Redhawk Caldera sit down for a spell

@Harlyn and Mordecai are coming to pay a visit, so if @Peregrine has time to jump in, that'd be great!

For the longest time, Mordecai even wondered if they were headed in the right direction.  He had a rough idea of where the Caldera lied from his time at the Spine, but finding it was another thing altogether.  The wilderness stretched on unchanged for miles, with nothing too insane to suggest in elevation that they were about to stumble across it.  But eventually, as the early morning shifted into midday, he caught the telling signs of what had once been something of a mountain.  The misplaced peak turned into several and the worn in trails to and from obvious places told him that they were drawing close.

And true to what Dante had told him, he stayed well out of the range of their marked borders, downwind and lost to them as he brought himself to a stop.  "This must be it," he murmured quietly, taking in the rising vista.  It was something, that much he could say for himself, and could not help but wonder what the territory within contained beyond its canine holders.  It wasn't every day that any of them were to witness a caldera, anyway.  He brought his gaze to Harlyn then, offering her a smile.  It was now or never and Mordecai did not dawdle long.  He threw up a call for the wolf he was sent there for — Peregrine.

murder by death — the curse of elkhart

Harlyn had not come to the Wilds from so far South, so the terrain they walked upon now was quite unfamiliar to her.  With Mordecai at her side though, she had little worry about whether or not they were going the right direction.  In fact, she wasn't too concerned as to whether or not they'd make it there at all.  She was enjoying her time with the Ostrega too much to worry about what they were doing - as long as she was with him, she was happy.


The druid stopped alongside of her companion as they came to the borders of what they both suspected was the Caldera.  She nodded wordlessly as he made his comment and remained silent yet again as he lifted his voice to the wind.  Though she was tempted to sing with him, she held back.  There was no need for it really - Peregrine was unlikely to be alarmed by the fact that there were two of them waiting for him at his borders.  So, she remained quiet and simply stood by Mordecai's side with her eyes upon the land stretched before them, searching for the form of the Caldera's alpha.

Tiger heard a call for her leader and made haste toward the borders. He had a whole slew of kids that might delay him, and Tiger wanted to be sure that these wolves were under the impression that the Caldera were the punctual sort. Not knowing the others character Tiger left nothing to fate. Her long legs took her right to the agouti pair, who she met with a wagging tail.

"Hey, I'm Tiger. Peregrine should be here soon," she informed, eyes sweeping from male to female. "Anything urgent?" It didn't sound it, but one could never know. Formal visits, informal visits... what was the difference? Regardless, she was here to help out the pack, and her tail waved amicably while she watched them.

Peregrine had made a discovery this morning. It was a good thing he'd found it too; if one of the pups had come across it first, he might have one less kid right now. Fortunately, the caldera's royal sprogs were safe. But when a howl cut through the air and he turned to begin making his way toward the borders, he winced. There were fresh wounds on his forelegs and a deep scratch on his muzzle. He had slain the ornery old badger who kept a den at the edge of the rendezvous site, but not without taking a few hits first.

When he arrived, he saw three wolves: the familiar Tiger and then a handsomely matched pair of what looked to be timber wolves, their eyes varying shades of gold. Peregrine paused, studying them, then proceeded. In spite of his injuries, his stature was befitting an Alpha as he took up a post at his subordinate's shoulder. He greeted her with a sideways glance and switch of his tail before Peregrine focused his attention upon their guests.

"What is your business here?"

It didn't take long for the signals that someone was approaching to come tumbling up from the ambient din around them. Mordecai could not help but be on alert as the rustling came closer, finally picking out the signs of a lightly colored wolf emerging from the green undergrowth. For as inclined as he was willing to be that this was Peregrine, he knew enough about the alpha of the Caldera to know that he was not a she. And this she — Tiger — seemed friendly enough. "It's nothing urgent," Mordecai explained with an equally jovial wave of his tail. Coming across someone friendly that wasn't apart of the Plateau fared well for his lurking concern of what this unknown pack was like; all he had to go on was what Dante had shared with him.

And as if on cue and just as their greeter had explained, a much darker and larger wolf turned up on the scene. It took no more than a second for him to determine what he needed to — this was Peregrine. A swift aversion from his gaze followed and rightfully so, Mordecai allowed him to steer the natural flow of their visit. "Dante asked us to come pass a message along to you. He wanted you to know that you're welcome to visit the Plateau." And though his curiosities were stirred by such a delivery, he kept things prompt. This was business as far as Mordecai was concerned.

The first to arrive was a female, and thus Harlyn quickly came to the same conclusion as her companion that this was not Peregrine. She gave the girl a friendly smile, but left it to Mordecai to do the talking. She simply watched with interest. The female had quite a striking appearance, all white with golden eyes and a stripe of charcoal trailing along her spine. She was tempted to comment (and also to introduce themselves since Mordecai had neglected to do so, the silly man), but the sight of a black wolf upon the landscape took her attention.

When the Caldera's alpha arrived, the Cinderblock (lol autocorrect, I'm gonna leave that) lowered her muzzle in respect. Once again, she left it up to Mordecai to deliver their message. Her attention was quickly drawn elsewhere as the faint stench of dried blood tickled her nostrils. "You're injured," she commented after a beat, concern in her tone, "Your wounds, have they been tended to?" She had no way of knowing if this pack had a healer amongst them, but she was willing to assist if he was in need.

Nothing urgent. She nodded, and heard Perry approach them. She sniffed and could smell the dried blood, and she wrinkled her muzzle absently. She lowered her head as he drew to her side, her own eyes falling onto him and looking at the injuries, scrutinizing them. But he was too quick to turn and give attention to their visitors, and so Tiger herself did so, also.

