Moonspear washed away in a tide of longing

@Osiris and Desdemona had returned finally and the news they had returned with had been plenty to process. Perhaps more of the same in the essence, but the few days that had passed had left with him much to think and speak of with Hydra in private. Though today he had stolen away for purely leisure while the sun broke through steady grey and the venture was not one that he was particularly interested in.

His son had come back with company in tow and to say that Dirge was not at all interested in their newest borrowed member from Easthollow would have been a lie. He was just as content to try and spend time with Osiris too—the youngest of his brood had kept him busy and surprisingly for him, out of the lives of his eldest. Not that they needed heaping amounts of doting on, not now at all. They lived their own lives, chased their own dreams, and so on and so forth. Proper members on the mountain than hungry mouths wanting to be fed and taught… and how quickly they all grew.

The sentimental portions struck him as he crossed through a grove of pines and heard the wind rustle through their stringy, needle-laden boughs. The earth was saturated still; the debris of above clotted and clumped against the trucks. It offered no traction were he to stomp about, but his footfalls were too gentle, his gait too leisure to slide along. He hunted without seeing as though he hunted at all, not slinking about or lying in wait—he could find Osiris without pulling the boy from whatever reverie he had lodged himself in.

Sorry for the wait!
Tag for reference.

Spending the morning with @Leta had become a daily ritual for Osiris, and it had quickly become the favorite part of his day. Today, they had decided to spar, and he had noticed an improvement since their last lesson; he was lucky to have such a skilled and willing student. When their time together came to an end, he set off in the direction of the borders alone. Osiris' sense of duty had gotten the best of him, as he knew Leta's company would be a distraction. 

The pathway in the Silverspine was still damp from the month-long storms, and he paid close attention to his footing and took his time. There was no use rushing—especially since he knew the ground beneath his paws could injure him.

Some time later through a faint mist in the old wood, he spied Osiris. For a spell, Dirge merely trailed his son to watch him, in some way appeased to see the fellow that he had grown into. Almost hard to think that at one point he had been nothing more than a small, perhaps occasionally feisty child… but now he was certainly grown and ever changing into what sort of a creature he would truly be. Gentle looking, sure, but beneath that idle, youthful visage there was the fire that burned so brightly in Hydra.

He wondered then what parts of him his children had acquired, if anything at all.

It was a dark thing to ponder, a troublesome cloud that cast a shadow over him that thankfully he could just simply whisk away before it could draw clout to his gaze. Yet for all his wonder and stoicism, he could not help but draw up warmth to his features as he began to close in that distance between them. A crisp note left him; he gave his son plenty of time to decide whether or not he wanted the company of his father before that distance decided for him.

“Going for the borders?” Perhaps he would want the company.

Osiris turned at the sound of Dirge's note, and his expression warmed at the sight of his father. "I am," he replied, his tail gently wagging at his hocks; it had been long since they'd been allotted one-on-one time, as they both lived busy lives. 

"What're you up to?" he asked. Osiris welcomed Dirge's company—he could only hope that his father had some time to spare.

Osiris turned to greet him pleasantly, a good sign that all was well for now. Dirge met the crisp green of his gaze with a smile as the distance between them closed and nipped at his shoulder affectionately. It had been quite a while since they had their one-on-one time, though admittedly Dirge could have said the same of any of his children. They would confer here and there, but it was not all that often they spent a great deal of time together.

Things had been different, when they had been small and much more needy. Now it pleased him as much as it did give him pause to think and know that they did not need him as they once had. Still, he took pleasure in those brief moments where they could hunt for the pack or in this case, head towards the borders with some intent to tend to them.

“I was looking for you, actually,” he replied, “I noticed you brought back a friend from your travels.”

Osiris was surprised to hear that Dirge had been looking for him—and even more so when he brought up Leta. He felt ill-prepared to talk to his father about her; he attempted to calm himself with a quick breath. "I did," he answered, feeling the skin along the bridge of his nose flush. "Her name is Leta, and she's from Easthollow—and she's a family friend, from what I've been told." Osiris felt like he was rambling, and he cleared his throat as he realized what he was doing. 

"She wanted to join Moonspear to learn how to be brave and learn how to defend herself, and I offered to teach her all I know," Osiris said, wondering what Dirge made of the information he had provided.

