"We have to go, Moon. We can't stay here now that the pack is disbanded." Harvestmoon swept his pale eyes over his blue mate, keeping his expression as calm and neutral as possible. He could see the tension bunching just beneath her skin, making her twitchy and unpredictable. She had never been violent, she was not violent now, but her moods were swinging and her words had more than enough bite to them. Harvest had no idea how to deal with her lately.

Moonbug shook her head, looking down at her forepaws as they clutched the dirt, "We can't leave, where would we go?" Her gaze darted from each toe and up to her love, exhaling heavily through her nostrils, "This is home, Harvest."

"It's a place, my love, not a home. We just need to relocate…"

"No! This isn't a place; this is all I've ever known, Harvest. This is where I grew up, where our cubs grew up." Her voice was strained and her lips were pulling back in a small snarl as spittle flew from her teeth, a sudden burst in temper that was becoming more prevalent in her personality since the disbanding of her pack; her family; her life. Leaping to her feet suddenly, she growled low in her throat and began to pace as her tail stood stiff in the air. She was aggravated, and tired from a terrible lack of sleep, but she was trying so hard not to take it all out on her beloved mate.

Harvest shook his head, fluffing his ruffled tan and white fur before laying his head down between his paws. He was perturbed by her irritability, but more so by the despairing circumstances of the past few days than by her mood itself. She was the love of his life, and he knew she was not attacking him personally. "Listen, Moonbug, I know you're stressed. This was my home, too…"

"Was it? Was it, Harvest? Because last I checked, you spent a large percentage of your life out there – out where you're trying to take me, a place I've never been and never wanted to go." In response to her rising emotions, her voice was beginning to break at odd intervals. She stopped pacing suddenly and stared at her feet hard, though her vision was blurring and with a blink, a large tear dripped from her eyelashes to wet the earth below. "This is all I've ever known, Harvest."

"I know." He lowered his volume considerably, not allowing her interruption to temper his mood. He did wait to gauge how long her silence would last before moving smoothly from a lying position into standing, taking a few steps towards her to bump his head against her own. Her immediate response was to sit, curling her bushy tail around her hind legs. He tucked his own between his hind legs slightly, leaning forward to brush his face against hers encouragingly before licking the few tears from her cheek. "I know this is scary, and hard, and nothing you ever imagined having to do."

"I just can't bear leaving all this behind." Her lip trembled as she looked up at him, blinking away tears and trying to focus on the here and now. If she reflected too much on the past, she knew she would break down and now was the time for strength, not weakness. This was a decision that needed to be made with a clear head, but she was allowing emotion to cloud her judgment. It was more difficult to make these decisions now, with her children grown, than it would have otherwise. Pups at home would have required immediate decisions and action, not belly-aching and moaning.

This was all enough against her character that she was compelled to apology, shaking her head and closing her eyes with a soft sigh, "I'm sorry, my love. I'm being unreasonable, and pathetic. I don't know what's wrong with me."

"Your life is changing, drastically. Its nothing to take lightly; you've never done something so outrageous in your life, but it must be done." He lifted his head to look over their surroundings, though not much could be seen past the darkness beneath the trees. There was no moon to light their way, passing through the night sky in shadow while the thousands and thousands of stars looked on in silence. He moved to tuck his chin over her head, sparing a cuddle not to feed her self-pity but improve her outlook, "I will never go anywhere. We will take the children that remain with us, but this place is little more than a skeleton. We have to go."

"But where, Harvest? Where will we go?" She pressed her face into the thick fur at his neck, inhaling long and slow.

For a moment he had no response, but then he smiled softly to himself and maneuvered to look into her pretty bright eyes, "Why do we have to go anywhere? We'll just go; until someone gives us a direction to take, we'll keep going. Perhaps we'll find somewhere to settle down on our own, start our own pack, or maybe we'll find another. We're not the only dogs out here, Moon. There are bound to be other, friendly options out there."

She nodded, slow but sure to see the logic in his explanation. Her blue eyes sought his and she held his gaze for a few moments before speaking, "Join a new pack." Her tone suggested she was not completely swayed by the idea, but she did manage a soft encouraging smile. Dropping her gaze again, she nodded, "Alright. We'll try, but when will we leave?"

"Not tonight. It's too dark and we should not spring it on the pups so. We'll speak with them later, sleep through most of the day and then set out tomorrow night after we've made our peace and chosen a direction." He smiled as well, nuzzling her with his nose gently before hauling himself to his feet and bumping her shoulder. "Shall we turn in? It's nearly dawn."

"Yes, please." She murmured at him, also hauling herself to her feet in order to pad off after him through the dark beneath the trees. Tomorrow she would cry, and then they would set off on their new lives in the unknown presented to them in the rogue lands.