Ocean's Breath Plateau Abreast of Waves

Heph had arrived late the night prior, a sigh on her lips as she passed once more into a land that had become more familiar to her than her own reflection. Though the journey had been good she had not been able to linger long in any one place and had forced herself to travel quickly. Tiredness gripped her but she only let herself rest until the early morning when she readied to set out again. Though the rest of the pack would gather later, and certainly any of those among the other packs would not be arriving at the plains immediately, but once they did they would need to know where the herds were and also the lay of the land - where the rivers were to either run the herds into or avoid, any high ground that could be found, and where the favored pathways and winds were in the territory.

In the early morning light, she sought out @Phox if only because she had found herself incongruously missing him when she was gone, his steady kind demeanor and the sound of his laugh, and did not know quite what to make of that. If she could not find him she would leave a smooth and flat stone that she had found near the Altar of Twilight that reflected the light of the moon in ethereal glows by his den.

Then she headed towards the borders, seeking out anyone who had expressed an interest in arriving ahead of the hunting party and scouting the area or tracking the herds, hesitating only a moment over the border before setting out. She could travel for months on end, but she set an easy pace on the way to the plains, knowing there was much work to be done once it was reached and feeling the weight of her travels behind her.

tag for ref, anyone who'd like to head to Hoshor plains ahead of the main party is free to join!

Phox found himself thinking quite fondly of Heph. Perhaps there was something to be said of Kukutux's matchmaking skills after all. Phox smiled more, told @Towhee of how they were getting along quite well, and felt a glimmer of hope that he might once again find somebody to settle down with. All the while, he still couldn't help but wonder if there was some curse upon him. His last two wives had died during or right after childbirth. One had more or less been afraid of the world, and the other had scorned him in the end. He quashed the fears down, but still felt he would eventually have to tell Heph about the past.

He caught up to Heph just as she was on her way out. He had managed to catch a decently sized rat on his way, and he presented it to her like a bashful teenaged boy might present a single flower for his crush.

Brought you somethin, he said once he'd dropped the plump rat at her feet. How was the trip? Get everything done you needed to?

Heph blinked a moment, tail wagging, not embarrassed by the gift but it was unexpected. She smiled, not quite shy but softer than the one that was often fixed in place. "And it's not even my birthday, trying to turn my head?" A trial of laughter peppered the edges of her words but she took it gladly, glad to have something to bite back the hunger with before she was set to travel again so soon. If nothing else she hoped the hunt was a success because she felt she could eat a whole bison and then spent three days sleeping it off before she was ready to run around again - perhaps east she mused to herself.

At the mention other journey her head whirled, she was glad to be back, there was much to tell. "Good, everything and everyone and then some. But I was glad to see them." She said brightly. Ariadne's warmth when she welcomed her to Moonsong and Kukutux's at Moonglow, Maia and Meerkat's friendliness. Thyra's younger brother and the young wolf herself well settled in their new home. Seeing Meylodi again. Sapphique was always fun and comforting to visit. She worried about Sweetharbor, and was curious to see whether Hearthwood would make the journey.

Though she planned to let @Towhee know at some point that Meerkat and Njord knew where to find them they were family to Phox as well so she added. "I told Meerkat you and Towhee were here for the winter and they were welcome to visit, came across some old friends, and well." She thought of wondering what he was doing, revisiting the altar of twilight under such different circumstances as her farewell to Atka, seeing the moonlight shine off it and suddenly thinking of him. "Towhee mentioned once you might like stones, and I rested one night in this place where the moonlight seemed to glow from these." She placed the rock to the earth, smooth and perhaps pleasing to the eye it looked somewhat dull in the daylight and she felt a bit shy again, a light cough escaping her as she tried to hide the humm of nervousness from her throat. "I guess it doesn't look like much in the day." She offered.

His tail beat the air when she accepted his gift with a lighthearted joke, and he listened as she detailed her trip. It sounded like the venture had been a good one. Oh, very nice! Phox beamed at the mention of Meerkat. He hadn't seen her in a hot minute, and it would be a nice (sort of) surprise if she came for a visit.

She had her own gift for him, which surprised him even more than anything else she could have done. It was a shiny, flawless stone that she laid down before him. Phox didn't even notice her nervous cough, too caught up in the thoughtful gesture she'd given to him. A faint bubbling of something he hadn't felt in a very long time fizzled in his chest, and he gently slid the stone toward him to examine it more closely.

He honestly hadn't given rocks too much thought since he was very, very young, but it really was a pretty thing, much like the wolf who had given it to him. It's lovely, he said, rolling it over a few times to observe each and every surface. And I'm sure it will be lovely in the moonlight, too.

Phox resisted the urge to reach out for physical contact, not quite ready to make that leap.

He rolled it over and inspected it and for a moment her heart leapt in her chest a bit, uncertain but when he spoke his words were warm. The moment hung in the air and she felt the pounding in her chest stutter and stall a bit as she chanced a glance into his eyes, and she faltered on her quest for something clever to say, as her own response spilled forth. "I'm glad you like it." If he were only a friend or a hunting partner she might have given him a playful nudge and a joke about regifting it otherwise, if he was a lover she might have reached out, instead her shoulders stilled though there was a smile on her face.