Though perhaps not entirely apparent, Dirge picked up on the flustered nature their conversation took and found a smile gentle turning at the corners of his mouth. The inclination to tease him was there but he did not; he had never had the experience of truly being so flustered about a girl, though he had certainly gone to his pains to keep Hydra from Nyx and vice versa once upon a time to avoid such a situation as this.

Of course, knowing Leta had come from Easthollow was an interesting note too; it would have seemed their distant neighbor didn’t mind sharing their wolves with Moonspear, given how they had acquired Nikai with Alya’s return. It was an alliance he did not think of often, but out of all they had amassed they seemed to be the most loyal and easygoing.

“That’s kind of you,” he said, “she will definitely learn much in staying here.”

Of course, their mountain seemed not to be for the faint of heart. He gestured for them to keep moving along towards the borders, for now not pushing the topic of interest regarding Leta. It was a light pace, not meant to tire them for the trek downward still ahead. Dirge could have gone with any number of topics regarding the expedition that Osiris had returned from, but instead probed another area altogether.

“What did you think of the world out there? It’s something to see, isn’t it?”

"It was interesting, to say the least," Osiris remarked, thankful that Dirge had dropped the subject of Leta. "Especially some of the wolves that I met," he added, thinking chiefly of Lumiya and her Seelie Court; she had been a bit too strange for his liking. "Did I tell you about the woman who claimed to lead ... faeries?" he asked with a snort as if to say, can you believe that shit?. He couldn't. 

Even though he was happy to be home, he was equally thankful for the experience—many good things had come from his misadventures. "I'm glad I went out there, though," he added, looking at his father, "I learned a lot out there."

It warmed him to hear that Osiris had enjoyed the adventure. A little bit of envy may have worked its way into his heart too, as he could not quite remember the last time he had gone on some grand walk that had taken him away. But staying close to Moonspear was not entirely a bad thing as he would have once believed; ambition came with duty, and it was something that he upheld in the background of his day to day.

“The world is a very vast place,” he commented, “and out there you will always find a variety of others to meet. I’ve seen my fair share long before I settled here,” and he suspected that he would continue to find them as they found Moonspear, for even the wolves within their claim were diverse. They may have all adhered to similar creeds and callings, but in the end like each of his children, they were individuals.

“Tell me of this faerie queen,” he went on, now curious of her and how she netted his son's disdain.

"It is. I feel like I only scratched the surface, too—there was just... so much to see," Osiris recalled with marvel in his tone. It had been fun to explore, but he didn't feel compelled to do so again anytime soon. He was content with staying on Moonspear, where he belonged. 

When Dirge encouraged Osiris to explain the encounter with Lumiya, he obliged. "She was just... strange," he began, feeling that no other description suited her. "She informed us that she was the queen of a faerie court... and that possibly can't be true." He had only heard of faeries in stories and far-fetched; clearly, she was disillusioned. "Aren't faeries not real?" he asked, quirking his brow.

While it may have been true that faeries were creatures told in stories for children—at least in his estimation—he couldn’t help but wonder what it was that compelled someone to consider themselves a queen of them. Strange may have been a very apt word for the wolf that Osiris had encountered, but then again Dirge had encountered plenty who could have been bestowed that description. Perhaps some out there would say that they were a strange bunch, but that wasn’t hardly the word that he thought they had appended to them.

“Who can say,” he said, smiling thinly, “after all, don’t faeries only reveal themselves to certain types?” What was it? Pure of heart and intent? Maybe. He thought he remembered only children seeing them, which prompted him: “Was she childish? I don’t imagine faeries would want to be ruled.” Perhaps that was the ultimate end all of ends.

"I guess you're right," Osiris agreed after a brief moment of consideration, "but, no, she wasn't childish." She had been pleasant and diplomatic—the only childish thing about Lumiya he had noticed had been belief in faeries. 

He smiled thinly then, considering Dirge's statement further. "I don't think that they'd like being ruled, either."

So, not childish. It made her interesting and he thought perhaps someday he would see for himself—if things ever settled long enough for him to do more than stretch his legs along the outskirts of Moonspear proper. Though he did have his moments where he went ranging, he curtailed them crisply. Perhaps when winter was over, when the spring came to renew all, he would venture again. His youngest would be old enough not to need full time supervision.

“What of the other packs? How many are out there now?” His next question was out of self-interest; he wondered of Sagtannet, where Nyx resided. Neverwinter was another curious point of interest too, though they had their dealing with them here and there; Osiris was neither he nor Hydra, of course, and he wondered if their disposition had changed for the better because of it.

