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 Posted: Wed Jun 30, 2010 9:12 am
Calandra knew they had skirted the Akiiki pack boundaries some ways back, so they must be approaching where the pups had come from. The river that Evadne and Indeygo remembered crossing wasn't far from where they were. The sounds of water rushing over rocks was reaching them easily. Of course, Cali couldn't be sure this was the right river, but it seemed the most likely, considering where she had originally found her children.
She turned her head to watch her son and daughter, who often ranged between walking a bit farther out to the sides (looking for scents they would miss if they stayed flank-to-flank) to going several yards ahead. For the moment, Eva was out ahead a bit, looking for the river that was coming up. She would know if it was the right one from sight, hopefully. And once they crossed, all three would likely be able to tell if it was the right place.
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Posted: Wed Jun 30, 2010 9:21 am
The blinding glitter of sun on water peeked through the trees and Eva's ears perked up.
"I can see it!" She called back.
She heard Cali call for her to be careful, but took off at a dead run to be the first to reach the riverside. First glance should tell her if it was the right one.
It was definitely the river. A few charred branches, dried from months in the sun, dipped their ends into the river, wedged between rocks. Across the river, Eva could see charred logs scattering the woodland floor, and the trunks of the few trees standing-- alive AND dead-- were blackened up the trunks. New growth had begun peeking through in some places, but the forest had yet to fully recover the awful fire.
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Posted: Wed Jun 30, 2010 9:53 am
 Indeygo had been careful to keep either his sister or his mother in sight during the trip to their old packlands, sure he was older now..and capable of surviving on his own if he had too...but the closer they came to home the more he recalled the utter terror he'd flt being lost with Evadne as a pup.
Now he knew just how lucky they really were that Calandra had found them, with age came wisdom after all and sometimes it wasn't wisdom you really wanted. Sometime Indy wondered if he really wanted to come here at all - wouldn't it just bring back even more memories? But Evadne wanted to...and he did want to search for his siblings... this was a logical place to start.
Casting a nervous look to Calandra Indy trotted after his sister, tripping just one over a tree root along the way - which for him was pretty good all things considered, he'd already had nightmares about finding the river,falling and drowning in it now after all this time.
When he finally spotted the river however - it was - not nearly as scary as he'd expected, his memories recalled a raging torrent and deep almost uncrossable rapids. Reality in comparison was rather...tame. "It looks smaller"
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Posted: Wed Jun 30, 2010 10:01 am
"Eva, be careful!" Cali called to her daughter, but the girl paid no mind. Much more reckless than she had been at that age. Indeygo wasn't too far behind his sister, though, so Cali picked up her pace a bit to keep them in her sight.
As she followed her children, she kept her nose to the breeze. She didn't smell any other wolves, which was both good and bad news. Good, because it meant no trouble, and possibly bad, because it also confirmed that there wasn't likely to be a pack from the direction the wind was blowing. The lack of recent pack markers also supported the idea that the pack had long since gone.
"Eva, you need to pay more attention to what's around you," Cali scolded while the two adolescents inspected the river and the area. She smiled slightly as Indeygo commented on its size.
"You're a lot bigger now," she pointed out, before turning her own gaze across the river.
There had clearly been a large fire here. Her memory provided her with the smell of smoke that had clung to the pups when she had discovered them and offered them the safety of an adult. This was the right river.
"We'll cross," she confirmed, and headed towards a spot that looked a little safer to cross. The river wasn't huge, but the current was fairly swift and she didn't want to lose her footing as she went across.
"This way," she instructed, leading the pair across the river, using the available rocks when she could find them.
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Posted: Wed Jun 30, 2010 10:12 am
Deer dung! He was going to drown in this river he just knew it! Indy thought to himself as he soaked his paw for the fourth or fifth time trying to follow Calandra's path across the rocks. Once she'd pointed out how much he'd grown, that he wasn't looking at the river with small pup eyes anymore the size difference made more sense.
Of course it probably helped that it wasn't dark and lit by the flickering flames of fire too. That had certainly lent a good deal of terror to his memories, and the choking acid smoke. His nose wrinkled slightly at the recollection of it. "Ma..maybe their farther in the territory?" He mused out loud to his sister and mother "I mean they'd be a smaller pack now..maybe their lands are smaller..." A hopeful tone in his voice.
