Redhawk Caldera It is safe to say...

Set for 11-12th November of after that.

...that travelling and exploring was amazing, but it was always nice to return home, to sleep in your favourite bed of moss and be simply very appreciative of the corner you knew so well. New experiences and discoveries had taken Dwin's mind off the never-ending list of chores and duties, given her proper mental rest and restart. She returned home tired, but happy, not least, because Frolic was also back in one piece and now there were more pairs of eyes watching her and making sure that she did not get into (lethal) trouble. 

Brecheliant had managed well in their absence and not much had changed. Which gave Dwin confidence that in a while they would have to make another trip - either East or North or - really - wherever their hearts desired to go. She had had some polite exchanges with the adults, had teased and laughed with the kids and then left it to Frolic to tell everything. In the meanwhile she raided the nearest cache, had her fill and decided to catch up with her sleep routine. 

It was mid-afternoon, unusually sunny and warm for the time of the year. Dwin had curled up on a grassy spot right at the foot of a tall tree, sleeping soundly and venturing the dreamscape, where the desert landscape she had seen in life mixed with the one that she was used to, creating the craziest, most colorful dreams. At times she was all on her own, enjoying her solitude and in others she was running after Frolic, who had yet again decided to take a leap of faith somewhere. It felt so real, that upon waking and blinking the sleep away from her eyes, she wondered, if her younger sister had the supernatural ability to scout other people's dreams with the same ease she scouted the lands beyond Brecheliant's boarders. 

Of all of her kids, if you'd asked Maia when they were younger, Ceridwen would have been the one she'd guessed to run off into the sunset and never look back. Well, Maia didn't expect any of them to never look back. But despite her daughter's frequent trips and explorations, she always seemed to return home to roost, even while the rest of her siblings had flown to other places.

Maia smiled fondly to herself as she passed signs of Dwin's recent passage. She followed it until she reached the sunny glade where her daughter seemed to be catching a nap. Rather than wake her, Maia settled down quietly a short distance away, yawning broadly, but knowing she wouldn't sleep so easily.

Between what happened with Teya, her responsibility to fill the hole that Bronco's loss had left in providing for the pack, and her own growing children, quiet like this was hard to come by. Least of all a moment to share it with her daughter. She could absolutely spare a few moments to enjoy the peaceful warmth.

"If Frolic ran off again, I am not going looking for her," Dwin mumbled, lifting her head, giving Maia a sleepy look and a yawn. Eyelids still heavy, she rested her head on her paws, sighed and caught the last fluttering remnants of her dream. The imaginary younger sister had taken off to haunt other dreams and the rest of the image lost shape, blurred at the edges and then simply disappeared. 

She blinked her eyes few time, tipped her head back to stretch her neck and yawn again. Then she slowly pulled herself up. There was some stiffness in her back and limbs, it took some stretching out to deal with it. Then she met her mom's gaze and felt surprised to see her in person. Somehow the earlier interaction had not felt right. 

"Hi," she asked and yawned. They just kept coming. "Everything okay?"

Maia chuckled and shook her head at her first, mumbled words. She wasn’t sure if they were a joke or not, but she answered Nothing like that. Ceridwen seemed to wake up a bit more after, standing and stretching fully. Maia stayed settled where she was, though she made space for her daughter to join her if she wanted.

Everything’s fine. You just looked so peaceful, I thought I’d join and have a little moment for myself too. It’s beautiful here. Maia looked around, smiling, then laughed one. It was genuine, but there was a slightly tense undercurrent. I talked with Teya, and she needed someone to step up. So I’ll have plenty to keep me busy, as Frolic and Glee get older.

She wondered suddenly if her daughter had any interest in something like leadership. The thought had occurred to her before, but the faded when Bronco and Teya had taken it on together. She’d had no real reason to ask. Now, though… maybe she would need to find out. The pack had been the better for it when they’d had a few Ravens to keep an eye on things.

