Sun Mote Copse [BWP] There's a method to the madness

Referencing the events in the Sunspire Mountains, as they're just across the river from the Copse.Two rumbles- one at dawn, the other around noon.

The first sound had caused Niamh to pause along her border patrol and flick an ear. She'd heard an avalanche happen before, and the sound this time had come from the mountains, the same as it had when the avalanche had slid down the mountainside and across the frozen river. But an avalanche in summer? Seemed somewhat odd to Niamh, and the sound was so short-lived that she assumed it was possibly a rockslide or landslide, nothing out of the ordinary for wolves who lived near the mountains. The seasons were changing, and she expected the earth was simply adjusting to the cooling temperatures. 

She was patrolling the borders along the river, the Sunspire Mountains in clear sight a few hours later when another rumble occurred. This one was perhaps a bit louder, though she assumed that might also be because she was closer to the mountains now. She stopped and looked up, but saw no sign of a landslide, no lifting dust from any big changes, though she did notice that several small groups of birds were leaving the area. Maybe they were getting ready to migrate, she pondered- but at the same time...They weren't flying South, and it was too early for migration. Those birds were clearly perturbed by the rumbling. Niamh wasn't terribly rattled, though she did pause for some time to see if the sound would continue, just in case she managed to catch a glimpse of the landslide. It might mean that she could scour the ruin to see if any mountain goats had been injured, and it might also herd them down the mountain where they could be hunted. If anything, she perceived the rumblings as something that might bring good to her pack, and she wanted to be the first to take advantage of that opportunity if it arose.

Elwood, too, was patrolling, having doubled his efforts since hearing of the presence of Blackfeathers nearby. Nothing had happened, and he sincerely hoped that the pups had simply been collected by their parents and had gone home -- that it was all just a big misunderstanding -- but he didn't trust them. If it was that easy, it was too good to be true.

He paused at the first rumbling in the distance, but kept going until he heard the second. He looked toward the mountains, and when he shifted his gaze back to the familiar treeline of the copse, he spotted Niamh's fair-coated figure. Hastening towards her, he woofed to get her attention, then said -- somewhat rhetorically -- "Did you hear that?" She clearly had; as he drew near, he could see that her attention was focused toward the mountain range, as well.

Niamh's patrol would resume, as per usual, but with an extra bit of caution directed at the mountainside cross the river. The sound had been faint, distant- but it did remind her of the avalanche which had happened the winter she'd joined the pack. It seemed like so long ago now- and she and CLover had taken advantage of the avalanche and the way it had forced some of the mountain goats to lower territory, and had even killed a few of them. She hoped that this rumbling would mean something along those lines. 

Nevertheless, Elwood seemed somewhat concerned when he approached, and asked her about the sound. She nodded, casually, and gestured with a casual shrug. "Landslide maybe. Not a bad thing- Clover an' I were able to hunt down a few mountain goats last winter when there were avalanches." She said, licking her lips. "Couldn't hurt to fatten us all up a bit before winter," She sighed, a melancholy drone to her voice.

Niamh offered up a point of view that Elwood hadn't considered, sharing an experience that she and Clover had benefitted from last winter. It made sense; a disturbance in the mountains would likely force the cliff-dwelling prey to descend, and that would certainly work in their favor if the animals ventured towards the copse. Either way, Niamh's nonchalance was reassuring to him. Whatever it was that was going on in the distant range, it didn't seem like it would directly impact them here.

"That would be nice," he agreed. "Want to go take a look around and see if we see anything?" he invited. The odds that they would find anything so soon were slim, but it was something to do; and, at the very least, the two hunters could take stock and gather information for later.

While Niamh didn't feel particularly optimistic about finding anything to eat after the rumbling sound that had come from the mountainside, she was never one to pass up the opportunity to potentially find something to eat. Elwood was an admirable hunter, so even if they found something else along the way, they could likely bring something down together. She nodded, and gestured that they move toward the river's edge, but further downriver where the water was shallower and the current slower. She assumed that there might be a higher chance of another landslide happening in the same area that the avalanche had happened, so that would be the place to start looking. 

