Moonspear Come back my love

FitzDutiful had ranged far today. He had set out at day break, leaving Mason and June in Ryuu's capable hands and headed off south. He had been at breakneck speed, rushing past the borders of Ouroboros Spine, hoping that maybe he could catch his mate's scent somewhere. He hadn't found anything outside of their borders but maybe she hadn't passed out of the valley too long ago - if she had at all. He wanted to do everything he could to find her.

Moonspear, however, was a loss. There was nothing he could pick up and the scent of any lone wolves were old too so he couldn't even double tag this journey into something useful. Dejected he turned north, wondering what he was going to do now that he was a single father. How was he expected to raise his children well and keep them alive in a pack that was losing members and gaining none?

Keeping those thoughts well to himself he decided to take a chance of company and howled for his friend @Kerosene if he so happened to be close by.

It wasn't often the Spine suffered any trouble from the neighboring Moonspear. Most of their encounters came by way of the forests on either side. The mountains at their southern face? They seemed almost as if to be on the edge of no-man's land where no wolf cared to travel. The spear itself was not the most forgiving of terrains, but it guarded them well. So well, that he ventured in that direction if only to ensure the terrain's continued alliance.

He was well within earshot when FitzDutiful howled. He found it strange for the alpha to be so far from his domain, but he supposed he had no room to complain considering the recent travels of his own. Turning his course, he stepped in the direction of the silver wolf and spied him a few minutes travel from his initial position. Amusing how these mountains could place wolves so close to each other, but make them feel so very far away.

"FitzD!" he greeted as he approached the wolf with a friendly grin upon his face. "A little far from home, don't you think?" And the Spine was well between this one's mountain home and their current location. "You're not climbing these heights just to spy on us, now are you?" His voice held hint of a tease. Not long ago, Kero'd used these same slopes in effort to glimpse into the basin of the spine. He'd had no luck, but it'd been worth the try.

It was clear that they could not go far north, not without walking into their enemies' grasp. Still, this place was not so far, and Fox had noticed Sebastian's absence. She could not recall where he had gone, or when he said he would be back, but she had begun to worry, just a little. Had he abandoned them? She had considered him an asset to Redhawk Caldera, and it would be weaker without him. Perhaps it was because of his absence that she left the caldera today, though she went under the guise of recruiting more members. Ever since their initial recruitment drive, she had only brought back Njal.

A familiar voice called out, though it wasn't for her. Even so, she went to investigate, keeping far enough away until she realized who it was. The sight of him brightened her features, and she wagged her tail as she trotted toward FitzDutiful. "Fitz!" she called out, her voice chipper. The other wolf had not gone unnoticed, but Fox did not know him, nor his scent. Keeping friends outside of Redhawk Caldera was nearly impossible for a wolf like Fox, but Fitz happened to be one of those wolves she didn't outright despise. Here, on neutral ground, she was happy to be cordial.

Any other day, FitzDutiful would have teased with Kerosene that he was learning all his pack's secrets, but the thought hadn't even occurred to him to try and look towards the spine. By time Kerosene had joined him, FitzDutiful was pack with the task at hand looking to see if there was a hidden mountain pass that he didn't know of that could lead out of the Wilds.

"No, no," he started, seemingly distracted for the thought of being alone could stay at the back of his mind no longer, "Do you know of any passes that lead through these mountains?" The lack of scent was no longer dissuading him from the possibility that Raissa had come this way and, he was going almost crazy, believing that this was the only option. She had to have found a pass and become stuck it was all that he could think. She must be stuck in one of these tunnels!

Another voice cut into the din in his mind, a familiar one. It caused him to visibly jerk, turning his entire body towards her hastily. A warning bell rang that they didn't welcome him any more, but then his encounter with Cloud and Dhole had stopped that ringing consistently. Now his loss silenced it.

"Fox!" he exclaimed, bounding a step towards her, "Have you news of which pass she used?!" His eyes searched her wildly, with a hint of the craziness - the grief - he was experiencing. He didn't even realise that no one knew what news he was after or who he was talking about.

