The Heartwood Feel It All Without You

@Harlyn (:

It wasn't hard for Andalusia to find her way back into the heart of the Great Bear Wilderness. If there was any part of the Teekon Wilds that felt remotely like home, it was here. The shadowy embrace of Neverwinter had been her home while she had searched for Chehlia, and where she'd found Ciervo in her place. His scent had been fresh then, but that had been many months ago. Now his old bachelor den held only a stale remnant of his presence, and Andalusia found herself alone once more.

At a loss of direction and drive, Andalusia had meandered South with no real purpose but to draw herself away from the fading scent of her eldest brother. There was always the Sunspire to return to, but Sumayl had his own life there, and as eager as Andalusia had been to see him when she'd first laid eyes on the mountain top, she felt a strange reluctance to return. Sumayl had found something of his own, without her or their siblings by his side, which was more than could be said about her. A mate, a family, a pack - Andalusia couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy against him, and it was this that kept her from returning to the Sunspire.

Andalusia picked her way through the spacious trees of the Heartwood, turning her options over in her head time and time again. Though the crickets sang their evening song, the golden Ostrega found little pleasure in their chorus. Not for the first time she simply wanted everything to stop, and she lowered herself onto her haunches and let the gentle breeze of the evening air rifle through her fur as the evening sun bathed the world in gold.

Sorry for the delay!  Also sorry for Harlyn.  She uh.. just says stuff lol

It wasn't the first time Harlyn had wandered from Mordecai's side on their trip, nor was it likely to be the last.  Soon they would be back within the borders of the Plateau and while the female would be glad for some extended rest, she wasn't completely certain how comfortable she was being there.  It was a feeling that caused her guilt and confusion.  Fortunately, she knew where to seek comfort in times like these, and so she had slipped away to the woods in order to do just that.

When the stranger's pawsteps were caught by the Cinderloch's ears, she was deep in prayer to the spirits of the earth, asking that they guide her, and give her the strength to follow their purpose.  Her intention was to ignore the sound, but when it became clear to her the other forest wanderer had stopped for the moment, Harlyn became overcome with a powerful sense that this perhaps was the doing of the spirits with which she communed.  Opening her eyes to reveal their burning embers to the world, she stood to follow her senses until they brought her upon the golden beauty.

Harlyn approached the female head on so as not to startle her.  She had no words upon her tongue, but her mind was full of admiration for the silken fur that covered her feminine frame like woven strands of sunlight.  After a moment, a soft smile touched her dark lips and she said only one thing, "You are absolutely beautiful."

It's all good on both accords!

Andalusia was unaware of her company until the air shifted to reveal the other woman's scent. It mingled with the sweet grass of spring and the budding leaves, and carried the presence of many. The golden Ostrega blinked open her eyes, having closed them for a moment's rest, and caught the stranger's silhouette against the setting sun. For a second the Ostrega thought she was seeing a vision, for the rays wrapped the darker woman in an ethereal glow. Andalusia blinked to clear her sight. She was not one to believe in ghost stories, but she felt her spine prickle as the other drew near. Still the Ostrega did not stir. She merely watched through half-narrowed  eyes as the other woman approached without a word.

It wasn't until they stood mere strides away that the stranger finally spoke, and Andalusia felt a hollow mix of gratitude and resentment for the words that lighted the other woman's lips. The Ostrega had never been blind to the comeliness she had inherited from her ancestors. She'd turned more than one head on her travels, but she had never let herself stay in one place long enough to see what could become of the looks she so easily received. The temptation to offer a sharp retort came to the tip of her tongue, but she thought wiser when she took a moment to gather herself. The words were a compliment from the mouth of a woman, safe, as they lacked the need to wonder about ulterior motives. Blinking again, Andalusia gave a pleasant smile and concealed herself with a short nod. "The same to you," she said, for the woman draped in shadows had a strange presence about her, and she carried herself with striking grace. But the Ostrega did not fancy to dwell on the subject of the fairness of either, and turned her thoughts to other matters. She had not caught a trace of scent lines that would mark another's territory, but the woman undeniably carried the smell of a pack, though one she'd not encountered before. "I trust I'm not trespassing?" she asked with a slight twitch of her ear.