"Haven't seen Finley much," She said quietly, hoping not to insinuate too much with her tone. Finley's silence at the meeting had said more than enough, and Niamh- not knowing exactly how to approach her sister-in-law, hadn't exactly avoided Finley, but she hadn't gone out of her way to speak to her, either. That being said, Finley hadn't come to check up on Niamh either, which made Niamh doubt that Finley cared how much Niamh had been hurt. It had probably been best for both of them to take some space until they knew how to handle themselves- but it didn't mean that Niamh didn't care about how Finley was doing. "She...I mean...I know she can't be OK, so it'd be stupid to ask that...But...Is she...Managing?" She asked tentatively. She felt stupid even phrasing it that way, so she shook her head. "Nevermind." She groaned. She wanted to change the topic patrially because she wasn't sure she could handle the answer, and partially because she didn't want the same to be asked of her. "I'm...I been thinking of her." She concluded quietly, not sure how else to express sympathy when she too was grieving.

They started heading in the direction that the rumbling had come from, and after a few moments of comfortable silence, Niamh mentioned Finley. Elwood glanced at her from the corner of his eye, hearing the hesitation and emotion in her voice. The two females were grieving similiarly, but in different ways. While Finley hadn't reached out to Niamh, Elwood suspected that it wasn't for lack of caring; she had simply needed to process things on her own before addressing anyone else's feelings.

"She's managing," he replied with a nod of his head. "In her own way. I'm sure she's been thinking about you, too. She knows she's not the only one who lost someone," he added. There was so much more he could say about his wife and the way she handled emotions (or didn't handle them), but he felt he didn't need to. The loss of Colt would eventually strengthen the family and bring them together, even if it didn't seem like it immediately in the wake of his death.

As they followed the curve of the river, he cast his gaze up towards the distant slopes, trying to make out any evidence of a landslide or animals that had run from it. So far, he didn't see anything, but he kept his senses tuned even as they conversed.

Truth be told, Niamh had been managing her grief more or less on her own as well. Finley was lucky that she had nice kids, and a wonderful husband. Niamh had a son who resented her, and a daughter that had disappeared into thin air. She hadn't bonded with anyone in the pack in such a way that she'd have a person, not the way she'd once found a kindred spirit in Towhee. And it left an ache in her, a small hole that hadn't been filled- and that she wasn't sure she could fill. She wasn't sure there was another wolf out there that could fill the voids which existed in her lief- not the one left behind by Towhee, and certainly not the one left behind by Colt. 

She hummed softly and nodded when Elwood gave her some decent news about Finley, though. She was likely doing things the same was Niamh was- operating more or less on autopilot in order to get through each day. When Elwood's gaze swept to the rocky landscape across the river, Niamh glanced- but didn't inspect the area too thoroughly. Part of her didn't really care if they found anything. She was silent for a while, brooding in her thoughts, before she turned her ears back. "Elwood...Are you happy here?"

There was a thoughtful silence in which Elwood assumed Niamh was doing the same as he was and scoping out the landscape for any signs of edible life. But when her voice broke the relative quiet, he was surprised by her question and stopped his forward motion, swinging his head around to look at her. "Are you happy here?" she wanted to know, and he found that the answer was not as easy as "yes" or "no."

He was happy when he was with his family -- so whether that was at Redhawk Caldera, Heron Lake Plateau, or here, he had a certain feeling of contentment. Of course, he and Finley hadn't been the biggest fans of the plateau's physical attributes, and that had ultimately led them to leave. So there were different things that influenced his feelings, and he suspected that the loss of Colt had a lot to do with Niamh's question.

"Yes," he replied slowly, "but...something tells me you're not. Want to talk about it?" She was probably sick to death of thinking and talking about her broken family, but still he offered a kind ear.

Had he just hesitated? Elwood took his time to answer, and he seemed a bit reluctant to answer the question she'd asked, so she had to wonder why it was that he seemed slow to offer a reply. Niamh figured that it should be a lot easier to answer than that. Maybe he had some reservations- which might mean that maybe, he would be willing to think about moving somewhere else. Not that the Copse was a bad place, but Niamh didn't necessarily feel as though it was her home. She had felt strongly about the Plateau before she'd left, and now she felt pulled in another direction. So when Elwood continued to speak, she understood why he'd faltered so much before he'd answered. He knew that there was something bothering her. 