Maia always seemed to manage the boisterous kids so well that Dwin had been under assumption that this was something she enjoyed the most in the world. Why else had she quit scouting and travelling? Why else she would no longer have time for proper story-telling? Yet here she was telling that she was no superwoman at all. Tired the same way her daughter was. There was a little devil inside her that was glad to see that her parent had just as difficult time with managing the household as Dwin had, but the gratification of this felt wrong and she quickly discarded it from the library section of valuable life lessons. 

"I thought you did not want to step up. Like ever again?" Dwin was now confused and a little uneasy. Under assumption that Maia did not enjoy leading and would not want to take the mantel of Auspex now, she had asked Amalia about the joby. With how things had turned out now, she felt a bit like a fool. "Or is it just one another adult thing adults have to do?" she sighed, glad that for now she was too young and immature to be asked to join the ranks. Because her inner child had been neglected all summer and autumn long, while she had been busy being that responsible person, who made sure that the kids did not get lost or killed and that they had something to eat. And by ascending to the leadership ranks she did not wish to give away, what little left of that kid was. 

"You will be glad to know that me and Frolic went to scout the new lands in the East and, though there were some blunders - nothing too big, of course - I brought my sister back here in one piece," she informed, because it had been so hard to convince them to give Frolic that bit of freedom that she so craved. "If she has lost any piece after that - I take no responsibility. That kid has penchant for getting in trouble. And so far - getting out of it too."

It isn’t so bad.  But I definitely didn’t want it when I was your age.  She hadn’t really wanted kids back then either, or so she thought, and look how much that had changed!  Sometimes she felt she had grown into an entirely different person.  Parts of that made her nostalgic for how little she’d needed to worry, back then, but she knew she wouldn’t go back if she could.  She had so much more now.

As Ceridwen changed the subject to her younger sister, Maia chuckled.  I never doubted it!  But I’m glad she had you along.  Maia didn’t share Eljay’s desire to keep them close when they wanted to travel, but with what happened to both Chickadee and Bronco, even she had reservations about what might be out there now.  Frolic was still young; Chickadee had never been the same, after that day.  Remembering the fear, and the way she’d pulled away ever since, still broke her heart.  She didn’t ever want to see that look in the eyes of another child.

The best way to learn is by experience.  For anything stories can’t cover, at least.  Where did you two go?  She was more curious about this than what she’d planned to ask anyway - thoughts of leadership could wait until she and Teya had a chance to settle in and discuss further.

Maia had meant well by stating that she had never doubted their ability to go and return unharmed. The reason, why Dwin suddenly wanted to yell - it is EXACTLY, what you should be doing! - was that she had seen Frolic do stupid and reckless things and considered her mom's confidence foolish, even dangerous. Because of this Dwin had spent all this summer herding the rowdy bunch and had missed, what felt like a good chunk of her life. But a little, calm voice in the back of her head told her that this was not exactly true and that she should not voice her pent up frustration with everything related to involuntary child-care. Mom - after all - had experience, while Dwin had had none. 

"I guess so, but the world is a more boring place and events sounds so much better, when they are retold by a good story-teller," Dwin remarked and yawned again. Her brain had not yet full woken up, therefore the thought process was also slower than usual. "Well, there is a whole dry and hot and super-peculiar land east from there. I am pretty sure that there was a wall of mountains there before, but now - they have somehow broken and created a passage and that land is quite different from, what you have ever seen before," she rambled. "There are prickly, hedgehog like plants. And... Frolic fell in a hole of water and we had to figure, how to get her out. And - I met some weirdo - but he was like truly crazy. He claimed gods had spoken to him and that he had seen an equivalent of an apocalypse, if he did not stop the wedding. No... coronation?" she looked up at Maia. "Oh, yeah - and about that. Did you know that Akashingo over there has royalty like in fairy tales? I did not think that was real, but they really do. And there is going to be a coronation and I think - I may be wrong - there is an invitation to a party?" she finished with a loud sneeze. 

