Ocean's Breath Plateau fire rabbit

forward-dated a bit, vague, no posting order. sun eater is invading

most of moontide must be at this gathering surmised the caribou man.

the journey taken by himself and the other saatsine men had been uneventful. through the weald he had led them when they had come back up from the coastline; the taiga had fallen far behind them, and he was uneasy now.

no fear showed in sun eater, only the focused caution of a hunter.

rodyn was not here. he found no mark of heph.

leaves rustled as he crept back to @Anselm and @Ksura. "some women. one young man. most pups."

working a bit of rabbit-gristle from behind one molar, the lanzadoii wolf at last snorted and entered the packland, not stopping as his ground-eating stride carried his lanky form directly toward the small cave beside the sea where he had last seen ghelan (@Brave One).

and — his slate eyes searched for red leaf. she would not come with him; he would leave her here, punishment for whatever she had said. her cost was his eye. his cost was putting her aside.

sun eater did not call, only ranged up the path of seashells in search of his son, heart racing like a tripwire.

For a wolf who was very detail-oriented, Ksura decided that the less he knew about the trip, the better. He had questions, of course- but most he bottled up, save for those he deemed important.

Not: Would Sun Eater’s son be willing to come with them?
Not: Would they be hunted down after they took him?
Not: What would happen if he was not willing to go?

Ksura was present only to insure his own children a safe place to live, if they ever showed back up. He kept himself distant from the worry that this might be a bad wolf thing to do. This was a man who wanted his child, as much as Ksura wanted his own children. It was that, and nothing more. 

He nodded when the inhabitants were described, and moved forth quietly to follow along for the invasion.

Much like Ksura, Anselm had his own misgivings. He knew Etienne would never abide this -- moreover, very few wolves would. He was now placed in the unique position of robbing someone of their son -- a feeling he knew all too well as he thought of @Ezra, kept from him by the selfishness of Amadeo and Heda.

He told himself it was a noble thing, this act -- a father wishing reunion with his last surviving bloodtie. He did not dare consider what circumstances may have occurred to lead to this forcible split. It was all too easy to commiserate with Sun Eater in that moment, being a father estranged in his own right.

Sun Eater slipped off into the woodlands, and then returned to spell out the lay of the land. Anselm noted the heightened alertness, the subtle excitement -- his own heart raced alongside that of the Landzadoii.

Following Ksura and Sun Eater up a path of sea-shell rubble, Anselm committed the first atrocity of many his former self swore to never do: trespass.

the camp was quieter. quite a few of the moontide wolves headed for a hunt. chakliux had extended an offer, but the young boy turned it down. whether his mother had accepted or was even offered, he didn't know. brave one has kept to what was now his den, listening to ocean waves or fishing.

three drums beat. each thunderous step came closer and closer to a brave one curled up in a nest of old furs, and the boy's head shoots up in alarm.

his own heart unwittingly joined in the rhythm, thumping in his chest as the scent of three strangers marched towards moontide's edge — his home. red eyes leer through the cloak of darkness. but said cloak can only keep him safe for so long.
hesitantly, he staggers to three feets and hobbles towards the exit.
feigning manhood, the boy rises to his full height, hoping his unflinching stare and confidence would be enough to ward them off.

no posting order still thru rest of thread <3

six moons.

six glowing cycles of the great spiral had transformed ghelan. he was taller now, lean with hard shoulders. a sharadoii amulet hung at his throat, evidence of what caribou people must have shaped his boy. red leaf's brightblood eyes stared back at him.

for a moment he could not find his voice; he only stared at his son, at the strength which limned him. that leg hung still, but in this moment sun eater realized that its weakness did not define the young wolf.

at last he found himself; he cleared his throat and in gruff tones said, "you do not remember the face of your father?" and because grey man and sheep killer did not know, he chose sharadoii.

"ghelan." sorrow and joy and shock ran rampant in his heart.

the man of pitch black and one cold eye locks his gaze on brave one, and each minute that passed in silence only reminded the boy more of his racing heart and pulsing blood. he feels the man's gaze most once he speaks, a shiver rippling through his body.
his air of confidence dwindles as he realizes that the black mountain that marched all the way to this beach was his father.

ah.. a gasp first comes out from the boy. ghelan. that's right, he was ghelan. when he was younger.

the boy hesitates in placing the first step forward. he spoke his mother's tongue, but knew him as ghelan — this can't be a lie. what would a man gain in falsely claiming him as his son?

aapa. the words roll strangely off his tongue. though his tail wagged, brave one kept feet firmly planted within the sand.

after all, his father was a bad man.

permission to skip Ksura as needed!