Elwood was really the only wolf in the pack that she felt she could talk to. Not that the two had had many long, involved conversations in the past- but she felt that Wraen was fairly formal, and that talking feelings with Wraen might not be her favourite thing as Wraen tended to play Devil's Advocate, and Niamh always felt that that was sort of a condescending thing to do. She wanted someone to be on her side, no matter what- and she wasn't sure there was anyone in the pack that could do that for her. Finley...She wasn't sure she could talk to Finley, as she wasn't terribly sure Finley wanted to talk about feelings. The one time she had- discussing how terrified she was about giving birth- Finley had tried to more or less verbally snap her out of it, softening only once for a moment, just long enough to let Niamh know that she cared, that she was being serious, and that Niamh would be just fine before she continued to deflect the tension with humour. 

Elwood was different, though. And while Niamh knew he could possibly go back and talk to Finley about whatever Niamh said to him, she didn't particularly care. "I'm not happy here," She said frankly. "I haven't been since Colt died," She admitted, though that much was fairly obvious. Her attitude, the day she'd called the meeting, had been fairly defeated, and she thought that on that day, she had likely expressed a bit of her own growing reservations about staying where they were, with as few adults as they had. She'd wanted to simply go to Asterism Grove- whether the others came with her or not...And in the end, she had gone there, but she hadn't been welcomed with open arms. No- Towhee and Phox both seemed to think that it was best if she stayed away and went back to the Copse, and that had stung quite a bit. 

"Colt's gone, and Nellie ran off...Bronco moved out, and doesn't want much to do with me," She said, outlining what she would confess next. "So I feel like I don't belong. You and Finley have each other and the kids, Wraen has control of the pack, and I'm just the guardian, spending every day patrolling, and it's...It's just not enough. I know you're all family, but..." It was odd, trying to explain that somehow, she felt like she was one year old again- and even though she'd loved the family that had raised her, she'd still felt the need to get away and live a life of her own. "I wanted to go to Asterism Grove when Colt died. Take the kids with me and just go...And I did, just to tell Towhee what'd happened, and she...It was like she didn't want me there." She confesed quietly. "She said I belonged here...She was supposed to tell me to get the kids and move there."

Sorry for the extreme delay! We can wrap this up whenever/however you want! <3

When Niamh began to confess, none of it surprised Elwood. It all made sense; things had been slowly unraveling for her for some time, resulting in her unrest and unhappiness here with the Firebirds. Not only had her mate died, but her daughter had taken off on her own, and her son was growing up. Bronco moving out wasn't unheard of, but he could see how it was especially painful after the loss of Niamh's other family members.

She revealed that she had wanted to move to Asterism Grove, but it hadn't worked out. Ultimately, in a few months' time, Towhee would end up here at the copse -- but neither Elwood or Niamh could know that now. "I understand," he said, and while it may have been hard for her to believe, he truly did. He frowned. "Ultimately, you have to make the decision that's best for you; even if Towhee told you that you should stay here, if you really want to be there with her, you should go. We'll support you in whatever you do. We may not always feel like your family, but we are," he added, his furrowed brow softening into a faint smile.

Niamh felt sad that she was admitting her feelings to someone. Elwood was a trustworthy listener, and she knew that he wouldn't make her feel judged, but still, she couldn't help but feel ashamed of her feelings. And even though Elwood kindly reminded her that they were family, she couldn't help but feel isolated still. Even Towhee hadn't welomed her into her pack, and now she was left with her deceased mate's family. The only link between them, in Niamh's eyes, was Bronco- and he wanted very little to do with her. 

All she could do was offer him a somewhat wan smile of appreciation, but she was unfit to elaborate further, to protest or to really take in what he'd said. She didn't feel like she was still family- and had doubts that she should even still be considered a Blackthorn. These thoughts would go unnoticed, as she silenced them in her mind when she picked up the trail of a small herd of mountain goats. The two would hunt together successfully, but Niamh still couldn't help but feel somewhat defeated at the end of the day.