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Posted: Wed Jun 30, 2010 10:32 am
"Sorry, Mom," she replied, completely unrepentant. There might be dangers, but the place seemed deserted. Besides, if this was still the lands of their old pack, she'd see anyone before they reached her. After all, everyone in her memory had seemed to be very bright, although after so much time the details of the wolves had faded, even the details of her parents.
She brought up the rear, following her brother and watching him cringe every time he slipped with a smile. For her part, Eva was enjoying the rock hopping, and the few times she had to step into the river she didn't even flinch. It didn't scare her at all, despite the way it tugged at her paws. Indy's logic about the pack made sense to her, and it would explain why there were no markers out this far. There was still potential that someone was left, if she could just find the optimism to believe it. And she did want to believe it.
"We're heading further in anyway. If someone is here, we'll find them." She trotted up next to her brother as they reached the other side of the river without mishap and shook out her paws individually.
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Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2010 8:36 am
Calandra had always been a realist. Her own puphood had been extremely similar to her adopted childrens', so she was no stranger to the idea of returning home months late-- seasons late, in her case-- to see if there was anything left. Her face fell blank, but sadness drifted in her eyes for a moment before she turned to look at the brightly colored adolescents behind her.
"We'll venture on until we find something, but you both keep your senses sharp. We don't want to tred somewhere we aren't welcome. Come on." Calandra led the way so that if there were a dangerous creature, she would be the first to encounter it and hopefully hold off any attacks it made. Nothing new presented itself for a while. It was just more charring and signs of new life beginning from the ashes. The only natural in the group smelled no markers and saw no signs of any larger animals passing through. She also so no signs of an old pack, and considered that they might be going in the wrong direction. The fire had burned away any traces of animals from before the forest had been consumed, so there were no paths or markers to follow.
"I know it all looks different now," Calandra said, stopping and looking behind her. "But do you have any idea which way to go for where the pack was before?" If they were alive and had stayed, they would likely have stayed close to the original den area.
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Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2010 8:44 am
Indy was rather gad to be walking in between Calandra and Evadne. It felt safer between the two of them, none the less his head kept swinging from side to side as he peered into the forest in a manner which suggest he fully expected a horde of ravening creatures to leap out at them at any time. Which of course was silly...but the old burnt forest gave him the creeps.
Licking his lips nervously when Calandra paused he sat down for a moment "I don't know...its hard to remember how far we ran from where we were hidden to the river, and the dens were a way beyond the hiding spot, but its all so patchy" He stated mournfully before looking behind him to Eva..perhaps she would recall things better then he did. She probably did..she was always so much stronger then he was and had been less frightened then had been at the time. Or at least thats the way he remembered it.
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Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2010 9:00 am
Eva shook her head slowly as her brother spoke. He was right, everything was so... so disjointed. She shifted her weight uncomfortably, damp paws coated in dirt and ash that she ignored. She shook her head again when Calandra looked expectantly to her. She couldn't remember anything either.
"I don't know. I was so focused on staying with Indy and getting away from the fire I don't remember where we came from. We have to be going in somewhat the right direction though. Maybe try this way?"
Although she seemed unsure, she was relieved to see Calandra follow her suggestion. Evadne led the way, having already pushed Calandra's warning about dangers to the back of her mind and as they kept moving, her spirits improved even without them discovering anything. There was no sign of death, at least, and that couldn't be a bad thing. Maybe others had survived and buried the dead.
"That looks familiar," she said, pointing out a gnarled old birch tree with three trunks. "I think we used to play near it when we went out too far."
Maybe, she amended. Pup memories were always frustratingly fuzzy.
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Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2010 9:20 am
Indy paused as they came to the birch tree, his head tipping slightly in an almost puppy like fashion as he tried to recall that oh so long ago time. "maybe.." He allowed after a few moments "It does feel familiar..." He told the other two with a slight wag of his tail. Though weather it was truly familiar or he was just projecting his hope for it to be familiar was up in the air.