FitzDutiful seemed... distracted. His ears tipped, curious as to what was going on in the back of this wolf's head, but he made no comment towards it. Instead, he considered the silver male's question. Were there tunnels or passes that lead through the moonspear? He considered his night when he'd traveled these parts looking for shelter from an oncoming storm. "A few caves here and there, but I'm not certain about passes. It would be far easier to travel over these parts than to risk navigating below." Or at least, those were his thoughts.

He wasn't entirely certain as to how much this wolf was listening. Somewhat cautious, Kerosene took a few steps closer, but otherwise gave the alpha a wide berth so he might have whatever space he needed to think. It wasn't long, however, before another wolf joined them. Female. FitzDutiful quickly greeted her as "Fox," and Kerosene dipped his head in her direction, a silent greeting as the silver wolf asked if there was any news on "she." Whoever she was.

"Is something amiss?" he asked, wanting to get to the bottom of it. With a little more information, they might be able to be of more assistance.

Fitz greeted her with some kind of enthusiasm, though she paused momentarily to ensure that he wasn't going to react, well, angrily. It seemed that bygones were bygones, and he asked her a question that only brought more questions to the surface. "Which pass who used?" Fox replied, tilting her head. "Raissa? I haven't seen her since... well, not since she came to the caldera all pregnant and frantic." Did Fitz even know she had done that? Fox assumed that all couples were like Peregrine and her: open about everything they did, with nothing to hide from one another.

To the stranger's question, Fox shot him a look. Of course something was "amiss." Was he f—ing blind, deaf, and dumb? Fitz was clearly on edge. "Who are you, anyway?" she asked pointedly. He certainly wasn't one of FitzDutiful's wolves.

Fox hadn't seen her, not since she was pregnant. Well, that was a lot of moon cycles ago and no use to him now. His mind processed what Kerosene had said and picked up on it. "Thats it! She must have sought shelter in a cave and now it's covered over. WE HAVE TO HELP HER!" he yelled, before running to something that looked like it could be covering a cave and digging at the ground to uncover the cave and let Raissa out.

He was convinced she was in there, she had to be. If she wasn't then it meant that she had actually left him. Left FitzDutiful, Mason, and June, to their own devices as if she didn't care. What kind of mother did that? None, so of course she was stuck. Right here. It had to be.

FitzDutiful didn't really pay attention to Fox and Kero's conversation, they were introducing themselves or something of the sort when he had yelled that they had to help him and had happily dismissed it if neither of them followed him to help him dig out this covered over cave (even though it probably wasn't a covered over cave).

He was definitely on the outside looking in on this one. Fitz was frantic about something and the female offered minimal clues for him to help piece the puzzle together. A female of his was missing... A once pregnant female... Given that he knew FitzD had children... Ahh. His mate was missing. Well that sucked.

Now he was clued in and still at a loss for what to say or do. He didn't have much experience in lost mates. Usually, in his more worldly experience, if a wolf disappeared it was likely because they didn't want to be found. That a mate would disappear? It made him wonder about the quality of the relationship. It was evident that he cared. A lot. If she would up and disappear without his knowing? Perhaps her heart just wasn't in it.

His ears shifted as the female spoke again, pointing a question in his direction. "Kero," he said simply. "I'm the one he called for." No doubt, she too had heard Fitz's howl and turned her course in this direction.

FitzD's full out panic distracted him as the wolf scrambled towards a side of the mountain and began pawing at it as if he would unearth some sort of mystical answer to whatever he was searching for. Kero's ears fell, that... was just a normal patch of earth... which only proved how Fitz's natural way of thinking had deteriorated.

"The cave I remember is this way?" he offered, turning his paws a few paces in one direction, before turning back to look at the wolf. "We can always check it out. See if she's there." Let him look a little more. See if time would help break him of his hysteria.

The other wolf introduced himself, though Fox was less than impressed. "I didn't ask for your name," she replied with a dull expression. She'd asked who he was. But her distaste for Kero was quickly cut short by Fitz's increasingly frantic ramblings. Fox opened her mouth to speak, but Kero was already encouraging Fitz... like this was healthy behavior? Seriously, what was wrong with the guy?

