Phoenix Maplewood laugh, cry, forget nothing and think many things of it
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Ooc — Chelsie
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Very vague until this thread progresses further, just wanted to get it up! For @Arielle and @Ancelin <3

Snow fell heavy from the moment the pair set out from Redtail Rise. Aventus drove a hard pace in spite of it, trusting that Ancelin would keep up even as the horizon became shrouded in white. He knew how hard the boy had trained, but more importantly, Ancelin had said he was ready.

Like his father before him, Aventus would trust his son in this.

Dusk came and still they walked. For the past hour, Aventus had his eyes set on the spindly limbs of distant trees. They were close enough to smell the faint aroma of maple when he remembered that he could not force his son to travel through the night like he would. What sort of father would it make him if he killed one boy in search of the other?

We will rest in these woods tonight, he told Ancelin when at last they entered the shelter of the trees. Let us search for food now.
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Ooc — hela
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<3


Arielle wanted to continue traveling through the night. She was so close that she thought she could scent Aventus and Ancelin on the icy breeze. But her leg wasn't fully healed yet; the cold and snow only made it worse, and she knew that if she pushed herself too hard, it would only take longer to get home. She missed her family so much. She had been consumed with guilt over the last few months over leaving them in the first place. She had been selfish, wanting to find her sister and bring her back to meet her family. Not only had she not found Lilitu, but she had injured her front leg. She had slipped and fallen on the icy slope of a mountain. She had been in a hurry, and she hadn't been careful enough. She was thankful she hadn't broken the leg, but she had definitely tweaked it enough to have to stay off of it, not to mention the huge hash from a pointy rock that ran up from her paw and stopped at her elbow. She walked with a limp now, but she was hopeful that would go away with time. She had set out to make her way back home as soon as she was able, but that still meant she was gone far longer than she had intended. She kept thinking about how worried Aventus must be and how she had missed so much of their sons growing up even in the few months she had been gone. Aves had already suffered so many bad things in his life, and now she was just adding to that.

Her leg ached so bad that she couldn't ignore it anymore. She thanked the bear—she stopped the thought right there. The bear had punished her for her betrayal, and now she wasn't worthy of the god. Arielle shook her head to dislodge the thought and keep her mind from going there. 

She remembered these woods having a lot of different herbs, though she wasn't sure what all she would find right now with the cold and snow. Still, it was better than nothing. She was sure she could at least find some willow bark for her pain so that she could get some sleep. 

Thankfully, she found just the tree she needed and was able to peel a strip from it. She missed her herb den so much. Her heart ached at the thought of it and how it had been a gift from Aventus. Now, who knew what it looked like? She held the bark between her teeth and searched for a place to sleep. She heard a voice in the distance and froze. She would know his voice anywhere. Her heart started to race and she lurched forward, her injured front, left leg protesting the movement. Arielle didn't care. She darted through the trees and snow until she saw him, her gaze finding Ancelin next. He was so big now. Tears stung the backs of her eyes.

She wanted to throw herself into Aves, but she wasn't sure how angry he was with her, so she stopped in front of the pair, her eyes glistening with tears. Aventus...Ancelin she said softly, and then anything else she might say died in her throat. She was overwhelmed by everything and frozen in place.
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Bearclaw Valley
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Ooc — ebony
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sorry i missed this!! <3

the rise had eventually been eaten up by the rolling terrain of the taiga. privately, ancelin shed a few tears. he trusted his father implicitly but he'd never been away so far. what is atreus came back looking for them? it was unlikely that his brother would do that, but a boy hadn't given up the hope.
when aventus said they'd stay here and look for food, ancelin nodded tiredly beneath the formality of his father's voice. ever the dutiful son, he went off at once, applying many of the skills he'd learned along the rise to find the track of several animals.
but his heart wasn't in it, and so he turned back to his dad, to ask that aventus come with him. he didn't want to be alone out here.
the sound of footfalls drew his head up sharply; ancelin stared hard at the limping figure which materialized out of the forest — "mom?!" his voice was haunted and boyish and hopeful; he took a step forward, then another.
"mom!"
his eyes blurred with tears and he was sobbing before he was close enough, and when he was the tall kid with oversized paws shoved his nose into his mother's fur to take in the story of all the places she'd been, and to add his own and the salt on his face and the deep, good, beating of his heart, and the happiness crowing in his throat to see her again and to have some vital mountainrock part of himself relieved and restored.
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Ooc — Chelsie
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For a moment, it seemed like Ancelin would head off on his own, but then the boy turned back in a silent question. Aventus did not enjoy being alone in unfamiliar terrain any more than Ancelin did. It was likely the paranoia of years of following a madman father around, a man who saw monsters in shadows and gods in monsters.

So he took a step, then froze and pressed his ears forward. His expression morphed from tired neutrality to alert tension. He couldn’t resist two lashes of his tail to dispel it.

Someone, or something, was coming toward them.

A wolf, he realized, and made as though to step forward and shield his son from the newcomer, but Aventus recognized her at the same moment Ancelin did. Only, unlike his son, his only outward reaction was a blink and the faint pop of muscles in his jaw.

While out looking for Atreus, there were times Aventus played this scene out. It was always an imaginary conjuration. By now, he was certain his wife had perished. Nothing else would explain her prolonged absence from the Rise. Aves could not blame her for abandoning him — he had been a poor mate to her during her pregnancy — but it was much harder to convince himself she would abandon her children. It wasn’t unheard of for mothers to not love their cubs, and yet, Arielle had always held the warmth of a strong heart. It would be unlike her.

He could not bring himself to approach for fear that this was just another apparition. Ancelin took those steps for him, flinging himself at a mother Aventus wasn’t certain he would remember, leaving the dark wolf frozen in place while they reunited.

He could not even say her name past the cinching of his throat.