Nimbus Summit You will be less than a grain of salt but more than an ounce of gold

Have to keep Lane and his conversation very vague until that thread develops more. Lmk if I need to change anything. 

The golden hour rested upon the epsilons shoulders, its hue shining through the stray strands of fur sticking out amongst the hundreds, his frame the only tell as to who he was. A silhouette masking his distinctive colors as he neared his den, Rye sang his wife's name in a quiet howling song with the aim to make her aware of his approach. He was far later than he would have hoped but his conversation with Lane ran later than expected and his hunt was jarringly laborious. The yearling badger put up a greater fight than the father expected, earing three stripes across his throat, they were only superficial; and it earned him the bonus of a squirrel. 

Grasping the meal betwixt his teeth once again Rye set the gifts at the entrance of the den, a peace offering in case his wife was fuming he had not stuck to his word given only just that morning. He knew @Imaq wasn't one to get wrapped around a branch so easily but he did not keep his word, some form of repentance was due. "Wife, I'm sorry I have returned late but I brought with me food." He was almost sheepish with his words but still managed to come off coolly. The badger and squirrel was only enough for Imaq and their son, to which Rye was content with, he couldn't stomach the idea of eating while the stresses of the day still weighed heavily on him. He waited patiently for his wife or son to greet him, a smile tugging at his lips.   

I'm so sorry, I seemed to have missed this somehow!

Imaq had grown worried, fretting when Rye had failed to return. But it was with relief that she went to greet her husband. She ignored the food for the time being, though not out of ingratitude. The she-dog smelt blood and flitted to the other healer's side, sniffing him over worriedly until she found the shallow wounds. They'd likely heal without medical intervention but even so she rasped them clean with her tongue to be safe. 

"Nakummek," the medicine woman murmured in the language she had begun to teach him. She turned to the game he had brought with a smile, unable to stop herself from licking her chops. The isabella merle's stomach rumbled appreciatively, her body craving the sustenance it had been lacking for months. 

Gathering the kill in her jaws, she gestured with a jerk of her head for Rye to follow her into their den so they might share the meal with their son. Perhaps the Hotah believed that there was not enough food for the trio but Imaq did not share this thought -- neither of their stomachs could hold as much as they used to. It would be some time before Imaq could manage to down an entire badger on her own. 

No worries!

Anger was not what he was met with, to his surprise the first thing that met his body was Imaqs muzzle, sifting through his walnut coat. He watched with abundant curiosity, tilting his head until she worked her way up to his neck, he hissed at the sudden abrasion. The pain worsened as she began to clean his wounds, it was akin to sparks lighting just under his skin, his nose scrunched in discomfort but otherwise he let his wife be. Although pain was at the forefront of his mind, her attention didn't dare go unappreciated by him. He loved it, she was more than he deserved, how could he fail his wife so?

"Annak, I promise I'm fine." He told her, there was a poultice he could have her apply sometime later. His wife pulled away, saying something in her language that Rye didn't remember the meaning of but he took her walking towards the den as a hint. He followed, wrapping himself around Sikuliak once in the den. Rye cleaned his head, mumbling to hold still as he finished cleaning but upon checking his boys head, the father realized it was just his fur color, not dirt. 'Whoops'.

Rye grasped the squirrel by its tail and set it before his son, instructing him on how to open its belly with ease and before Imaq could start on her badger, the father grabbed it too. Rye punctured its abdomen but only skin level, working his bottom canine up to the badgers jaw, effectively starting the skinning process. After pulling the skin back a bit, he nosed the dead animal towards his wife. "You eat your fill, then I will eat whatever is left over." He instructed, "Please." Quickly adding after, not wanting any protests. Their full bellies came first, not his own.    

Imaq rasped her tongue along Siku's crown, scrunching her nose at him playfully when his own quirked in protest. The mother took a moment to watch Rye with their son, a loving smile crossing her splotchy lips to observe them together -- thanking the inua silently that the boy seemed to be recovering slowly now that they were home, that he'd begun to accept his father's closeness and affection once more. For a time, she'd been awfully worried that he might never trust anyone again aside from herself. 

After a moment, she took to butchering the larger piece of game, for her and Rye to eat. She stopped only when he turned to her with a plea to fill her own stomach first. The medicine woman gave the woodlander an exasperated but amused look -- struggling to refrain from rolling her eyes teasingly as she licked the blood from her chops. Seelie did as he asked, but only after dividing the meat into two small piles, nudging one aside to reserve for her husband. Try as he might to persuade her, Imaq would not eat this portion. Instead she tucked into the other, knowing Rye needed sustenance after a day of hunting just as much as she -- if not more. 

After a moment, she lifted her speckled crown of cream and honey -- cracked gaze of seaglass flickering between her husband and son. "Happen?" the she-dog murmured questioningly, worriedly, as she gestured to the wound upon the Hotah's neck.  

He still wanted to know what happened, since their return his curiosity has burned but he wasn't sure how to approach the situation. Inevitably he would ask but it wasn't the right moment. Pulling his attention to the meal being set off to the side, he gazed at his wife with an amused grin, the man nodded his head, understanding. Always a loving wife, she is. Rye nosed through the meal, his belly surprising him with a vicious growl, he didn't need to hear much more to dig in. For a while they ate in silence, Rye happily delighted in the peace.

The quiet was finally broken when Imaq questioned his neck wound, he shook his head, gently laughing. "Our meal didn't want to be our meal." He informed, a chuckle rumbling in his chest. "I doubted the badgers strength and earned the stripes to show for it." A lesson learned but there was more pressing matters floating around him. He wasn't sure how much he should tell his wife but lying didn't sit right with him and half-truths were just lies with extra steps. As much as the truth ashamed him, he had to tell the truth, at least to his wife.  

