Redhawk Caldera Glistening through your fussed blows careen your caldera

Looking at this updated map, this takes place a lot south and a little west of Blackfeather Woods. This is for you, @Fox and/or @Lasher! :)

He missed the plateau, badly. Despite himself, Peregrine proposed they keep traveling, heading further south and slightly west now. They might as well cover as much ground as possible while they had the time, energy and opportunity. The fantastic weather certainly helped also. And other than their encounter with the bear, he realized he was enjoying himself. Maybe it was the open skies and fall scenery or just the wonderful company. In any event, he missed home but wasn't ready yet to call it quits.

This morning, he led the little party of three in a perpendicular line to the Sunspire range, leading them in a straight line that paralleled the distant coast. They soon left the mountains behind them and came within scenting distance of a claimed territory — perhaps Meldresi's pack — but skirted it quickly and headed further into the uncharted wilderness beyond. A close-cropped prairie sprawled for miles, then gave way to a forest that eventually led to the base of what appeared from this distance to be a mountain missing its peak.

"What happened there?" he wondered aloud, speaking to nobody in particular and not particularly expecting an answer, for that matter.

If anything, this epic journey would make for a good story. And Fox loved a good retelling, especially considering she fancied herself a bit of a storyteller. It would be awesome to tell their children (and grandchildren, and their great-grandchildren) all about how they had come to find their home. Or how they ended up staying on the plateau. Although, the more they searched, the more Fox was beginning to think that she, Peregrine, and Lasher would find something for themselves out here. The more they looked, the more they would have to choose from.

When Peregrine spoke, Fox realized she hadn't really been paying attention to their surroundings. Which was probably a mistake, considering that was what most of this expedition was about. "Whe—" she broke off, looking up to see the mountain that lacked a top. It looked like somebody had just chopped the tip right off. "Weird," she commented. "Let's go check it out." The weirder, the better!

His mate answered him, though she didn't seem to have an explanation. She shared in his curiosity, idle as his was. Peregrine nodded when she proposed they check it out. He'd enjoyed climbing the mountain the previous day. He felt so much more content at higher, rockier altitudes. He was beginning to realize that, if they did relocate, a mountain or something like it would be the only suitable landscape for him... which meant that this peculiar peak ahead of them might be in the running.

They passed through a dense forest which continued up and onto the squat mountain. In fact, they didn't breach the tree line until they were halfway up the slope. Although the trees thinned, the ground remained springy with moss and grass. When Peregrine looked upward, he realized that the thick greenery extended all the way to the mount's lip. And suddenly he had a feeling that something unexpected lay above and beyond that rim.

Peregrine wasn't wrong. When he hoisted himself up onto the ridge, he found himself staring down at a glassy blue lake. Across the way, the jagged, displaced peak made up the far wall of the caldera. Another piece of it appeared to just out of the water, with a final and third sliver of land plopped right in the lake's center. When his eyes clapped on this tiny islet, Peregrine caught himself thinking, I wanna live there!

When he lifted his eyes slightly, he saw that the land on the other side of the crater did not immediately slope back downward to its other side. It plateaued, sloping very gradually downward. This broad shelf was teeming with grass and trees. Although it was not quite as level as Blacktail Deer Plateau, it definitely made his mind wander back home for a moment.

He stared and stared and stared before his dusky jade gaze found its way back to the faces of his mate and lover. Peregrine didn't say anything and he certainly wasn't about to make any impulsive decisions; that was more up his wife's alley. Still, the look on his face was easy to read: if they were going to leave the plateau for anywhere, this place had not only joined the running but leaped straight for the top of the list.

The climb wasn't terrible, but Fox knew she would be giving her heart and lungs a run for their money if they ended up here. She was just thankful she didn't have a large, hulking form like Peregrine, to lug up the mountainside. When they reached the peak (or lack thereof), she decided it was worth it. It was a lake in the most peculiar place, and she realized now why the mountain was clipped on top. But it was the mini-mountain and the small island that were the real darlings. Up here, it was like they had their own little world all to themselves.

