Hushed Willows ohana

@Delight, @Olive, @Lily, @Koume, @Khali, @Drakonis, @Ibis, @Okeanos, @Mali
Tentative tag for @Korei Julia and @Alarian since idk what is happening with this thread.

She is tucked between her lover and her friend when the Sanctuary arrives in Hushed Willows.  It is every bit as beautiful as she had imagined — no, more!

But she cannot enjoy it as she should be able to.  Delight disappeared shortly before they left, his children just before.  She assumes that he is looking for them, and she prays he has found them, or that if he has not, he is at least safe.  As she turns to address the party (something that should not be her duty, but Alarian's) she realizes that he is not here either.  Neither is the white sylph that is his friend.

Her smile falters.  The weight upon her shoulders is wholly unfair.  She knows Alarian is prone to unannounced departures; maybe the stress is getting to him, or some phantom guilt she does not know.  But with her stragglers behind her she knows that she must push forward.  She cannot fail them as others have failed her before.  Nightfall settles around them as she addresses the group.  I know we have all traveled a long way.  I appreciate you all for sticking it out this long.  We will rest here, and in the morning, we will begin marking our new territory.  Sleep, now.  Lily will take us to shelter.

She turns her attention to her dark friend, and offers a thin, tired smile.  Tomorrow was a new day.

Lily had changed a lot since her arrival in these lands. This kind of a journey, like the initial one to Broken Boulder, would have worn her out, before. But she was stronger, now, and more worldly. By the time she arrived to the willows, she could have done it all over again and still have energy left over to smile. She did so now, turning to Seabreeze and then to the group as a whole.

She'd noticed Alarian's departure, but did not pay it much mind. This is what he did--taking off without notice. He would be back, right? He always came back. More worrisome was Korei's absence, but Lily assumed she was with the Governor; where else would she be? If she didn't return in a couple of days' time, Lily would go out looking for her.

Seabreeze tossed the metaphorical mic to her, and she grinned, wagging her tail. "I didn't see any den sites when I was last here," she remarked, "but I probably wasn't looking hard enough. Who wants to go searching with me?" Her eyes sought out Khali in particular, but she kept the children in close mind, too.

They had come a long ways so when Seabreeze had announced they were here a feeling of relief overcame him. The journey was good not too overly exhausting but he still wanted to be settled by now. A smile crossed his face and he let out a small sigh. Finally, it was but a whisper so no one else had heard him. 

He knew rest would be hard because the anxiety of marking the territory and making sure it’s safe for the little ones but it was worth a shot. Before they settled though Lily needed to find the den sites. Khali desperately wanted to spend some time with her after her homecoming and then them leaving he had not talked to her for long. His head raised slightly and he cleared his throat, “I can go! With you... I mean.”  He was a bit overly excited at first but calmed as he noticed how it sounded a bit too clingy.

The trip towards Hushed Willows had been entirely unusual. There were disappearances; many, and of supposed leaders! Olive was disappointed, but not surprised. Olive had found that any trust she bestowed upon mere mortal wolves was often gravely misplaced. It was not the fault of Delight and Alarian and Korei that they had left — it was in their nature to wander, as they were canids with four limbs with which to walk, and a nose with which to navigate, and eyes with which to scry paths within the chaos of nature! They were flighty and mercurial, just like Dakarai and Cassiopeia and Aries, the nameless man who fathered Eleuthera and Séamus, of all the wolves who had ever led her or served alongside her or even merely knew her name. They were not perfect, like the gods. No, they are all fallible, so the Sylph decided to stop being surprised when they failed.

