It's All Coming Back To Me

FitzDutiful had decided that this had to end. Over and over again he planned to visit the wolves at the bay - ever since he had met that little cub of Charon. Recent events had dissuaded him from every visiting another pack again, but the trip that Lasher had made to the mountain's borders restored his faith that not every pack would respond so harshly.

FitzDutiful didn't know that the female alpha of the Spine also didn't tolerate visitors to her lands, even if she had been one at his. If he had the hypocrisy would have driven him crazy. If you deny other's to visit your lands then stay away from theirs. Regardless, he didn't know any of this. Instead he wandered to the borders of the Stavanger Bay and howled his presence, awaiting any who would come to join me.

He would be interested in seeing @Charon again, if the boy remembered whom he was, but if he was busy then any of the Bay wolves would be interesting to meet. FitzDutiful waited patiently, willing to give up half his day at least for this meeting before returning home to the mountain.

It had been a few days since Charon and Levi's 9 months birthday and their ascension into the adult ranks, and Charon was proud that he had been named Beta as promised. He decided to celebrate this naming by doing his best extra hard: he mostly focussed a lot on patrolling the borders and making sure the pups were safe. After the accident with the bear, Charon wanted to make sure that nothing else would go wrong in the pack. If only he'd been there; he would've taken care of things. He would've punched the bear right into yesterday.

During this thoughtful patrol along the borders, Charon suddenly noticed a vaguely familiar form. He squinted his eyes to see closer, but couldn't quite place a name with the white shape. The young Beta trotted nearer to the wolf, holding his head high and his tail sweeped over his back to show his rank and belonging at the borders, and sniffed the air while he approached.

Upon seeing the wolf's face closer, Charon remembered who he was -- Silvertip Mountain's Alpha. But what was the guy's name? He couldn't remember for the life of him. "Been a while," the young Beta greeted with a broad grin, eager to tell whatever-this-guy's-name-was about his promotion into the leader tier and whatever else he wanted to know about. Charon figured he'd spill the beans about that soon enough.

Charon came, though he looked different to the young pup that had arrived at Silvertip Mountain's borders. FitzDutiful supposed that this is what occurred when a youngster grew up and it seemed as though this one had done a lot of growing. When they had last met he had been full of curiosity about everything - then again it was his home turf now and the chances were he knew most of what was here.

"It has," FitzDutiful replied in kind, not even thinking that the male wouldn't recall his name, "I apologise for that. I meant to stop by a lot sooner after our meeting but... well — circumstances prevented it." If he had known what was about to transpire he would have held off this meeting until after Raissa had vanished and then come to see if she had passed by. But that hadn't occurred yet and so it wasn't a tought on his mind.

"What's new here?" he asked, wondering if there was any news this end of the valley - if they knew anything about what was happening the other end.

Charon hadn't meant to sound as though he minded that he had not seen the guy for a while; they'd both been busy, after all. He only now remembered that he had extended an invitation at the time for the guy to see Stavanger Bay, too, as he'd been all over his Naturalist training at the time. It seemed so long ago now. When Silvertip Mountain's Alpha said that circumstances had prevented his earlier stop by the Bay, Charon said: "No bad ones, I hope?"

When he asked about the news of the Bay, Charon wished that the only news he had was his eager promotion to Beta. If only there weren't a thousand bad things overshadowing his ascension. "Ragnar died," Charon shared, a sad look on his face. "Ragnar and Thistle had pups again, four of them, but one of them was dragged out to the ocean yesterday." Charon gave a grim expression to signify he didn't think that the pup had survived: that's what Ragnar always told him about Kevlyn and Liyaní, after all, when they'd vanished. Disappearance usually meant death.

Charon left an appropriate moment of silence before he disclosed more positive news: "And I'm Beta of the Bay now."

FitzDutiful didn't answer the boy - no, the beta's question. It wasn't worth answering since he had no positive information to share. Even the birth of his children had been shrouded in misery but he supposed that was maybe information to share later on as it seemed even Charon had had misfortune fall upon his pack.

"I'm sorry to hear about Ragnar and the pup," he replied, "but it's great news that you're beta! Was Ragnar your father?" He wasn't quite sure why the question came to him. It seemed to make sense but FitzDutiful wasn't in the mindset of making assumptions. For Charon to be a beta, so young, it stood to reason that he had been the son of an alpha - it was the only way that Mason would be made beta when he came of age. He wasn't entirely sure who Ragnar was, either, so again it stood that Ragnar and Thistle had been an alpha pair - or a pairing with extreme influence to convince the alphas to let them breed.

It seemed tragedy had befallen Silvertip Mountain, too. Charon decided not to offer the subject a lot more attention when its Alpha did not answer; it was clear that he didn't want to talk about it, so Charon held off on the subject too.

Luckily the Silvertip Alpha did not dwell on the sad subjects for too long, and instead jumped right to Charon's promotion to Beta. Charon grinned proudly while he explained: "Ragnar wasn't my real dad, but he and Thistle raised me 'n Levi after our parents died, so sorta." Charon didn't think that it was for that reason that he ended up Beta, though; he liked to think that it was because of his very many very real skills.

