Larksong Grotto for these changes we will confront

indra is trying to run away! catch her quick, friends! AW, slight PP welcome :)

indra had not learned the life lesson that time dulled the pain, nor that absence bid the heart to romanticize things of the past. she was keenly aware of the presence of nostalgia, but not the dangers of it -- too young to have savored the tincture of time, indra did something rash and careless.

she ran.

she had not cared to check if no one was around, or if she was alone. all she knew was that she missed Casmir and Spring terribly, and that this new life was not her old life and that was wrong; it was strange and foreign to her and not home. so she ran; fleeing for the outside perimeter, blindly pursuing what she could only guess was the direction to lead her home.

so heedless was indra of others around her that she did not even consider laurel's potential heartbreak to see another sibling gone. it simply did not register; all indra thought in that impetuous moment was that she was going home, and none could stop her.

Whenever he had the chance (which was a rare thing nowadays), Hiram patrolled the borders of the grotto. The work he did was important, and though he had little time, keeping his scent over his claim was a top priority. He walked, stopping only to spread his scent where need be. After coming to rest near a young tree, Hiram lifted his leg and began to mark.

With leg lifted in a compromising position, he saw a brief flash of crimson in his periphery. He turned his head to see his daughter running for the border. Her intent to leave was unknown to him, however, he did know of her discontent. It saddened him to know that she did not feel like the grotto was home, but he felt she would come around eventually.

"Indy," he called out. "Where are you going?" It wasn't safe for a pup her age to stray beyond the border, and so, as soon as he finished marking, Hiram set off in pursuit.

breathlessly the child made haste, stumbling through thicket and fern for the open headlands. she would have made a direct line for the expanse of plains were it not for reek's voice, clear and close behind her.

indra slowed, her batlike ears dropping to her skull in defeat. abashedly, the small child hunched down and turned back to her father, her tail tucked in a crook between her legs. "nowhere." she lied, her gaze on the ground as she admitted she had been caught red-handed in an act of selfishness.

The girl stopped as Hiram approached, appearing as if she had been caught with her hand stuck in the cookie jar. "Doesn't look like nowhere," he said, shaking his head with confusion. For a moment, the father studied his daughters defeated expression, looking for any clue as to what she was thinking at the time. He could see it written across her face as clear as day.

She didn't want to be here.

After traveling so far to finally take his daughters back to where they belonged, Hiram felt rejected. His smile drooped into a broken, pitiful thing. "What's wrong Indy?" He asked, hoping there was something -- anything -- he could do to make the grotto feel more like a proper home.

indra looked longingly down the slope, missing casmir and spring -- saeana may have been a distant memory, but the lean-cut view of casmir's sharp muzzle and spring's doe-like eyes were not.

but they were not here. reek was here.

she turned her head back to him and for a moment the burn-sienna of her lamb-like eyes met his own. she was astutely aware she had just caused something to crumple in reek's demeanor -- she had eked out some sort of defeat she had not intended.

remorse simmered a little in her heart, and she kept her head bent to the ground as she studied the slender figure of a sleeve of pine needles. "i jus' miss them. casmir and spring and stuff." she looked up from the earth, seeking both the comfort and assurance of her father: "do you ever miss someone so much?"

She missed them. Of course, Hiram should have known. Sentiment was a powerful thing. So powerful that it had compelled Hiram himself to seek out his daughters and bring them home to the grotto. After all, this was where they belonged, with their true family -- their father. Hiram had, however, not realized that the attachment to the creek had not been fully severed. He hoped that someday it would.

He understood such sentiment in full, especially the bitter pain of loss. He stepped forward, now sure of the pain his daughter felt, and he pressed his snout lovingly into the scruff of her neck. "I do," he murmered. "I miss your mother Indy." Though he had remarreid, there wasn't a day that Saena hadn't crossed his mind. The guilt of his betrayal, even after all this time, still felt fresh.

Laurel had been growing less and less happy at Larksong Grotto. Where in the beginning everything was still new and cool, now she was beginning to miss Casmir and Laika, and even Spring — she wished that they were here too, and she wondered when they were going to head home again. The journey had been so long and she didn't remember exactly how they'd travelled, so Laurel knew she couldn't just go find them on her own, which made her feel trapped. She also didn't like any of the wolves she had met so far; they'd been really mean and stupid to her, especially her stupid new stepmother which she didn't like at all.

