Emberwood No end in sight

Jace strode from the mountain top. His black shadow moving along behind him. He didn't say a word, didn't look around. He wasn't sure even what he was doing. He actually itched for a fight, for anything to feel alive. Because lately he felt ten different shades of gray. He didn't know what he was doing, or even what the point of sticking around was. He felt strange, and awkward, and he wasn't even sure if he was meant for pack life.

He loved Ame, he loved his sister and he loved Summer in his own way. BUt he just didn't feel like he belonged. He felt strange, and adrift. He snorted to himself and continued on. Finally, he shook his shoulders and headed towards the emberwood. 

A few feet below her the woods began, the end of the mountain's domain concealed in the thick summer shadows of their laden boughs. The Sunspire lay somewhere behind her, but where exactly Andalusia couldn't say. Though her eyes had traced the peak while she could still see it, Andalusia had lost sight of her brother's home a while back and hadn't tried to look for it since.

The Ostrega had fared well in the Great Bear Wilderness, but her itching paws would not let her rest there long. Outriding had always been her purpose, and she had forced herself to go. Yet there was little aim in her wandering now, and an activity that once felt so productive left her yearning for something just beyond her reach. A hollowness pierced her, the same she had felt when Vienna had announced her engagement with Sumayl, and she frowned against it. They had moved on without her - all of them. She had always known the day would come, but to have it arrive - she couldn't have been worse prepared. To lay to rest her memories of Dhani and Celia had been easy, because they were truly gone. But her siblings were alive, and it was not easy to turn her mind from them. Wolves had come and gone from her life, and Andalusia had let them go. But she couldn't let her siblings go just yet.

And then there was the network of kin she had yet to discover. What was she to do with them? She had let the revelation fall to the recesses of her mind, but the understanding she wasn't alone was ever present and made her feel ignorant and exposed. So Andalusia slipped beneath the cover of the trees and for once welcomed the press of leaves against her fur, willing the undergrowth to embrace her and conceal her from the world. Birdsong took hold of her thoughts and the faint rustle of leaves, accompanied by the constant trickle of water somewhere in the distance. She let the simplicity of this place take her, all but her eyes, which remained searching the foreign wilderness around her.

Jace looked back to his home once, as if reaffirming the fact that it was there. Because sometimes he felt as if he was in a strange dream, adrift and lost. He tucked it away and continued forward, he'd go back tonight maybe, or maybe tomorrow, but he would go back he always did. 

Jace was not of adventurous blood. He was a homebody, he would have made a good hermit, once upon a time. Living by himself with limited interaction. The way of his family though, his sister would never allow that, not in a million years. She would have found him, and drug him out by his tail and then boxed his ears. Yes his sister would have made sure he stayed alive mentally as well as physically. Now though, even she was leaving him, leaving him behind. He wasn't sure if he'd ever see her again, and he blamed Sumayl in a way, but at the same time. He had laid that certain feud to rest, to tired to keep it on.

Jace continued on, he did not notice the wolf that hid among the leaves. Far too introspective and lost in his own thoughts and feelings. He flopped to the ground large body stretched out and head  back as he looked up at the sky. Crystalline blue eyes fixated above him somewhere, perhaps he was searching the unvierse, or maybe he just didn't want to feel for awhile.

She could have stayed forever like that, hidden from the world by the forest's cascading shadows. If only another had not had the same desire as she. Her gaze lit upon a deep darkness moving through the brush - but he did not seem to notice her. She studied him from her concealed distance, and considered politely moving on - but he carried himself with such an air that made her pause to consider him again.

She did not linger long. With careful steps Andalusia wove out from her leafy cave and drew into daylight. Debris clung to her golden fur, but her interest remained on the dark man. There was something upsetting about him, and though she had never been as perceptive as some of her siblings, even she could feel the prickling thickness that surrounded him. She flared her nostrils to catch his scent - but the breeze was not in her favour, and all that met her was a thick wreath of leaf and brush.

A sane wolf might have kept their distance, but Andalusia lowered herself to her haunches and tilted her head to the sky. There was little in its baby blue to interest her - but enough for the dark man to forget himself, it seemed. Just what he was forgetting was none of her business, but she could not stifle the question that rose from within. "Looking for something?" she broke the silence, and did not pull her gaze from the sky, though she was careful to keep the man in her peripheral - she would not yet trust him to fall out of her sight.

It was true that Jace didn't notice her. Had he been less lost, he probably would have noticed her immediately. However, the unrest that stirred deep within his breast, and his mind it was all he could focus on. He could not focus on that, that was around. He shifted in the loam, and looked up again, searching just for anything, something even. But even he wasn't sure what to search for. 

Jace heard steps coming toward him, the crunch of occasionally debris, though whomever was coming knew to keep silent and careful. He tilted his head and turned to look at the she wolf that wove her way towards him. There were leaves and branches stuck in her fur, and had he been feeling happy, he probably would have chuckled a bit. Instead he just watched her with pools of blue and waited. Silent, and watchful, a little bit wary.

He was pleasantly surprised as she settled near him, and she too looked up. He looked her over one more time, but then returned the same position, gaze taking in the sky. Looking for anything, purpose, desire, love? something besides emptiness. You?

Andalusia noticed a wariness about the man when his gaze fell upon her. He looked her over, and for a moment she wondered if he would leave. But the man only returned his attention to the canopy of blue, and humoured her with a response to her question. A grim smile pulled at the Ostrega's mouth when the man spoke of what he searched for, and she felt the irritating twist of hollowness again. Maybe this was where all wolves came to contemplate life or lose themselves to quieter thoughts. That had certainly been her intention, and it seemed the same rang true for the dark man as well.

