Redhawk Caldera the wood of the wind; a cliff, a fall

@Bronte and @Ponyboy - although I know he is caught up in some drama outside the borders, so no pressure to join if it doesn't match your timeline!

He'd been lax in his reason for coming here in the first place—to better get to know his younger siblings. Boris's scent was faint, which concerned him a bit. Luckily, Ponyboy's and Bronte's were both much stronger, and so he tried to find their most recent nexus, looking for the two.

Eventually, as he came out onto the peninsula that jutted into the caldera's lake, he gave the bloodhound shit up and howled for them instead. 

While he waited, he looked over the water, iced over with the chill of winter. How thick was it? Killdeer knew better than to go out and test for himself, but he strode toward the shore anyway, wanting at least a closer look. 

The fish must be having the time of their lives, safe underneath that icy shield.

Killdeer was a recent addition to the ranks, but Dwin was pretty sure that this was not the first time he had come to Brecheliant for a visit. His face seemed familiar and not just because he was similar to his deceased father Bronco. It is that sense of awareness you sometimes have about some people - oh, yes, we have interacted before - but you can no longer remember the situation and pinpoint the exact timeline. 

With the whole Anathema trouble and mapping out the journey together with Sylvie, Dwin had very little time to make social calls. For now the important thing was that he did not cause any mess, until the current one got resolved. However, when she happened to walk nearby, where he was admiring the scenery of the lake, she decided that a quick exchange of common courtesies and pleasantries, maybe a small-talk, would be a thing she could afford doing.

"If you want to make contributions to the Big fish population - I can show, where the lake is not frozen. They are not known to come ashore - usually, but they are more than glad to have visitors underwater," she said with a grin, closing the distance between them.

Not Bronte nor Ponyboy but an older silver girl instead came into view. Killdeer looked her over, trying to place her face, her voice. So very familiar—aha!

Dwin, right? he answered, a bit triumphantly, as he found her name. Unfortunately, he'd missed most of what she said beyond the word "fish."

Ah, sure, Killer went on—though immediately regretting it, as he wasn't entirely sure what he was agreeing to. How are ya? I haven't seen you in a while. 

Dwin was. . .Maia's and Eljay's, that was right. Not a sister but a. . .distant cousin of sorts. A Blackthorn. He gave her a pleasant smile, tail swinging behind him in greeting.

"I noticed," Dwin agreed, adding in her mind  a sarcastic "You are like a fart in the wind". She had nothing personal against Killdeer. It was her contempt for the opposite sex in general: the young Blackthorn had grown up surrounded by strong and independent women and men in the picture were either physically weak (her father), prone to run off, get seriously injured and die (both of Teya's mates) or simply not very smart (Ponyboy - a lovable and harmless fool that had kept her entertained with his shenanigans and tendency to boast and impress). Ingram - while her match or even superior intellectualy - was a walking representation of that part of male population, who had no hearts and could not be trusted. The list went on. Cassidy - naive and too trusting, she was sure that he would get eaten by a bear or get in an equally big trouble. Val - he frustrated her, because in the conversations they had had together, he had managed to strike a cord of conscience in her and made her question her judgement. No one likes that? And the list could go on. Call a name of a man she knew and Dwin would surely find a flaw with him. 

"How have you been settling in?" she asked politely, letting none of the tone of her inner-monologue reflect on her expression. "What made you decide to take a break from travelling the world?" this was a more genuine inquiry, because Dwin did not get to go far away from Brecheliant very often, and therefore always was glad to hear the travel stories of other people.

One brow shot upward at the remark, but he said nothing, deciding to focus instead on the subsequent questions that came.

I'm okay, he said, still smiling. And I, uh—when I heard about Bronco's passing, I thought it would be best that I stayed here, to look after my younger siblings. They're the only siblings I've got.

He shrugged. And I like it here. It reminds me of good times. Did she know about Caracal's death? How his world had been rocked?

He wouldn't put it on her.

Killdeer studied the serious silver face, the apple-green eyes. And you? Have you been around here since I last saw you?

Dwin, who in her opinion had slaved away from spring to autumn helping to care for those brats, arched her eyebrows at Killdeer's words. Huh... He had inadvertenly knocked more points out of that meager sum that the male gender had left and now their usefulness in life balanced only on the fact that you needed them to procreate. 

What a bastard... NOW you care... she thought to herself, but besides the annoyance with his very obvious lack of guilt for not being present, when his siblings had needed the support the most, she also felt jealous, because she had not been given an opportunity to be as blissfully ignorant as he was. She really hated the fact that he was strolling through here like a tourist, accepted in the ranks on the merit of his father and he would probably be gone as soon as that wish to be involved in kid's lives was gone. 

While all this went on inside her mind, the only thing that betrayed the raging emotions was a brief moment of her body tensing and hackles along her spine bristling slightly. She sat down to scratch behind her ear, then got to her feet and shook her coat. Pragmatism had taken over telling her that you could have a really bad opinion of Killdeer's absence and uselesness in the past, but he was here now and could prove his worth until the end of the difficult season. If he buggered off again in the spring - he would not have done anything to prove Dwin's first impressions of him wrong. 

"Oh, yes," she replied to him, conjuring up a charming smile and friendly demeanor that reflected in her body-language - now relaxed and tail waving. "I had planned on travelling the world, but life had a bit different plans for me," she said. "Like it does for us all," she said, forcing that anger and frustration further away and deciding to properly "feel it through and through" sometime later today, when on her own. 

"I am so sorry for the loss of your father - he was a brave man, well-liked by all," and - look, where that courage led you in the end... "What are your plans - will you fill his footprints or you have other aspirations in life?"

There seemed to be something. . .off. Killdeer was usually not the most perceptive wolf, but he'd also gotten used to a mother whose temper could be hair trigger. His eyes rested upon her bristling hackles, though it only lasted a moment, and then things were seemingly normal.

Ah, you're still young, Dwin, he replied, still smiling (albeit fainter, now). When I settled down with Mereo, I intended to live out my life there. Things change, like you said.

For his part, he shrugged. I'm taking it a day at a time, he admitted. Once, I would have thought about living with Caracal on the island, but now that he's gone, too. . . I figure it's best for me to be here now. And for the foreseeable future.

What would happen when Fennec inevitably re-appeared, he wasn't sure. Would she settle here, since Bronco was gone?

Killdeer was not that much older than Dwin and therefore she sensed a bit of a patronizing tone, when he said that she was still young. Of course, she was well-aware of this fact. And also that many of her generation had achieved so much more of their plans - either their own or demanded from the traditions of the society - while she had been stuck at home. Helping to take care of little brats. Suffering from lack of friends her age (because all of her littermates had buggered off) and not connecting with the matters and views of the old people (namely, her parents and Teya, and Amalia, who all seemed so old to her). 

"What happened in Mereo?" she asked, wondering, what had prompted Killdeer to leave, and hoping that maybe he had a good reason behind it that she could use too, when it would be the right time for her to go.