"Wow," she whispered, leaning against Peregrine for a moment as she soaked in the scenery before them. This would not be a one-season wonder like the aspen forest. This place had a year-round glory feel to it. "This place is pretty neat." That, of course, was putting it lightly. "It's a little world all on its own."

When Fox leaned into him, Peregrine welcomed it by nuzzling the tip of one fiery ear. He looked around to see Lasher sidle up on his other side. He drank in the scenery in silence. Peregrine wondered what he thought but didn't press Lasher to share his thoughts just yet. They'd only just arrived, after all.

"It sort of is," he agreed with his mate. "I smelled some deer on the way up here. I bet they're plentiful on the slopes, as well as the plateau over there. Did you notice it?" His eyes glittered as they fixed on her face. She must know that the plateau would appeal to him more than almost anything else.

"The lake's pretty but... these slopes are steep. I wonder if the water's high right now," Peregrine mused, looking out over the sapphire waters. "It has been a rainy summer. Maybe if it recedes, there will be more of a shoreline." He licked his lips. "If we liked this place, we'd have to claim the entire mountain and its base in order to establish a sustainable territory."

He caught Fox's eye again. This was the first time he'd gone as far as hypotheticals. In spite of himself, Peregrine was imagining the home he could make here. He felt enthralled and guilty all at once. If they did this, really did it, it would be quite an undertaking. And although he knew the plateau would be in good hands no matter who took the reigns, the thought of leaving his home of nearly a year still made his throat tighten.

Judging by the way he spoke, Fox felt like Peregrine was more and more keen on the idea of moving away from the plateau. That was a relief, considering she was feeling quite the same. The two didn't always agree on everything, but she felt like she was slowly nudging him toward what she wanted. Not, necessarily, in a manipulating way, but it was possible others would see it that way. She certainly had him by the balls, not that either of them would ever admit to such a thing.

Lasher remained silent, although Fox wasn't sure if that was a good or a bad thing. She did think that he would come with them, no matter where they ended up, but a part of her hoped that he would not feel like he was pressured into anything. She wanted them all to be happy. Fox breathed a contented sigh, even though she knew that it would take a lot of work to make it their own. She was confident in their abilities, however, and she did not think that they would fail.

There was a snow-capped section of the peak she wanted to check out, and so she gestured to Peregrine to follow her. It looked intriguing, and there seemed to be something off about it that she couldn't quite discern. She trotted out ahead of her two darker companions, scaling the wall of the crag. It was rough going, but she managed to keep her feet with frequent glances when she paused to make sure Perry and Lasher were making good progress.

She had paused on a ledge, but she had mistaken it for rock, rather than ice. Peregrine and Lasher were still a little ways behind her, and she was waiting for them to catch up to her. For a few moments, she sat, panting. But her head cocked to the side when she heard a bizarre noise. Before she could comprehend that it was the cracking of ice from the ledge, she was plummeting down the snowy side of the mountain, the world tumbling around her.

Lapsing into companionable silence, the two dark males fell into step behind their redheaded leader. As they headed toward the peak, which he assumed his lady wanted to investigate, Peregrine's eyes swept over the views, drinking in everything. There were features he liked and those that he didn't, like those sheer slopes leading down into the lake. What if they reared pups here and one slid down only to drown? He swallowed thickly.

He and Lasher fell behind, so Peregrine was unaware that anything was wrong until they heard strange noises up ahead. He paused, nose twitching, and called, "Fox?" When she didn't respond, his eyes shifted sideways to Lasher. Intuiting that something was the matter, Peregrine faced forward and broke into a run, which led him up to the jagged ice shelf overlooking the side of the mountain — down which his young mate presently tumbled.

