Bearclaw Valley Green, green thunder and the loud, loud rain

From the wolven remains shown to her by Athalia, she had selected a shoulder bone to carry with her. The sisters would stay here, it was decided, in the wordless understanding that was their birthright. Amneris set about finding a place to sequester themselves in the night.

Amneris found a den, an old place with old scents of wolves long gone. Once the home of her forebears, though she did not and could not know. The birthplace of the father she would never know; the sacred chosen space of the grandparents whose stories she would never hear. Yet it called to her, called to the blood of this valley which flowed in her veins.

The child set about clearing the debris and dust of abandonment and time past. Hers. Hers. Theirs.

They travelled in fair weather, roving further Southeast from the Rise than Ameline had ever been before. Along the way, they scented the activity of other packs, but navigated around them. They slept under the stars, in meadows that were laced with frost when they awoke. She spared no backwards glances for the wolves she figured might be celebrating their departure. To hell with them; they weren't needed anyway. 

A stony rise protected what looked like a pathway into a fortress. Curious, she looked to Ancelin to see what he made of it, the seashell still carried carefully in her mouth. She nudged his shoulder, bumping her nose gently against the bearclaw that hung from the thick, unruly fur of his chest. 

She moved forward, though she could note the scent of wolves in the area, though from what she could tell, they might be younger. Their scents were not heavy with hormones yet. 

She stopped when she heard a hollow scuffling and turned her head to see a den, and noticed the dust and dirt that had begun to cloud at its entrance. Almost as soon as she noticed it, she scrunched up her nose, set her seashell down as quickly (but gently) as she could, and began to sneeze.

Amneris was abruptly aware that she was not alone. The presence that filled her senses was a foreign one; not Athalia, not their mother. She turned, standing protectively over the shoulder bone she'd claimed as her own, and peered from the den.

There was a woman. Dark-furred and smeared with brilliant gold markings. Amneris stared. This was her first encounter with a stranger — an adult stranger, no less. She did not know what to do, and so she only stared for several long moments until the silver-eyed woman made the first move.

as lilia's sneezes sounded, ancelin stood close and sent his indigo eyes flickering over the front of the valley. high walls with a single entrance of red soil, now dulled by weather's chafing.
in his own spirit, he had nursed a fickle and great hurt, the loss of avicus. and he had indeed lost her, and with each step away from redtail rise, ancelin felt that pain ripping open inside him, dissolving the stitching around father hurt and mother wound and brother pain until they all bled together.
ancelin had been silent on their journey, sometimes staring at those stars until he slept or finally abandoned the chance of it, getting up to hunt.
the mornings were brisk; hot plumes of breath accompanied breakfast and words.
he could smell snow, all animal instincts as his pelt kept thickening in response to the changing weather and his new situation.
at last, gladly and eagerly, ancelin drank them all in, along with emerging memories: how atreus had tried to isolate him from their cousins, how a shouting fight between aventus and avicus had set the formative pattern of toxicity for both boys. his brother, refusing to come home. his father, locking words with his sister yet again, this time over war. avicus, saying put your scent here. bonding. bonded.
his heart ached.
his eyes ached.
his throat ached.
ancelin snorted and padded through the cloud of dust, squinting until the air could clear, and the first thing he saw was the stone sentry at the entryway, a giant boulder perfect to see the entire meadow outside. 
primal, ancient trees towered, clustered with thick ferns and the slow creaking of branches older than the entire world.
his jaw fell a little; he looked back toward lilia, registering nothing about possible inhabitants.

HEHEHEHE

Athalia had been asleep beside Amneris when the snuffling woke her.
A stranger outside. Foreign; dark. Not mother. Not man. Not brother. She is entranced.
Athalia creeps closer to the denmouth with a soft grumble of her own, eyes wide and curious. Who are you? Her belly scrapes the soft floor of their makeshift den as she lowers into a submissive crouch, ears splaying in a wideset plane. Unblinking, staring, and then another movement; she points to Amneris with a dip of her muzzle. Sister.

The last leaves still clung to their boughs thanks to the valley’s uniquely shielded topography. The weather was less harsh and less unforgiving, here. Keiko attributed it to Hokkyokusei-sama’s, @Drust, presence. Truly, this was a Kami’s Eden.

The dutiful young shrine priestess, Miko, settled into a routine. Prayer in the morning and work in the afternoon. She had managed to assemble a humble shrine. The first of many, she hoped.