Maia had no reason to guess her daughter resented her role as babysitter, so in usual Maia fashion, she didn’t even think to consider it. Blissfully unaware, she smiled fondly as she listened to Ceridwen’s recounting of their travels. It actually delighted her how much Dwin had stepped into her role as ‘big sister’. She’d always hoped her children would be close, if not to the extent that she and Wraen were, then at least as close as she and her other siblings. Maia had always been grateful to have Terance and Sarah in her life too, for the amount of time they’d had.

Then it’s a good thing is storytellers have explorers like you to tell us about the places worth filling with tales. Maia replied appreciatively. It sounds like a place with plenty of characters! Frolic getting into things was no surprise, but she was glad she could count on Dwin to have her back. The Akashingo news effectively distracted her, however, from asking more about that. Had she missed an invitation?

Akashingo? They aren’t far from here, or weren’t. But I don’t think anyone has come by, at least not recently. They had a wedding some seasons ago, I know, but I’m not sure…. well. Teya didn’t say much. I don’t think she and Sorana enjoyed it. That had been a long time ago and things had been complicated. Neither of them had spoken of it much after, but her overall impression had changed since both that and the events surrounding Lilitu that followed. They might look like something out of a fairy tale, but they seem to think… really highly of themselves. That weirdo you met isn’t the only one, I don’t think.

It felt so rude to say. She should be better than that. But she didn’t want her daughter getting wrapped up in anything she wasn’t prepared for, so overly careful honesty won out over tact.

Dwin did not have problem with being a babysitter. She had a problem with being expected to be that good older sister. That as such she was supposed to be excellent at her job and enjoy it as well. This had not been voluntary, she had seen it as only a one way street under the circumstances they had been in. Namely, kids outnumbering adults greatly and the rest of the previous year's litte had buggered off right before the new litters were brought into this world. Very convenient. Dwin intended to do the same at some point, before this year's bunch also decided that - hey - if Dwin did such a good job at babysitting, she won't mind doing it another year, right?

"Well, my words do not do that place justice. I am not good at telling it the way I saw it. The facts always lack the whole spectrum, in my opinion," she countered. She had come to a conclusion that she would not make a good story-teller after all. She did not have the memory, the talent of weaving those items together in a coherent plot and her vocabulary was equipped with practical terms, less poetic and descriptive ones. The only thing she had inherited from her aunt and grandmother was her love to talk, talk, talk and ask a lot of questions. "I suggest you go there yourself and take Glee and Callahan with you too - they were not happy that Frolic got to go, but they did not," she said, glad really that Maia and Eljay had not been over-confident in her ability to herd the bunch. One Frolic already was an equivalent of three puppies. 

"The one I met had a super-weird accent, but she seemed good-natured enough. I did not take her word for it, you know, because, what do I know - maybe they were headhunting for slaves and such," she shrugged. "Yeah, well, Sorana did not seem to enjoy much of anything, while she lived here," Dwin remarked. Her relationship with her - cousin? leader's daughter? - had been very formal, but even that was too generous to call it that way. The older girl had always seemed weird and distant, and in the end she had had a vibe about her that had given little Dwin chills and made her want to avoid her at all costs. And this says a lot, coming from a kid, who as all Blackthorn children did not fear anything. 

"Nah, that weirdo was just not right in the head, I think," Dwin replied. "I mean, if you prance around telling people that you hear voices and have prophetic dreams, it is the first sign that all is not good. I mean, the only voice you should be hearing in your head, is your own. Period," she said and stomped her forepaw to emphasize her opinion. "But, he seemed very content to be, where he was, and, if that makes him happy, then why not? Maybe he is a very lonely dude and that voice in is head is his only friend," she mused. "This reminded me - when I talked to him and he was all about, how a god had chosen to share his body and so on, I thought - what if he was the only person that the god to talk to? And no one else? That kind of makes you feel sympathy for them too. So - to sum it up - they are in a happy, harmonious union. Them against the hostile world that is filled with heretics like me," she laughed. 