How many had there been? "Five," he answered, but back-tracked when he realized that he hadn't included the packs that they hadn't met, "no—eight." Meeting five of them formally had been enough for him. "Yuèlóng was staying with Neverwinter Forest," he began, remembering the empress that had caught his eye. "So we got to meet with them both. Neverwinter was surprisingly helpful," he said with a snort; he had never had much faith when it came to their closest neighbors. 

"We visited Kaistleoki next and met their leader, Ira. I liked her," had he known the information she was protecting, his opinion would have been different. "She told us about their sister pack, the Reneian Empire, and advised that we go and meet them." Which they didn't—oops. "Easthollow was next. I didn't get the chance to meet Valette, though. Mom says that they've been good to us in the past, though," curiously, he glanced at his father for confirmation, not quite sure what had happened between the packs to establish their relationship. "And then we ended at Seelie Court—you know, the strange-faerie woman," he added, bumping his shoulder knowingly against his father's. 

As Osiris pulled away, his expression deepened. "There was unanimous talk amongs most of the packs about the dangers of The Saints and Ursus," he relayed. "Neverwinter reported that The Saints kidnapped a woman, and Easthollow spoke at length about the trouble that Ursus has been causing." 

"Have you heard anything about those packs?" he asked, feeling suddenly uneasy as he considered the looming danger. His first year of life had happened with little drama, but something had changed recently, causing the world as he knew it to be flipped upside down. Floods dangerous packs—he didn't like any of it one bit.

Eight of them, that was a surprising number. Yet perhaps not, he had to reconsider the fact briefly that Osiris had covered a lot more ground than he had over the past couple of years. Out of them, only a handful of them were familiar to him—Neverwinter, Easthollow, Yuèlóng—but the others were unfamiliar. There was no talk of Sagtannet among what Osiris mentioned, and he wondered if perhaps they had disbanded for better climes. He couldn’t remember the last time Mahler had paid a visit to their borders to confer with Hydra, nor did he know what that would mean for Nyx.

Of course, some of that would come to light in the days to come.

“I’ve heard of both,” he mentioned as their conversation turned darker. “The Saints are the closest to us; I actualy think a wolf from Neverwinter told your mother about them while you were gone. We’ve kept our ears and eyes open about them.” Ursus on the other hand he only had hearsay of, but knew they were far enough away not to pose too large of a concern. But it was concerning enough, if the rumors and snippets Hydra had given him were true. He had not done his own investigation into either, but thought perhaps he may have to.

Dirge sighed then, shaking out his coat.

“So it’s more of the same then,” he went on, “always someone out there looking to stir up trouble where there ought not be any. That’s why we have to be diligent about our borders and what our neighbors know.” Osiris probably knew all of this by now, and Dirge loathed to think that his children would all grow to know that the world was not as idyllic as they made it seem within their borders. “Though it’s wise to be concerned about them, I feel they’ll leave us alone either way. Packs like those turn up and settle for a time, but we have outlasted them all.”

He nodded in reply to the information that Dirge relayed, both thankful and comforted that Neverwinter had shared their intel with Moonspear. "Desdemona and I didn't see any signs of them while we were passing through the Sunspire mountains," he mentioned, "But we didn't seek them out, either." It would have been foolish for them to do so. 

"That makes me feel better about everything," he revealed with a sigh once his father had elaborated. "It seems like everything this year has been so different than last year," he admitted with a self-conscious flick of his ears.

“It seems that way because your mother and I did what we could to keep you and your siblings out of those affairs,” he rejoined gently. “You deserved your childhood, not the stress and burdens that the world can offer. It’s for the same reason we keep your younger siblings close and out of those talks.” Though he was certain that they all had picked up snippets of it, and that went almost without saying that the prior year had been wrought with burdens that this year had not.

At least they weren’t in the throes of a famine this time.

“You and Desdemona were right not to seek those wolves out,” he went on, “your mother has her own allies that are more willing to go and seek them out in a more… clandestine way. I don’t know what information we’ll get from that, but time will tell. It’s my hope we won’t have to find ourselves tangled in their business or them in ours.” He wasn’t entirely sure why he felt compelled to share such information with Osiris, but the boy was sharp. There was no doubt he had known Moonspear to have visitors over time, and ones that did not stay.

