Rising Sun Valley i can’t go back, i’m haunted

AW for the Frostfurs!

It'd been a few days since the twilight bark had occurred, and Eshe was still reeling that she'd heard some familiar voices. Although she'd wanted to leave that night, she knew there were loose ends to tie up before she could commit to being away from the pack for a few days. The garden was finally all neat and tidy, and there were some herbs she still wanted to plant.

When everything was orderly and to her satisfaction, Eshe left the pack's territory. She spent most of the day looking for a vantage point where she could search for her siblings and, by sunset, found the perfect spot on top of a hill. Once she sat upon it and settled comfortably, she tipped her head back and howled.

"Hey," she called. "Can anybody hear me?" 

She'd nearly caught the rabbit she'd been chasing when a familiar howl distracted her. The rabbit flew into the grasses, and Simone gracefully slowed her pace until she slid to a halt. That voice was familiar. She gazed about, wondering if Cethleann had heard it too- though she'd left her partner a couple hours ago to go scout and hunt them some food. Ceth could speak for herself- but Simone didn't want to keep Eshe waiting. 

"Loud and clear," She howled, tail swaying. Cethleann's family weren't exactly family to her, not yet at least- but having heard some familiar voices in the air had been reassuring, especially considering the fact that none of the voices had belonged to her own family members.

Can be a cameo! He's nearer to RR right now.

The man had wandered from the valley, but it was not so far that he could not hear the call of someone so familiar; the sound carried from a vantage point far in the opposite direction he had been traveling. Willow stopped his stalking — having been scouting an area for food or a place to sleep — when he heard Eshe. Then, almost harmonizing because of the timing, Simone!
Willow didn't overthink it. The urge to call back was too strong. Up went his chin, and out came his effeminate song.
I'm here! He called out, hoping he wasn't too far east.

One of her ears went up, then the other.

Was that..?

Her bright laugh echoed in the area around her, startling off the grouse she had been half heartedly staring at. It took to the air, and Cethleann turned to face the direction the voices came from.

Me! Me! I’m here! I can hear you! She sang, delight sufficing her tone even in the song of her answer.

She couldn’t stop giggling afterwards. She’d found them!

Well, Simone first, but! She’d done it!

skippable! just wanted to get this in his log before I bring him in properly<3

From far beyond the wilds the songs of many were heard. They echoed out across vistas and valleys until they reached the ears of a lone traveller. Through the confusion of harmonies, a few familiar voices had tugged at his heartstrings and, almost by instinct, called him onwards.

It was here a few days later that Vartry finally stood at the very reaches of the valley when the voice of someone - Eshe!- rang out loud and clear.

Excitement surged through every muscle as he tilted his head back and replied with an exited "Yes! I'm coming!" 

He could hardly believe his ears, they were here!

There were a handful of siblings that responded to Eshe's howl—but it wasn't everybody she recalled hearing the other night. She frowned, wondering what the others were doing.

"It's good to hear from you guys! I miss you!" she howled after her brief bought of concern. "Are any of you at the glade, forest, caldera or hollow?" Eshe had planned to visit all of her parent's old haunts—Golden Glade, Neverwinter Forest, Redhawk Caldera, and Lost Creek Hollow, respectively —but she hadn't gotten around to it. 

"I was thinking of visiting Neverwinter Forest, soon."

He had been told by his parents that a few of his siblings had travelled over yonder, and Fergus had prepared to make an exciting adventure out of locating each and every one. To his surprise, they instead made themselves known, sending up their individual howls – not once, but twice – and alerting him to their presence.

The first howl stirred the man from a very late afternoon nap. He had found a patch of warm sunlight beneath a tree where he had spread out to warm his aching muscles for a brief moment, only to find himself rousing long after nightfall had descended. An ear flicked, recognising the first voice, and then again as a second joined in, with a third responding soon after.

Groggily, he raised his head, a slow movement compared to his tail which had begun to rapidly thump against the earth in excitement. Others added their own voices to the roll call, to which Eshe rattled off a list of places he had yet to discover.

"I am here!" Fergus finally announced, his ears swinging forward as he tried to pinpoint where his older sister's call was coming from. "In the mountains!" He glanced around his immediate surroundings, realising he hadn't a name for where exactly he was. But Neverwinter Forest – yeah, he could work with that. "I will head for Neverwinter!"

She listened for the voices that would follow hers, recognizing a few of them, and she made her way back toward where she'd heard Cethleann call from until she spotted her. She raised her eyebrows; Ceth looked pretty excited to hear her family out this way; more of them had dispersed, Simone thought. And it seemed as though they might come together again- whether for a reunion or to live permanently together, she wasn't sure. 

Her ear flicked back when she heard on voice in particular join the rest, but aside from that one...She though well of all the others. She'd warmed particularly toward Eshe and Willow, who'd been a bit less old fashioned than their parents. 

She wondered who else was out there. "'Spose you wanna go check out the forest then too, huh?" She asked Cethleann, reaching out to nip her partner's ear. She'd leave the howling up to her- Ceth could speak for the both of them.

Playing catch up with Moy! So excited to be a part of this. <333

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Moy licked partridge feathers from between her teeth, her tongue dislodging the downy fluff so she could swallow it. The plump bird had been just enough to sate her, but her stomach would growl by sunrise and send her hunting again. Moy pressed her nose to a deer track and gave it a curious sniff. It was too late in the season to hunt fawns, but there was other prey hiding in the undergrowth for her to find — hares, woodchucks, maybe even more ground birds.

Just not tonight, unless she got exceptionally lucky. Moy hoped to root out summer berries or edible roots instead.

Her ears swiveled in the direction of her older sister’s song, a voice Moy hadn’t heard since the moonlit howl rang out over the territory. Her jaws parted in delight, only to be interrupted by sweet Cethleann and her betrothed, thoughtful Willow, darling Vartry! Eshe called them all to Neverwinter Forest, and Moy was so excited she could barely find her voice.

It was only when her littermate Fergus joined the call that she found it, low with a gentle upswing: ”I’m south of you! I’ll see you at Neverwinter!” As tempting as it was to track her brother through the mountains, she would see if there was a less arduous path in the direction she was already going instead.