But the woman was determined not to let it get her down or dampen the excitement she felt about the changing tides. Under the navigational guidance of their scouts, the group had made it to their final destination. The oncoming nighttime made the flora and the fauna of the place difficult to see, but if vibrations could speak, then this place was beautiful. Hopefully the daylight would show that is was the type of beauty that Lily had spoken so highly of — if not, Olive was confident that she and Seabreeze could make it so. That’s what love did, make squeaky and dull things new and shiny, didn’t it? With this in mind, Olive turned an ear to hear her love’s sweet tones suggest they rest for the night, and they mark the territory in the morning. Olive heard no protests. The shrouded sylph turned to her small mob of children and raised an eyebrow at them, wondering if they would take up Lilly’s opportunity to explore their new home. Once, Olive might haven taken the task upon herself — but not now. She was tired.

for the second time in his very short life little okeanos has been uprooted -- and again he shoulders it with his gentle joviality, sticking close to mama, close to ibby. it could be thought of as disruption or trauma for the young boy, but to okeanos, he thinks himself a traveler, growing big and strong and interested in the world in his peaceful, harmless way.

but that does not mean he is oblivious to the tension either -- empathy is natural for him, and he's noticed that the two girls (the mean one and the quiet one) are absent from them now, as is their papa and the other guy okeanos didn't know much about, 'cept he hung out with the other puppies sometimes. although he's tried his best to stay out of their way since the spotty girl made him cry, he can't help but worry about mali. poor boy! no papa nor mama or even his sisters! 

disentangling himself from mama's legs, the soot sprite (though verging now on too big to be a sprite) makes his way towards the silvery-dappled boy. "hey, hey," he calls softly, hoping mali isn't in a bad mood and won't yell at him some more (but prepared to weather it if he does), "wanna look 'round or play or somethin'?"

The journey was nothing out of the ordinary for him with as little time he had spent at the boulder. The only reason it caused him any grief was because that if he returned, Sirius would have a lot of trouble finding him again. The boy who he considered a little brother had vanished a little while before the trip had begun, wounding him a bit. He needed to stay close though, because a piece of the puzzle remained in Olive. The mother of little children and his ex stepmother of sorts. The mother of his three half siblings. He hadn't spoken to her much at all, their first and only meeting had been interrupted suddenly and ended quickly but he had studied her from afar. She was a beauty if it wasn't weird to think so. She was soft spoken and a deligent mother. She was closest to Seabreeze, the one who had offered him a home with the sanctuary if only temporary.


When the announcement was made that they could rest he nodded silently and focused on Olive who looked exhausted. He approached her shyly, almost like a young boy as he offered her a slight smile "Are you hungry? I can get you something to fill your stomach up a bit" he offered with a slow sway of his tail.

At some point Alarian had disappeared and Mali was wasn't sure when. After a day or two of the journey he'd  pretty much given up on trying to escape and gave in to being pushed along by the non-Seabreeze, non-Olive adults that were familiar to him.

But now Alarian was also gone and Mali was alone. what happened?  As it dawned on him, he anxiously started to look around, figuring maybe he'd just lost track of where the man went, but just from a moment of ducking between wolves as what's her name spoke it didn't seem likely.  This wasn't his pack any more. This was someone else's that had replaced it.

And then that kid spoke up again! Mali shot him a sour look over his shoulder, Go. Away.  He still wanted nothing to do with any of them.  Mali had better things to do than deal with his stupid stuff.

Go for it, she says to Khali and Lily, eager to find somewhere that they can all lay down.  The children are tired and Delight's remaining pup is being incredibly obstinant.  She's sure that the tempestuous @Eleuthera will begin soon and, god, she loves her children but she is just as tired as them.

She raises a brow at Mali and knows that any attempt to reconcile with him will be fruitless.  There are very few things that were carried from the Sanctuary to here, but she collects a well-worried bone and sets it in front of the boys.  If she can prevent a feud, she will.  Mali, she says, It's okay if you want to play by yourself, but you have to be kind.  She kisses the top of Okeanos' head (and would have done the same to Mali, but presumably she knows better by now).  Would you like something to chew on?  I have this bone.