"Wife, follow me, I need to talk to you in private." Rye got up and exited the den, waiting for his wife just outside in case she needed his help. He didn't know what it was like to walk with just three legs but he was sure it wasn't an easy adjustment. It pained his chest to know something awful happened to his wife, shame still haunted him for not finding them soon enough. Once they were both away from the den, Rye sat, a long sigh flaring his nostrils. "Imaq," He started somberly. "A pack was found close to ours, a pack I fear is very dangerous. I made a mistake while you were gone in stoking the fire between me and their leader. I was dizzy with anger then and stupid. I can't imagine they will react well knowing I am their neighbor." He frowned, casting his gaze to his feet momentarily. "I need to make a trip back towards the glacier to check up on an old friend and possibly find a safer home, I promise not be gone for long. I told Lane a week at most and I plan to keep my word, I've also asked her to look after you two while I'm gone. I know you can take care of yourself but knowing someone has their eye on you two eases my worries." He didn't want to part with them, not again but the drive to ensure his familys safety pushed him to do this. "I'm sorry I put you two into this spot, I can't express my regret enough." The father searched for his wifes gaze, deeply longing to embrace her, his paw slipped forward but then slunk back to his side; unsure if she craved the same affection.    

Just an fyi, Rye did return within a week. I just didn't get to write the retuning thread! 

Imaq nodded, giving him a rueful shake of her head in response to Rye's -- cured -- hubris. "Badger strong totem. Fierce." Her gaze wandered to Siku as he ate, wondering what totem the spirits might gift their son in time. 

At her husband's words, Imaq rose with a concerned expression etched into the furrow of her brow and the tug of her lips, though she tried to smile reassuringly at Yuku as the duo slipped out into the corridor. The shepherd accepted the woodlander's aid with ease, comfortable enough to let her guard down around the he-wolf she'd come to call her own. She managed well enough despite her limp but it was painful and quite exhausting to train her body to move with a new gait. When Rye sat, Imaq settled against him with a small sigh of relief. 

But such a peaceful emotion was not to last for long. 

It was quite a bit to process, and it was harder to shape her response but the she-dog struggled to get the words out appropriately. "Why mad? What Rye do?" she murmured anxiously, head tilting back so that her aquamarines peered up at him fearfully. It was not fear of the man that filled her with such dread, but rather fear of the matter he spoke of. 

"Home for village? Or home for Rye?" the words were but a lilting wisp as she fought to keep her emotions at bay. It had not occurred to Imaq that Rye spoke of relocating their family but rather that he intended to go into hiding until whatever this conflict was had blown over. The news would come as a harsh blow. Atautsikut had come to mean much to the mother. She had been with Wintersbane from the beginning and though Selkie had lost her way, @Lane and many of the other villagers were family. Imaq had just begun to feel like part of the community again, had begun to plan to make herself mesh with the other tundrians and find a place she truly belonged. Even if such could not be said about her just yet, she had already begun to think of the Summit as home. The medicine woman had no desire to leave their people. 

And yet, she would not be separated from her husband. She could not bear that thought -- even now, without knowing the extent of the Hotah's plans. They had only just found each other again. 

Her train of thought was making it nearly impossible to keep the overwhelming despair at bay, just as the expression on Rye's face was. Before the dam could break and Imaq could burst into tears like a cub, she buried herself against the he-wolf's earthen side -- burrowing deeper against him as if the pressure of embracing him could keep them safely together and prevent her from falling apart on the inside. 

"Rye come back? Home?" the murmur was muffled and broken against her husband, strained with the repressed things the merle refused to let out. 

Her tears pierced him like glass shards, tearing his arteries asunder, leaving his heart weeping its crimson tears. Angutiks chin quivered, feeling the gentle cries his wife emitted, he swallowed hard and blinked the tears away. "I'm so sorry." He croaked out. It was all he could manage before burying himself into his wife and holding her close. He stayed quiet, not answering any questions, only taking in the moment. The scent of his wife, the shape of her body, the texture of her fur, everything. Rye wanted all of her to meld with him before he left for a week. Parting was going to bring back the agony of when he first lost her and he wasn't sure how to cope again.

Imaq asked if he would return, Rye readily nodded his head. "I will, I will return. I wouldn't dare leave you or Liak but I have to for a week. To find a potential new home for us. I was so angry when you both vanished. I said not so good things to a woman who isn't sane, now she leads a pack. I can't imagine the others will be sane either. I have put us in a bad place Imaq, I am so sorry." The husband gave a tight squeeze before pulling back. "Lane hopes there will be peace and I gave her my word I would trust her, all this trip is, is a back up plan. A plan to use if peace isn't an option." He would do anything to make sure that backup plan didn't need to be used. It mattered little the cost, even if he had to cut off an arm, he'd do it for his family.

Imaq felt somewhat reassured that Rye wouldn't be gone long -- though she would miss him dreadfully -- and that his plan was only being laid in place in the event that the Summit was no longer safe. Despite how it filled her with anxiety and tore at heart to think of leaving, under the circumstances, the medicine woman had to agree that it might be best to leave for a time if Rye was in danger specifically. 

The dog had no words, none that she knew that could express her feelings properly anyways. She prayed fervently that there would be peace with these unnamed wolves and that what Rye had done wouldn't face harsh consequences -- that they could stay with the village. She clung to him as if to drink the agouti's presence in, soak it into her skin for when he did have to go. The hope and desperation she felt was tangible, relayed through the way Imaq held onto him. 

gonna close this one, then respond to the other one tomorrow when hopefully I'm feeling better. So sorry about all the waiting times and this awful response 

She said nothing, Rye understood, he let the quiet moment last for as long he could but time was short. He parted with a few small words and a kiss, he left with tears stinging his eyes.