"Fox!" he cried. He didn't have a chance to consider his mate's penchant for finding trouble as he plunged down the slope, trying to keep his feet even as he scrambled down the mountainside, accompanied by a shower of scree. "Fox!" he repeated for no other reason than to let her know he was coming for her.

Fox awoke slowly. The world around her was brighter than she remembered. White, even. The ice covered her, and she groaned wordlessly as she shifted, a large block of ice above her, though she was not being crushed by it. Something was definitely wrong with her side, because when she attempted to lift herself and get a better look at her surroundings, a sharp pain shot through her ribcage. She yelped in pain, but that only made it worse, and Fox found herself whimpering, trapped beneath the block of ice.

She heard the faint cry of Peregrine, but all she could do was rasp out his name in return. It was barely audible, even beneath the sheet of ice. Again, Fox attempted to right herself, but a similar pain shot through her forepaw. She was breathing heavily, sharply inhaling and panting. She tried to calm herself, and then began to check each of her feet by flexing her toes. Her back feet seemed to be in good working order, and her right front paw was fine, but when she flexed her toes on her left front foot, she winced, licking it to soothe the pain.

Fox tried to find a way out, and she spotted a small opening just ahead of her. Careful to guard her sprained paw and broken rib, she slowly made her way toward the exit, stopping several times to regain her composure so she didn't faint from the pain. She managed to get her nose out the door, and then she stopped, labored breathing nostrils pushing and pulling air from outside her prison.

Peregrine reached Fox perhaps a minute or two after she made impact. At least, he thought she'd landed here, though he didn't immediately see her. When his eyes failed him, he dropped his nose to the ground and tried to pick up her scent. Exchanging a brief, anxious glance with Lasher, who'd followed right behind him, Peregrine tracked it to a small overhang made by the fallen ice shelf. He could see Fox's little nose wriggling there.

"Fox," he crooned, approaching her carefully, his eyes flicking over her small body. She didn't appear to be bleeding, yet he knew that the worst injuries weren't always obvious. "Did you hit your head? Break anything? Do I need to —" He'd almost asked her if she wanted him to call Blue Willow, yet the medic was miles and miles away. She couldn't help Fox here. "Tell me what I need to do, where you're hurt, and I'll do my best to help," he finished, exchanging another loaded glance with Lasher.

She had nearly lost consciousness when she heard Peregrine's voice. It woke her back up, and she looked up with slow-moving eyes, grey and dull as ever. She felt pretty out of it, and it took her a minute to express this with words. “My side hurts. Real bad. I hurt my left front leg, too.” Fox gave him an apologetic look. “I thought it was rock, but it was just ice.” She wasn't well-versed in anything medic-related. And, honestly, she did not think there was much anybody could do. It felt like one of those injuries that would go away with time.

Fox glanced to Lasher, wondering if he knew anything, but she did not ask. She figured that Peregrine would know one way or another. “Here, help me up,” she asked, turning back to Perry. Laying here on the ground wasn't going to accomplish much of anything.

Peregrine whined softly when she informed him of her injuries. "Do you think you broke any bones?" He knew what both a broken foot and bruised ribs felt like. He had suffered both within the past few months. "I... there's not much I can do. I'm not a medic. I could go back and get Blue Willow but it will take days to fetch her and bring her back here," he fretted.

When she requested his help, he was at her side at once, offering his support. "Are you sure you want to..." He trailed off, allowing Fox to make her own decisions. "We might be able to find some painkillers around here somewhere. I'm sure if I just took a minute to think, I could come up with the names and descriptions for them. Blue Willow's used them on me enough..."

Between words, he placed fluttering kisses on her brow and cheeks, hoping to comfort her in the only way he did know how. He kept wanting to call for their Healer, yet she was so far away that a howl would never carry. Besides, like he'd said, it would just take too long. It was out of the question. The three of them were on their own up here on the remote caldera.

