Sequoia Coast DISCOVERY - The Cave of Glass

Reference here (without the human)

Location


Kisu walked on the edge of where the forest split from thin to thick trees. He looked up and saw through the canopy that he was coming upon a mountain, but he kept walking anyway.

Keeping their thickness, the trees came up to hug where the large rock met the forest floor. His mouth parted as the grey wolf spotted an entrance. Stepping up cautiously, Kisu poked his head in. Pulling back out, he looked around before moving forward once more.

The hallway took about a minute to walk into. A small gasp came from the male as he saw what he had discovered — a cave with glass for water and the heavens peeking through the ceiling. The water here was not frozen over in any way, and the air was much warmer than outside. Looking down, Kisu saw the reflection of the ceiling, but also the floor of the cave. It was clear, yet the pictures from the high crag made it hard to see as well. He shook out his fur and stepped into the water.

I'm going to bring this up to date—hope that's cool!

Pied woke with a yelp, the dregs of her intense dream still churning in her head. "Gods," she gasped, shakily rising to her feet and rushing out the lair's doorway. Her mouth opened and she vomited on the grass. Morning sickness had become routine but this bout of nausea was caused as much by anxiety as anything else. She felt like the images from her dream—well, more of a nightmare, really—would be burned into her brain for all time.

She found herself yearning for Kisu. After taking a drink of fresh water, she loped down to sea level and then dropped her nose to the ground. She picked up his scent and followed it, tracking it into the shadowy copse between Ravensblood Forest and Gyrfalcon's Keep. She spotted her mate even as he suddenly disappeared from view, causing her to draw up short and blink.

Rushing forward, she discovered the subterranean entryway and stepped through it. "Oh," she whispered as she drew alongside her mate. Although she still felt a queer wedge driven between them, she greeted him with an affectionate touch to the side of his neck. "What is this place?" she wondered aloud, her heterochromatic eyes sliding back and forth over the cavern's sprawling walls and down to the glassy underground lake.

Remembering why she'd tracked her mate, Pied licked her lips and faced him. "Kisu, I had the worst dream just now. I had a vision of Atka in her white bear form. She stood over... over the bodies of our pups... weeping." She made a choking sound low in her throat. "Behind her were the shadowy silhouettes of wolves. I couldn't make out details but I just knew who they were. You know how it works that way in dreams...?" She didn't name them, though she trembled slightly, as if unwilling to give into the dream's message but unable to stop herself. "Atka was warning me, Kisu," she finished, her quavering voice echoing in the cave of glass.

Kisu pushed his head against his mate's neck and briefly wondered how she found the entrance to the cave — it never crossed his mind that she was tracking his scent.

He shushed Pied in a gentle way. "Don't worry, my little Pied, everything will be alright. I won't let anyone touch our pups. Ever." His voice carried a promise and an edge with the last word spoken. He didn't want to pry or ask questions, but Kisu silently wondered who it was that his mate saw. He wondered if it was Pump. I do not trust that female... he growled in his mind. Ever since the day he had run into her and she spoke about her hatred of pups and making sure they would not get into her way, Kisu had had a bad taste in his mouth.

Kisu reassured her quickly and Pied smiled weakly at him, though her throat felt raw with emotion (and the vomiting hadn't helped). She realized her heart was beating rapidly in her chest, making her entire body quiver with its pounding. She tried to take a deep breath and bear her mate's words in mind. It was just a dream, after all...

"It was so strange," she breathed. She paused, then decided to tell him who she'd seen. "It was Akhlut, Pump, Kennedy and that scrawny yearling from the hunt. I don't know her name." Her legs felt weak and she sank suddenly even as she spoke. "It was so horrible, Kisu. I know it was just a nightmare and... I don't even really believe in Atka, really, but..." She drew in a deep, steadying breath, then let it out in a long, slow whoosh.

Kisu, even if he didn't see ghosts or believe in some spirit bear, took Pied's dream as a sign. Before speaking, though, he pushed even closer to her and shushed her again. He held her a moment before mumbling words into her fur.

"Pied... I do not have otherworldly powers, but I believe your dream is telling us something. I have thought about this for months; I want to leave the pack. I have stayed here because you desired so, but I do not believe Akhlut is a capable leader, nor do I truly trust anyone in this pack. Since you and Hawkeye are close, I figured..." he trailed of, losing some momentum. "Well, I figured that we could find safety and true leaders among them." He finished, pulling back from his mate, trying to read her face for reaction.

When he held her, it surprised her. He hadn't touched her intimately in a while, the result of her misbehavior on the beach when in heat. Made happy by his closeness, she hugged tightly against him. In that moment, her worries about her dream fell by the wayside. Kisu didn't seem to concerned and neither should she put too much stock into it. It was just a dream.