"I think I will check out that wedding of theirs. Different culture, customs and - who knows - maybe I will really meet a god of theirs? That would definitely make a good story, don't you think?" she asked. 

Maia had a hard time believing that Ceridwen’s description would be all that bad, but she didn’t push. Not everyone enjoyed telling endless stories; she’d married Eljay, hadn’t she? But, fondly, she shook her head. I think I’ll have to live with whatever few details I can get from you two. I don’t think now is the best time for me to be leaving. She was slightly apologetic, saying it, but her reluctance was more out of missing a trip with her daughters than missing out on Akashingo. As interesting as the place sounded, right now she felt she could use a little less change.

I’ll talk to them, though. See if there’s somewhere nearby they’d like to go, or someone who can make a trip too. Amalia, perhaps? There weren’t many others here who were much older. Maia let out a breath, but resolved to sort that out later.

The comment about Sorana was a little harsh, but Maia let it go, understanding where it came from. The little she’d seen of her, the girl had been withdrawn. She’d loved her as much as any of the children in Brecheliant, but had to agree that life had taken its toll. She’d started out as such a sunny girl, but Ceridwen wasn’t bound to remember those days as well as she did. A god? Really. Whoever she was describing certainly sounded like a character.

If their gods are walking around sharing bodies, you might meet more than one. I’ve never heard of that, I figured most are too good for that. Seeing as a god’s body would be way better than most anyone here’s. She laughed, shaking her head. If you want to go, though, that’s fine. They might be odd but they’ve never been trouble for us. Just… be a little careful. Lilitu married one at one point, and when she came back, she didn’t say much about it. Something seemed off. I don’t know what happened, but I don’t think they are everything they seem to be.

Maia wasn’t as worried about Ceridwen. She had a good head on her shoulders and seemed even less trusting than Maia had been at that age - not that this was a huge bar to leap over. Frolic, however, was an entirely different story. She was just as likely to be caught by promises of princesses and fairy tales, and Maia wasn’t sure she liked the idea of her ending up just as disappointed.

I don’t think now is the best time for me to be leaving. This particular sentence and the way Maia had said it, made Dwin pause, blink and suddenly see her mother in a totally different light. No longer a infinitely young she-wolf, who had given up her life for a man she loved, but a person, who was no longer young herself. That maybe her unwillingness to go on adventures was rooted not only in her selflessness, but also that she too was not able to handle it. That the time, when the world was full of surprises all of which that had to be discovered, had passed. No longer running ahead of the stream of life, but rather floating in it and letting it take you. 

For a moment there Dwin could not quite connect the name Lilitu with a particular face. And it was true that she had never interacted closely with this cousin-of-sorts, who may have been a fleeting presence in Brecheliant during her early childhood. Dwin was aware that she might have missed meeting and seeing a lot of people, based on, how preoccupied she had been on pretending to be a little tank and coming up with all kinds of wargames. "What do you think happened?" she asked, curious about the mystery. 

When she was younger, Maia had always found it hard to walk that line between stories and gossip. Now that she was older it was easier to be more careful, but she saw no reason not to share the little she knew with her daughter. Especially if she’d be going to Akashingo.

He was supposed to be a prince. She was excited about the marriage, even though she didn’t know him, and went despite your dad and I arguing against it. I’ve rarely seen your dad so upset. Eljay was rarely upset period, but that discussion had been a hard one.

She didn’t say much about it, when she came back, but afterwards they were looking for her. I don’t think the marriage was what she thought it would be, and I imagine they weren’t too happy when she left it. Maia hated that Lilitu was so far from them all now, but at least she hadn’t needed to lie to protect her. She absolutely would have - but lies were always more complicated. Lilitu deserved to live without that fear, and as time went on, no one else had come looking. Maybe they’d forgotten.

I know you won’t let anyone give you trouble. Maia added with a smile. But be careful, regardless. If anything does happen, look for Tavina or Nala. They are friends. She’d nearly forgotten the couple that had visited Brecheliant a number of times. It would be nice to see them again, but realistically, she knew it didn’t make sense for her to go. She had things that needed taken care of here.