She got to her feet (well, three of them) with Peregrine's help as he went about his usual rambling about how he was going to help her with this and that. “Painkillers?” she asked, “You mean little bitch plants?” Her tone was flush with dry humor when she said this. “I’ve been hurt worse than this. It will heal in time.” But they had promised to return to the plateau in less than a week, and she had a pretty good feeling that it was going to take a lot more than a week for her to be travel-ready again. Trouble always managed to find the small fire child in some way or another, and she glanced to their surroundings.

“Why don’t we just stay here?” she suggested. “I mean, somebody will have to go back to the plateau and let them know what’s going on, but what if this is it? I like it more than anything else we saw.” Talking so much made her light-headed, and she leaned on Peregrine for support, feeling out of breath. She could see this place becoming their home. Sure, the slopes were dangerous, but hopefully her one stupid mistake would keep everybody else away from it from now on.

Peregrine threw his mate a nonplussed look, then laughed dryly. "I think that's one of those things I'll laugh about later, when I'm not too busy freaking out," he told her wryly. "Are you sure?" he pressed in response to her nonchalance. What if she was more hurt than she was letting on, or even more than she realized?

When Fox proposed that they just stay here, a thundercloud appeared on the swarthy male's brow. "You almost just died here... and you want to call it home?" he asked softly, incredulously. True, he'd been liking the place... up until he'd seen his mate rolling ass over teakettle down the slope. "I don't think so, Fox. We'll rest, then get you back home to the plateau, where we'll stay, at least until you're healed enough to go out and find someplace else to move."

Fox pursed her lips, her defiant and contrarian attitude coming in full-surge. “I didn’t leave the creek just because a cougar lived there,” she told Peregrine, “and I didn’t leave when there was a dangerous river flowing through it day in and day out. This place is beautiful and sustainable and you know it. If I had liked that valley where the bear was enough, I would have said we should stay there, too.” Well, maybe that was not entirely true. But she felt like saying it anyway to make her point. She huffed lightly, then relaxed a bit to let him know she wasn't trying to be a total bitch about the situation.

“I won’t be able to travel for at least a couple weeks. And even then, it’s going to be slow going.” That meant it would be at least four weeks before she would make it back home. And that was only if they were lucky and didn't encounter any tricky traveling on the way to the plateau. “Lasher can stay here. You can make the trip back.” Ah, yes, their first disagreement in their new home. Lovely.

She knew, though, that the trek home would be a lonely one for him. And she wished that she could be by his side for the whole thing. But she also knew that Blue and the others would start to worry if they didn't come back on schedule. “Do you remember when you thought you’d lost Junior? I don’t want the whole pack to think that their two leaders just left them without saying goodbye… or worse.” But talking so much hurt, and she winced as she shifted on her tripod of feet.

Peregrine frowned throughout her entire argument, though he didn't say anything in response. His eyes squinted thoughtfully when she laid out a timeline for her injuries. Fox didn't think she could travel at all, even with help, and he wasn't about to force her hand in that regard. Slowly, it dawned on him that they were stuck here. Well, she was stuck here, but considering they were attached at the hip, he shared in his wife's fate.

He gave a long sigh of defeat. "For better or worse, this is now our home, I guess," he said with a touch of bitter sarcasm. He glanced at Fox, then frowned guiltily. "Let's just hope it only gets better from here." He sighed again, more softly now.

"I can't leave you here, though," he complained in the next breath. "I can send Lasher back to tell them." Even as the words left his mouth, Peregrine realized he couldn't do that to them. After all, he wouldn't just be sending Lasher to tell them the Alpha pair was temporarily restricted to this remote crater. All along, their plan had been to make a permanent relocation. Although the circumstances and time frame were not ideal, this was it.

"I'll leave right now," he said in a rather grave tone. He hated having to do this. He hated to leave Fox and he hated to go home alone to break the news to everybody. "And I'll make it quick. I'll be back in a couple of days. I won't sleep or eat until I'm back with you. Lasher," he said, catching his companion's eye, "watch over her for me."

