Ocean's Breath Plateau tagadal

Set for tomorrow — 11/3!

Nantahala and @Nasamiituuq had made it to Moontide in record time. They’d stuck to their agreement to try and get there as fast as possible, and had only stopped occasionally to hunt, relieve themselves, and sleep. This’d been especially hard for Nantahala—who wanted nothing but to explore the new territories—but she remained faithful to the plan they’d devised.

Moontide was unlike anything Nantahala had seen before, and as they stood upon the borders, she found herself speechless. While she’d heard of the ocean before, and had thought she’d known what it looked like, the vision in her mind’s eye paled in comparison; it seemed like it stretched out forever—far beyond the horizon. She watched it for a beat as she took in new sights and smells of the territory, as she familiarized herself with everything that came with her new home.

When she was ready, she glanced at her sister and smiled. Let’s do this, she said, and then tilted her head back and howled for @Rodyn.  Excitement stirred in her belly at the notion of the beginning of her new adventure.

They would not let him leave. Dutch, particularly, had been no help in escaping the seaside pack. Instead, he was told constantly to rest, recover — but could Dutch not understand that rest would not come to him until he could see the faces of his daughters and his wife once more?

It rankled him that he still needed the other man's cooperation. That he could scarcely get past the borders without his cousin's shoulder to lean on.

He had set off again on the dawn of this new day, determined this time to press onward until he reached the spine. Exhaustion pulled at his nearly skeletal frame, but to his consternation, he did feel more strength after a night of restless slumber. Sorer, too, but he had endured much pain in his life. A little more was hardly a payment worth fussing over.

He had already passed the borders when he heard her voice.

"Lilyflower," he breathed, tears already swimming in his eyes.

He spun toward the sound, joints creaking, and forced himself into an ungainly lope. The shape of her was blurred by overflowing emotion, but he recognized the pale, sun-kissed shade of her even on a larger, less familiar frame.

"Nantahala," he called, his voice hoarse and choked. "Lily — "

He stumbled, his foreleg folding beneath him in a tight rictus. Cramps such at these were familiar to him, now, and he pushed himself back up to continue limping closer. And it was only then that he wondered if his appearance would frighten or disgust her. If she would even recognize him like this. If she would recognize him at all.

Just a cameo, can be powerplayed <3

Her warm laughter at Nantahala's eagerness was quickly cut short by the horror of — oh, oh no, was that Valiant? All at once Nasamiituuq's vision blurred with hot tears, her throat burned with hot bile, her ears rang, yet she stepped forward to catch the falling man as if she'd expected him all along.

Valiant, let me help you, Nasamiituuq's voice was gentle, lightly scolding. She would guide him to his daughter — and if her heart raced, if her paws trembled, if her thoughts were a jumble of bitter horror and half-fearful questions that would not be answered, at least she would be the only one to ever know it. Nantahala needed her strength in this moment. Her father had returned.

Nantahala and Nasamiituuq’s moment of excitement ended as quickly as it’d begun—and she gasped the moment she saw Valiant stumble towards them. D-Dad?! she gawked, looking very much like a deer in the headlights. What … and her words failed her as she many unspoken questions fell from her mouth.

She’d been young when he’d left, and had time to push those feelings down—but now that he was here? They all bubbled to the surface, and hot tears pricked in her eyes. Quickly, to clear her vision, she wiped them away with her forearm.

She took a breath, and then another, and then, finally, she spoke again:

What’re you doing here???

It took him a moment to notice the other wolf with her, and just a moment longer to place her. The red flash of her tail alerted him a moment before her scent enveloped him, and then fresh tears flooded his vision in mixed joy, sadness, and relief.

Valiant murmured a quiet apology to her for the trouble, and for the spectacle he'd undoubtedly made of himself. The cramps were an unfortunate side effect of malnutrition, and he worried he'd always have a bit of a limp from now on — but he was by no means a cripple, and he meant to show this by only leaning a very little on the young woman. Accepting her help because she had offered it, but not placing any undue physical burden upon her.

"We got here a few days ago," he replied, though he knew this was no explanation. "Me'n Dutch, and your cousin Katmai."

He was breathless, both from the run and from the hard lump that emotion had made out of his lungs. He blinked the tears out of his eyes so that he could look at her, his baby, and see what all she'd become in his absence.

"There was an accident," he told her, unsure how to talk to her at her current age. She'd been so little, so young the last time he'd seen her. "While we were out lookin' for your cousins. I got hurt. But I've been trying to get back for months. I never stopped trying."

He looked between Nantahala and Nasamiituuq, questions of his own flooding his eyes. Only the most pressing escaped him: "Your momma?" he asked, desperate for news. "Your brothers'n'sisters? Nobody could tell me nothin'. I was just on my way. As soon as I had paws to put underneath me, I — "

He shook his head, frustrated by the impulse to make excuses for himself. There was nothing that could excuse his absence from her life.

There was an influx of information, and Nantahala took her time in digesting it all. There’d been an accident—upon examining Valiant she knew that this was the truth—and that’d been the reason for their delay.

She took a deep breath as she processed this, and tried to put the sting of hurt to rest. His reason for being away for so long made sense, but sound logic didn’t have much effect on the feelings that’d come about because of his absence. At times, it’d almost been too much to bear, and so she had pushed all those feelings down … until now.

Thankfully, his questions distracted her for a moment.

She’s been sick, she said simply, meeting his eyes for the first time that meeting. Lightfoot and Yuralria helped me take care of her, there’d been some guilt she’d felt about leaving, but she knew that her mother was in capable hands.

Salaksartok and Ipiktok are gone—out on an adventure.

He let out a slow breath. That was Vaire and all six of the children accounted for — although the older three could hardly be considered children any longer. He looked helplessly between the two girls — both so grown! — and felt tears prickling in his eyes once more.

"I'm sure you done real good," he said, and he meant it. She shouldn't have had to care for her mother at all, and one day, Valiant would tell her that. Right then, he didn't want to cheapen all that he was sure she must have put into it. "I'm — " But how could he? How could he leave her here? How could he stay a moment longer, knowing his wife was ill? "I'm gonna go help 'em, now," he said, though his voice grew thick. He had to pause and clear his throat.

"Are you gonna be here long?" he asked her, wondering what reason she had to be here. Something about the way she used past-tense made him believe she did not intend to return with him, if at all.