Andalusia had always been a thinker, the reasonable one. She always said there was little logic in listening to one's heart, and little wisdom in the same. But now - she had lost track of Ciervo and Chehlia. She knew where Sumayl had settled, and where her family still lived. It was clear that finding her siblings was out of the question, but the thought of running to her brother didn't feel right, and returning home to the family she had left behind sat with her no better. The war between emotion and reason only led her on an endless trek between the mountains and the flatlands, searching for something she only felt. Even her wandering had no purpose these days, and the revelation she had family beyond her dreams only topped the deep feeling of uncertainty that grew so strong within. "I haven't decided yet," she exhaled slowly and drew her gaze back down to rest upon the dark man, "But I doubt either of us will find what we're looking for in the sky."

sorry for my activity. I am trying to do better now.

Jace had come here, because it was quiet. Because he was away from the lands that he knew. This was a new place to contemplate his life and those around him. He tilted his head and turned his gaze back to her, the blue of it alighting on her form and he waited. Wondering if she had more to say or if she would just sit quietly as he did.

Jace chuckled and nodded his head. IN that you are right. I don't even know if I will ever find what I am looking for, but it is nice to look. I am Jace by the way. I am from the Sunspire, though even there does not feel like home anymore. He lay his head back and looked up at her, ears splayed listening to for what she would say.

It's all good! (: Glad to have you back <3

Her thoughts eroded when the man gave his name, and her ears tipped forward with the rest of her body. Jace. The Sunspire. She tried to blink the surprise from her face. He looked nothing like Vienna, but the coincidence the Spire had another named Jace was too improbable. Strange that she would meet the Beta now, in a state much like her own, and when the Sunspire was so strong on her mind.

Andalusia dipped her head, and tucked her surprise away. "Good to meet you, Jace. I'm Andalusia." Her throat itched to press for questions about the Sunspire, about Vienna and her brother, but the way Jace held himself made her reconsider. There was something familiar in his words - a despondency that struck a chord - and Andalusia slid to rest her body against the shaded ground, silver-blue gaze rested on him. "I felt the same way before I left home," she briefly let her thoughts roam over her siblings, and a dry grin stole her face. "Granted, home left me first. Siblings, what can you do?" She shrugged and offered him the twitch of an easier smile, a way to make light of the situation now a burden on her. It had been an unwelcome surprise of which she was partial to blame, having left second and all. But that was life, a way she'd been rolling with for three years already, and one she imagined she would roll with to her grave. "Let's hope you find what you're looking for faster than me."

It had been funny he and Vienna as they had grown. Her light and cheery, him dark and despondent. It had always been that way. They had been similar but different. Here it was Jace that did not seem to belong. At home it had been Vienna. Him and his parents all were black and beautiful Vienna was not. It had not deterred her from being wonderful though.


Jace looked up at her and dipped his muzzle. Well Met Andalusia. Jace would have been a bit put off had she asked about Sumayl. His dislike for the male was always present. He felt it was his fault Vienna was not here. But he would stick to his word. As long as his sister was happy, then so was he, for her. I was the one that left my sibling. She followed. Not it is her turn to leave. He grew quiet, introspective. He missed her so badly, it was a constant ache. HE chuckled at her next words. I don't know about that. I have ot know what I'm looking for first. Now don't I? Are you looking for your siblings, is that why you are here? Or did your paws just carry you here?

Andalusia's breath caught in her throat. Vienna had left? Then what of Sumayl? Something fell inside her, that quiet musing she held to, the one where she would join Sumayl at the Sunspire and settle down there. Part of her future was still riding on her brother, but if he had left her behind...

She didn't notice the silence between them until Jace broke the stillness with a quiet laugh. Andalusia blinked and pulled her thoughts back to the present until birdsong and forest noise filled her ears again. His words were not lost on her, and she let a thin smile creep over her face. "It never hurts to know." She tried to let her grin grow, but it faltered to a frown and her brows furrowed. "A little bit of both, it seems. I found part of my family. Suffice it to say they seem to be doing well without me." She still questioned where Chehlia had wandered to. The one she'd intended to find was the only one she hadn't managed to track.

Everything led to wonder why she was still sticking around. Now with the news of Vienna's departure, she had even less reason to stay. Sumayl had likely followed his mate. Ciervo, she hadn't seen in weeks. Mordecai came to mind, the Plateau. But she knew little of the man, and thoughts of joining him had yet to rise. "Vienna's your sister, isn't she?" She broke her thoughts and redirected back to Jace. It was only an assumption, and a query she hoped he would deny. It would mean Sumayl hadn't left - but even that felt like wishful thinking.

Jace tilted his head and listened to her. She made sense, it didn't hurt to know what he was looking for. The sad thing was, the dark boy didn't know what it was he wanted. He was alarmed at her frown, he feared for a moment he had upset her, and he didn't want that. Jace gave her a sad slow smile, it's always a shock when your family doesn't need you anymore isn't it? Of course they still love you, but they don't need you anymore. Jace wasn't sure if that was entirely true, but it felt true.

Her next words caught him off guard and he stared at her and then chuckled, of course his sister was a wanderer she would have met her. He nodded, I know it makes no sense right. We are night and day, literally. But yes Vienna SongBird is my sister. She left with her mate, to go visit his home. They stay they will return, but I fear they won't. Sumayl and I didn't get along exactly, actually we loathe each other. Perhaps, it is my fault they left. If so I don't know how I can forgive myself for driving such a wedge.He grew quiet and frowned, lost in thought for a moment. Maybe he could have tried harder, worked harder to be nice. Sumayl just rubbed him the wrong way, and he him.