There was always the chance that Osiris would not find this pleasant too, given his own venture.

Was it wrong to use them? Perhaps, but Dirge would have rather sacrificed them than his own.

Osiris had always been grateful for the childhood that his parents had given him, but he hadn't entirely understood the lengths that they had gone to to make sure that they had a normal upbringing. "Yeah, I was pretty oblivious to it all," he admitted with an appreciative undertone. Osiris had been inquisitive in his youth and no-doubt a pain to wrangle at times; keeping the litter oblivious must have felt like a full-time job on its own. 

"Why would they do that for us?" he asked in-turn of the information his father had divulged. He was skeptical—especially since it felt like they were doing grunt-work for very little in return. "Are they getting anything in return?" he wondered, assuming that some sort of transaction was happening behind the scenes.

A beat of silence proceeded what he would divulge to Osiris next. It was not entirely uncertainty that guided his organizing thoughts so much as it was how to explain things. There was a resolute reason Hydra handled the more political side of things when it came to interpersonal dealings—she had the acumen for it, the patience. Dirge lacked the latter, instead preferring to play on the discussion points she would bring to him later, to be a voice of reason or an external conscious to whatever devious things crossed her own.

But perhaps most importantly, Hydra knew how to handle a keening blade and where to put it.

“For some, our aid in various matters,” he began, “others owe us a favor and want to repay a perceived debt. And there are those that merely respect your mother and I enough to suggest and put it into action.” His head canted slightly, considering all the ties that they had amassed. There were far fewer that they could use now with the Nightwalkers gone. With nary a peep from Sagtannet he wondered if the alliance they had forged was even worth it. And Easthollow? Too far out of the way and question.

“Of course, there are plenty who do not do their share of a favor too,” he went on, his head righting as they moved along. “And they know better than to turn up. I’d even imagine some of them are wolves your mother has known a very long time, being born here and all.” He did not question the contacts she had or the contracts she made; at best Dirge kept his eyes on what ones she brought to light, and made his assessments from afar.

He cleared his throat and continued: “We make alliances as we see fit. We have one with Easthollow, for instance, though I believe that’s more because of Nikai and Alya than anything. We had one with the fellows that called themselves Nightwalkers, when they were about. They were good hunting partners,” and they were gone, but, “and I’d like to think eventually we’ll come to an agreement with Neverwinter as well.”

Mind if we wrap this one up? Sorry for holding it up!

Osiris nodded after a brief pause. "I understand," he drawled, still considering everything that Dirge had said. Moonspear had existed for several generations and was one of the more stable packs in the wilderness; it made sense that they would seek such relationships. 

The mention of Neverwinter Forest caused him to snort. Osiris wasn't the biggest fan of their neighbors. "You think?" he asked, glancing sidelong at his father, "I can't say I'm really a fan of them—they keep hunting in the glen." He tsk'd and shook his head; they knew better than to hunt in Firefly Glen.

“They aren’t the only ones who keep hunting in the glen,” he reasoned, “there are the vagabonds who traverse it as well. It draws them.” There was only so much of the glen they could hold from their reach in the mountains. The mileage was considerable and at that time Dirge didn’t expect them to always keep a tight rein on it. For as diverse and varied as the glen was, it was the buffer between the foothills and the plains that sprawled out for miles beyond that—it was a sanctuary for many things, their dinner least of all.

And Neverwinter? Well, they were what they were, and perhaps not at all too dissimilar to Moonspear in certain areas. Despite the relative greenhorn status that he lent to Mal, he knew that the young wolf had some redeeming qualities. He would have had to, in order to keep his land, and his subordinates.

“Don’t be too quick to dismiss Neverwinter,” he went on then to Osiris, “they may be our contenders but your mother and I feel it’s best to keep them on our good side, and theirs.” They had enough troubles to worry about than the anger of their distant evergreen dwelling neighbor, though he was certain there was often naught they could do to accrue it otherwise. The perks of individuality, he supposed.

feel free to wrap with your post!

"You're right," again—as always. There was a lot that Osiris learned from Dirge, and he would continue to lean on his father's guidance. "I won't," he said. 

They continued their walk down and along Moonspear's borders, pausing every so often to mark or investigate any wayward scents. Their conversation about relationships continued well into the evening. It concluded once Dirge left to return to Hydra and their youngest, and Osiris remained on patrol well into the night, considering everything they had talked about.