Harlyn felt the heat rise to her cheeks when the girl responded in kind.  She knew that she was a beauty in the eyes of her species, but she was of the opinion that everyone was beautiful in their own unique ways.  There was something extra that drew her to this particular woman, and she was intent on discovering exactly what that quality was.


She shook her head to deter the girl from worrying.  "No, these lands are not claimed to my knowledge," Harlyn assured her with a smile, "The pack I run with resides Northeast of here.  I'm Harlyn Cinderloch."  She bowed her head politely, hoping her introduction might inspire the she-wolf to share one of her own.

On her travels Andalusia kept frequent tab on the shifting of scent, in case she drew too close to the careful trails that marked another's home, and not once had she entered a territory uninvited. The woman's approach had been void of threat, but to hear from her mouth that she hadn't mistaken these woods as free ground came as a relief, and Andalusia let her nibbling uncertainty go.

The Ostrega sharpened her ears at the woman's affiliation with a pack in the North, and the lifting of her brows was the only clue the dark stranger had struck a recognition. Ciervo had mentioned a pack there, living on a Plateau. His interest had made her commit the small detail to memory, though she had not sought out the land herself. But the stranger gave no time for her to voice her potential ties before divulging her name, and Andalusia met Harlyn with equal tact. She gave a bobbing nod, not so elegant as the bow Harlyn offered, and gave her own name in response. "Andalusia Ostrega." She proposed her surname in hopes Ciervo had joined the Plateau and offered his, though from her track record with Sumayl, the chances of that were uncertain at best.

Andalusia Ostrega.  Harlyn had barely a second to admire the beauty of her first name before she was struck with wonder at her last.  "Ostrega?" she repeated in surprise, a smile slowly dancing across her lips, "I'm actually traveling with a wolf named Mordecai Ostrega.  Do you know of him?"


So far, she had struck out with meeting Ostregas of any of them knowing one another.  Mordecai didn't know about Lotan, nor had he ever met Mordecai.  He did at least know of Chakra and Youmi, Lotan's parents.  Harlyn spent a moment studying the female's facial features for hints of Lotan or Mordecai.  There was something in the cheekbones perhaps, but the pale frost of her eyes belonged to no Ostrega she'd ever met.

Andalusia had prepared for Harlyn to pass over her surname as a trivial thing, but when the woman repeated Ostrega with a sense of recognition, she felt her body grow rigid. A buzz welled inside, as she waited for Harlyn to match the name with Ciervo's - or maybe even Chehlia's. It took her a moment to register that the dark woman had said neither.

Though her body still hummed, a disappointment took hold when she realized she'd not found the packmate of her brother. "No, I'm afraid not," she said with a shake of her head. Yet the revelation brought a different curiosity. Mordecai Ostrega. Ostrega. She had been convinced only she and her siblings still carried the name, but she had little knowledge of their father, if he had brothers or uncles still alive at the time he died - and alive even now. "My father - his name was Dhani. Has Mordecai mentioned him?" Despite her curiosity, she couldn't suppress the way her mouth tightened when she spoke her father's name. It had been long since she'd thought of him as more than an enigma, or a figment of some disconnected past. That he had relatives still living beyond their quartet was a logical thought but, strangely enough, one Andalusia had not taken the time to entertain before.

Harlyn felt her excitement ebb slightly when Andalusia admitted to not knowing of Mordecai.  She gave a mild frown, but shook it off quickly enough.  Even her beloved companion had admitted to not knowing all of his relations.  That was the risk of having a large, widespread family, she supposed.  In fact, a tiny voice inside of her was rather excited by the idea that she might one day create little Ostregas of her own that became part of that huge net.


"Dhani?" Harlyn repeated, wracking her brain for the name, "It does sound familiar, but I can't remember what his relation to Mordecai is... A nephew maybe?  Or an uncle... Do you know who Dhani's father was?  Your grandfather?  I remember for certain that his name was Leviathan." 

Andalusia felt her breath catch. Familiarity in the slightest was better than nothing at all, for it meant there was a chance Mordecai had mentioned her father - and would able to provide their shared relation himself. "I never knew my grandfather," she admitted while she strained to remember if her father had ever mentioned a Leviathan in the few short months before his death. But she had been so young then - three months old against three years. It was a stretch even for her memory, and the name of Leviathan was as lost on her as was the name of Mordecai.