When she ran into Indra and Reek close to the borders she wandered over to them. Feeling sad, she looked up at Reek with tearful eyes and said: "When are we going home to see Cas, Laika, Spring 'n Shreya again?"

she missed saena too; reek's crushed admittance brought a welt of hot tears to indra's watering gaze. she looked down and the tears welled and dribbled down her snout. indra took a blocky limb and wiped the tears from her cheek, feeling hot embarrassment flush her as laurel approached. she tried her best to regain her composure, not wanting her sister to see her sullen side. laurel's question prompted her to sniffle and look upright, hope slowly webbing across her red cheeks as she awaited her father's answer.

The heartbreak etched across his daugher's face was keenly felt. As a tear dribbled down her scarlet cheek, Hiram too welled with wistful sadness. The what-ifs washed over him in droves. If he had not made the one, big, life-altering mistake of sleeping with Tavi, maybe they would have all been a happy, stable family. He had promised Saena, long ago, that he'd never leave. That nothing in this world could possibly strip him away from his children. Unfortunately, and much to Hiram's chagrin, something did.

As Indra wiped away her tears, Hiram reached out with his muzzle to lightly touch her cheek as an apologetic gesture of solidarity. The peace, however, was broken by Laurel's arrival. Her question was difficult -- it was one Hiram did not know how clearly answer. "I—" he opened his mouth but quickly shut it. "Someday. I promise." Someday, when they were older, maybe they could make the trip. However, the Creek was a place Hiram could not tread -- not anymore. To do so would be to wager his life.

"But, in the mean-time... Please, what can I do to make this place feel like home." It obviously didn't, as Laurel referred to the Creek as home. His voice was nearly pleading and his question, directed to the both of them.

Indra was upset and whatever was bothering her, Laurel wanted to punch. Yet she knew it wasn't a tangible thing; she just wanted to see Casmir and Laika and everyone too. And their mother, but she was gone, and Laurel didn't think she would ever come back. It didn't sound from the stories like she would.

Reek promised to make the Grotto feel like home. Laurel didn't realise that he wasn't intending to take them any time soon. "Well, I dunno," Laurel said with a wistful sigh as she thought of home, clearly not feeling the Larksong Grotto awesome vibe right now (anymore). Then she looked at Reek and she asked: "... Anything?" Laurel asked, and she looked at Reek with a pout as she added: "I miss home," with a sad, breeching-on-tantrum face.

little indra did not know reek had no intention of returning the misplaced babies to their rightful home, and as such took his words on an unyielding faith only a child doused in innocence could muster. she shouldered laurel and peered up hopefully; anything?

indra loved that word.

she missed home too but for the moment the homesickness was lost, and her heart was replaced with excitement. he had said anything! anything!

indra scrunched her face and thought, eyeing her sister before bellowing loudly: "FISH!!"

"Anything," he repeated to Laurel, hoping simple appeasement would raise her spirits. He would give her anything she wanted... Or, anything he could. He could not march them back to the creek, not without losing them completely. That was not an option. Hiram did not wish to keep his daughters from the ones they loved, but he felt this was something to revisit at a different time -- or, at least when he had the time to put together a proper plan. 

Indra's request, however, was much easier to fulfil. "I can do that!" exclaimed Hiram. He was never much of a conventional hunter, but fishing had always been his strong-suit. "Come on, both of you. Let's go to the lake. I'll catch you both the biggest fish I can."

A broad smile filled Laurel's face, yet it was also one that, would she pay attention, Indra of all wolves would be able to tell of that there was an idea brewing in that haughty little mind of hers. Yet just as Reek confirmed that yes, anything, Indra mentioned fish. Reek excitedly got ready to take them fishing when Laurel said: "If Indra gets fish, I want my thing too!" and without blinking she added haughtily and princess-like, "I don't want a stephmother. You gotta get rid of her." He had just promised her anything, after all, and this was Laurel's one request. It wasn't that she wished Jhala any ill -- she just wanted Reek all to herself.

