Sun Mote Copse I still beg the skies to bring you back my way
Brecheliant
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#1
All Welcome 
SORRY ABOUT THE WAIT :D <3

She was finally actually really home!!!

As soon as Maia stepped within sight of the familiar copse, she was calling for @Wraen.  She was stoked that @Preeti had come along as well, but her biggest excitement right now was the expectation of seeing her sister again.

The middle of winter had been a particularly stupid time to travel, and adding famine to that, Maia had lost a lot of her characteristic weight. This was less noticeable under her thick coat, and it was probably the only real change anyone would see coming upon them.  She was as exuberant and impatient as always as she howled out, then fought the temptation to go in and meet Wraen herself.
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Wraen had felt very tired lately. In part due to the lack of food, in part about the guilt-ridden conscience about Elfie's disappearance, and even Sugar Glider's miraculous return from being gone for few days, had not helped to alleviate her spirits much. At the end of each day she was so emotionally spent that she no longer wished to meet anyone and neither did she look forward to the next dull and mundane day. Her mood was just as cloudy, gray and cold as the weather outside. 

When she heard the call, she almost did not go. Thinking spitefully that this would probably be yet another friend of Towhee's and no one that really mattered to her. She knew that this was not fair and there were truly no ill feelings towards her active and brisk packmate, but she was tired of having her hopes crushed over and over again. But duty was duty, even on days, when she wanted nothing to do with it. 

Wraen padded over to the borders, not expecting anything and feeling very inclined to drive away strangers. Firebirds ranks were full, they had nothing to offer and... she did not finish the list of reasons, why "NO" was a good answer, because she caught sight of someone familiar. She stopped in her tracks, not believing her eyes. There - happy and lucky as always - was Maia. Real and fine. In the flesh. 

Tears welled up in her eyes, when she began to run towards her, to greet, to have her all and, when she finally reached her, she was smiling, laughing and crying. No room for words, just pure joy. She embraced her sister and burried her face in the thick, soft fur of her neck.
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#3
Winter was in full swing, and Preeti knew she couldn't survive it on her own. As much as she wanted to find Akuti now, it would be a suicide mission to go out in the coldest of seasons. Maia was good enough company. . .and it just so happened that the young woman was amenable to her tagging along.

Just for now, right? When spring came, she would set out to look for her mother.

She grinned as they came to the border of a very familiar forest, remembering the young sentinel that had greeted her here. Before she could make a remark about it, another woman appeared—and the reunion that took place left her breathless. The two women were obviously more than familiar; the emotion that bloomed around them filled Preeti with warmth.

The huntress stood back quietly, waiting for them to finish out their reunion. She instead began to build a case for herself to stay, beginning with, of course, 'I can keep you all pretty well-fed.'
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She hated how long she'd been gone. She'd sort of hated passing by the first time, and she'd wondered if it had been a mistake to not stop by when she'd run into Bronco.  As soon as she saw her big sister, though, she knew she'd been right.  There was no way she'd have been ok leaving again anytime soon.

Wraen was crying which meant that she started as well, and for a minute they just hugged.  It took Maia a moment more before she really could talk, or had any words in her brain to say.  She was just so gosh darn happy to be back and to be here and that Wraen was here and that she was okay and internal scream.

But she had a friend here!  Oh shoot, right.  Wraen!!  This is Preeti.  She's awesome and can catch frogs like crazy, and she was thinking she might want to stay. She looked back, beaming, then back at her sister, and her tail waved happily.  That was first, and then she had news!
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A more in-depth reunion with lengthy story-telling session had to be postponed, because Maia had not come home alone, but brought a friend. She retreated, ackowledged the other with a polite dip of her muzzle and regarded her inquisitively. While there was no question about, whether her sister had place in Firebirds ranks, Wraen needed a bit more solid reason to let the other stay than "she is awesome"

"Welcome to Firebirds, Preeti," Wraen told the dark-pelted stranger. "How did you meet each other?" she inquired looking from one to the other.
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The attention was focused eventually on her, and Preeti did her best to look capable and submissive all at once, though she couldn't resist a cheeky grin at Maia's introduction. Her face grew more serious, though, when the older woman addressed her.