"Fitz," Fox said sternly, "Snap the fuck out of it." Obviously, Fitz's two friends had very different ideas about how to help him. The Redhawk marched over to Fitz and tried to use her shoulder shove him away from where he was digging. "Help me get him off of here," she said to Kero, for some reason assuming that he would help her at all. Clearly the guy had some connection to her former pack-mate. Fox didn't know a whole heck of a lot about mental issues, but she was going to take a wild guess that Fitz wasn't exactly right in the head about now.

He's such a drama queen!

The two certainly did have very different ways to help the poor, deluded male but the combination of the two seemed to break through his despair. Kero had mentioned the direction of the cave, and it took a while for FitzDutiful to understand that it must mean he wasn't digging in the right place. He had slowed down when Fox's stern voice cut through the layers though his paws kept moving in their digging action - bringing up less and less dirt each time as his enthusiasm for the task ebbed away. When the little red and white wolf shouldered him, he visibly sagged - stopping his digging and falling to the floor in a collapsed state of exhaustion.

"This isn't the right place is it." he stated, his worry and frantic hysteria giving way to the anger that was beginning to burn and bubble. "Thanks for suggesting the cave, Kero, but I doubt she's there." His eyes finally registered the two wolves, as he picked himself off the floor and turned in such a way to get them both in his vision - the fire shone out of his eyes.

"That little bitch is no longer welcome in my lands. I would appreciate it if neither of you sought to give her refuge either. A mother who deserts her children deserves no rest." His voice spat the words out, heavily coated in venom and let them sit in the air around him as he took heavy breaths. Someone coming to the scene would have thought he'd either just been in a fight or ran some sort of wolfish marathon from his deep breathing.

He wasn't so certain what the female was asking about. Usually the question, "Who are you?" was appropriately answered with a name. He'd done one more and identified himself as the wolf Fitz had called for. If neither of those things were the answer she'd been looking for, she should have asked a more specific question. As such, he merely lifted a brow at her as he wondered if he'd made some kind  of mistaken in happening upon two hysterical wolves. FitzDutiful, rightly so as he seemed distressed over a missing someone. The female... it was hard to tell on first appearances, but he was striking her as one of those crazy sorts of females he generally steered clear of simply because they never made a lick of sense.

Staying silent, he pursued his suggestion of redirection; convince Fitz there was something better away from that pile of dirt and maybe the wolf would snap out of it. Fox barreled in head on, using her body to remove the silver wolf from his efforts before suggesting he do the same. He shook his head. He didn't need to body bump that wolf. Fitz was already slowing down and his body slumped when Fox shouldered him. The last thing Kero was going to do was crowd the wolf on top of his ever present misery.

Fitz spoke. That wasn't the right place. "No. It isn't," he said softly, taking a gentler approach, but confirming the silver wolf's doubts all the same. To that second part? He offered a soft grin and took a few paces back towards the pair of wolves. They didn't have to go there. They could stay here and– Well now. Seemed as if FitzDutiful just hit the "anger" category on the stages of grieving chart.

A female. A mother. Putting these clues together, he was going to take an intellectual leap and guess FitzDutiful's mate just walked out on him. Postpartum depression sprang to mind. It wasn't super common in females, but it wasn't entirely uncommon either. Some females had more trouble with their pregnancies than they cared to admit and didn't recover well in the aftermath or recover at all. If that was the case... it was likely safer for his family that she was out of the picture. He did not envy the wolf for having to father alone, but he had the support of his pack. He had no doubt, that as much as it was truly awful to experience the abandonment in this moment, it would be for the better in the long run.

"I'm sorry Fitz. That really sucks." An understatement. A vast understatement, but it was all he'd say in this moment. He didn't know the wolf he spoke of, so he could not promise whether Tonravik, Kroc or himself would accept the wolf into the Spine, but from what he knew of Silvertip, he doubted the female he spoke of would be a suitable fit. "How are the kids taking it?" Did they know? Were they still sheltered from the news and oblivious in their innocent little worlds? Was the pack stepping in to help? He hoped so. A heavy weight had fallen onto his friend's shoulders. FitzDutiful would need all the support he could get.

