Moonspear To infinity... and beyond

When Peregrine summoned her early this morning, Wildfire wasn't sure what to expect. Nonetheless, she heeded his call promptly, meeting him near the borders, where he was presumably patrolling. He quickly informed her that he was actually trying to track Pan. He hadn't seen his lover in several days now. The freshest scent trail disappeared toward the northwest. Much to her surprise, he tasked her with venturing out and trying to find their pack mate. It was no secret her father didn't usually think much of the Outrider trade. Furthermore, she was honored that he would give her such an important and potentially dangerous assignment. It meant a lot to Wildfire that her father entrusted her with it.

"I'll find him, dad," she promised as she set off in the indicated direction, navigating quickly through the tangled brush of Bramblepoint and emerging near the corner of Big Salmon Lake within an hour or two. She thought she detected Pan's scent there, which continued leading her north and west. Unbeknownst to her, the ruined Ouroboros Spine lay directly ahead. Jagged mountains closed in on her left too and soon she found herself traipsing beneath the shadow of a particularly toothy alp locally known as simply Moonspear.

Curiosity led her to that smoldering ruin that was once Ouroboros Spine, intrigued by what ruins fire left. She had never seen the phenomena firsthand, and was lucky that she didn't, but the morbid wonderment she got from listening to Tatsuya describe (terribly) what happened to his former home pulled her away from Blackfeather Woods yet again, Mongfionn flying high above her, acting as her eyes above the ground.

Sweeping past the still shrunken Big Salmon Lake, the burning, charred smell lured her closer to the circle of mountains, blackened by smoke. She only knew the signs of fire from her mother's stories, listening with interest as her mother wove stories of bright orange, yellow, and red leaving behind fields of black. Her mind put together many theories as to why, but she couldn't piece anything together until she saw it first hand.

Getting closer to the acrid smell, Potema paused briefly to gaze at the tall mountain that cast a shadow in between it's realm and what she believed was the Spine. Mongfionn, seeing her stop, flitted down to land nearby the white and ash-speckled wolf, uninterested in the mountain and only in preening herself. Potema, ignored her feathered friend, tilting her head back to the peak. It was beautiful, in that natural way that only the Gods could create. She wondered who was responsible for this feat. Aedra or Daedra....

Wildfire paused in Moonspear's looming shadow and tossed her head back, eyes squeezing shut as she howled, "Pan, are you out there?" Her small voice wouldn't carry far because of the scar tissue in her throat, though it was worth a try. After issuing the call, the youngster froze and pricked her large ears, breath held as she waited hopefully for a response.

None came. She was disappointed but not surprised. She began moving again, sniffing the air and scanning her surroundings. There was a strange smell that grew stronger the closer she moved to the distant spine. It reminded her of the ashy odor of the burnt Heartwood. Then another scent wove into that one and Wildfire spotted a small, pale figure in her path: another wolf.

Rather than approach from the rear, Wildfire swung around, even moving among the crags at the foot of Moonspear, her amber eyes fixed on the stranger even as she moved in an arc to her left. June? she wondered, squinting at the figure. But the scent didn't match. Wildfire was pretty sure she didn't know this wolf.

She sprang up onto a large boulder to make herself more visible, then called out, "Hello?" in an attempt to grab the stranger's attention without startling her.

Potema was alerted of another wolf in the area from the faint, weak howl a few moments prior, but did not search for the caller. She didn't recognize the voice, and it wasn't her name that was called for. She remained alert for any wolves nearby as she admired the mountain, noting the way the sun made the mountain glow, a sight she never saw before, without the use of bioluminescence. It was beautiful and intriguing. The top of the mountain wasn't beyond her reach either; she could see ridges and paths leading upwards from here. She could climb there, if she wished. If she was brave enough to do such a thing.

Her thoughts were halted by a faint hello, similar in tone to the howl she dismissed previously. So this was the culprit. Mongfionn cawed, squaring her body towards the foreign wolf, watching her with untrusting eyes. Potema turned, her single eye looking over the girl, who was very close in age with herself, both inquisitive and untrusting. "Hey."

When the other young wolf turned to face her, Wildfire's lips parted. Her eyes were different colors, not unlike Splinter's. The one appeared to lack a pupil, though, which caused a ripple of apprehension to travel down her spine. She was tempted to hop down from her perch and trot over to join the stranger for a closer look, yet she remained in her spot, sensing that they would both be more comfortable that way, at least for now.