She waited, but only Khali spoke up, and she flashed him a cheeky grin. "Looks like it's just you and me for now," Lily remarked, laughter in her voice. She wagged her tail, jerking her head at her friend in signal for him to follow along. "Let's go!" The energy hadn't abated, yet; she'd take advantage of it for as long as she could.

The children's disagreement made her ears flatten slightly, but she tried to shake it off, instead keeping her focus straight ahead. Perhaps search for well-worn trails through the willows. . . They must lead to old sleeping places, right?

fade out Lily & Khali? or we can come back in a couple rounds if not archived

Unfortunately, what Seabreeze said was exactly the wrong thing to do.  He was just irritated by the other children and usually just gave them flat, annoyed replies telling them to buzz off and bug someone else, but she was one of two targets of his ire and he had no fear of her.  In his eyes, she was outside whatever normal moral restraints that would keep a kid from going over the edge.

He spun around to face her, teeth bared, fur stiffly on end, no hesitation.  It was probably a good thing that Mali had spent more time off by himself where he wasn't exposed to the world as much, otherwise what he said would have probably been a lot more vulgar.  It definitely had that kind of attitude but lacked the adult language that would have fit with it since he didn't know it.  Are you stupid? he roared, or would have had he still not been a punk kid.  Hell, if he was closer to being an adult, the immense quantity of seething hatred that now was leaking out of the pup would have probably been kind of scary.  As it were, he was just an awkward-sized youth, so the equivalent of a third or fourth grader isn't nearly as terrifying.  You don't get to say that!  You made me leave when my sisters are missing!  The volume and intensity continued to increase, And without my dad!  They'll never find us and now Alarian is gone too because he hates you!  Why would I play like some baby when they're GONE?!  You're monsters!  And with a final peal of a snarl, he ran back the way they'd came, looking for some sign that maybe at least one of them had just fallen behind.  And to get away from the fools and their children.

Olive smiled endearingly at the young man who offered her food. “No, thank you dear — but maybe soon…” It would never not be strange having Dakarai’s kin her, but she figured caring for the boy was the least she could do for the man she had love so deeply, once upon a time. Plus, children were always innocent of their parent’s crimes, and Drakonis was actually rather delightful. She wondered what this meant about Oxsana, Dakarai’s first wife and Drakonis’s mother. She must have been lovely.

She watched as Okeanos entreated with Mali, the sullen child who had been all but abandoned by his mother and father and brothers. Okeanos was being sweet, as he always was, but was met with venom. Seabreeze attempted to intercept the hostilities, only to find that she was met with more. The acidity with which Mali spoke was understandable, for certain, but not acceptable. The choice whether to leave the boulder or wait for wolves she wasn’t quite sure were returning had not been their’s to make — the gods had decided such things for them.

  “No — ” Olive began sternly, not about to allow the lovely Seabreeze to be spoken to in such a manner, and certainly not by a child, but Mali had skittered back the way they came. Olive knew better than to pursue him, as he left quite an acrid trail of energy that just begged to be left alone. With doleful eyes of cut jade, she regarded her lover empathetically.    “He’s a child. He doesn’t understand.” She said as a way to comfort them both. They were doing the right thing… right? 

vague post is vague, mild pp is mild, to get this archived

Lily found some dens somewhere, which I'm sure we will hash out eventually exactly where they are. She and Khali returned after their successful search, and Lily gave the rest of the pack assembled a grin. They're not so far off, actually, the blackbird announced, although, again, not really sure where they really are but whatever not the point.

She blinked softly at the weary-looking group of wolves, knowing that most of them were practically dead on their feet. With a gentle sweep of her tail, Lily turned and beckoned them follow, touching her muzzle briefly to Khali's shoulder. Her energy was beginning to wane; she could use a long sleep, herself. One of the dens in particular had looked enticing. . .

The blackbird stifled a yawn, padding on. Welcome home, she murmured, not sure whether it was to her friends or to reassure herself, in the face of all this change.