Looking out at the horizon she glanced in the direction of Hoshor plains. She was looking forward to the journey despite her tiredness, the anticipation of the hunt had not set in but it fizzled deep beneath the surface. A stretch of her limbs to shake any remaining stiffness in them. "I should heald out soon to the plains to scout ahead of time and make sure the herds haven't all vanished into thin air if I can track them down." An unlikely prospect with bison but she was not so familiar with the herds there that it was not a possibility and it had been some time since her initial scout - hopefully she could pick up where they had gone.

Yeah? he half-asked, thinking of all the times he'd done much the same in years past. In packs past. In families past. You want some company on that mission? He certainly had the experience, and he figured the buddy system was always a good one to use in these cases. Winter was coming down hard, and it was unlikely to let up anytime soon. It seemed safer to go with a friend than alone. Phox had no intention of doing anything on his own again if he didn't have to. Last time he'd done that, he'd come home with one less leg.

Unless you've already picked somebody else to help you, of course. There was always the possibility that Heph was playing the field a bit more than he was. Not that he could blame her. She was young, had all four legs, and she had a good thing going for her here in Moontide.

Heph replied without thinking, perhaps a touch more honest than suave. "Not at all, I'd enjoy your company." Though she had not tempered her outgoing nature she had few close friends or other entanglements and preferred a wealth of friendly faces to visit and greet and revel in.

She picked out ht direction, charting the path in her head and recalling when she had last passed through. "Have you been to Hoshor plains before?" Though she had passed through the flatlands on her way west and up towards the coast she had certainly not stayed long enough to see the bison and even a confident hunter would want at least a second if they were going to be poking around the place.

Well then, that was settled. It would give the two of them even more time to get to know one another, something Phox was very keen on doing. She asked if he had been there before, and Phox squinted in thought, trying to remember. But the truth was, he really couldn't say. Maybe? Probably? I've lived around these parts pretty much my whole life, so I'd be surprised if I haven't been there or at least passed through at some point.

He looked at the stone again, turning it over on the ground. He wondered how it had formed, where she had found it, and whether or not it had any mystical properties. He wasn't particularly superstitous, but he still liked to know if there was a chance something had some extra ability. Whatever sorts of mysteries it might have held, he was definitely going to have to find a safe place to keep it. Which made him realize he hadn't exactly been proactive about putting down his roots here.

Say, where do you tend to sleep? he asked, immediately regretting his phrasing. Sorry, that sounded creepy. What I mean to ask is, I'd like to put this somewhere safe, and since I don't have a permanant sleeping spot, maybe I could store it with you?

Heph nodded. "Fair enough." Admittedly the places she remembered were mostly those she spent some time in rather than those she passed through and made an effort to map out and store away in her memory. For places it felt like she could always find more nooks and crannies to place such memories.

For a moment she hesitated, tail twitching as she blinked, unsure of the course of the question but he clarified quickly startling a huff of not quite laughter for her but her mane shook good naturedly with the movement. "Of course. It's a bit bare, I tend to travel light." She began heading in that direction. When she had first come to Moontide it had taken her some time to hollow out a den for herself, she kept telling herself she did not need nor miss one and she would hardly be there anyways. But slowly she had begun to realize she liked having a place to return to even if she only slept in it occassionally. When she had been looking after the pack in Rodyn's absence it had been a boon to have a place to return to and be alone that was her own.

There was a modest hollow beneath a rather large tree, spacious enough. The first pelt Rodyn had gifted her as a celebration of Moontide's founding, atop that a few pelts of smaller game that she had tanned and had not used to wrap caches. Folded carefully off to the side in a more freshly dug depression in the den was a pelt and the antlers of a young stag. "Anywhere is fine, but err. That's...it's taboo to speak her name but those belonged to Rodyn's wife." She gestured to the modest tines and the pelt they rested on. She had not been able to bring herself to use them, the pelt had never sat atop her shoulders nor the antlers chewed by her, nor put them with the rest.

wrap here? <3

Phox plucked the stone off the ground and carried it in his mouth, the taste of grit not terribly pleasant, but also not unbearable. He was admittedly curious to see where Heph made her home. And why wouldn't he be? If things worked out between them, it might one day become his home, too. He was getting ahead of himself again, he realized, and he was glad the stone was in his mouth to keep him from blabbering on.

Her den was anything but bare by his standards. At most, he'd only ever had old scraps of skins from kills he'd made himself. None were worth keeping, especially considering he'd moved around so much. Anything of value had long since been lost in one of those moves. Which was exactly why he thought the stone belonged with somebody who had a bit more of a steady lifestyle.

His ears perked when Heph mentioned Rodyn's wife. It was strange to think that her name would never be spoken by the ones who had loved her. How was her memory supposed to live on without that? He didn't know, and he supposed it wasn't his place to ask. Gently, he placed the moonstone—wouldn't that make a nice name for a village?—in an uncluttered corner, hoping that it wouldn't be too in the way.

There, he said, safe and sound.

Come grab me when you're ready to head out on that scouting mission, yeah? he said, beginning to pick his way out of the cramped, dark space.