Firefly Ravine And with my sad picture of girl getting bitterer

@Ibis .
Set some time around 15th - 16th November, but not very particular, when. @Maia - tagging for reference on whereabouts of the two.

It had got very windy and cold at the coast, therefore Wraen decided to move inlands: along the mountain range, across the fields and having the ocean line within the sight on the left. Weather conditions somewhat improved, but the temperature was still very low, especially during the night-time that the two sisters spent curled up side by side and keeping each other warm. Still, when the morning would come, Wraen would wake up feeling stiff and it would take some active exercise to get the blood circulating again.

Their path further South in the taiga was cut off by a steep ravine and large river. As far as they could see, there was no easy passage over, therefore Wraen decided to send Maia off East in order to see, if the river did not narrow down there, making it easier to cross, while she would remain here and try going down the slope, hopefully not trip and tumble down and see, if the streams was as bad as it seemed, when viewed from above. The climb was not particularly easy and the fact that Wraen was a tad bit afraid of heights, did not help either. No wonder that after a struggle that lasted for 30 minutes or so, she made it with heart beating frantically in her chest and herself reminding a person, who has had a roller-coaster ride, done it with her eyes closed and hated every moment.

It was her desire to see her daddy again, or that's at least the thought that kept her going. Ibis wasn't an adventurous girl (usually relying on the presence of her brother to give her strength and assure her safety) so the fact she wasn't at home in the willows, or at the very least moping around in the communal cave, was a big deal. It was cold out here and she was beyond lost, beyond scared - so when she found herself here, of all places, you'd expect Ibis to wonder how. But she was young, idealistic, and propelled by her emotions rather than good sense.

She couldn't even feel her limbs as she moved, her teeth chattered, and it felt like she hadn't eaten a belly's worth of food in days (when it might've been a few hours, a day tops). She stopped a few times to pout and to look around, and it was during one of these moments that she spotted a distant figure that looked decidedly wolf-like. Their coat was dark too; it gave her hope, brought some energy back in to her stride as she jumped to attention and drew closer. She'd learned not to assume every wolf was her father but this person, whoever they were, looked so much like him that it drove her limited sense out of her mind completely.

Ibis charged ahead, stumbling more than running, until she came to where the stranger was standing - at which point she shouted, Daddy?!

When Wraen's heart had ceased to believe that she was about to die, it's frantic rhythm went from staccato to legato and a deep sigh of relief put a finishing touch to a very erratic and nervous étude. Done with music, the girl inspected the bottom of the ravine and much to her delight found a stony path that would lead her over the river, if she was swift and agile enough. Now was turn to gymnastics under duress, because if she slipped and fell in the ice-cold water, even if she did not drown, this would considerably lessen her chances of survival as a lone wolf. 

She took in a deep breath, counted to ten, measured the distance between the rocks and on the third try began the dangerous way over the river. And during this she learned that sometimes, preparation takes more time than actually doing the task. She jumped from one rock to the other, to the other and was on the other bank in no time. "Whew," she said to herself, while looking over to her shoulder of the distance she had already covered. The climb upwards on this side of the river was easier (because maybe walking upwards is always different than going down) and after some clever moves and determination that would make any mountain goat proud she had made up all the way to the solid ground. She sat down there on the edge, feeling, how much effort it had taken to get here (and realizing that she would have to look for a different path after this; she simply could not imagine Maia coordinating her mass on this dangerous terrain, if light-weight Wraen had had difficulties) and how tired her feet were.

She had not sat there for long, until someone else's sudden approach startled her and almost sent her down the ravine via short (painful-) cut. Wraen reacted by moving away to a safer spot and regarded the young female wolf with curiosity and pity, because she was definitely no-one's daddy. A very long time had passed, since she had last seen Ibis, therefore no wonder that she did not recognize the girl, who had outgrown the cream-coloured fluff-ball she had been many months ago. "Did you lose someone?" Wraen asked as she would have to any stranger that she considered of being in need for help.

Like before, this stranger might've brought images of Terance to the forefront of her mind, but Ibis quickly learned it was not him. This wolf looked so much more like her daddy than Khali had, so she had allowed herself to hope and to react - but then when they turned and spoke, their voice more feminine and not familiar in the slightest, Ibis' little heart broke a little more. She didn't realize the danger of the ravine, nor did she understand how close she had come to killing her aunt (or perhaps herself); she looked at this female doppleganger of her father, sat back, and gasped. She was all out of tears at this point. So exhausted that she couldn't even cry out, but her face contorted with pain and grief upon the discovery.

I lost me, she tried to clarify, I wanted to see my daddy but I can't find him and now I'm -- I'm lost! Oh, mommy and momma Olly were going to be so mad when they noticed! She needed to find her dad, because then things would be better. The other kids would be nicer, Seebee would be happy again, and maybe daddy would come home! But at this rate, with failure after failure occurring, Ibis only felt the grief of his absence and her hope was nearing its limit.

Wraen watched the troubled girl with sympathy. Such a young face and eyes full of sorrow, such a fragile frame and the weight of the world already pressing her down. It should not be like this - youth were supposed to drink from the spring of happiness and sheltered from all the dark shadows that lurked around. She was a very beautiful girl, but the sadness inside her blurred the edges of an otherwise perfect portrait. 