But the valley was vast and Keiko only became aware of visitors during her daily forage.

Two adults and a child. She approached them with an affable demeanor. Others had come to pay their respects to the great Okami of the valley!

“Irasshaimase!” she beckoned them politely.

Ancelin moved forward to investigate but by then, Ameline had caught sight of the twinkling eyes of wolves within the den. She glanced to her mate, who seemed thus far unaware  of them, and couldn't help but smile faintly. One of the youngsters moved forward, and peered out, belly to the ground. Ameline took a step forward, tail swinging but paused when a voice called out. 

She turned her head to see another about her age, one who spoke a word that sounded like a jumble of syllables. She was potentially the same age as them, and looked friendly enough, and was given a soft chuff. 

It was slightly uncomfortable, finding this many wolves in one place- but the pale woman seemed friendly, and the children looked to her for explanation. 

She offered them a warm thrum of her voice, in reassurance. They were this year's brood, and a late one by the looks of it. She couldn't help but wonder where their mother might be as she reached to exchange scents with them.

Not one stranger but two; three, and the third one spoke. Her hackles flared and she leapt back from the pale one with a high growl. Athalia's appearance offered her a place to retreat. She pressed to her sister's side, silently flashing fangs at the stranger who had spoken even as the growl died in her throat.

But her eyes were softer for the silent pair. When the woman reached out she did not move, and her lips slowly smoothed back over her teeth. Amneris was very still as she watched her, shooting wary glances toward the pale wolf every few moments.

kids. 
and a woman who spoke a language he did not know.
ancelin held back a moment as his mate moved closer; he watched in quiet admiration as she extended peace right toward the den.
at least one of the pups soothed. ancelin took the moment to inch closer, offering a swing of his tail in greeting, ears sliding back against his head instinctively, to signal safety in the presence of young.
the pale woman received a harder glance, ancelin pulling away and putting himself between the den and stranger. "i don't know what you're saying," he said, shaking his head and taking a step forward. his body was wary but non-aggressive, and to her he offered the same wave of his plume.
"where's their mom, do you think?" ancelin muttered over his shoulder to ameline. the last thing they needed was a shitty woman showing up to rip their faces off over this mystery box of kiddos.

More appear. A pale one, another mottled in shades of russet and charcoal, just like her; and there are voices. Man. Woman.
There is something about the mottled one that Athalia finds familiar, and she cannot quite place what that is.
Sister finds their presence troubling, but by contrast, Athalia is intrigued. She gives a low whine to the dark-pelted woman and searches the fur along her cheek with flicks of her tongue. Hi! Hello! Hi!
She pries free from Amneris and springs out into the open in one sudden jolt, meeting the mottled man's leg with the crown of her head. Where's their mom, he asks; Athalia pries for his attention and begins to shake her head no. No mom. A lie, blatantly, but he did not know that — did not need to know that. Her lips curve into a toothy, eldrich grin.
She did not like mom. She liked him.

And then another pup appeared from a burrow!

The family was wary. Cautious. One child even showed their teeth.

Keiko paused, but she was careful not to balk. The young priestess hesitated and dialed her enthusiasm down. Had they not pilgrimaged to this land to pray to the Kami of the valley? Were they not a family at all?

Perhaps they were a part of a Shougunate. Warriors. Or maybe a simple feudal clan. On second glance, the adults couldn’t have been any older than herself.

She collected herself and stayed at a distance, now a bit nervous herself. It was clear they did not share language, but she was eager to know them. Help them. Unaware they had ties to the land she believed Hokkyokusei-sama had created.

“Konnichiwa,” she said. The pale Miko bowed, elegant and formal. “Heiwa.”

“Onaka ga suiteimasu ka?” she asked. “Eto…” Keiko pointed at her mouth and then gestured with a paw in the direction of the shrine she kept.

One of the children scampered back, a response not to Ancelin, but to the woman who had spoken out. Ameline decided she was unfamiliar to the children, who seemed most comfortable around the quiet pair of Bearclaw wolves. She kept the stranger in her periphery.

She was pleased when the bolder of the two came forward to touch her cheeks. Ameline felt her lips grow warm, and as cued, she moved a bit closer so she could regurgitate what little she had in her stomach for them. 

She knew Carrion would be jealous- but these kids looked much younger, and if they had no mother, it may have been some time since they had been fed last. 

