Duskfire Glacier I screamed his name till the neighbors called the cops

For @Rye

This morning, Lane had moved her pups' rendezvous point deeper into the conifer forest south of the caverns. She now trekked across the Lupine Flower Meadow towards the Meltwater Lake, noting the patches of catmint that had sprung up among the lavender stalks. That was promising; the Glacier would not be lacking in treatment options when the bitter cold of winter set in, and the coughing began. 

Lane was not searching for catmint today, however. With the Meltwater Lake swelling in the present summertime conditions, she thought to search around its beaches for some hydrophilic herbs that might have popped up to take advantage. Feverfew might be a good plant to gather, especially with hay fever season right around the corner. 

Lane squished along the edge of the Meltwater lake, eyes scanning for the ivory blooms of feverfew among the explosions of purple flora.

The birth of his son nearly halted many of his usual tasks, with the boys eyes now open Liak was eager to explore the lights outside the den. Rye was always happy to oblige but not go too far with exploration due to the latest scents of coyotes testing their borders. The thought of scrawny bones slinking off with his child, or any others, sent fire through his marrow. He was tempted to gather willing bodies and hunt the trespassers into extinction but that was to be for another time. Small tufts of fur clung to border trees, the agoutis fur, it was his last effort to warn them. After it was all said and done Rye headed for the meltwater, to relieve his growing thirst.
As the hotah approached he saw in the distance similar fur to his, his tail swayed. Lane walked the shore, searching for something unknown to Rye. He greatly missed seeing her around in the caverns, she had moved some time ago and was damn hard to find, or so his brain concluded. Little time was wasted in his approach, "Lane!" He happily cheered, "It's weird to say I've missed you since we live in the same place but I haven't seen you too much." His excitement began to dull, the sharp clarity of his voice fading in the end as he began to internally question why.  

Lane was already a little frustrated, trying to pick out the bitter scent of feverfew from the heavy floral perfume that draped over the territory. Her inner zen was not improved by the appearance of Rye, who she'd have much preferred to avoid. 

Hearing her name spoken in his voice made her stomach squeeze. 

"Oh, yeah.." Lane answered, meeting Rye's gaze with a quick smile before pulling her eyes back to the shoreline. "I was away for a few days," she explained, knowing the excuse was a weak one but perhaps it would hold, if Rye was as distracted as Lane imagined he might be given his recent life changes. 

"How's the wife and kid?" she asked, managing an offhanded voice with only the barest hint of a tremor. Her stomach gave another squeeze, this one more acute. She wanted to match his excitement (at least outwardly), so she mentally forced her tail to swing, mirroring her friend's cheerful body language.

Thanks for your patience <3

Rye had never gotten the sense Lane had something more for him than friendship (or so he thought), although they had an impromptu embrace brought on by loads of hormones, it still didn't occur to him that could have been the start to something more. His coupling with Imaq thrusted him in a direction away from the agouti woman, as far as he was concerned nothing was wrong between them. And yet, a fleck of warning was tugging at his heart as Lane, still unbeknownst to Rye, continued her happy façade.
Rye bounced his head as he walked along the shore with Lane, not wanting to appear as if he wasn't paying any attention whilst his brain tried to recall if he overheard any chatter about her trip from others. Not a scrap was found. "My wife and son are good." He responded in a more reserved manner than before, quieter. Rye didn't have much else to add, too swept up in his curiosity about Lanes trip to explain more. "Tell me about the trip, where'd you go?" This time his tone was much more lively, an honest interest behind his question. "And how are your little ones?" Wayfarer was looking spunky and it warmed Ryes heart when he saw the cub glowing with energy, a far better look than her once sickly, lackluster movements as a babe. 

Not at all! I prefer for my threads to move at different paces, and I especially like for my one-on-one threads to move a little slower.

Reluctantly, Lane drew her attention away from the flora around the lake. 

"Good," she answered his latter question first, only because she was much more interested in delving into the former. 

"I went down through the mountains, and I found a new pack forming on one of the plateaus. Then I went to Moonglow and talked with Kukutux. She leads there," Lane explained. Heat rose in her cheeks as she recalled the conversation in which she had divulged her crush on Rye to the alphess. Lane supposed that on her next trip to Moonglow, she would have to tell Kukutux that it hadn't worked out with Rye. Fuck, maybe she should have just stayed with Moonglow and never come back home to Duskfire Glacier. Maybe she and Zane could have worked things out. Maybe she even could have convinced Zane that Wayfarer and Veteran were his pups. Kukutux would have covered for her. The Moonglow alpha had said that she wanted Zane to grow up a little, and fatherhood could very well have kick-started that process. 

Lane swallowed her regrets down hard, and she continued. "Then I came back up along the coast. Hunting for seafood was sort of fun. Different, you know. And I caught a pig!" Her eyes lit up for a brief moment, before she quickly amended, "Well, technically Pig-Man caught a pig, but he shared it. Aaand.. oh, I also ran into Mahler. He leads Rivenwood, and he's friends with Iana, but he hasn't seen her. I didn't find any trace of her the whole trip," Lane reported regretfully. As she retold her adventures, she slowly slipped into a more comfortable bearing, distracted by reliving her memories. Perhaps instead of outright avoiding Rye, she should have been trying an incremental exposure approach.. like how you were supposed to train a body to become resistant to an allergen.

Soft gazes, quiet laughter, and tranquil smiles, he shared each as Lane delve into the memories of her trip. It was a pleasure to listen to others stories, easy for him to engage in the joy or excitement the teller held whilst explaining but the nagging feeling that a piece of the agouti woman was missing continued to warn Rye narrowly under the thin sheet of his aware conscious. There was nothing to be done at the moment. Rye had questions of a different kind for the girl. Moonglow, Kukutux, Pig-man, so many new inputs to inquire about.
Iana. An uncertain amount of moon phases had passed since her disappearance and despite the packs best efforts her location went undiscovered, Rye began to believe she may not wish to be found. A sentiment he could have once greatly understood but his life changed, for the better, he hoped hers did as well. "I believe Iana will return, maybe not today, nor tomorrow but I think she's safe and sound. Wherever she is." He stated somberly, nodding his head, mostly to reassure himself. "Anyways," He started quickly, a sharp change in tone to a more friendly one. "Your trip sounded like it was lively, at least somewhat full of action." A small chuckle given. "I'm glad you came back safe, I'm sure your little ones were not so happy you abandoned them." He teased. Rye wondered if Siku would miss him if he left, or if he would even notice.

Lane nodded somberly as Rye gave his opinion on Iana's whereabouts. It sounded extremely optimistic, truth be told, but then Rye's optimism was one of the reasons she liked him so much, wasn't it? 

Lane's eyes landed on patch of ivory blooms. She halted, carefully harvesting the feverfew while regaling Rye with her tales of adventure. By them time the feverfew was removed from the ground, the conversation had moved on to her children. 

Lane sighed as Rye mentioned her abandonment of her children. "Yes, Wayfarer was very vocal about that, I expect," she acquiesced, identifying the source of his information immediately. After a pause, she explained, "My own parents were in and out my entire childhood, and it was never a big deal." She'd had other wolves around to take care of her, and her parents managed to teacher her all the important stuff. After a moment, she relented, "But my littermates and I didn't have anything to compare it to. It was normal for us. Veteran and Wayfarer see the other moms here doing things differently, and so I guess my way looks wrong to them." Lane suspected that her way looked wrong to many of the adults too, but no one had outright confronted her about it as of yet.