"So are you visiting for something in particular, or just checkin' how we're doing?" Charon asked, curious about the matter.

Charon explained that he was raised by the alpha male but that he wasn't a biological offspring of theirs. It made more sense to FitzDutiful now, though he wisely kept his mouth shut. He wasn't about to belittle the beta's achievement. He was beta now, regardless or what may or may not have influenced his earning that position.

The conversation turned onto his reason for being here and FitzDutiful nodded to the latter half of the question. "I realised that I didn't know much about your pack, and you're pretty close by. It's silly to think that what affects you here may not affect us. So I thought I'd come by and find out more about your pack - try to strengthen our relationship."

He wondered if young Charon would understand the concept of this. Yes, each pack to their own, but sometimes those bonds were useful. Could a nine-month old grasp that, were the pack even interested?

As far as Charon was concerned, it was all his own doing that he was Beta now; he never considered if things might've been different if his real parents were still alive... Whether it was because he would not be considered Ragnar's son or because he had not been through all of the tragedy that had shaped him into the ambitious young fellow he was today.

Considering Silvertip's Alpha had shown him around his mountain, it made sense for Charon to invite him to see his own lands, too. He didn't grasp the concept of alliances yet, since he had mostly stuck to his own and his pack, but as a small pack he knew Stavanger Bay could use some friends. "Well, it's nice you're visiting," said Charon. "Do you want to see some of the highlights of Stavanger Bay? As a Naturalist, it's gotta interest you, right?" Charon smiled broadly, having remembered that the Alpha was a Naturalist, like he. Charon had not had the time to stare at the stars in too long, and he lavished the thought of having another Naturalist to talk to. He could pretend that his life was normal, if only for a little while, and that everyone was still okay and together.

Charon seemed to remember the cause that had brought him to the Silvertip Mountain so very long ago, and the tour that FitzDutiful had granted him. Back then, FitzDutiful had though that Charon was learning the naturalist trade and had treated it as a learning experience - which it would have been anyway for the plants on a mountain were different to that elsewhere - and now the roles were reversed. Charon would be the teacher and FitzDutiful the pupil.

"Very much so," FitzDutiful accepted, wagging his tail every so slightly at the prospect of learning more about his naturalist trade. He loved to experience and learn, find the new things that he hadn't anticipated and put that knowledge to use in the near future. For now, he let Charon take the lead - the beta of the bay - and begin the tour as he would.

Charon felt proud that he was already making friends among Alphas from other packs. He didn't really know many others: he only knew that Dante was Blacktail Deer Plateau's Alpha and that this guy was Silvertip Mountain's. It seemed like a good idea to at least maintain a friendly atmosphere with this one. Charon lead the way into Stavanger Bay territory, confident that the Silvertip Alpha would not pose much of a threat (and if he did, there'd be help present soon enough to chase him out).

"We've got a pretty big forest," Charon explained. "And there's cliffs to the side of the Bay, so it's sort of like a huuuuuge tunnel. And there's beach on the other side of the forest, but I don't want to take you that deeply into the territory." Charon figured that the Alpha would understand; it wasn't safe for him either to go deep into a pack's territory, even if he was currently guided by the pack's Beta. Besides, Charon didn't want Silvertip scent all over his pack. "We can visit Shield Maiden's Fall, it's a pretty big waterfall somewhere in the forest."

FitzDutiful didn't plan to make a scene in the slightest. He felt pretty nervous as he stepped across that boundary for he hadn't been into anyone's pack lands since he became the alpha of the mountain. He was terrified for the briefest second that this might be a trap and he would be attacked any moment by a bunch of bay wolves. This feeling showed throughout his entire body as the walked. The feeling wouldn't cease until he was back on neutral grounds.

It appeared as though Charon wasn't entirely sure either, or maybe he was and just being sensible at limiting the wolf's exposure - he couldn't blame him. Not everyone had a good view point like the mountain did. "No no, of course, I understand." he said, his voice having a slight tremor to it. "The waterfalls sound lovely." he said, looking forward to seeing what kind of plant life grew there, trying to forget about a potential ambush.

It was evident that the Silvertip Alpha was nervous, though Charon had no idea why. He decided simply not to mention it, and he sort of enjoyed being in the company of an Alpha who acted nervously; it made Charon feel all the more powerful. And he liked feeling powerful.

The Alpha agreed to see the waterfall, and Charon lead the way there. While they walked, he pointed out this detail and that to the Silvertip Alpha, all the details of the land that seemed worth mentioning -- a special plant, a funny-curling brook, a crooked tree here and one covered entirely in moss there.

The roar of the waterfall greeted the pair of wolves, and Charon looked at the Silvertip Alpha to see his reaction when they reached it. There was a small clearing in the forest with a large waterfall roaring down, and a path that lead up towards it on the side. Charon lead the way up the path on the side so that they could look at Shield Maiden's Falls from above. "The view is great from up here!" he shouted out above the roaring while he looked over his shoulder. "Do you got a lot of waterfalls at Silvertip Mountain?"

