Deepwood Weald black wings

Nishu's death, the possibilities of the other bear, and the very complex knot of feeling coiling in her chest has her  anxious so she can't help her lengthy strides that push her beyond her boundaries. It's a relatively warm, but foggy morning, and she knows the pack will function just fine without her. Not that she had been overly prevalent in the most immediate days, anyway. The dark alpha knows she has been distracted and won't bother them with half-assed efforts. Instead, she had focused on bringing herself back around and handling all the appropriate measures of her mourning for a longtime comrade.

But she's warming up again and feeling cooped up. She lopes across the field heading roughly northeast, taking care to kick up her heels and dig deep for a good run to clear her lungs while she had the space. Eventually, the edges of the quarry approached and she slowed up, then guided a trail towards the spindly forest of the Weald's edge.

With word of so many new packs in the area, she decides to be most mindful of other wolf company -- be them of the pack or loner sort. Even pressing too far into the woods would begin to steer her near Donnelaith territory, which wasn't her intention either. So, she stayed along the fringes arcing around the quarry, only scouting along for whatever she may cross paths with in the meantime.

She knew that eventually, the coastline's pull would be on the wind, but she didn't want to travel that far yet. Her intentions were to return to the Spear before it got very late, after all.

Couldn't resist..

They had settled to Neverwinter Forest officially, and the large wolf had stayed within the territory for some time. He continued to mark their borders, to fill their caches to the best of his ability – but they could not stay within their borders forever, and so with a clipped howl to Eshe to let her know he would be traveling, the wolf strode out of his home and in to neutral terrain.
 
The lands had been familiar to him once, but it had been so long since he had lived within the forest that it was very much like he was rediscovering his home once more. He trailed across the fields, seeking out the migration patterns of the herds for now, though finding nothing just yet.
 
The Weald was a forest he had not explored during his prior stay, and so his trek led him there. The warmth of spring was a welcome change, though the ground was still wet with snow and slush. His heart yearned to know how Bazi and his newborn litter were doing now, but he would not linger on the thoughts. It did him no good to allow his heart to despair his loss – he would instead look to the future now. Pasha had come with them, and he did know Allure had intended to travel back to the Wilds. Perhaps they would come upon her soon.
 
He did not crest deep within the woods, and chose instead to scale along the edges of the shadows. His pace did slow, as he came upon a faintly familiar scent – his own form stopped and his bright aqua eyes darted through the trees, attempting to decipher exactly what toyed with his nostalgia.

Ooooh

The scenery rolls by, with scents intermingled here and there yet nothing seemed worthwhile enough to capture her focus for longer than a fleeting second. So far, she was feeling difficult to impress and along with it, the Weald was unremarkable overall as it straddled the line between winter's old decay and the very beginning of spring's bloom. In another week or two with the right amount of warmth, rain, and sunshine she reasoned she may be far more interested in what she could find here but today, distraction pulled more readily.

It's movement on the edge of her periphery that does get her attention, and this alone brings her skimming closer to where she could find out more. By scent, it's only vaguely familiar so she jogs her mind even faster than her feet, but over the years spanning the Teekon, some things are more noteworthy than others. With what she begins to realize, her green eyes narrow into a quizzical squint. 

Sight of the fellow wolf in the woods does well to confirm this, and he is distinct as always. Now knowing that it is him, a relic from the histories, her smooth approach zeroes in although she leaves a handful of body lengths between them. They had been vaguely neutral neighbors before, always kind of kept at arm's length because that was all the further it needed to be. Still, that was so long ago.

Her nose flares and his scent is not as she remembers. Not quite. But, the hints of evergreen and pine's spice on his agouti shades keys her into something else. Neverwinter. "Long time no see," she regards him coolly, poised and neutral but with a marked interest.

Nothing had changed about her, though it had been some time since he had seen her. She was less than enthused to see him, and he felt a small smile press upon his lips as he studied her quietly. Amekaze had been a pack mate once – before Fox had ousted Ferdie and Jace – and then the two had come to near blows time and again. Yet upon the swarthy female gaining the title over the unsettled Ferdie, and Bazi over Fox, the pack had come to shaky terms.
 
But Swiftcurrent Cree and The Sunspire were no more – and while he could not speak to whether Amekaze still ran with the same wolves or not, his own clan had certainly changed since those times. “It has been. I take it you’re no longer living on The Sunspire?” Another mountain he had lived upon once upon a time over the few years..
 
.. It would seem Scimitar had lived quite sporadically throughout his life. He was more than content to settle down completely, now. But then again, that had always been his goal. “Have you been well?”

Swiftcurrent was so long ago and since departing from the Sunspire, it had grown even more distant to her. Yet it still seemed these little reminders persisted -- she'd felt then when encountering Njal, too, although to a different, lesser extent. But now she simply looked past them and adjusted to regard him in a brand new, ever-shifting sort of way, especially if her suspicions may pan out in full.