He spoke again and his words took her by even greater surprise than his embrace. Several beats of silence passed after he spoke, in which Pied regarded with the same look upon her pale face as a deer staring down a pair of oncoming headlights. Just when she'd been ready to let go of the dream, Kisu was abruptly convinced that it was some sort of omen. Furthermore, he wanted to leave the ridge and run to Blacktail Deer Plateau—like they'd discussed before the fateful orca attack...

Finally, her brow furrowed somewhat and her lips parted. "For months?" were her first words, just to confirm the time frame. With a sigh, she then admitted, "His on-again, off-again leadership troubles me too. After my attack, he paid a few visits but I haven't seen much of him since then. The hunt was the first time in a while... and not since then." She sighed again, her ears slowly sliding backward to paste against her dappled nape as the realization struck her that the Alpha male had once again become too sparse for her liking. And, partly because of this inconsistent leadership, the ridge was not as cohesive as it should be.

She fell silent for another moment or two, then lifted her eyes to look into his. Perhaps if not for her dream, she would've protested. But Kisu made valid points and there were the pups to consider (her guts clenched as the vivid image from the dream cropped up in her mind's eye). Besides, she deferred to him in all matters. She may have possessed the higher rank in the ridge's hierarchy but, like a good wife, Pied obeyed her husband, who was furthermore older and wiser. If he wanted to leave Horizon Ridge, she trusted that he'd thought it through and arrived at the best decision for their family unit.

"If you think it's best, I will follow you. I will follow you to the ends of the earth, Kisu," she finally spoke, the words again sighing out of her. She paused, then added something rather resignedly uncharacteristic, "Let's just go, right now. Let's just slip away to the plateau. I'm positive Hawkeye will accept us with open arms. Another Alpha may turn us away or threaten to kill our pups but my sister will be happy to welcome all of us. We'll be a big, happy family." And even as she spoke the words, a knot loosened in her chest, one that she hadn't known was there. In hindsight, it had been there ever since they'd first talked of running away to the plateau.

ooc: d'aww Pied's so cute. Loved your post

When Pied mentioned just slipping away, Kisu's chest tightened, but his tenseness fell. He was not one to dishonor his leader, but he thought of the pups. Should he just confront Akhlut alone? He had plenty of fighting experience, but Akhlut was much younger than he was. I'm an old wolf now, he thought, it suddenly hitting him.

Finally, he nodded to Pied. "Okay. But, let's first enjoy this place we've discovered. I mean... look at it." The last words he spoke seemed to be just enough to describe the place. He wished that this was on the lands of the plateau, for he could find himself visiting this place often. "It's like a cave of glass..." he added on softly, wondering if Pied even heard him.

:D

If Kisu insisted they speak to Akhlut first, Pied would concede. She wondered what he would do and say. They wouldn't be asking him if they could leave, they'd be telling him. Her jaw clenched at the mental imagery. But then her mate agreed to just slip away without a word and, though she felt guilt bloom in her chest, she also felt relief. Pied was under no illusions; leaving the pack was a bad thing to do. Akhlut and everyone else would be rightfully angry with them for abandoning the ridge. But they'd definitely given the ridge and its leadership a chance. It just hadn't worked out for them in the end and, if they had to be selfish about their departure, then so be it.

Besides, they would have safety and company waiting for them at the plateau. Pied didn't have a doubt in her mind that Hawkeye would be as happy as she would be surprised. They could raise their litters together after all. Pied imagined Peregrine would also like having them there, though she wondered if her uncle would disapprove of their pregnancy and the circumstances under which they'd left. She knew they wouldn't fib about that; Akhlut might come looking for them and cause all kinds of trouble, though she hoped he'd just let them go and leave it alone.

It was difficult not to project into the future, yet when Kisu asked her to enjoy their current surroundings, Pied did her best to focus. "It is certainly beautiful. I wouldn't mind living here," she mused. "You know, I've thought about the idea of leading our own pack a few times. If you ever wanted to do that, I would support you, of course, but I don't think I'd ever be cut out to be an Alpha. I'd be your happy little Gamma or whatever." She smiled, then shrugged, letting go of that topic just as quickly as she'd brought it up. They were moving packs, not starting one, and she was more than happy about that.

Suddenly, the reality of the situation finally began to hit her. If they left directly from here, she would never again lay in her lair on the cliff. She would never again run on the beach. More likely than not, she would never see her pack mates again. Her heart twisted, then relaxed in the next moment. She'd spent so much time in the den, sick and wounded, that she wouldn't actually miss it much. As for the beach—well, she would barely come close to the water anymore. And though she respected each of the members of the ridge and even considered some of them friends, she never saw any of them regularly. They felt like friendly strangers who shared the same space. Even Dublin, who'd saved her life, had grown sparse and fallen to the bottom of the heap.

