Neverwinter Forest Years in the making.

Tulukiri descended from Moonglow quietly, and alone. She prowled the hills until around her a forest reigned, standing tall and frozen around her. There wasn't a sound; snow fell, almost silently, and nothing moved but her.

Callyope was joyed to see the golden one's face again.

So long she had been wandering from Moonglow, now with @Melaneus, and soon they might return to the village as a pair. But first —

Tulukiri! She called, warm and delighted. Where do you go today? If she disturbed hunting, she did not know it.

A voice carried in the stillness; it was a beam of summerlight against the void of winter.

Callyope? The hunter had been so involved with her work that she was not up to speed with the goings-on of others. It surprised her to find the spirit-talker out among the trees.

She approached and gave a few friendly cursory sniffs - Stretching my legs. I had hoped to find something to hunt but, everything must be in sleep mode.

Her tail whisked the topmost snow.

What're you doing here?

They walked together - his thoughts taken both by Callyope and by what had happened on the glacier.

And through it all, he made true: he stayed by his starflower’s side.

It would be strange, not returning to the Weald. Strange, to step upon the lands of Moonglow as something other than a stranger.

Rodyn would be pleased.

Would Moonwoman?

Thoughts for another time. Callyope bounded towards a golden faced stranger - yet seemingly, they were not strangers to each other.

Melaneus hung back, looking to the other with curiosity in his eyes. Wishing to give her space in this apparent reunion. Feeling for the first time since their night on the terrace that longing for family, for home.

can be a cameo, feel free to let him go off & hunt or something haha!

It felt good to be received, the the golden girl did not seem bitter in her heart.

The whole world slumbers now, I agree. A solemn nod. Yet she understood deeply how this could be trouble for the hunters. She wondered if perhaps it would be best to head home so that her paws may be at work there.

I have been wandering. I have been visiting the mountains and snowiest parts — Her voice was soft now, teetered into girlish. And there is a boy.

She knew not that he lingered behind her now, yet perhaps she should have, for how close they kept one another now.

Tulukiri hadn't been the most social person as winter came upon the land, and now as she found the trace scent of a man she did not know, she did not think anything of it. Callyope was bashful; it was curious to Tulukiri that the girl seemed excited about this development.

Having grown up around men, it didn't seem that special to her. Did you see any game trails where you went? Her mind was on work and only work, of course.

Tulukiri did not press about it, nor seemed very interested in it at all. Callyope took no grand offense and chalked it up only to the way the golden girl was dutiful. Rough edged.

There are fields to the north. Near the place of moonsong. She spoke not that she had walked there too. Maybe beasts wander there and into the woods next to them.

She wished only to help the girl she thought of as a friend.

North. Okay... The girl looked in to the forest and gauged her angle, adjusting after some thought as she discerned where next to travel.

It occurred to her then, she had dismissed Callyope's news as if it was of no importance. The last they had spoken Callyope had been of great help to her - and so it was unfair to be so cold.

Can your boy hunt? Maybe... We could go together sometime. But she was a spirit-talker not a hunter, and Tulukiri wasn't truly a part of that world (and in her mind the opposite was true also).

Her boy!

She did nothing to hide the glowing look upon her face, warm and vibrant. @Melaneus (tag for him being properly acknowledged now) seemed as good a hunter as any boy his age might be. For the first time in a long time she thought of Mojag. Unaware he had returned when she had gone.

Yes! She beamed brightly, turning over her shoulder to spot that familiar flush of dark red in the pale world. We will hunt as three. She encouraged her Dying Sun to come closer.

You must tell me what you think of him too!

Perhaps she looked upon golden girl as sister, more than friend.

He closed his ears to their gentle words, though he would have listened with anyone else. Such was the way of the skiá, those shadowed warriors he'd long set his paws on the path of becoming. But he could not be skiá with Callyope. He did not need to hear what she said to every wolf. Of her, he simply trusted.

Only when his starflower looked over her shoulder towards him did Melaneus turn his ears to hear them again.

We will hunt as three.

Now, the shadows peeled from around him and he stepped into the scattered light. Though he was young, he noticed how he already rivalled the heights of both Callyope and her golden-faced friend. He eased forward on large paws and looked to Callyope with affection, before he tipped his head in a thoughtful greeting to his starflower's friend.

The boy made himself known. He was already quite large, and judging by the size of his paws there was room for him to grow further. He dwarfed Callyope readily enough, and Tulukiri found herself on-edge with his advance - because of his size, and because of the silence he carried.

Callyope was taken in by this one? Tulukiri sized him up without hesitation, staring him down and letting her overbearing posture speak for her; but she relented eventually, and turned away from the ruddy boy to address Callyope again.

I will scout for now. When something has been found which can use all of our bodies, I will find you. She was all business, and began to strike off on her own path - leaving them alone together as she headed north.