None the less he felt a little bit better then he had before now they had supposedly found something familiar and weren't just wandering about aimlessly in unknown lands. They hadn't found any signs of wolves yet - but like Eva said the tree had been on the outskirts of their play area. Certainly the wolves would be closer in right? Of course! And thus buoyed by this hope he trotted at the others heels as they went further into the area.
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Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2010 9:48 am
Calandra trailed behind for a few moments before moving into a trot to lead the party again. If the ending of this was unfortunate-- and it likely would be-- she wanted to protect them from us much of it as possible.
"Let me go first, Eva," she told her daughter, who was still managing to range out in front of Indy.
Calandra's eyes first caught the rough gashes of teeth on a fallen tree. The tree was so burnt it was hard to tell if she was imagining the marks or if they were really there. Whatever fight had occurred, the fire did an excellent job of hiding it. Still, when they reached the main den areas, Cali held in a sigh at the sighs of wanton destruction, both natural and wolf-made. Eva and Indy were going to need her to be steady in the waves of their disappointment.
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Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2010 9:49 am
Evadne heeded her mother's suggestion and fell back to keep step with Indeygo.
"If we're close to the dens though, it's really quiet. It's not hot enough out for all of them to be resting," she commented, voice disappointed. "I have a bad feeling."
She wasn't wrong, either. As they broke into the den clearing after her mother, Eva's expression was mortified.
Where the fire hadn't destroyed there were still clear signs of the fight that had thrust the litter of pups into the dark night to begin with. The main area's ground was torn up from nails and scuffles, although ash and likely the fire itself had covered or burned off most signs of blood. But there were bones, bones that hadn't been dragged away, and the old dens were bare and empty of anything larger than a cavemouse.
Eva whined softly at the sight, not having expected the packlands to be in such a state, even if they had been abandoned. The brightness of the day and the fact that the scene was old had softened the horror, but it was still a hard blow, especially with the stripped, sun-bleached or fire-blackened bones that were scattered here and there.
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Posted: Fri Jul 02, 2010 6:38 am
Indy had been trailing after Eva and her whine told him pretty much all he wanted to know about what was coming when he pushed through the last of the brush, he got the barest of looks in before squeezing his eyes shut and pressing his head into Eva's side.
After a few moments he gathered the courage for another more detailed look and cracked his eyes open one at a time as he pulled his head back up. He had been expecting awful..but this was beyond even his wild imagination when it came to 'bad'. Bleached and half buried bone were scattered about the site and it was obvious that no one had been here for a very long long time, some of the dens were nearly filled with wind blown rubbish. Certainly nothing that would be allowed if living creatures had been here anytime lately.
"One of those could be..." His voice trailed off, the thought that some of those bones could be his mothers or his fathers was just to terrible to complete, though there was a good possibility that this thought held some merit. "I don't like it here" He sudden;y complained tail tucking under his belly slightly.
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Posted: Fri Jul 02, 2010 7:03 am
Calandra moved closed to her children, nuzzling the other side of Eva's body and then leaning over her back to lick the top of Indy's head. It was hard, and their reality was worse than hers had been. There was no pack left for them, and no real trail. They would have to being their work from scratch.
"Let's go," she suggested, resting her head briefly on Eva's back before she nudged her rear leg with her nose to get her moving. "There's no reason to stay here. Come on."
She moved around to Eva's other side and nuzzled Indy, shielding him from the den site as she used nudges to turn her children back the way they had come.
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Posted: Fri Jul 02, 2010 7:09 am
Evadne leaned into Indeygo's head, trying to lend him comfort while she took everything in. She wanted to see it all. It made no sense to bury her head in the sand, and she liked knowing what was what. Even if it was hard to look at. The only hope left was that her siblings weren't in that graveyard, since they had been saved by their parents. No wonder they were hidden. No wonder.
"We don't know they are," she replied softly to Indeygo. "We don't know."
Calandra's sudden touch startled Eva into looking back at her, and she slumped slightly in defeat and sadness as Calandra leaned over her and rested her head on her back. That was that. They had checked, at least. Evadne was subdued, quiet, and more than happy to allow Calandra to take charge again and turn them away from the former packlands. They would follow their footsteps back to the river and from there... They would figure something out.
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