"My name is Wildfire and I'm looking for someone. Have you seen a large white male wolf around here, by any chance? His name is Pan," Wildfire barked across the way. She wasn't hopeful, though it was possible the other youngster had seen him, even in passing.

Potema's single working eye narrowed as the younger wolf shivered with fear at the sight of her eye. Well, it was either that, curiosity, or sympathy, and she preferred fear much better than that disgusting look of pity she garnered from some other wolves, and even morbid curiosity. Perhaps this time she would not be questioned about it. Maybe this little orange thing would just swallow that fear and move onto whatever it had to ask.

"Never heard of him. Never seen him either." She shrugged, though her interest had been peaked by the mention of a large, white wolf. Her father (or whatever he was now), was a large, white wolf. But Pan was an unknown name to her. And even if it was her father, she didn't care about him anymore. He was dead to her. "Did you see that fire over at Ouroboros?" She asked, throwing Wildfire's other question aside. She was more interested in the long dead fire that still held its ashy grip over this region. Since she was searching here, it's possible she was a local. Which mean she knew about it, right? How could you miss that?

Although she had prepared herself for a negative reply, Wildfire nonetheless felt quite crestfallen when the stranger reported she had never seen nor heard of him. She thought of what to say next. The pale girl hadn't introduced herself (again she was reminded of June) so Wildfire figured she should probably thank her and move along. Before she could even open her mouth, though, the other youngster asked an unrelated question.

"No, I didn't see any fires, though I know that storm last month caused a few," the young Naturalist called back before deciding to leap down from her perch after all and begin moving a bit closer. If they were going to carry on a conversation, she didn't want to lose her voice, especially since she had a really hard time raising it. "I know the Heartwood burned down and it's not far from here. Did you actually see the fire?" she couldn't help but wonder.

Her excitement at the thought of hearing about the fire firsthand diminished when this Wildfire declined of hearing of any fires. Her interest in this girl waned significantly, even though she provided information about a second fire in the Heartwood. She already knew about that fire, having seeing the remnants before. But fires in forests happened all of the time, she heard. But in enclosed rocky mountains? Rarely.

"I saw the aftermath of the Heartwood, not the Spine." She found that she was taller than this younger youth, from age alone, and used that to her advantage, her single eye glowering down at the fire-coated youth. "How do these fires start anyway...?" The question was rhetorical, more of her own musings spoken unconsciously by the Snow Princess. Whether the other girl realized that was her own problem.

Like her, the stranger had only really seen the aftermath. Wildfire remained mum, wondering what to say next, when the other she-wolf posed a question she could actually answer. The young Naturalist smiled, then folded her rusty red haunches and sat. Her silky black tail wound snugly around her hip, the tip coming to rest on her toes.

"Lightning. It's hot, so when it strikes a tree, it catches on fire and the fire quickly spreads." She sounded like an expert, which was ironic considering her name. "I'm a Naturalist apprentice. Warrior and Outrider too. What about you?" she wondered, then remembered to add, "You never said your name." She hadn't asked outright, until now.

Potema had seen lightning before; and heard the legends of it, too. She remembered hearing the crack of lightning during the storm, but she barely registered it over the cracks of trees falling over from the sheer strength of the wind. The white-furred teenager knew that lightning touched the ground in seemingly random places (though keeping in line with the storm), but to cause a fire? She had yet to see it (though she desperately wanted to). "I'm a Healer Apprentice, though I'm close to getting my Outrider trade, and I'm starting to go for Naturalism." She was a bit annoyed that someone younger than her had more trades than she did, though she never thought to blame herself for that lax. "My name is Potema." She relinquished her name reluctantly, her single eye gleaming with wary tones. She should start using a fake name soon. Who else knew about her ties to Blackfeather Woods?

They would have two trades in common, Wildfire noted silently. "My sister's going for Healer too," she shared. Perhaps the two of them could meet up one day and swap remedies. "Her name's Raven. It's nice to meet you, Potema." She opened her mouth to ask if she was from a pack around here when an entirely differnet question popped out instead. "Hey, are you blind in one eye?"