Despite his need for haste, he lingered, unwilling to leave his mate's side so soon after her injury. He nosed her tenderly and murmured, "This fucking blows ass." Peregrine kissed her temple to make it understood he didn't place the blame on her. "What should we call it, by the way? I need to have a name to take back to them. Call it whatever you like, firecrotch."

She shook her head when he suggested that Lasher could go back. Even she knew that such a thing would burn any bridges they had with the plateau. And while that likely wouldn't make much of a difference for her, personally, much of Peregrine's family was there, and she doubted he would do such a thing to them. He realized this on his own, sparing Fox another wordy argument, for which she was grateful. Talking hurt right now.

His "blows ass" comment was met with a weak smile. He wasn't the one who would be feeling the pain for weeks on end. But she made no mention of it, not wishing to put the limelight on herself for once in a blue moon. “Icefall Mount would be appropriate,” she said, looking up to the spot where she had fallen from.

His nose wrinkled. "That's not funny," he opined, hating the name immediately. It would just be an eternal reminder of Fox's fateful fall. "We're not going to commemorate your lack of grace. Talk about a bad omen." Peregrine wasn't usually so firm in his decisions, yet his tone left no room for argument.

"If this is meant to be the place where you and me start our family, it makes sense to name it in honor of that." He paused. "It's a crater. I've also heard them called basins or calderas. We could use one of those. And then something like... Blackvixen or Redhawk or Foxyfalcon or something like that. Something that represents both of us."

I like working OOC conversations into IC conversations, lol.

Fox laughed, then whimpered at the pain it caused her side, when he spat out three names. Two of them were beyond ridiculous to her ears. But the second one, Redhawk, had a nice ring to it. She quickly voiced the three proposed landmark names through her head before settling upon one. “Redhawk Caldera is pleasant,” she replied. And it wasn't an immediately obvious ode to its namesakes. Red, for her fur, and hawk, for the bird that Peregrine was named after.

She wished that he could stay here. She wished that they could christen this place like they had with the other mountain, but she knew she was in no shape for such things. Not to mention the fact that Peregrine had a long, hard journey ahead of him. Fox would spend the next few days not moving far from where she was. “Could you and Lasher help get me to somewhere a little more stable before you leave?” she asked, eyeballing a level spot of land near the bottom of the lake. “We can take it slow. I just want to make sure I get somewhere safe before you leave.” The last thing Perry needed was to come back to an even more broken Fox.

:D

Fox took two of the random terms he'd spouted and knitted them neatly together, forming a single name: Redhawk Caldera. Peregrine simply bobbed his head to concur. At the moment, he didn't care much about their surroundings or their name. All of that would have to grow on him. Right now, he just wanted to make sure Fox was comfortable and safe while he took care of business. And he wanted something to give to his pack mates once he got home, for the last time.

"Of course," he answered in a gentle voice, trying not to dwell on all that just now. "Where would you like to go?" He glanced around himself as if hoping the perfect little sickbed would appear. He did passively notice a fissure slightly further up the slope. He supposed there must be caverns under the crater. Little did he know...

Gonna go ahead and fade here. :) *excite*

"Close to the lake," Fox replied, "I think I can hobble down toward it and we can find a level plot of land." It wasn't like Fox would need a lot of room to run around and exercise. She glanced to Lasher, then back to Peregrine. "If you two can spot me, it shouldn't be a problem." Well, not an impossible problem, at least. It would be a slow and painful journey for the tiny female, but she knew she had the strength to at least do that.

So, with the help of her two companions, they made the journey to the lakeshore, pausing often to rest. The further they went, the more confident Fox was that her injuries were nothing life threatening. Her rib hurt like a bitch, but there didn't seem to be any abnormal swelling, and although her foot hurt, she definitely didn't feel as though it would be a lasting injury. Once they'd reached the shoreline, Peregrine bid them goodbye, and Fox eased herself down to the ground to get some much-needed rest.