She straightened up then, giving the kids some space to eat the warm meat and turned to see the woman speak again. She was about to shake her head when Keiko began to gesture, first to her mouth and then off into the distance. The bow she had given was unusual but Lilia took it as a sign that the woman was likely hospitable. 

She looked to Ancelin. In the very least, the children would need to eat. She raised a paw to her chest. ”Ameline.” and a gesture to Ancelin, with fondness she figured might relate as well their relationship. ”Anthuhlin.”

Athalia was less perturbed by the strangers. Amneris, seeing this as a slight, let out a sharp breath through her nose and went to the woman; the more beautiful of the pair, in her opinion. She sniffed delicately at her forelegs, her interest mild until the woman presented an offering of meat.

This was agreeable to the silent girl. She took a moment to sniff at that, too, before accepting the meal. Amneris realized only then how empty her stomach felt, how good it was to be eating again at last. The pair had thinned in the days spent away from their mother. She ate as delicately as she moved, but greedily; if her sister was not swift, she would be left with nothing at all.

all of a sudden, one of the pups dashed from their greeting with ameline — for him. ancelin did not recall having ever received so much attention from a baby wolf, and it had the natural effect; ears airplaning and quick tight swishes of his tail as he dropped his head to exchange a surprised breath against the scent of meat.
throat clearing, ancelin looked back at the kind pale woman, who now gestured while speaking that same language.
he stepped closer, looking in the direction the snowy wolf had indicated. "i'll come with you," he said with a warm look. 
he was of course not pleased to leave ameline, but his full faith in her ability to guard herself had never waned, and so he motioned that the stranger should show him what she meant, and he would follow.

The exchange is simple and warm. Ameline. Anthelin.
Athalia peels away as if suddenly startled, slinking back and away as the foreign, porcelain voice rings out again. A language she does not understand. To Anthelin she once more turns her gaze toward, pupils blown wide with a surge of wary energy; a search for safety as shudders roll from shoulder to tailtip. Her smile drops. She hesitates, and then a tiny peep as she points one paw at her chest: Athhhhalia.
She lowers herself into a bow before proceeding to slump onto the earthen floor, tail dragging across the dead grass. These wolves are friendly. There is no danger here. She passes a glance to Amneris, and then she realizes — there is food. Food!
Athalia all but scrambles to her feet and climbs over the back of her sister, teeth gnashing wildly as she fights for what she now decided was her share of morsels. She had not realized just how long it had been since she had fed.

The children busied themselves around the woman who, to Keiko’s surprise, regurgitated meat! The young woman veiled her disgust behind a wan smile, unfamiliar with such primitive maternal behavior. Still, she did her best to keep an open mind.

For the most part, Keiko's courteous invitation was largely ignored. Again, it unsettled the Miko who only knew formal, ceremonial hospitality. The young kodomo-tachi vied for slop and the dark woman gave no perceivable response.

Her spirit began to doubt itself, but when the man stepped forward Keiko’s smile regained its strength.

“Hai,” she agreed with a small bow. Though she couldn’t parse his language, she understood the gesture. “Kochiradesu.”

Keiko led @Ancelin away toward the river, adjacent to her cypress temple, where strips of rabbit meat dried in the sun. With a generous spirit, she would provide him with as much as much food from her humble stores as he wanted. Before departing, Keiko blessed his journey with a small prayer and then returned to the riverside to contemplate the encounter.

Going to have Keiko exit here, if it's okay with you all! Ebony, please let me know if this assumption isn’t ok! Happy to do anything else BTS if you want.

One of the girls, dusted with snowflake-white at her shoulders, came to investigate her, and she lowered her muzzle so that she could brush her whiskers over the child gently, assessing for any signs of illness or damage. Aside from looking a bit hungry- something the regurgitated food would help fix- they seemed to be alright. The girl with a reddish tinge to her guard hairs says something, and Ameline's ears flick forward to catch it. Athalia. Ameline smiled, and glanced to Ancelin. It was a coincidence, sure, but it was nice still to have found a child who matched their name theme. 

She gave the freckled girl a nudge so she might go and eat before her sister could scarf down all the food, and then turned to her mate, who had made the offer to go with the other. Her eyes were very dark, and hard to read, but her expression was soft and gentle. She sized the woman up, and figured that even if she did turn, Ancelin could handle himself. 

She nodded, but made sure to show the stranger that Ancelin was very much claimed by giving him an affectionate nuzzle before she returned to the children, to await his return.