The Ostrega was unaware how far her bloodline stretched. She had convinced herself the name of Ostrega ended with Dhani's quartet. To know it reached further now, even by one, was enough to set her course. "I would like to meet him, Mordecai. Is he far from here?" She did not let her hopes rouse too strongly yet, for there was still the chance Harlyn could deny her request. They knew each other only by name, after all, and for a few short minutes. Harlyn owed her nothing, but if the dark woman would not bring her to Mordecai, then Andalusia would simply find him herself.

There was the slightest touch of melancholy in the girl's voice when she admitted to not knowing her grandfather.  Harlyn canted her head, concern apparent in her eyes.  She could not imagine never knowing her grandparents.  She was by far a better wolf for knowing them, and so it hurt her heart that Andalusia had never had such a blessing.  Harlyn wanted joy for all that she encountered, especially those such as this golden wolf with whom she had instantly taken a liking to.


"Mordecai and I never stray too far from each other," Harlyn informed her with a smile, "I'll call him - I have no doubt that he's in range and will make his way here swiftly."  With that, she tilted back her head to let her voice fill the wind, confident that @Mordecai would not ignore the call.

Just as a note to myself/in general, I'm going to play this as though they're on their return trip from the Caldera. >__>

Truthfully, Mordecai was never really that far off when it came to travelling with others. While certain things were bound to catch his interest, he had been plodding along towards some direction that would take them in towards the Plateau. There was much on his mind that lingered and try as he wanted to, distraction did not come easily to him for a change. He disregarded the scenery, of the bloom of late spring flora as he passed by, and kept in his thoughts. Without Harlyn there for conversation, it was a perfect opportunity to attempt to organize them; just as he thought he was about to make headway, her voice rang up through the timber crisply.

He set off towards her, truly, not at all far away as he had thought. Perhaps she had lost track of him, perhaps she had found something of interest to share. There had been many interesting things to find along their travels, places left to explore for another outing. But beneath all of that he surged forward swiftly, aware that in their journey there were perils as well. Not that he was willing to be a complete knight in shining armor if something was going awry (correction: he would have been one anyway), but he wouldn't leave her hanging high and dry.

So when he found her through the crisp foliage, she was not alone, and his pace slowed to draw in their surroundings with clarity. While he did not recognize the other that she was with, the most he could tell was color and gender; he remained upwind of them to tell anything more than that. Turning his attention off of the unfamiliar Andalusia and to the more familiar Harlyn, he regarded her curiosity with a tilt of his head.

There was something in Harlyn that made the Ostrega feel a sense of kinship, despite being related to the Cinderloch no more than she was related to the grass beneath her paws. The woman met her with a genuine kindness, and a smile graced Andalusia's lips when Harlyn lighted the air with her beckon for Mordecai. Andalusia let her excitement buzz within, if only for a moment, and dipped her head in brief and silent thanks.

Mordecai did not keep them waiting. A movement through the trees alerted Andalusia to his approach and she let her ears fall slack, relaxing herself to show she was no threat to Harlyn. She meant no trouble, and kept her eyes averted from Mordecai's own. Instead her gaze fell upon every other inch of him, hungry for any sign of relation. He bore little resemblance to her or Esme, but to Sumayl and Ciervo... Andalusia steadied her hope, lowering her head in polite greeting, though Mordecai's attention had shifted naturally to Harlyn.

"My name is Andalusia, daughter of Dhani Ostrega." She lifted her head at the last word, and settled her gaze just beyond Mordecai's face. She would learn soon enough if the name meant anything to the man. In her peripheral she sought out a resemblance to her father, but after so many years, her memories of Dhani were nothing more than a hazy blur of brown. She couldn't even remember the colour of his eyes, whether they were pale like hers or the same rich hue as Mordecai's.

Mordecai did not keep them waiting long.  Harlyn regarded him with an affectionate smile as he approached, answering his silent question just as quietly with a dip of her muzzle towards his golden relation.  She would leave it for Andalusia to introduce herself, not wanting to steal her thunder.  She seemed to get the hint as she parted her lips to greet him just a moment later.