Fox's (admittedly little) patience was running thin, and she couldn't understand what was going on with FitzDutiful. The other wolf ignored her question and continued to coddle Fitz instead of getting him to realize where he was. Fox glared at him, but her attention returned to her old friend when he spoke of Raissa again. She certainly wouldn't find refuge in Redhawk Caldera. Fox had no tolerance for wolves who abandoned their young. At least she and Fitz had that in common.

Quite frankly, Fox was fed up with the whole situation. Mainly because she didn't understand it, and she gave Fitz an apologetic glance. "Hey man," she said, tilting her head to one side, "I'll keep an eye out for her. And beat the ever-loving shit out of her if I find her." It was the most she could do. "Looks like Kero"—seriously, what kind of a name was that?—"can provide more of that emotional support." Because Fox certainly didn't excel in that. Not wanting to hold up their bro time any longer, the Redhawk wolf turned back toward home.

Exit Fox. :)

Both of his friends supported him, each in their own way. Fox explicitly agreed to his demand before heading off and allowing Kero to provide the emotional support that he required. FitzDutiful said his farewells to her before turning back to the question at hand. "I don't really know," he admitted, unsure how much Kero would understand of this situation. "The pups, they're resilient. They're sad, sure, but they seem to be taking it as a matter of fact. I've not known them any fear - I daren't. I don't want them to think she left because of them, or because of me. Though I've no idea why she left."

He paused this monologue, realising he wasn't ready to talk about it. It was still too raw and he was too angry to even think about the prospect of forgiveness or accepting what had occurred. "How is life with you?" he asked, turning the conversation and hoping that Kerosene would do the same. He needed more time to figure it out for himself.

He nodded. He was uncertain as to how young this wolf's children were, but at any young age the world was beyond comprehension. If they didn't understand, they didn't need to. One day they may ask questions, but if their world was perfect the way it was, there was little reason to change the way they saw it by clouding their vision with adult problems.

"Does it really matter why?" he asked with a glance in the wolf's direction. They always had questions as to what motivated a wolf to do anything, but at the end of the day all they could do was react to what was done. Nevertheless, he realized Fitz had cut himself off. He needed more time to process things. He could have that time.

The conversation shifted. "Doing well. Mate's still pregnant, so I'm picking up a few additional responsibilities." He had a feeling Fitz knew how that went, and while a small part of Kero disliked mentioning his own situation as it was similar to the silver wolf's current lament, it was his life and he'd asked how things were.

"Are you ready to head back yet?" Kero asked now that the wolf had settled. "Or do you need a little more time out here?"

<3

Kerosene seemed to have the right of it. Did it really matter why? She had gone, maybe that was all there was to it. Why spend the time, effort, trying to figure out the motives when all that mattered was she wasn't here. There was no point living in the past, his children would be fine without their mother. Yes, they may find stunted growth for having to eat meat as their only sustenance but he was lucky that they were on solids now.

"I'm ready to head back, I need to get home for Mason, for June." He was all they had and he had to be sure that he returned every evening so they didn't worry that he, too, had disappeared from them. Slowly, he made his way back down the Moonspear, walking with Kero if he wished to do so. Before they departed he realised, deep within his self pity what the male had said.

"Congratulations. Pups make life hard but it's very rewarding. If you need any advice - come find me." With that, and a wry smile alongside it, FitzDutiful returned to his Silvertip Mountain.

Two of them. This wolf was a father to two, healthy children. There was much pride to take in that and much joy to be had in sharing his children with the rest of the pack. No doubt they would grow up to be strong individuals in spite of their early circumstances. Children were more adaptable than most gave them credit for. "I'm sure they'll be glad to see you again."

He walked with the silver wolf as they descended the slopes of the moonspear. They walked mostly in silence, each keeping to their own thoughts as the proximity of each other's company was comfort in an of itself. It was encouraging to see his friend put on such a strong face in the midst of his tragedy. Inspiring too.

At the silver wolf's words, Kero offered him a nood. "Thank you, Fitz. I'll be sure to keep you in mind." They were neighbors after all, and friends. A little advice from someone who'd been through it would serve them both well should they ever need each other's assistance in some form or another.

With that, they parted ways and Kero wished him the best.

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