Only after getting confirmation of her request would Laurel follow Indra and Reek to the fish; until then, she remained firmly rooted in place.

indra thought her request perfect -- that was, until she heard laurel speak. she eyed her sister somewhat taken aback - she hadn't had the same (or any) experience with jhala and as such was perplexed by the request. all the same and true to a terrible toddler, indra rallied by her sister. "YEA! FISH AND NO STEPMOTHERS!" she roared, her tail waggling wildly behind them. with a shouldering but gentle jab at laurel's flank indra repeated in a somewhat obnoxious chant: "yes fish no stepmothers yes fish no stepmothers yes fish no stepmothers.." unfortunately the chant lacked the catchy gravitas to catch on, and she grew quiet as she studied reek for his reaction.

He had just turned to lead the children back into the territory when Laurel grabbed his attention with her demands. Hiram froze and turned back to Laurel with an expression of dismay. Indra chimed in, echoing Laurel's sentiment with a chant of her own. They had him between a rock and a hard place -- after all, he did promise anything -- but this was something he could not do. Never. Perhaps he had been a bit too forthcoming in his promise.

He breathed a heavy, contemplative sigh and hummed with thought. "Hmmmm," the Cardinal mused as he wracked his brain on how he could fulfil his daughters request without losing his wife and trusted companion. "What if I promised to make sure to spend as much one on one time with you two as possible." Jhala, he didn't think would mind, seeing as he wasn't too keen on the kids anyway. "Just us," he reiterated for effect.

It saddened him to know how they felt about their step-mother, but Hiram still believed they would eventually come to love her in time.

As Indra chimed in with her chant, Laurel followed and chanted along, giggling in between in the excitement of the moment. Tail whirred excitedly, but it all stopped when Reek looked like he wasn't too sure he'd keep his promises.

Laurel pouted when Reek looked thoughtful; pleading at first, but when he said that he'd spend as much time as possible with just the two of them, it turned into a full-blown pout like she'd often use when she wanted to get her way. "But you promised!" she said with disappointment intwined in her voice. "You said it could be anything! Were you lying when you said that? Lying is a bad thing!" She looked expectantly at Reek, then at Indra as though to wait for her to confirm that lying was bad and Reek should keep his promises.

indra needed no urging from laurel: instantly, she replied -- "lying is bad!" in a singsong, somewhat scolding voice. shreya had told them so, and indra knew shreya was always right. she stepped alongside her sister, flanking her tawny body with her own. she paused to gaze at her sister, and then back to reek -- meanwhile, her batlike ears flopped back and forth between the two of them expectantly.

Laurel pouted, appearing to be on the verge of a nasty tantrum. Indra carried on as well in the wake of her sister's goading, but to a lesser extent. Hiram did not know what to say that would placate his daughter, so he nodded his head and repeated, "Lying is bad." Yet it was something he had done time and time again to get to his daughters -- to bring them home. Lying had it's place, but not now.

"I won't lie to you -- either of you," he said. "Ever." Hiram sighed. "If I make a promise to you that I can't keep, I won't be able to forgive myself," he continued. This was true, he loved his daughters far too much to let them down. "You don't have to spend time with Jhala if you don't want to."

Reek mostly spouted out excuses so that he would have to not get rid of Jhala, but he had already promised. of course, the wolves of silver creek had already warned he was a bad wolf, so it shouldn't have surprised her that much. She frowned at Reek, giving him the face that said 'i know what you did there' but this time, she did not go into tantrum mode, instead deciding to relay the promise so that she would have something perhaps even better.

"Fine, we'll drop the promise if... If you will get rid of her in half a year from now. Do you promise that? Cause if not you still gotta get rid of her now cause you promised and like you said lying is bad!" She looked expectantly at Reek. She rather wanted to get rid of Jhala now, but he wasn't gonna do that. Maybe if she could make him swear he would later on, it could work.

indra's little chant faded as her father repeated it; somehow, the statement lost its impact and indra fell silent. she watched her sister curiously -- as usual, laurel spearheaded the negotiations. it was probably better that way, for indra was hardly more persuasive than a leaf. she looked to reek, her honey eyes wide with curiosity and intent; could he make that promise? would he show his daughters that he was a man of his word, and that they were his only warrant in life?