They came upon a youngster- this year’s child from what Ksura would guess- whose gaze was cautious but not unfriendly. From what he could tell, the young boy did not recognize Sun Eater. The introduction alone was enough to convince Ksura that father and son had likely parted long enough ago that the child would have no memory of him. 

Ksura found Sun Eater intimidating. His approach was informative and congenial, but to a child left on their own any stranger could have been perceived as a threat, no matter what claims they made to their bloodline.

Still- it was up to Sun Eater to convince the boy to join them- and Ksura hoped the boy would do so willingly. To help aid the effort, Ksura dropped his head and tail slightly, allowing the latter to wave at his hocks. 

Better to work with honey, he thought- though he wasn’t sure the grey-faced man was even capable of summoning a kind face.

So much of what they were doing was wrong. Anselm felt this in his heart and wondered when, or what path, on which the long road he’d walked in life, had lead him so far astray. 

There was no coming back from this. If his heart was black before, it was surely rotten now. He’d committed a capital treason against his own kind — and by extent, his own person — by violating one of the deepest laws in wolfdom. 

Thou shalt not trespass. 

He hid his anguish as Sun Eater approached the child, who did not recognize the face of his own father — at least not initially. Anselm found this incredibly sad, and for a moment panicked — what if Ezra forgot what he looked like?

Or worse still: what if Ezra was better off not knowing the face of his own traitor-kin father?

Ksura’s sudden shift in posture pulled Anselm from his internal blithering. He looked to the man briefly, as if surprised — but then, realizing why he’d done it, Anselm did the same— head low, topline soft, and eyes elsewhere as he drew himself to a sit to show appeasement.

aapa.

his eyes stung; sun eater felt as if he were cen again in this moment.

but he did not weep. throat roughened, the caribou man glanced around for the traitorous red leaf and then leveled that single eye at his son.

"i have made a place for us. a lanzadoii place," sun eater spoke, eschewing the sharadoii even as he raised a paw to indicate the warriors who softened to form a path for ghelan.

"the sunshine speakers took me away from you," he breathed, the communion between he and the boy alone. "they made a theft of my eye. they have turned your mother's heart. but not you, my son. never you. i have come back for you. the long march will begin again and you must walk beside me, ghelan."

the men that accompanied aapa opened like gates outside of moontide, and ghelan wasn't quite yet sure if he'd wanted to leave.

they took your eye? ghelan recoiled at the thought.
aapa is bad. but he was hurt. why take more from a man who'd lost so much already?
ghaden.
aaka.. she grew to love moontide, and chakliux.
the pale man who'd entered his life, who swept mother off her feet. the man who'd done everything to take aapa's place.

chakliux took aapa away so he could be with aaka. his father was robbed of his eye, and of his chance to be a father again after ghaden. he'd lied to her, lied to him. father always wanted him, father always loved him, father always wanted to be here with them. even with this useless, stupid leg.

convinced by the racing of his thoughts, ghelan follows the beckoning words of his father. joy to be loved made his pace brisk even with the weight of everything he'd been told.
but aapa still hurt aaka. though he'd paid the price, he could never erase what he'd done.
she would be happiest with moontide. with chakliux; he can keep his prize. ghelan never took him as a father anyways.

once far, the boy only glances at the ulaq. but never hesitates.

please skip Anselm <3

He was here as guard only, but even then Anselm could not help the estranged emotion budding inside him to witness father reunite with son. 

It cut too close to home. 

Standing close to Ksura, Anselm said nothing. He tried not to observe too closely; it was an emotional moment and his very presence felt intrusive. 

Sun Eater, snake charmer, has worked his magic. The boy glances once back to the den, but only once. 

Anselm readies for the long journey home.

fading! <3

ghelan looked back once but his steps were for his father, and sun eater led him out between the two hunters.

not a word spoken. he found the path from moontide proper and led saatsine back through the maze of deep trees and out toward the wilderness.

his son was with him once more. sun eater would not let him go again.