Lemme know if they can't see the sea, I'll edit :)

The sights were amazing - like nothing FitzDutiful had ever seen before. On the way, Charon took the time to explain the different features of the bay and FitzDutiful learnt more in that journey than he had for a long time. It was interesting, and fascinating, to see how different plants adapted to the environment here and the climate of the mountainside.

Eventually a roaring hit his ears, it grew louder and louder until he realised that Charon was having to shout to be heard. The sight was both terrifying and also amazing, all wrapped up with one bow. He stopped for a few minutes, staring at the glorious death trap before following Charon up the path.

"It sure is." he replied, pretty sure his voice was drowned out by the thunder of water hitting water. "We have one, but nothing like this." he yelled, making sure he was heard this time. "Ours is safe to sit under." Try and sit under this one and you'd be dead before you could count to three, FitzDutiful was sure on that.

He looked over the view, looking at the horizon. "Is that — is that the sea?" he asked, his eyes catching onto nothing but blue, water and sky melting into one another. It never seemed to end.

i have no idea if you can see the sea from up there, but i'm cool with it, seems suiting. :D

Charon enjoyed that Silvertip's Alpha was impressed by their waterfall as they climbed the path up the side of it. While some might consider it dangerous, it was fine when you knew the right paths. Charon knew exactly where to walk, since he'd started visiting this place since he was only a couple of months old.

When they stood at the top, Charon looked in the direction that the amazed Silvertip Alpha stared in. He'd never noticed it before, but now that he did, the brink of ocean peeking through the tops of the trees did look pretty amazing. Yet more positive features of the Falls. "Yeah, isn't it beautiful?" Charon said, deciding to just roll with it and pretend like he'd seen this a million times, just like all of the Falls' other features.

"Let's get down again!" called Charon, and he started to climb down the path once more, figuring he'd soon return the Silvertip Alpha to Stavanger Bay's borders.

Charon moved them onwards, taking them back towards the borders, but FitzDutiful lingered for a moment before following. It was magnificent. He realised that he must get out to the sea at some point in the future - little did he know that a massive storm would hit and keep him confined to the mountains for some time longer.

"What's the sea like?" he asked Charon, on the way back, wondering if there was anything of specific value about it. Maybe it was a special body of water that he could refer a healer too in the situation of needing healing? Were there special properties that let it be so big without ever drying up - did it dry up? "Does it ever lower in size, it seemed huge?" his excitement was obviously, all the questions in his mind coming through as visible cogs turnings.

Charon lingered along the base of the waterfall until the Silvertip Alpha joined him again, at which point he started towards the borders. The Alpha seemed unable to let his enthusiasm go, and Charon couldn't help but grin as he asked his questions with near childlike fervor.

Since Charon wasn't a healer, he couldn't answer all of the questions about the sea, but he could tell the Silvertip Mountain Alpha what he knew as a Naturalist: "Well, the ocean doesn't really get smaller and bigger, but it does get smaller and bigger at the shoreline every day. Like... The sea just retracts and sort of comes back up, it looks like. I dunno why it does that, but it's pretty cool, isn't it? It always stays huge though. I don't know where it ends, if anywhere at all, since it just seems to go on for ever and ever and ever towards the horizon!" Charon found the ocean a magnificent thing himself, but since he was raised here, he did not speak with the same enthusiasm that his companion shared.

They reached the borders and FitzDutiful felt the longing to return to his mountain haven. He didn't intend to stay much longer for he felt that burning desire to retreat into the one place he had let his heart be captured by. It grew in the distance as they walked back and his eyes soaked in his mountain home.

"I have to get back," he told Charon, pretty sure that his beta friend would understand the responsibilities that lay there. "but when my children are older, will you come with us to the sea sometime?" It would be handy to have someone who had always lived so close to the sea along to make sure that they didn't get themselves into trouble. FitzDutiful had learnt a lot on this particular journey, and not just about the bay pack, but his knowledge had just showed him how dangerous the world can be without proper care.

He waited for Charon's reply and nodded with acceptance for whatever the answer would be before racing off to his mountain home.

Charon was already on his way back to the borders, so he understood that the Silvertip Alpha -- Charon still didn't remember his name! It was infuriating, and didn't exactly come up in one-on-one conversation -- needed to get on home. He then asked if Charon'd show his children the ocean one day. Charon loved showing off, so he nodded. "Yeah, of course! Sea Lion Shores is a great place for that." Little did Charon know it would soon get destroyed.

Fizzy? Was that his name? At the borders, Charon said: "Well, see you later!" He intentionally left out the name -- since he wasn't sure it was really Fizzy -- and when the Alpha left, he started along the borders.

Fitz! It was Fitz! FitzSomething. Darn it. Oh well, he'd try to remember for their next meet-up.