Laughing abruptly, Pied said, "Sorry, I'm not being very present at all, am I?" and gave Kisu an apologetic lick. "I was just thinking about what we'd be leaving behind. But I'm not worried about any of it. As long as I have you, I'll always be home anyway."

Kisu was shocked by the sudden suggestion from Pied of leading their own pack. He shook his head when she mentioned being his Gamma, wondering where the hell she got the idea that she would not lead with him. If they were to lead, he would want him by her side. He believed it was ridiculous to have his mate below him like a servant of some sort.

"There isn't much to leave behind." He murmured quietly. Kisu looked at Pied, then to the crag in front of them that light shone upon. He moved forward, light sloshing of water following each step. He was halfway buried in the stuff before jumping out onto the area the large rock sat. The grey male looked up in awe. These were things he had come to cherish; quiet moments and discoveries of things he wasn't sure that others would fully appreciate.

Part of Pied agreed with Kisu, though there was a sentimental part of her that would certainly miss some of the people and places at Horizon Ridge. She decided right then and there not to dwell on it, though. She would point her nose forward and look only to the future.

And, of course, she wanted to enjoy the present. When her mate began to move, she shook her head to clear it of thought and followed after him. He seemed rather awed by the cave and Pied found herself admiring it too, now that her attention span allowed for it. It was quiet and serene down here.

When she jumped onto the rock a heartbeat after him, Pied thought she felt a flutter in her abdomen. She blinked and arched around to nip at her flank. It was too early for quickening, she thought. Still, her lips twitched into a faint smile and she turned around to nudge Kisu.

"I think the puppies are excited by what's happening. I swear I just felt them move. It was just the tiniest little flutter..." She paused but it didn't happen again. "As long as I have you and them, I will always be at home," she said, amending her earlier statement as a contented smile spread over her pale features.

Kisu turned, his eyes resting on her stomach as she spoke. He poked her tummy with his nose and then looked at her with his eyebrows raised. After a moment, he looked back at the home of his pups, then turned to move around the back of the rock.

Looking up, Kisu squinted his eyes. The sun only reflected off of surfaces, but still was bright with raised eyes. He climbed the rock and sat at the top of it, where there seemed to be a place that resembled a throne (in his eyes). "I am king of this cave!" He shouted, this being a bit out of character. The male felt so relieved and elated that they were leaving this pack.

Kisu jumped down to Pied and danced around her, pushing his nose into her belly and licking her face along the way.

If she hadn't already convinced herself that they were making the right decision, Kisu's light behavior certainly drove it home. He'd seemed distant lately and she'd chalked it up to that dramatic, stormy night on the beach. In hindsight, she realized that her mate had been discontent with other things besides her. Now that they were breaking away from the ridge, it was like the gloomy cloud hovering over him just disappeared.

When he shouted, his voice echoed around the cave and her ears pressed backward, though she smiled. "Do you hear that, kids? You're going to princes and princesses," she murmured.

Kisu bounded down from his perch and danced around her, nudging and licking her. Pied's own heart heart lifted and she waved her tail. Good riddance, she thought of the ridge when she looked into his shining face. That smile alone was worth it.

"I love you, you overgrown puppy," she said with a light laugh. "It makes me happy to see you so happy."

Kisu panted, a large smile on his face, blooming with excitement. "Alright, enough looking around! Let's get going, my queen." He bowed to his mate, then jumped from the rock and splashed into the water. It came up into his ears, something he hadn't considered, and he shook his head furiously. Maybe I should have thought of that before jumping he deadpanned in his mind.

Pied wanted to laugh at the image of her mate leaping into the water, only to sink like a rock, but of course she wanted to make sure he wasn't drowning first. "Kisu, are you okay?! I'm not fat enough to substitute for a flotation device just yet," she warned playfully, with the slightest edge of actual concern as she waited for him to surface.

"I am fine," he spoke sourly, then gave doe eyes to Pied. "Be careful coming down, and make sure you take the path you did before. It is much deeper over here." He waited for Pied to come close enough, then continued moving forward.

She bit her lip to stop from laughing at his sour reply, then waved her tail slowly as she clambered down to join him. She stuck to his side and slightly behind him, her shoulder even with his hip. She bumped into him from time to time just because it felt good to finally touch her mate again and be touched by him. They really hadn't felt this close since before her heat phase and Pied enjoyed it very much.