Realizing how forward (and possibly rude) that sounded, Wildfire pressed her lips together, then hastily explained, "Sorry to be so... direct. I'm just asking because my dad's blind in one eye. His are the same color, though. Anyway, he's having trouble getting used to it. It just happened." Her voice lowered, then trailed away, as she gave Potema a moment to get a word in edgewise.

"Raven?" Mongfionn cawed in response to her species' name, one of the few words she recognized in the wolf tongue. Potema's good eye flitted to the raven, then back to the russet wolf. "It sounds a little unoriginal, naming a person after another animal." She murmured, not caring if she offended anyone in the process. She was named after a Queen, someone who actually did something worth while. "Maybe, maybe not. It depends."

Potema blinked her single eye, the non seeing one barely moving as she did. "Yeah." She hoped she understood the gesture without her saying a word. Why else would her eye be pure white? It was a cataract that formed after trauma to her eye. Perhaps this sister of hers would understand. Maybe not. "Your dad has progressive blindness. It often comes with age. Mine was from trauma on my eye; an attack."

The other youngster unknowingly insulted her family's naming conventions, causing Wildfire to narrow her eyes slightly, though she quickly reminded herself that there was no way she could know. All the same, it was sort of a rude thing to say. The caw of an actual raven nearby distracted her, though, and by the time she glanced back at Potema, the girl had moved onto the subject of her blind eye.

It threw her for a loop when Potema diagnosed her dad from afar, without ever having seen him (to Wildfire's knowledge, anyway). "How do you know?" she asked, as much surprised as skeptical. "My dad's not that old. It happened suddenly," Wildfire corrected without malice, then asked in a softer voice, "Who attacked you? Why did they attack you?" It made her think briefly of Junior; did Potema also have crazy relatives out for her blood?

"Because I was taught about how older people can go blind at a certain age. Usually 4 or 5 years old at the youngest." The lesson came up when she was exploring her own half-blindness. Her mother had taught her a lot and she was grateful for all of the medicinal lessons she was taught. She didn't know everything, but she sure had a lot of knowledge for someone her age. "I bet my parents are older than yours." She was amazed that Burke and her mother could even conceive at their advanced ages. It was a blessing (for them).

"I don't remember. Can't tell you much. I was young when it happened." She still had nightmares of the incident, but they were vague and not useful for any testimony. Whoever it was was lucky the incident was hidden from her memory, and still had not come back into her consciousness. If they were still there.

Wildfire was no medic, though she was pretty sure blindness didn't always occur the same way. There were many variations to most maladies, or at least she figured as much after listening to Raven talk about her trade. She didn't argue with Potema, though, letting the subject rest. Somehow, arguing with a blind girl about blindness seemed to be in poor taste.

She wasn't sure what to say about the comment regarding their parents' respective ages. There was no way to prove that one way or the other. Wildfire knew her mother was young. They were her very first litter, after all. Her father was perhaps a year or two older than Fox and she'd just said he wasn't that old. Wildfire didn't see how age mattered anyway, so again she made no reply.

"Oh," she finally said said when Potema said she didn't know her attacker's identity or motive. "I was attacked when I was little too, by my half-sister. I still have the scars on my neck." She shared this because she was struggling to make any kind of connection with the other girl, though she supposed forging one wasn't really necessary.

She had things to do and a very important task to continue. "I don't mean to cut this short," Wildfire apologized, "but I have to keep searching for my uncle." She offered Potema a thin-lipped smile, then turned and trotted toward Moonspear again, determined to sniff out Pan's scent among the rocks.

Potema froze for a moment when the orange-furred girl mentioned that she had been attacked by her own half sister. It made her think worriedly about this new litter that her parents were going to bring into the world quite soon: what would they be like? Would they try to usurp their positions as princes and princess of the Woods? Would they be crazy and try to kill her? "Why would your sister, half or no, attack you?" The Dark Brotherhood was all about sibling love, whether through literal blood or the bonds of the Brotherhood itself. To betray your own was to break one of the central laws of their creed. It was death. 

"Alright. Good luck." She said, the formality empty and without any real emotion. She cared for very little people outside of her pack, only one person actually. A young man she hadn't seen in a long time. But he could wait until later. She had a ruined landscape to explore. The girl watched the other go, before rising and heading north to the Spine, Mongfionn cawing as she followed in flight.