looking over a shoulder. Their awful voices followed her for a time, echoing through the woods until she withdrew from their sight and the forest fell silent again.

There was another presence within, however - ahead of her, not behind. The young wayfarer lifted her tired gaze to find the face of a stranger look her way with a single amber eye, which was rather... unsettling. Ciri eased to a halt and watched quietly, seeing shadow mark the rogue's otherwise pallid features and a number of old wounds litter his frame.

She did not greet this stranger vocally, for he seemed incredibly on edge to have crossed his path with hers. Ciri let her tail hang limp at her ebony hocks and splayed each ear backward once more, this time in silent communication: I am no threat to you.

The young Ostrega wasn't so certain that he might not seek to harm to her

His initial inspection brought to mind Phox, who by now could have been anywhere. Mou did not know if his brother had followed them off of the island or if the man lingered to await the ghost of Niamh; so when he saw the shape of the girl his concern instantaneously grew threefold.

The thin fur of his shoulders began to prickle, not that it was all too noticeable. With the one eye trained on the stranger Mou could study them; but his mind was busy thinking of all the terrible things that could have happened to his missing child.

His child. It was the first time Mou had considered those born of Niamh as his own.

The darkness on the stranger was not nearly as heavy. With Phox, the man was composed of graphite and charcoal. This wolf was warmer, and as they lowered their posture, Mou saw a flash of something closer to caramel scattered throughout their underfurs.

Have you seen a girl? Very little. Black fur. Was playing... He tried to explain in that stunted, breathy voice of his. Hard to keep family together. His sides were still undulating from the frantic nature of his search, though now he turned his attention away from the yearling, trying to scout the shape of Vesper among the trees.

When the one-eyed rogue spoke at last, Ciri pricked an ebony lobe forward. She strained to hear him, and noted that he was on the hunt for someone else: small, with raven furs. It hurt to hear, for her first thought was of her Papa. Kukutux had told her that Mahler had not attended Moonspear after the star fell, but had made arrangements to look for the Ostrega sisters.

She wanted to believe he would've done everything in his power to locate her. She wanted to believe that he still held onto some hope that she was alive.

The swallow imagined he would've drew the attention of strangers to ask, much in the same manner as this father had: breathless, perhaps fearful to learn of the truth. Ciri had seen no sign of a cub in the area, but she was able to empathise. She shook her head sadly, "I'm sorry."

It was all she could offer, and she had no intention of deviating from her own path, but she was keen to request details should luck cross her path with a lost child. "What is her name?" 

Vesper. He answered quickly, perhaps a bit sharper than necessary.

The sound of something moving further along made Mou pause, turning his full attention towards the noise; but it was likely only the wind, as nothing emerged from among the twisting shadows. He sighed, his broad shoulders hunching.

If she was gone then that would be another loss, thought Mou. He didn't want to accept that the family was still cursed, that their good luck only came while upon the island. That gave him a new thought - and a turn of his body to the direction he had come from - Maybe she went back.

The island had been the only home @Vesper had ever known. It was either that or the novelty of the mainland that had drawn her focus; but whatever the reason, Mou was determined to find her. He looked to the stranger finally, almost timidly, not wanting to miss any possible movement or sounds within the surrounding forest.

I am Mou. My family are traveling. If you see her, will you call?

she was not usually the rebellious one; that description belonged to at least one of her littermates. but the nights away from the isle she had grown up on were filled with menacing shadows. vesper had never known fear at wheeling gull, and perhaps might have fended the experience for much longer had their goodbye not been so somber. no one had explained to her the reasons, and she had not dared to ask— mother and father had seemed so distressed already.

vesper didn't think about how distressed they would be to find her missing, at least not when she first set off.

it was about when she got herself turned around in an endless forest that she realized they might fear that the menacing shadows might have laid their teeth against her as if she were prey. guilt flooded the child, and with the same self-confidence that had led to this little adventure returned to tell her that she must return to her parents. panic came next, after she realized she couldn't make heads or tail of the forest and that tracking her own scent was a fruitless endeavor; it merely led her in circles, when she was able to discern her scent on the trail over, well, the scent on the body she inhabited.

eventually, miserable and exhausted, she wedged her tiny body in the safety between a tree's roots and slept. her dreams, which had always been content, had turned sour— filled with the same shadows as the land did, leaving her feeling exposed and hunted. she ran, feet twitching in the waking world, but did not jolt awake. a testament to her exhaustion.

"vesper." father's voice cut through her nightmares some time later, and the child opened bleary eyes. she felt no more rested than she had before, but she could hear mou continue to speak. not realizing he was searching for her or that she should call for him, vesper did her best to make her way to him instead, tripping through the brush towards his voice. it was only when she found herself stuck in a tangle of vines and roots that she loosed several panicked yelps.

"I will," was the swallow's vow, and she lingered awkwardly. Mou had turned himself away and Ciri felt safe to assume he had every intention to carry on with his search. With a brief sweep of her tongue across her dry upper lip, she moved to carry on herself.

As she did so, her raven ears pricked toward the unmistakable cries of a cub. Ciri made to exchange the most fleeting of glances with the raven-kissed father before her slender limbs were carrying her swiftly in the direction of the panicked yips.

Among the roots and vines was a little girl, tangled and afraid, whose description matched the one provided by her guardian. Ciri was relieved that she hadn't gone far, that Mou would no longer need to worry for his wayward child and could soon reunite her with the rest of her family. She pressed forward to help free the pup, gripping at vegetation with her fangs and tugging to rip them from the ground all while a dark ear remained trained on the rogue who may take offence to her proximity.

The enormity of this loss was easily witnessed upon Mou, from the way he softened to the way he sighed, or the hang of his head, or the shift of tension across his face. At least there would be another body out there - another set of eyes at the ready, should the child make an appearance.

While Mou thought of all the places he still had yet to look, there came the low-slung sound of something among the ferns. It could not have been very big. Before long there came a yelp, a series of worried little sounds as a tiny body struggled among the greenery; Mou's heart felt as if it stopped beating entirely.

He was not imagining it. The woman heard it also and moved to scour one area while Mou found his bearings again, and followed, looking for the source of the sounds. The woman even began detangling the girl from the ferns and things, while Mou worked on the other side; and when Vesper was finally free, he hoisted her high, as if he'd just dug a toy out of the bottom of a cereal box.

It was a glorious moment. A giant win for the worried father.

Vesper was carried a short distance to where the path evened out and the grass was tall, rather than choked by debris and ferns, where he placed her down with great care. He doled out a few heavy licks across the girl's head and face, probing softly but quickly with his nose for any signs of injury, and then breathed a final sigh of relieve over her.

@Mou you wanna conclude in your next post since Vesper is inactive?

A thorn pricked her gum and she withdrew only to lash her tongue over the afflicted area above a fang in an effort to soothe. She returned to the severing of foliage more carefully, yellow eyes alert for any such spikes that may further assault her maw.

Soon the child was free, and the wayfaring yearling withdrew. Mou hoisted his daughter free of her prison, triumphant, and carried her swiftly to place her down in the clearing close by. Ciri followed only with her eyes, and felt an undeniable twist of jealousy as the father planted relieved kisses atop his babe's brow.

She did not linger for much longer. Tasting metal on her tongue, the swallow licked her teeth again and turned away on nimble paws, quick to vanish among the woods before her tears could be seen.