Harlyn waited for her to finish before glancing back at Mordecai, a smile trailing across her muzzle.  "It seems these lands are just crawling with Ostregas," she mused with a grin.  She certainly wasn't complaining, of course.  Lotan had been perfectly nice, Andalusia was simply breathtaking and Mordecai... Well, Mordecai was her world.

sorry for holding this up.

It would turn out that Harlyn wouldn't have to do any introductions; the slender she-wolf moved this turn of events forward. His attention shifted back to her smoothly, taking in her voice and the weight of what she said. Though the real weight of it came more from what was unspoken through mere body language. The fact that there appeared to be another Ostrega residing in the wilderness surprised him, but perhaps not as much as he would have anticipated. It was as though they had been there all along, perhaps nestled away in woodwork and waiting for the opportunity to come writhing out. Yet they were slightly more prouder creatures than that.

He studied his niece for a few more moments after she had introduced herself, supposing in some way that she could have easily belonged to the same bloodline as any other. Her colors were more mute, but that wasn't an indicator of anything. He had lightly and darker colored siblings. They all fell along some astral spectrum of some sort. "It's nice to meet you," he offered, smiling thinly. "I'm sure you have questions, unless Harlyn was able to answer them all." He imagined there were few other reasons why she had called him in, and as it had been with some of other Ostregas he had encountered, they always had their questions.

It's all good! (:

Crawling with Ostregas? Andalusia pulled her eyes from Mordecai to shoot Harlyn a startled glance. Were there more than she and Mordecai? Of course, there were her brothers and her sister, but beyond that -

Mordecai interrupted her thoughts, and she turned her gaze sharp upon him. Though he didn't elaborate on Harlyn's words, his response satisfied her for the moment, for he had not denied knowing Dhani. Which meant Mordecai was either deceiving her, or he had known her father before the fire had killed him. A chill shivered her spine, and she gave him a flickering grin in return. "To be honest, we didn't get far past our introductions," she said, shifting Harlyn a glance before she settled her gaze on Mordecai again. Was he an uncle? A cousin? A brother? The thought she had anything past her three siblings had always seemed ridiculous. Now, the only thing that seemed ridiculous was the fact that she had thought that at all.

Though Mordecai had come expecting questions, Andalusia brought none. She hadn't prepared any, because his entire existence had been non-existant until now. A connection of blood. Until this point, only three had shared this bond with her. She couldn't fathom to imagine how many more shared it as well. "I haven't known any Ostregas beyond my siblings. I always thought we were the last." Though her thoughts had been an honest mistake, admitting them to Mordecai felt foolish. For three years she had lived without knowledge of the network of kin that could even now be surrounding her. How many times had she passed a relative or stayed within their borders without even knowing it?

Harlyn gave Mordecai a smirk as he suggested that she'd been able to answer all of Andalusia's questions about the Ostrega family tree.  She had been quite curious about it and had not held back too much when it came to pestering Mordecai with every question that came to her mind.  She turned to give a smile to the golden female as she replied, holding her tongue to give the Ostregas the floor.  She would chime in when she saw fit, but for now, she really just wanted to witness the reunion.

Fading this out since I kind of let it die... fail. Anyway, for reference, @Andalusia, you're welcome to assume that Mordecai filled her in as best as he could about Dhani and essentially, Dhani's heritage and how it ties up to him. :3

It was an awkward reunion in his book, because when it came to his travels he had always been the only Ostrega out there. The odds of encountering one, or some, here in this expanse of wilderness surprised him. It felt like more than coincidence and perhaps to a certain degree, he felt a nagging uncomfortable feeling towards it at first. He had been on his own for a long time, separated away from a large family that now seemed to find him as easily as he found them.

Of course, these were just scattered little bits with their own stories. It wasn't like he was encountering his father out here, or god forbid his mother. He could not, would not, think of them leaving Sedona. Their time for travel was done and over with, but the same could not be said of their children and apparently, their grandchildren. "Then I guess I'll tell you what I know," he started off, offering her a smile in response to the similar reaction — he also, could not fathom the odds beyond the oddity of meeting another with whom he shared blood.

And so he talked, explained, and listened.