I was hunting frogs when I stumbled across Maia, she explained. I caught one for her, too. I'm a very good hunter, ma'am; I can keep you and yours fed through the winter. No use beating around the bush in a job interview. 

She fell silent, having stated her case. Now it was up for Wraen to decide.
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That was exactly what she said!! Maia shifted impatiently.  She got that Wraen was super important and had to do her vetting thing and all that but she was hugely impatient to catch up.  Plus it was literally exactly what she said, just... yknow... coherent.

She woke me up but it was totally worth it.  Best one I ever ate.  Speaking of, she wondered if eating again was an option anytime soon.  All this talk about frogs was distracting her bigtime, and she found her focus shifting to where they might find some closer to the Firebird claim.  Maybe by the river?
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Frog hunting in the middle of the winter was not the best example to prove one's skills. First of - amphibians hibernated during the cold time so, unless it was some sleepy and slow fellow, who had been unlucky enough to climb out of their burrow and end up on Maia's lunch-plate, Wraen was not so sure about Preeti's ability to provide for all. 

She did not think it in a bad way, it was her experience of the past few months speaking. There was no use of being a skilled hunter, if hardly any prey was around. Instead she focused on a different aspect - the girl was young, strong and had more winters under her belt than the bunch of almost yearlings within the current ranks. "Are you a fighter, Preeti?" she asked. "Hunters are always welcome, but Firebirds need wolves, who will learn to fight and defend our claim," and as she said this, she turned to Maia as well.
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#9
Bronco, like his mother, was a guardian through and through- and he had spent as much time as he could patrolling the borders whd begun to wan slightly, juries. His strangth had begun to wan slightly, with the shortage of food, but that was no excuse to let the borders go uninforced. The food shortage had done nothing to harm his physique- he had lost the last of his puppy fat (which had seemingly stuck with him way longer than it should have- but the boy was built to be a bruiser) and his physique had hardened a bit. Still, he was more or less undaunted, and when he heard Maia calling out, he hastened his pace. She'd said that she would be back, and he'd been looking forward to seeing her again. Even though Wraen was the one who'd been summoned, he was on his way along the borders anyway- and was happy to prove to her the fact that he was a guardian. 

He added a bit of a swagger to his steps as he approached, which surprisingly came naturally to him despite his inexperience. Blame it on the fact that he'd had a sex bob-omb for a father. Wraen was already there, and Maia wasn't alone- but she'd brought another female with her, which impressed and pleased Bronco. More ladies was always a good thing- he was surrounded by women who were all his relatives, which would've otherwise made it impossible for him to learn how to flirt. He sidled toward Wraen, giving her a nod of his head before he turned his gaze to the other ladies. 

"Glad I got here when I did," He said, and gestured to Maia with a flick of his muzzle, a daring smirk on his face. "This one looks like trouble."
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Wraen greeted Bronco with a quick glance, shot another meaningful one in Maia's direction and decided to ask questions later, when everything was settled. The frog-hunter seemed nice enough and the joining prerequisites were all settled. She let the two girls in the capable paws of Niamh's son, instructing him to show around and share all the news, while she went over to investigate the western borders, where an urgent call from one of the packmates had come.
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There was a slight shift, it felt, to the meeting as Wraen continued to press for skills.  Fighting.  She remembered the encounter with the pack at the scavange site and Maia actually withdrew a little, losing some of her enthusiasm as she deflated for a moment.

Then Bronco arrived, and she was back! Skipping past Wraen's look, she directed all her attention at him with the singleminded purpose of someone wanting to avoid direct answers.  Always!  She joked, easily sliding back into her cheerful front.  If you know what's good, you'd chase me out now.

It was clearly a joke, but that little voice began to whisper.  She heard Kiwi before, all her insistence that Maia was useless.  She'd never heard Wraen stress purpose like this before, but she guessed she'd never seen her lead much either.

How long before her sister realized she didn't really have that much to offer herself?

I've had this drafted for ages and wanted to tag it on here.  re-archived ;)