Wraen's first instinct was to help out in, whatever way she could, in order to see smile in the young wolf's lips that would break through the grey and heavy clouds like a ray of bright sunlight. The fact was that the girl was lost. Well, that should be easy to remedy, shouldn't it? Her pragmatic-self was happy to receive such a clear-cut task. Abstractions would have been burdensome and time-consuming. 

"Alright, do not worry," she reassured the girl. "We will figure something out. Where do you hail from and what family do you belong to?"

It wasn't common for Ibis to be away from her family, but as of late she'd been venturing further and further from home, and being lost wasn't exactly a good feeling. She hadn't met many helpful wolves either; they scared her, in the way that new and strange things often scared children, but something about this particular stranger was not bringing about that reaction. They listened to her, they offered help - and Ibis found it easy to trust her over the other strangers she'd come across; maybe it was their resemblance to daddy that helped in that regard. Either way, she nodded frantically and answered the questions: My mommy is Seebee and my brother is Okee, an' I'm from... I'm from... Oh. Oh. She didn't have a name for the Willows, and couldn't recall what the last place had been called. This troubled her, and she pouted harder, felt the weight of her thoughts all the more -- and then blurted, M-my daddy lives somewhere else but I dunno, I.. I don't remember. Her eyes brimmed with tears.

"Oh, my lord of all sweet and holy..." Wraen muttered to herself, when the girl introduced to her family members. She easily recognized "Seebee" being Seabreeze and deducing that "Oakee" was Terance's son Okeanos. Thinking about it again - she took a good look around again - this kind of resembled the place Ibis's mother had told her about, when they had run into each other few weeks ago. So, they had settled here. 

"You are Ibis, right?" she asked, now giving a thorough head-to-toes look at the girl, searching for any traits that would link this sad, young thing to the cheerful powderpuff ball of fur and joy she had babysat, what seemed like many years ago. "I am Wraen - your daddy's sister - you might not remember me, but a very long time ago you lived with me in the mountains and we played together."

When it dawned upon her that this woman knew her, or at least knew her daddy, her worries almost entirely vanished. That weight on her shoulders lifted and she beamed a big, stupid, childish smile at her long lost aunt as if she'd just been given an early Christmas present.

You know my daddy -- can you bring me to daddy -- She almost screeched in her excitement, tail fanning a mile a minute behind her. I din't know my daddy had a sisser! I'm a sisser -- but I didn't bring Okee with me, I wanted to find daddy firs' and bring him home and -- and you can take me to daddy?? Right? Oh boy, ohhhh boy, she needed to chill out but Ibis was just so excited to finally have found someone that could make her dreams come true!

Wraen was happy to see Ibis again (though it was still weird to think that Terance's baby daughter was almost an adult now; kids did grow up very, very fast), but she was a little taken aback by the unhealthy excitement of the girl. People should not take her wrong - it was alright to be elated and such - but all the ramble about that she was going to help to find daddy, to bring the girl back to daddy - was confusing. Hadn't Terance met Seabreeze right before the move had occurred? Didn't they know, where the former Sunspire pack reside now? Hadn't they - Okeanos and Ibis - been taken there already?

"Ummm... ahhh..." Wraen really did not know, what to say now, how to begin, especially, since she was going to crush Ibis's enthusiasm by saying that Lost Creek Hollow was not on her list of places she was planning to visit any time soon. And that in reality? In reality Wraen had no say in, where Ibis could go or who could take her, where. "I am very sorry, girl, but I can't take you there myself - I am on a different route," she felt bad for saying this, because that dutiful and self-sacrificing part of her yearned to help right away and postpone anything else that she had had in mind earlier. But the soul-searching journey of hers had also been about learning to be selfish. So...

"But didn't Terance come to visit you recently? At least that was, what I heard? Didn't he tell that the pack was moving and now lives not too far from another pack that runs by name Easthollow?" she asked, wanting to keep the girl's mind off the disappointment in her aunt.

When the woman countered everything with negativity, Ibis took it as a clue that she was being mean on purpose; but really it was just her own defenses coming to her rescue. She heard what the woman was saying and found herself resenting every moment of it - she actually said that she wouldn't take her to see daddy! How dare she! And after all the trouble she went through, and after she let herself get so excited and hopeful - the emotions within Ibis ran the gamut, and she wasn't handling any of this very well. She was frowning and trying not to cry by the time Wraen had finished talking.

No he doesn't live there -- !! I don't know what an Eastholler is, I just wanna see my daddy and if you won't help me --- then I don't wanna talk to you! You --- you suck! It was the meanest thing she'd ever said and she regretted it instantly, but the tears were fresh and hot upon her cheeks as she turned away from Wraen and bolted away, serendipitously heading towards the other side of the unreachable hollow where her mother probably sat worrying.

 What a spoiled wuss... Wraen felt offended and riled up by the girl's whiny words and accusations. For a moment there she had felt sympathy, but this all went out of the window, when Ibis had acted like a brat. Upset - yes, emotional - alright, but hadn't Seabreeze taught her daughter the slightest bit of self-control and tad of manners, when dealing with adults?

Well, looking back she had not been a prime example either, therefore unsure of, what to do now, Wraen turned around, did some hunting for the next few hours and found Maia later in the evening, to relay, who she had met and what she suggested they did. Because, frankly speaking, Wraen had no clue regarding this.