Wraen had ventured to the edge of the plateau - for a wolf, who loved to have everything in clear view and who could observe the area for hours at time, the western border was true gem. Where the treeline ended, there was a fantastic panoramic view of the flatlands below. There she could see the deer herds grazing and moving, sometimes she would spot a single dark figure treading in a straight line - one of her kind on the prowl. And then there were days like these, when the lands there were just as calm, peaceful and eventless as it was up here.

Since Wraen's mind was never idle, where there was empty room in the reality, there her imagination kicked in and filled the place with colours, shapes and figures. Presently, while her eyes traced the wintry landscape, her lips were moving soundlessly, as if she was telling herself a story. Now and then she would chuckle and smile to herself, there would be moments, where her forehead creased and she appeared to be thinking hard. Right words would always come along sooner or later. So, those moments of intense problem-solving were few. Wraen's tail tapped merrily behind her, as she tackled the first two paragraphs of the silly rhyme. It did not by any means belong to the heights of poetry, but it was her creation and that was all that mattered.

arcturus had not been sad to leave the sentinels behind. while the area came with great legacy, he often found the atmosphere morose at best -- he missed the clandestine views that the mountain ranges offered, and often felt suffocated by what he could only ascribe as a 'ghost' -- a restless, angry dinh which clacked along from burnt tree to tree, howling through wind and ash.

no, he was not sorry at all to leave.

presently he trailed wraen, an ear turned towards occasional blips of speech. if there was one thing among the many arcturus marveled about wraen (and maia), it was the seemingly untapped depths in which their imagination never failed to reach. if he were better endowed in terms of thinking himself, he might have rejoined with his own verse -- instead he offered a gentle wag of his tail and inquired: "who did peter come across?"

"I don't  know," Wraen turned to face Arcturus and shrugged. "You tell me, Arthur," she teased, raising to her feet, having a quick stretch and then coming close to sniff his muzzle and the side of his face in a cordial canine greeting. 

"Maia there tells me that you are a good story-teller yourself," she referred to a recent conversation she had had with her sister. These were not her exact words, of course. She had said that "he is better than I thought", but it's not something you pass on. 

"And if that comes from her - it is a high praise," she went on. "'cause that means that you... just maybe... be found eligible for an initiation in Club Awesome. Just saying..." a mischievous grin.

even though it was a basic greeting of their kind, arcturus' heart somersaulted as wraen's nose brushed him.

he kept an ear turned to her as she spoke - first of maia, and then of a club he somehow was eligible for. he was genuinely surprised to hear of maia's praise, but maybe his time with wraen had been put to good use. after all, she was the source of all stories, and arcturus listened to every one with rapt ear and heart.

"she must not have listened to many good story tellers, then." arcturus quipped. he would always lack the elusive token that was a deep imagination -- but when pressed, arcturus could draw from his own life experiences, which he often found more relatable than some high queen in an imaginary world. "oh? and what is the initiation?"

"You can start by at least trying to finish the poem," Wraen grinned at him mischievously. "If you fail... there might be some dragon baby-sitting duties in store for you, but then we will have to find Maia, she is in charge of that and all," she added, voice serious, but with merry laughter in her eyes. It was obvious that she thoroughly enjoyed pushing Arcturus in the corner as far as possible.

"But jokes aside - how are you doing?" she asked, regardless of whether her friend chose to venture the dangerous realms of poetry or decided that herding a rambunctious pack of imaginary dragons was a lesser evil. "We are pretty close to your former home - if that at any point makes you feel uncomfortable, do say so. The world is a big place, we will definitely find a peaceful corner for us to be."

arcturus was more than pushed into a corner; asking him to finish a poem was probably akin to asking him to devise venison from a hare leg. his jaw slacked ever so slightly, but wraen continued on -- arcturus would not be the first one bringing up his duty of finishing the poem any time soon. and the dragon-babysitting.

the conversation took a more serious tone in short order. arcturus swept his gaze to the wilderness. he had not missed how the unfamiliar had gradually been transposed by familiar.. but.. moonspear was still a ways yet. he wouldn't quail just because they were at the cusp of his old stomping ground. "i will let you know. so far, i do not see any reason to change trajectory. how are you feeling, being so close?"

"I do not exist to them, though I suspect that if I happen to be near the borders, I might have bounty on my head," Wraen replied with that carefree humour of hers. Now she could see the funny side of the otherwise grim events. "But don't worry, I won't wander near their claim. I can't promise thought that I won't run into any of your relatives on neutral grounds," she added, remembering an episode she had not told Arthur about. 

"In fact, I think I met one of your brothers, when we were still settled on the shores. He did not give his name, but he did ask about you. Said that you never had a chance to say goodbye to each other," she told. "And... he had black fur, quite young though, and not much anything else that distinguished him from the rest of Ostregas," she said. "I am sorry I did not tell you this earlier. Somehow it had escaped my memory."

arcturus did not find such humor in the situation; a threadbare smile briefly showed along his muzzle in response. like a winter sunset, it quickly faded -- replaced by a starless scowl.

they walked under the shadow of the mountain with a red mark on their back. no matter how many miles they traversed, this would always be so -- until the mountain or his sister were toppled. giving thought to this twist of reality caused arcturus' gut to twist in on itself: he wanted neither destruction nor ruination for his once-family.

his ears pricked to learn wraen had encountered a brother. at first he thought revui, or jarilo -- but neither were of black fur, and he had said goodbye to the latter. the former... arcturus' teeth set on edge.