From this she obtained some intel. Dante. She assumed he was the leader of their Plateau pack, and she wondered if this would be significant news to her leader. And then Harlyn spoke, causing Tiger to gain more interest in her. Pending Perry's response, she'd like to join them on this healing session; she had ample interest in becoming a healer herself. In any case, Tiger hadn't missed their lack of introductions. "Sorry, and what're your names...?" She dipped her head apologetically, sure her own leader might have asked the question himself.

Rather than introduce himself, the male passed on a message from Dante. Peregrine's brows rose a little, then he inwardly shrugged. He supposed that was good to know, though it didn't really impact him in any meaningful way. He had managed to visit with plateau wolves many times over the past several months without issue. He had no desire to visit the territory itself any longer. It was a nice sentiment, he supposed, though surely there must be more to the message if the silver Alpha had sent a pair of Outriders.

Before he could ask for their names, Tiger did it for him. Meanwhile, the she-wolf stepped forward and inquired about Peregrine's wounds. He blinked down at himself, then looked at her to say, "Thanks, but I'll be fine. They're mostly superficial. I was wrestling with a badger shortly before you called." His lips twitched. "Did Dante send the two of you all this way just to tell me this or is there any other news?" He didn't expect any surprises, since he'd mingled with two of the plateau's longest-standing members (Osprey and Lasher) within the past several days.

KNowing that he had glossed over introductions full and well, Mordecai offered them a thin smile. "No need to be sorry, I suppose that should have come first. I'm Mordecai, and this is Harlyn. But that is all Dante sent us to tell you, though I can share something else of interest to you. Do you know about the pack to your north?" Shifting his gaze to look upon Peregrine curiously for a moment, Mordecai waited a beat. He wanted to believe that they knew about those wolves, if only for their theatrics alone. And perhaps because he wanted to believe that one of their own had come back after disappearing from the Plateau.

"The wolves there attack anyone they see on sight. I had a go with them a while back, as have some others. We gave them a wide berth on the way here to avoid them. They call their territory Blackfeather Woods."

Mordecai was kind enough to introduce them both, leaving Harlyn the opportunity to focus on the injured alpha.  His response was typical for one of his standing - a nonchalant brush-off and redirection.  She gave a nod, respecting his candor, though she didn't entirely believe him.  Her nose told her there wasn't too much to worry for him at least, though she did hope that he'd at least have his cuts cleaned thoroughly before they became infected and matters got far worse.


Her attention was drawn back to the conversation at hand then as Mordecai answered the question Peregrine had asked.  Harlyn was familiar now with the enemy pack to the North of the Caldera.  Her insides twisted uncomfortably at the thought of them and what she'd done to her handsome prince.  She certainly hoped that the Caldera had had no interactions with those fiends, and even more so, that she and her loved ones would have no further experiences either.

Blackfeather woods, huh? She glanced to her leader, thinking she'd offer to check 'em out if he was willing to let her scout. Tiger was a slinky one, good at that. And she was tough. Tiger sat there idly, listening still to the interaction in case there was anything else she could pick up. Gaining information was cool, and she had a great memory for this kind of stuff.

The lack of introductions didn't bother Peregrine much, though he was glad when he learned the names of his visitors. In response to Mordecai's question, he simply nodded, thinking the other male was talking about Ouroboros Spine. His lips pursed thoughtfully at the news of their habit of attacking on sight, then he blinked when Mordecai unknowingly corrected his silent assumption.

"Ah," the Alpha said out loud. "I'm not that concerned about our neighbors. We are all nemeses by nature. We avoid them and it's in their best interests to avoid us, considering we're both established and powerful." His ears drew backward, then lifted. He was proud of his home and unafraid of outside wolves. He was always wary and vigilant, though Peregrine didn't feel threatened.

He really didn't care about other packs—the plateau was perhaps the lone exception—though he saw no point in telling Mordecai and Harlyn that their trip out here was mostly wasted on him. He had nothing against them. He didn't think this trip had been worth their time but that wasn't up to him or even them. Dante had found it necessary for reasons of his own.

"Thanks for the info. It's good to know we're officially not at odds with the plateau," he said at last. I could have told you that, though. I mean, I spooned your Beta the other night. "Unless there's anything you need from me, we'll let you get on your way," he finished, exchanging a quick glance with Tiger. He doubted she had anything to add but she was of course welcome to speak up too.

I'll let you guys wrap up with your posts if you want. Sorry for holding this up! :C

As Peregrine spoke, Mordecai found himself in agreement, and nodded to his words. That was fair enough and perhaps in a way, good to know that their priorities were in the right spot. Maybe that statement told him more than he realized too, but he didn't have the time to ruminate on it or necessarily would.

"No, that was all. We'll head on our way and let you back to your badger wrestling," he said, offering a small smile. Turning his attention to Harlyn, he gave her a nudge and moved to turn away from the Caldera duo. They had a lot of ground to cover and had done what they had set out to do. Easy peasy, even if they had only caught a few glimpses of what a caldera really was.

Last post for meee!

Again, Peregrine made a strong show by brushing off any concern for his neighbors.  He clearly had pride, so much that Harlyn found herself wondering if it wasn't too much.  There was confidence and then there was arrogance - it seemed to her that it was a line the Caldera's alpha balanced upon.


Harlyn offered a smile and a dip of her muzzle as she and Mordecai were excused.  She again left it to the Ostrega to reply, turning with him to start the journey back to the Plateau.  Likely along the way, they would discuss their thoughts on the wolves of the Caldera.  For a pack the Plateau seemed eager to let know they were on good terms, they were rather... independent and unconcerned.  But, the Plateau's business was its own and with any luck, Harlyn would not have to worry over it for too much longer.