"Yeah, I don't think I will be going around the crowd yelling their names out loud," Dwin dismissed Maia's idea of finding people, who could provide a safety net for her in case of trouble. "I mean, it would be kind of weird - first - and - second - they know you and they do not know me and... yeah, good luck with not having Frolic get in trouble," she chuckled. Even The Second Coming or any event of equal importance would not deter Frolic from misconduct. To think that a coronation party would be enough reason was very naive.

Lilitu's story that was sad from, whichever point you looked at, was not met with any sympathy from Dwin's side. From what little details Maia had provided, she concluded that 50% of the blame lied with the girl herself and her misguided ambitions. And this was just another reason in a very long list of arguments on why Dwin never intended to marry or have children. She was so comfortable with her inner-Dwinness that she was too selfish to let anyone upset that balance. Did not matter if you claimed to be a prince or a lowly thief or the impersonation of god him-/herself.

"We will be fine. We are Blackthorns after all," she shrugged. 

Maia laughed too, albeit a little worriedly. She trusted Ceridwen completely, but did not trust Akashingo a bit. You don’t have to look for them right away. Just, if anything happens. Hopefully you won’t need to. If nothing else, it helped Maia to be a little at ease if she remembered the few positive interactions she’d had with some of the pack.

Just imagining Frolic returning with an impromptu marriage proposal made Maia’s spine tingle. It was a ridiculous fear! But obviously not impossible.

That you are. And you come from some of the stubbornest! Don’t let him fool you; your dad knows what he wants and how to get it. Realizing belatedly how that sounded, Maia laughed more sincerely. Your grandparents too, but I think Frolic took a lot of inspiration from her grandmother in particular. I wish she could have met her. Something told her Finley would have loved her wayward grandchild - and all of them - fiercely.

I trust you completely, sweetheart. I really appreciate how much you’ve done for her. Maia knew her older daughter might be less keen on this sort of thing, but she leaned in to give her a hug and a kiss on the cheek anyway.

Dwin - in fact - was not the one to refuse a hug and a kiss from her mom. Wrap it in a praise too and this made her heart swell with pride and happiness. Maia was her favourite person in the world. They have grown apart recently and her daughter did not trust her with everything anymore either, but this was a natural change in a relationship that would last for a lifetime. She may have felt grudge and anger and frustrations with mom during this summer, hardly any she had voice out loud. And now enjoying the warm embrace and the closeness she felt towards her parent, she was glad that she had not. How could anyone be angry and say stern things to someone as wonderful as her mom?

"I think there are a lot of people I would have liked to meet. Your dad, for example? Dante sounds like having been such a cool guy. Or that great-great-great-great-something quite legendary March Owl. It's her fault we have bird names as well and the reason I am named after an owl, ain't I?" she chuckled. "And you can educate me on other noteworthy mentions in our family tree over lunch. I am starving!" she suggested. 

Maybe you can fade in your next post and we can start another one?

absolutely!! Thanks for the thread, I love Dwin so much <3! I’ll start us another one here shortly, unless you beat me to it

Maia was hungry herself, so her daughter’s idea was met with immediate agreement. She let the hug last a little longer, then gave her a quick peck on the forehead before drawing back. A very cool guy. And March Owl sounds like exactly the type of ancestor who would happily haunt me if I let her great-grandchildren waste away to nothing! Your dad and I had a little luck this morning, hunting over by the river. Her morning walks with Eljay frequently became hunts these days.

While they ate, Maia would answer Ceridwin’s questions, filling her in on everything she could remember about family she’d never met. Thankfully her mom had told her plenty of stories about the fierce March Owl, an affectionately awful figure sometimes used to scare them into better behavior. The stories had always made her sound more awesome than terrifying, but if Osprey brought her grandmother into the reprimand, Maia knew she was in trouble.