"did you catch his name...?" arcturus wondered if it were a nephew; there was antares and atlas to think about. his conscience was not entirely without guilt any time he recalled his circumstances for leaving, and how many he had left behind.

"I am sorry, no, we did not exchange names. I did not wish to invite trouble to myself - you know because of all the trespassing in spring, and he did not give his name, playing the role of a cautious scout well," Wraen shook her head, though it occurred to her that she might have been too careful and that a name would have been something that she could have lured out, while giving one that did not quite match her own, but was not far off from the truth either. 

"You know... this is really wretched," she said after a pause, looking around the plateau, then back at Arcturus. "That there should be such limitations to, where we can go and to whom we may talk to... I mean I am not exactly afraid, but... it sits at the back of my head, whenever I set out to travel the flatlands. What's worse - there is Bronco and Meerkat among them, they are our friends, but, how can you tell them that - hey, I am not welcome here - without making them doubt the very leadership they have chosen?"

the scout would remain nameless. arcturus was certain it was either antares or atlas, but without further information it was anyone's best guess.

he shrugged -- he was sorry to leave both behind, but not sorry for the choices that lead him here.

wraen had a point, however. their choices followed them close like a chained dog. they had to pick their paths carefully, for the impetus of their choices always lurked in the dark waiting for a single misstep.

"you can't." the mountaineer imparted with a sorrowful shake of his head. "it would likely make them doubt you, more than it makes them doubt their choices. the only thing to do, is to stand by and be there if there is ever fallout for said choices. there are other places besides under the mountain's reach.. the world, i've been told, is impossibly big -- maybe we just need to find a mountain somewhere else." this meant leaving much of their lives and family behind. "though that is not without its dangers, either."

It was odd to hear Arcturus give her an advice for a change. Usually their conversations were about Wraen challenging him and pushing him to get him speak his mind or come up with something. Basically - her being the dominant one and him responding to her requests. Now, however, he had met her as an equal and gave an insight that she herself had not been able to conjure that clearly. 

"I've heard that too. About the world," she smiled at him. "Must have been a wise person to say this," she added. "In regards of another mountain - years ago, when I was young and pretty - and an airhead too, I, my brother and two of his best friends split off Moonspear to start a pack at the opposite side of the valley. The location is on this side of the range, down South. We named it Sunspire. Though had we been more full of ourselves, we should have called it Better-spear," she joked. 

"Well, it did not last that very long and we were forced to move due to depletion of resources. So much for being better," that had been such a long time ago. "I wanted to show you that place at some point, but I heard from other packs here that there is a rogue group settled somewhere and they are nasty with strangers," she said. "But one day, definitely!"

arcturus was certain it was wraen that had told him of the world and its largeness; after all, once upon a time his world had been defined entirely by the realm of moonspear. that was but a needle-sized realm in a world that was incredibly large and beyond comprehension.

he doubted very seriously wraen had ever been an airhead, but he listened with interest as she detailed a failed expedition of her youth. was that not what youth was, if not trial and error? failure and failure again until at last one climbed their obstacles and stared down at the faces of all their past attempts? "sunspire. i like that." arcturus mused, intrigued by the play on words. moonspear, sunspire.

too bad it had not lasted.. but if it had, where would he be today? certainly not before her. "rogue group?" his features lit up with concern, transcended from daydreaming to alarm.

"No one I know personally - a new set of villains in the area," Wraen shrugged, she was as informed as the next person about the whole deal with Saints and the bear pack. She no longe remembered, who was residing where. Did it matter? The message was clear - they had to keep away from that particular side of the valley.

"During my time here Blackfeather wood wolves were the Public Enemies No.1 around here. Heard that Moonspear and Redhawks had some war with them too, but I have never asked for specific details. Wars in general are my least favourite topics to discuss or remember," she remarked. 

"But seems that they have gone with the wind themselves. Once great and fearsome - now nothing but an empty house and dwindling memories," Wraen said. "Might happen to Moonspear one day too. You know - the Wheel of fortune - it takes you up and then in the next moment you find yourself thrown to the bottom again," she smiled to herself, thinking that this analogy was a very good summary of her own life up until this point.

the war with blackfeather had been well before arcturus' time. he knew bits and pieces, passed down from relatives during story time -- but even then his memories were hazy.

he considered what wraen said solemnly. he did not want the demise of the spear anymore than he wanted demise for himself -- but there was a grim truth in her words.

time was a wheel -- it brought things forth and took them back -- at length, everything fell under the wheel.

"that's quite depressing." arcturus commented with a flick of his tail, wondering if the summation of his own life when he was dead and gone would be the same. "when you put it like that, i mean. i'd rather only go up and never come down." but that was simply not how life went.

"But, how would you know, if it is an up?" Wraen asked rhetorically. "Same with light - it cannot exist without darkness, otherwise we would never know, what it is," she sighed, feeling tired and wishing to catch up on some sleep now. Who knew, what would a new day bring to them, while on the road. It was a bit of distance to the place she had chosen to rest at the previous night and this ledge was just as good as any to fulfill that purpose. She changed her position, circled few times and then lied down again, yawning and shaking her head lightly at the end of it. 

"You never finished that story about the Golden Fleece, remember?" she rested her head between her paws and looked up at Arcturus expectantly. "Now would be a nice time to hear, what happened to Ren... no, that's not right... Rau!"