"Not since the autumn," she answered with a nod, knowing sometime before then, the Creek had dissolved as well. She had never followed through on knowing exactly where they had gone or what had become of them. "I can say that is has," she added after a beat, briefly thoughtful as she reflected on how very little of the Sunspire remained now -- especially now with Nishu dead, Rain vanished, and Jace distant to all except her. "Moving the pack was in my best interest. Moonspear is mine, now." Word seemed to travel well enough in these wilds that he would know sooner or later, if he did not already. She knew Floki had contact with them via an Eshe (Ame only knew the name), and that Charon had gone investigating as well, so the information's pathways were definitely possible. "And Neverwinter yours?" she quipped with half a glance in its general direction.

Moonspear was hers – so she had moved from one mountain to the other. He made no comment on the move itself, instead he offered a nod. He had moved his pack three times – four, if they counted Neverwinter Forest and his official break-up with Bazi.  It certainly did feel like a lifetime ago.
 
“Yes,” he offered, his eyes stealing in the direction she glanced to. One ear swiveled toward her, as if waiting for her to announce her disappointment that the forest was now claimed. It was something the residents of Great Bear Wilderness certainly seemed to dwell upon -- but perhaps that only stemmed from their closer neighbors. “I lived there prior to Swiftcurrent Creek – a long time ago.” It was a brief explanation of his tie to the lands – had they not been successful in claiming the forest, it was likely they would have continued either back to Swiftcurrent Creek or to Nova Peak – but somehow, a fresh start seemed more respectful to he and Eshe’s new relationship.

He confirms with ease and she offered only a soft nod in response. She has her opinions of it, and what it means for her, but she is smart enough to know where her battles should be. Neverwinter is not on her doorstep and it is just personal greediness that prickles her against the idea of it now being claimed, although she knows she'll cope with it in due time so long as the packs coexist without incident.

With his next words, she realized that he has been steeped in Teekon history for a very long time as well. A different one than her own in many parts, but they did seem bound to have their overlaps (and were maybe destined to be vaguely neighborly) no matter how exactly time twisted their paths. "Ah, right.. now that you say something, I do think I vaguely remember it being claimed back then, but not for very long..?" She'd basically forgotten about it, especially after her visit to its borderlands had proven uneventful. "I was staying as a loner near the coast in those days, so a few words of it traveled my way." 

He gave a gentle nod to her words, his mind drifting back to the days of Chakra – she had been an inspiring creature, and yet at times he wished he had not tried to track her down. It had been moot anyhow, given the trail of blood he had followed had led to nothing.. she had simply vanished. And with her, so had Neverwinter Forest. He could have taken lead then – or Luka could have. Hell, even  Viinturuth. “Not long at all,” he agreed.
 
He wondered how different his path would have been, if that had been the case. If he had not gone to Swiftcurrent Creek and joined Fox’s ranks.. If he had not fallen in love with Bazi.
 
Giving his muzzle a small shake, he felt his lip quirk upward in a brief smile. “I suddenly feel very old,” he decided, giving his shoulders a light shrug.

She remembered her time as a Teekon-area loner mainly with fondness. The worst of it had come in the end, when she'd felt bottle-necked into the packlife which had only changed things too rapidly for her tastes at the time. But, on the whole, it had done her well. She was thankful for where it lead to: here.

She chuffed softly. Old? "Well you do not look the part," she shrugged back as if it may be any consolation. She had not seen him for a time and it was not anything that she'd thought about him, but age was a relative thing for her -- and she certainly did not see herself as old. "I personally prefer experienced," she reasoned with a smirk, doubting he was all that much older than her, anyway.

Amekaze’s words drew an amused snort from the male, and he gave a gentle shake of his muzzle. He had never considered the dark she-wolf a friend – nor did he now. But it was a pleasant change of atmosphere they seemed to meet with now, and he could only hope that the days of the past remained where they belonged: in the past.
 
Amekaze was the least of his current worries – his only concerns for the moment remained to be Silvertip Mountain and Blackfeather Woods. Adding to his list was not something he wished to do, as Swiftcurrent Creek had piled up its own list of enemies.
 
“Experienced, then,” he amended with quiet amusement, his aqua eyes studying her quietly. Never one for lengthy conversations, the man allowed the conversation to fall silent then, wondering if he had overstayed his welcome in her presence.

To his revision, she chuffed lightly and let her tail sway softly. Somehow, this worked and she made no move to press issues between them. The conversation petered out naturally and she only lingered in his company a short while longer before the farewells came, for whatever they were worth. She would leave this place a bit more assured in her neutrality being mutual, and that was one less thing to concern herself with as spring's fresh blooms draped the landscape.

Amekaze intended to rove the neutral turf for a while longer before turning for home. She took care to steer clear of Neverwinter, despite making a half-hearted note of the direction he would eventually take towards for his own pathway.